Take twenty four strangers. Place them on a remote island. Give them three days to complete a variety of outdoor tasks.

No, it is not a new reality show, but it was reality for the Maryland Teachers of the Year during a recent visit to Smith Island. Thanks to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Northrop Grumman, we spent three days on peaceful and idyllic Tylerton, the smallest of three watermen communities that make up Smith Island. The sweet sound of silence was what I noticed first about Tylerton. Bikes, walking, and golf carts are the preferred mode of transportation; there are no paved roads, cars, or motorcycles. With its breathtaking natural beauty and magnificent views of the Bay, the island truly is “an island out of time.”

Our first night, we spoke with Jesse Marsh who grew up in Tylerton and now works for the CBF. He told us about his life as a child and how he has watched the population decline. “We had to go to high school in Crisfield,” he explained. “And when the girls starting meeting boys from the mainland, they saw a different way of life. And when the girls left, well, then the boys left, too.”

Captain Wes, a gentle bear of a man, took us crabbing and described the life of a waterman. During breakfast, Wes showed me his treasures he found while progging (Smith Islander’s word for beachcombing; foraging; poking about). Wes has quite a collection of arrowheads, shark’s teeth, and an old pipe bowl. My favorite experience was boating to an uninhabited island for our own progging adventure. I collected sea glass and discovered shards of pottery. One lucky person found an arrowhead.

As teachers, we were all anxious to learn about education on Smith Island. Elementary school children attend school in nearby Ewell, about a 10-minute ferry ride away. There is just one teacher in Ewell, Janet Evans, and she teaches students ranging from grades K-5 in a single room. Older students attend high school in Crisfield, an hour’s ferry ride each way. I appreciated Janet’s honesty and candor in describing the challenges she faces. Her passion and love for the children was evident to all.

We visited the Women’s Crab Picking Co-Op one evening. I have never seen anyone pick crabs with the dexterity and speed displayed by Miss Tina. The three bushels of crabs she was picking that night would take her 2 ½ hours to finish. Tina was very proud of her daughter, who recently made the high school majorette team. Since the ferry only runs once, I asked what her daughter does if she has to stay after school. As with many of the Islanders, Tina has family on the mainland, so her daughter can stay with them during the week if needed.

I was struck by the way Smith Islanders accept what needs to be done without complaint, whether it is taking a ferry to school or enduring a tough winter. Jesse told us about a winter when the bay was frozen for many weeks and no supplies could be brought in. “What do you think we ran out of first? That’s right, toilet paper,” he laughed. “I always wondered why my dad had a stack of Sears catalogues in the shed. That winter, my mother took us kids out to the shed and we learned what those Sears catalogues were for!”

The weekend before our visit, the last house standing on Holland Island, a once-thriving fishing community, had fallen into the Bay. The island was once five miles long but erosion forced the residents to leave. By 1922, the last inhabitant fled.

Will Smith Island face a similar fate? In the last 150 years, the island has lost nearly 3,300 acres of wetlands according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report. In addition to erosion and rising sea levels, the Chesapeake Bay region is sinking, a phenomenon known as post-glacial subsidence. Residents are aware of the environmental threats the island faces and have seen firsthand the vanishing wetlands. Some experts believe Smith Island could be gone in another 50 years from now. In typical Smith Island style, Eddie Evans, a retired waterman, stated in an interview with The Baltimore Sun, "I'm 72 years old, and the same thing was said when I was a little boy: 'We're gonna be under in 50 years.' Now they've added another 50 on."

Eddie, I hope they can add another 50 on top of that.