a step into history

As I mentioned last week, my mother, brother Nick, and I took a road trip to Smith Island this past Saturday. We arrived on a cloudy Saturday morning, with periods of rain, to the small eastern shore town of Crisfield. There is not much activity that morning, other than various folks roaming around the docking area waiting for the boat to Smith Island. There is one boat over, as well as a mail bost, that travels the 40 minutes ride to Smith. In the winter, it is only the mail boat.
We are in high spirits as we board Captain larry's boat, no more than about 22 feet long. We are boarded with a group of 'older' women-probably late 60's, early 70's from hagerstown. They have been friends for about 40+ years, some with some physical handicaps but great spirit-until we got out in open waters. Dur to weather, the chop was 2-3 feet and if you don't have your sea legs, it can be a bit..unnerving. Fortunately, no one was sick.
We pulled in and the skies opened up so we made a quick dash to the Bay Cafe, where we feasted on crab cakes and peppered the fresh out of high school waitress questions about island life. They attend school until 6th grade on the island (population around 300) and then they ferried to the mainland for middle and high school. This is fine, except in the winter-and if you play sports, you simply spend the night in Crisfield. We asked if plans to return to the island after college-said she loved it here and people here 'are content'. Sums it up nicelt.
Dry island...no liquor anywhere..must bring your own. No police department. But then again, everyone knows each other and if you were to arrive by boat, getting away with murder might be very difficult.
It is also the best place to find artifacts..native american peices, spanish gold coins, sharks teeth. The Island has been inhabited since the 1600's and not much has been disturbed.
So, those same ladies of hagerstown decided Smith Island was not for them..don't you have a bowling alley? movie theater? roller skating rink? Sheesh..what do you all DO??!! Natives were polite: crab, swim, water ski, read, and simply set a spell on the porch and talk. Wow..there's a novel idea...