The Holland Island settlement in Chesapeake Bay goes back to the 1600s. In the early 1900s, it was one of the largest inhabited islands in the bay, but it was also being drastically affected by wind and tide erosion. In 1914, the residents began moving to the mainland, many disassembling their houses and taking them with them. The last of the islands permanent residents moved in 1918 after a storm damaged the church, which was finally moved off the island in 1922. For a while, some of the previous island dwellers tried to use the island as a fishing base, but they gave up on even that after not too many years. In 2010, the last house (built in 1888 and pictured above) finally collapsed.
There was also a lighthouse built to the south of the island in 1889.
One of the keepers, Ulman Owens was found dead there in 1931. There was blood at the scene and evidence of a struggle but no wounds on the body. The death was judged to be from natural causes and no further investigation took place. Then, in 1957, three Naval pilots bombed the station, mistaking it for their actual target. Fortunately for the four keepers, the bombs carried no explosives although they still damaged the structure. The lighthouse was dismantled in 1960.
That house looks like it's just floating out there on the water. It's hard to believe the structure still remains at all.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't an easy theme, and you're doing a great job with it. Love those spectacular haunted pics!
ReplyDeleteDamyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2014, My Latest post
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Can you say 'Navigation Hazard'?
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say there's no island left now.
ReplyDeleteI won't even begin to tell you how much trouble those naval pilots were in after bombing the wrong place...
All of the structures you've posted so far were eerily beautiful to me, except this one. This was just plain sad to see. I don't know if it's seeing the total abandonment of the crane or what, but it made my heart heavy.
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My favorite picture was the backhoe in the water. Like some kind of monstrous mechanical crab. The story of the islanders living on land that slowly erodes out from under them is a good one. Especially interesting that they stuck it out until the church was gone.
ReplyDeleteYou and Hilary are both talking about erosion. There are many buildings along the British coast which have been gradually washed into the sea very much as this one in your picture, although I am surprised no-one moved the equipment. The sand probably ended up somewhere else on the coast.
ReplyDeleteJeez I wanted to live by the beach but this is ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why now we have strict laws about how close structures can be to the ocean and how much cutting may be done. Back then there were no such regulations.
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures. It does make me sad to see abandoned structures though.
That's pretty freaky. Al Gore blames it on global warming.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness those bombs had no explosives.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
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That house is such a haunting image.
ReplyDeleteLove your theme for A to Z. :-)
How sad that it collapsed, but can you imagine that--living over the water that way? I think I'd be a constant mess, worried that some huge wave was going to destroy everything.
ReplyDeleteAnne: Well, it did eventually fall down, but it stayed like that for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteD Biswas: Thank you! I do have to say that the most difficult part of it is finding photos that are usable. I have had discard places because of that.
JeffO: I know! I'd say that's a good reason for a lighthouse!
Alex C: I'm sure they were, but I didn't dig up any info on it.
Elsie: I think the earth moving machine is pretty cool, but I do agree that it's sad that this one house got left to stand alone.
Briane: I agree with you about the mechanical crabbiness of the machine. It's very cool looking. Imagine in a few hundred years when some explorer finds that underwater!
Jo: I think they must not have been able to get it back off once they had it there.
Pat: Fortunately, I have never wanted to live by the beach.
Donna: Well, when your whole island goes, I'm not sure what good those laws would do. It seems like it was a pretty big place. Once upon a time.
Lee: I think the island went away before the sea level started going up, but, yeah, I'm sure it climate change has affected it.
Misha: Like it could just float away.
Crystal: Or even just a small swell.
"Hey, Mom! The downstairs is underwater again!"
Dismantling your house and taking it with you is a pretty good way of saying you're leaving forever.
ReplyDeleteIncredible. Shore property does not always make for great real estate.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of places around the Mount Washington Valley where the Saco River has eroded the banks and claimed some structures that were ultimately built too close to the waterfront. No pictures like the ones you've posted here, but still, one day your house is there, the next, it's falling into the river.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I live within walking distance to the river instead.
Cool theme!
That must have been a lovely house once. I can't figure out why there's an abandoned shovel-crane (whatever it's called) there. You'd think someone would've taken it away. The lighthouse stories are creeeeepy!!
ReplyDeleteJeanne: Yeah, it pretty much is.
ReplyDeleteDavid: I wouldn't want to live there.
M.J.: I think living in any area that is that near a river is not for me.
Lexa: I think it must have been from when they were trying to build walls to keep the water out, but I don't know that for sure.
Before I saw that the house had finally collapsed, I was wondering about flooding. Admittedly, it made for a really cool visual before that happened, though.
ReplyDeleteAlex Hurst, fantasy author in Japan, participating in Blogging A-Z April Challenge.
Alex H: It did. Like you could just stick a ship's wheel on the roof and sail it away.
ReplyDeleteI probably told you...I grew up spending summers on the Chesapeake Bay. I'd never heard of this place until now, though the lighthouse looks familiar. We were way into sailing to various lighthouses for the weekend, then finding a cove to overnight in. Good times.
ReplyDeleteSad to have your "terra firma" erode under you...or be hit by friendly fire...egads!
Tina @ Life is Good
A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014
Woops...dismantled in the 60's. Never mind. We started sailing in 1974...
ReplyDeleteTina @ Life is Good
A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014
Tina: Maybe it wasn't a unique design?
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