Tangier Combined School - 2020 Graduation

Tangier Combined School, the kindergarten through twelfth grade school on the Island, made history last week with the class of 2020's graduation ceremony. For the first time, only one student graduated.

In the fifth grade, islander Matthew Parks became the sole student in his class after his only other classmate's family moved off the Island. Matthew finished the remainder of his education without any immediate classmates. Matthew's grades were high enough to get him into college and award him the title of valedictorian in a normal year, but with no classmates he was given the title by default. Matthew plans to pursue a career on the water in tug boating like many Tangier men have in the past. For now, he is working as a deckhand on his fathers workboat 'Mary Ellen'.

Due to the restrictions on large gatherings with COVID-19 all of the attendees with the exception of immediate family stayed in golf carts during the ceremony that was held on the island's runway.

Matthew Parks in his cap and gown before the June 5th Tangier Combined School Graduation.

Vehicles line up for the ‘drive in’ graduation ceremony on the airport runway.

Matthew Parks and Tangier Combined School Principal Dr. Nina Pruitt.

Matthew Parks, a member of the Tangier Fire Company, rides through the island’s narrow streets on top of the fire truck.

Tangier Combined School’s principal Dr. Nina Pruitt and her colleagues lead the golf cart parade.

2020 Father's Day - Book/Print Special

Buy a signed copy of 'Working the Water' and receive three 5"x7" signed prints from a limited edition of 35. The prints are three photographs that were taken for 'Island Life' - a Blue Crab underwater, nesting Brown Pelicans and a photograph of the Tangier buyboat 'Delvin K'. 

Order using the link below by June 17 to guarantee delivery by Father's Day (June 21)

Photographing North Carolina's Beach Seine Fishery

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Friends and Family

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Video Highlights

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Stewed Jimmies: Chesapeake Treasure

words and photographs by Jay Fleming

Originally published in Edible Delmarva, Winter 2018

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‘Stewed Jimmies’ is a traditional fall and early winter dish from Smith Island, Maryland - an isolated offshore island community in the Chesapeake Bay, nine miles west of Crisfield. Every fall, as water temperatures begin to cool, crab potters working in the deeper waters of the mainstem of the Chesapeake and Tangier Sound will start to catch large male ‘Jimmy’ crabs as they move down the bay in preparation for winter hibernation.

Most watermen will sell any crabs that they catch for picking or for the ‘basket market,’ so bringing crabs home for eating cuts directly into their revenue for the season. But many watermen will save the largest of the Jimmies – true #1’s – for this unique seasonal dish. 

The crabs have been building up fat reserves to help them survive three to four months buried in the bottom of the bay. The sweet flavor from the fat, combined with the ‘fullness’ of the meat in the body, make the late-season crab a favorite among Chesapeake connoisseurs. 

The love of food and tradition is the common glue for most islanders. On the day we gathered in Janice Marshall’s kitchen, it was like a reunion. Islanders who live on and off the island made a point to come over for this special occasion and keep the tradition of ‘Stewed Jimmies’ very much alive and well.

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Stewed Jimmies

Recipe By Janice Marshall, Tylerton, Maryland

When the dish is complete, the crab meat takes on a whole new flavor from the bacon fat and onions. The potatoes and dumplings soak in all of the flavor from the crab gravy. As the Smith Islanders say, it’s not hard to “fill yer belly with a few of these big jimmies and all of the fixins”

- INGREDIENTS - SERVES 4 to 6 -

25 Hard Crabs 

6 Potatoes, cut in half 

Bacon Fat 

1 large white onion, diced

1 cup water

Dumplings (use your favorite recipe)

3 heaping tablespoons flour 

Salt and Pepper

- DIRECTIONS -

Clean the crabs, take off top shell (backs), remove legs, gills and innards, brush the crabs and wash the crab bodies out with a hose. Cleaning the crabs is a messy and time-consuming job - the fall crabs are what the islanders describe as “tough as leather.” 

In a large pan, use bacon fat and fry the diced onion. Once onion is cooked, add 1 cup of water, cleaned crabs and potato halves. Cover and cook on med/high heat for approximately 35-40 minutes. Add dumplings after 35 minutes and cook for an additional 10 minutes to heat up. Remove crabs, dumplings and potatoes and add flour to thicken the water to make a ‘crab gravy’. Stir gravy until it thickens.

To eat, pick crabs as if they are hard crabs to get meat out of the body and claws. Smash the potatoes with a fork on plate, mix it in with the crabmeat and dumplings and dump hot gravy on top.

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Removing the top shell of the crab.

Cleaning the crabs after removing the top shell.

Spraying out the mustard of the crab with a freshwater hose.

Cleaning the bodies of the crab.

Adding crabs to the large pan with onions cooked in bacon fat and uncooked potatoes.

Janice Marshall preparing to add dumplings to steamed crabs.

Removing dumplings after cooking for 10 minutes.

The plated dish. Dumplings, potatoes, crabs and crab gravy served from separate dishes.