An Island Called Smith

An Island Called Smith
Author: Jon Gower
Publisher: Gomer Press
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN:

The inhabitants of Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay, USA are nearly all descended from Welsh and Cornish immigrants of the 17th century. In this text, Jon Gower gives a personal account of this place, its environment, history and customs.

An Island Out of Time

An Island Out of Time
Author: Tom Horton
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780393039382

A classic of Chesapeake Bay literature, Tom Horton's An Island Out of Time chronicles the three years Horton and his family spent on Smith Island, a marshy archipelago in the middle of Maryland's famous estuary. The result is an intimate portrait of a deeply traditional community that lived much as their ancestors did three hundred years before, attuned to the habits of blue crab, oyster, and waterfowl. In a new afterword for this edition, Horton brings the story of Smith Island, and its people, up to the present.

The Workboats of Smith Island

The Workboats of Smith Island
Author: Paula J. Johnson
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 4
Release: 1997
Genre: Work boats
ISBN: 9780801854842

Smith Island, the largest Maryland island in Chesapeake Bay, remains one of the most interesting communities on the Atlantic coast. Smith Islanders speak a sort of Tidewater English, are devoted to the Methodist faith, and maintain an intense relationship with the waters of the bay. For generations, they have relied on fishing, oystering, and crabbing for their livelihood and have developed workboats that reflect the conditions - both natural and cultural - of local waters. In The Workboats of Smith Island, Paula J. Johnson looks extensively at the remarkable variety of boats - documenting in fascinating detail their design, construction, and use - and the watermen who depend on them. Johnson identifies the three vessel types most common on Smith Island today: crab-scraping boats, deadrise workboats, and skiffs. Every Smith Islander, she notes, owns at least one workboat, and many have two or even three, requiring each for a different purpose - harvesting "peelers" (blue crabs in various stages of molting), oystering or crab potting, and providing basic transportation. Johnson talks with Smith Island's watermen and boatbuilders, as well as their families and neighbors, about the history and future of the island and about the boats that dominate the island's cultural landscape. She includes dozens of photographs and drawings of Smith Island's distinctive watercraft. The result is a singular portrait of a community inextricably linked to the water.

Forever Island

Forever Island
Author: Patrick D. Smith
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 118
Release: 1973-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393355241

A classic and heartbreaking tale of one man’s fight to protect nature, and a treasured way of life, against the forces of greed. In a corner of the Big Cypress Swamp, to the north of the Florida Everglades, lives Charlie Jumper, and eighty-six-year-old Seminole man. Unlike the younger American Indians who have adopted white civilization, Charlie and his wife cling to the old ways, hunting and fishing in the great swamp and farming a tiny plot of higher ground. Charlie has been diligently teaching his grandson, Timmy, about the swamp and its creatures. But their simple existence is suddenly threatened when a large tract of swamp is bought by a corporation, and Charlie is told that he will have to leave. From his youth, Charlie remembers the slaughter of egrets and alligators by the white man and the logging of the giant cypress. Rather than surrender the land that is his life to this final indignity, Charlie decides to fight back. It is an uneven contest. First come the great machines that silt up the streams; then the workmen inadvertently poison the marsh; and, attempting to sabotage the construction equipment, Charlie’s best friend is killed. Realizing that there can be no compromise with the white man who destroys all he touches, Charlie leaves his family and feels into the swamp, seeking the lost island known in the Seminole legends as Forever Island.

Island Life

Island Life
Author: Jay Fleming
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-10-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9780997746815

Photographer Jay Fleming turned his attention to Smith and Tangier Islands - the Chesapeake Bay's last inhabited 'water-locked' islands. Fleming has made countless trips to the islands to document the unique way of life and environment that have been shaped by isolation and the waters of the Chesapeake. This collection of photographs will fill the pages of Fleming's second book, Island Life. This body work comes at an important time for the islands, as their populations continue to decline and the unrelenting forces of the bay threaten the working working waterfronts that have sustained the communities for centuries. Fleming hopes that his photography will immerse readers in the Island Life and capture a crucial moment in time for the Chesapeake's most unique communities.

A Land Remembered

A Land Remembered
Author: Patrick D Smith
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2012-10-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1561645826

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In this volume, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at this side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake

The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake
Author: William B. Cronin
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2005-06-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801874352

An appendix documents the many small islands that have dropped entirely from view since the seventeenth century.

Peacebunny Island

Peacebunny Island
Author: Caleb Smith
Publisher: Tyndale Momentum
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2022-03-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9781496452481

The incredible true story of a boy who is changing the world through kindness . . . one bunny at a time.Meet Caleb Smith: a young man who, at age 8, decided to follow his dream to train endangered and rescued rabbits to become therapy animals. Today, 16-year-old Caleb is an entrepreneur who owns and operates a private 22-acre Mississippi River sanctuary called Peacebunny Island. The deal is simple: he saves the rabbits, and they help save us. Driven by an unbreakable desire to spread kindness and compassion, Caleb's adventures include: Founding a program of therapy rabbits who visit with veterans, senior citizens, families with special needs, and much more Embarking on a quest along the Mississippi River to develop the site that would become Peacebunny Island Overcoming challenges and obstacles along the way, while never giving up Becoming an advocate for animal rescue, comfort animal training, and endangered species preservation Inspiring hope and possibility in the next generation of young people. Readers who love animal stories like We Bought a Zoo, Watership Down, and Marley & Mewill treasure Peacebunny Island--an unforgettable journey of determination and faith destined to touch hearts around the world.

Fire on the Island

Fire on the Island
Author: Timothy Jay Smith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1950691640

For lovers of crime fiction and the allure of the Greek islands, Fire on the Island is the perfect summer read. ** "Smith offers the perfect blend of intrigue, romance, and travelogue."—Publishers Weekly ** FIRE ON THE ISLAND is a playful, romantic thriller set in contemporary Greece, with a gay Greek-American FBI agent, who is undercover on the island to investigate a series of mysterious fires. Set against the very real refugee crisis on the beautiful, sun-drenched Greek islands, this novel paints a loving portrait of a community in crisis. As the island residents grapple with declining tourism, poverty, refugees, family feuds, and a perilously damaged church, an arsonist invades their midst. Nick Damigos, the FBI agent, arrives on the island just in time to witness the latest fire and save a beloved truffle-sniffing dog. Hailed as a hero and embraced by the community, Nick finds himself drawn to Takis, a young bartender who becomes his primary suspect, which is a problem because they’re having an affair. Theirs is not the only complicated romance in the community and Takis isn’t the only suspicious character on the island. The priest is an art forger, a young Albanian waiter harbors a secret, the captain of the coast guard station seems to have his own agenda, and the village itself hides a violent history. Nick has to unravel the truth in time to prevent catastrophe, as he comes to terms with his own past trauma. In saving the village, he will go a long way toward saving himself. A long time devotee of the Greek islands, Smith paints the setting with gorgeous color and empathy, ushering in a new romantic thriller with the charm of Zorba the Greek while shedding bright light on the very real challenges of life in contemporary Greece.

The Day I Fell Off My Island

The Day I Fell Off My Island
Author: Yvonne Bailey-Smith
Publisher: Myriad Editions
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2021-06-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1912408961

'Striking...an unforgettable cast of characters you'd expect to find in the grandest work of fiction.'—Candice Carty-Williams'Juggling laughter and tears with every page, this remarkable journey of discovery tells of one young woman's captivating search for self in a new and challenging environment.'—Margaret Busby'Brims with the pleasure of a story well-told, and with the command of a writer who is comfortable moving between the many registers of Jamaican English.'—Kwame Dawes'Beautiful, evocative and powerfully engaging. I loved this book.'—Francesca MartinezIt's 1969 and Erna Mullings has just arrived in London from Jamaica.Finding herself in a strange country, with a mother she barely recognises and a stepfather she despises, Erna is homesick, lost and lonely. But her life is about to change irrevocably.A story of reluctant immigration and the relationship between children and the people who parent them, The Day I Fell Off My Island is engrossing, courageous and psychologically insightful. Yvonne Bailey-Smith writes with great warmth and humanity as she explores estrangement, transition and, ultimately, the triumph of resilience and hope.