Saxis Island Culture

Saxis Island Culture. . , In 1666, Robert Sikes, the island's namesake, was granted land here. Until the 1750s, Saxis Island was used for raising livestock tended initially by local Indians. Settlers then arrived from nearby Maryland and Virginia. By 1870, all men inhabiting the island were oystermen. In the 1880s there was an oyster boom. By 1920, the island's population had grown to over 600. Today, there are less than 200 people living on the island., Relying on the natural bounty of the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding marshes, people adapted year to year and season to season to the changing bounty – from oysters, to clams, to crabs, to fish, to trapping, and back to oysters. The island's inhabitants have survived hurricanes, nor-easters and winters when the Pocomoke Sound was frozen solid., The offshore Steamboat Wharf, built in 1903, was destroyed by the Storm of 1933. In 1936, the Creek Point Wharf was built, and the channel was dredged in 1937. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel sank most of the boats in the harbor. In the 1960s, the new Harbor of Refuge was built. Crab shedding houses were built on Creek Point and near the new harbor. The were destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and then again by Hurricane Sandy in 2012., Over 150 years later, a few remaining watermen continue crabbing, oystering and fishing. In some years the natural oyster rocks near the island are open, and oystering thrives. In other years, they are closed and the island's oystermen travel to the James and Rappahannock Rivers to work., Learn more about the history and life of Saxis, and enjoy a taste of the trading lifestyle of the Saxis Island watermen. Visit the Crockett Store, the only surviving general store in Saxis, and now home to the Saxis Island Museum.