The Chesapeake Bay is the biggest estuary in the United States, located on the country’s east coast. A number of small islands are located within its waters. Most of them are severely affected by sea level rise, erosion, and submerging processes. Notably, since the mid-nineteenth century, islands have been losing land mass several times faster than during the thousand years prior. So far, more than 500 islands have already vanished from the map.
The disappearance of land puts pressure on its inhabitants. In some cases, such as the one of Holland Island, the communities consisted of around 200 people and included churches, schools, and several stores. As shores were quickly being eaten away, people packed up their belongings, tore down their houses, and resettled on the mainland. Especially between 1900 and 1940, a number of islands were abandoned, among them Barren, Holland, and Poplar Island.
- Cronin, William B. The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
- Gibbons, Sheila J. Arenstam and Robert J. Nicholls. “Island Abandonment and Sea-level Rise: An Historical Analog from the Chesapeake Bay, USA.” Global Environmental Change no. 16 (2006): 40-47.
- Kearney, Michael S. and J. Court Stevenson. "Island Land Loss and Marsh Vertical Accretion Rate: Evidence for Historical Sea-level Changes in Chesapeake Bay." Journal of Coastal Research no. 7 (1991): 403-415.