Historic Tour: Tangier Island History and Vernacular Architecture Tour

Visit the island of Tangier, Virginia with AIA Virginia’s Historic Resources Committee to learn about the community’s long history and insights about its built environment. Lincoln Lewis, Climate Equity Doctoral Fellow with the University of Virginia’s Equity Center where he works on the Coastlines and People (CoPe) project for Virginia’s Eastern Shore, will be leading the tour.  As part of HALS, he documented the Tangier Island Watermen Working Landscape.

Tangier is a unique island community that is experiencing dynamic environmental change in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. Storms, erosion, and subsidence have reduced the low-lying island’s area by more than two-thirds since 1850. The community of about 300 residents have found ways to prosper and have adapted their own form of vernacular architecture to suit the environment. Participants of the day trip will ride a round-trip ferry to the island from either Reedville (Virginia), Onancock (Virginia), or Crisfield (Maryland). While coming into Mail Boat Harbor participants will see the vernacular crab houses and then have an opportunity to eat lunch at a local restaurant. A 30-minute golf cart tour will provide an overview of the island and participants will see the historic Swain Memorial Methodist Church along with other vernacular buildings. Free time will be available for participants to visit the Tangier Island Museum and Interpretive Cultural Center along with other sites.

1.5 AIA LU | HSW

AIA Member: $15
Non-Member: $30

Register Here>>
*Registration closes on October 1.

Schedule:
10:00 – Depart from Ferries (Reedville, VA, Onancock, VA)
11:30 – Arrive at Tangier’s Thomas main dock
11:35 – 12:05pm Golfcart Tour (30-minute)
12:10 – 1:10 Lunch (1-hour)
1:10-1:30 Walk together to Swain Memorial Methodist Church, continue walking together to the museum (meet the Mayor)
1:30-2:15 Free time (talk more with Mayor, go into museum [$3 entry], visit gift shops, or wander around; museum is about 7 minutes walk back to docks)
2:15 – Depart Tangier for Reedville
(departure is 3:30 for Onancock, VA)

Costs

• AIA Virginia tour fee of $15 (AIA member) or $30 (non-member)
• Ferry roundtrip $35 (each person needs to confirm and pay the ferry company themselves depending on which port they are traveling from)
• Golf cart 30-minute tour $10 (each person pays the tour provider individually, CASH is preferred)
• Lunch on your own at Lorraine’s Seafood Restaurant

Ferry Links
(MAKE YOUR RESERVATION IN ADVANCED. FERRIES CAN SELL OUT)

Reedville, VA: https://tangiercruise.com/

• Departs Reedville: 10:00am
• Departs Tangier: 2:15pm

Onancock, VA: https://www.tangierferry.com/

• Departs Onancock: 10:00am
• Departs Tangier for Onancock: 3:30pm

*Please note – The event is contingent on weather and you are required to stay in contact with the ferry to understand if the ferry might be canceled.