Off the ridges, the wind that sweeps the wetlands on many a spring day carries the gassy stink of sun-drying mud. But no exhaust, no soot, and no sirens or screeching brakes, either. Among its guts of slow, shimmery water and peaty black muck, Tangier seems almost lost in time. The Bay complicates the simplest tasks, turns minor emergencies major. Doctors fly out from the mainland twice a week, and a dentist once a month, but the hospital in Salisbury, Md., is 30 minutes away by helicopter.
Houses share what little high ground remains with epitaphs to a long and busy past.