TOUR: Smith Island

                                                                                                                                                    Photo Credit: Dana Insley & Tracey Johns 

Smith Island is the hub of the country’s soft shell crab industry. From May through September, the area bustles with crab boats, crab picking and workers tending to the soft shell crustaceans in the crabber’s shanties.

Located 9 miles off of Crisfield, MD in the heart of the Chesapeake Bay, Smith Island’s marshy archipelago has preserved an extraordinary natural environment and island culture.

Once home to 800 residents, Smith Island now has 240 year round residents, spread between the villages of Ewell, Rhodes Point and Tylerton. In Tylerton, separated by water from the other villages, visitors can watch the day’s catch being picked at the Smith Island Crab Co-op and purchase fresh crabmeat to bring home.

View the Smith Island Tour schedule.

Thanks to our sponsors for making this tour a success!

McAllister, DeTar, Showalter & Walker LLChere

Tri-County for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland

BEACON – Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University

Crisfield – Smith Island Cultural Alliance

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Special thanks to those who helped us plan this event:

Somerset County Tourism

Somerset County Economic Development