An Island Out of Time

Although Smith Island lies only nine miles off the Maryland mainland, its 500 inhabitants live much as their ancestors did 300 years ago. As fishermen, they are well aware of the fact that their lives literally depend on which way the wind is blowing. Tom Horton spent three years living among the island's watermen and their families to create this marvelously intimate portrait of a deeply traditional community and its vanishing way of life. Map.