Tangier Island

Location: U.S. Atlantic Coast, just off Virginia
Size: Three miles long by one mile wide
Population: 727

This little island 12 miles off of northern Virginia is one of the last isolated fishing villages left on the Chesapeake Bay. Out here it's a completely different world. Locals speak in a thick accent that sounds like a cross between Elizabethan English and the Old South. They drive golf carts on the virtually carless island. And the salty Tangier watermen still carry on the centuries-old tradition of harvesting crabs in the bay.

Island time
During a waterman tour, a Tangier captain teaches you how to pull crab pots. Try the incredible crab bisque and crab cakes made by wives of watermen at Fisherman's Corner Restaurant. Rent a free kayak at the Tangier History Museum and Interpretive Cultural Center and follow the island's water trails.

Getting here
Three seasonal ferries (one to one-and-a-half hours) and two year-round ferries (45 minutes) link the island with mainland Virginia and Maryland. There's also a small Tangier Island Airport.