Tangier Island linked to Urbanna, awarded a $2.3 million grant

For generations, oyster grounds off Urbanna Creek, known as Hoghouse and Ball Point bars, have brought Tangier Island oystermen to Urbanna.

The August 1933 storm brought 13 Tangier Island families to Urbanna, where they made the town their home. Two weeks ago, Jonsey Payne passed away. He was last of the children of Dora and Avery Payne who came to Urbanna to live after the storm. One of the Payne children, the late Beatrice Payne Taylor, was the first female elected mayor of the Town of Urbanna.

There are presently third and fourth generation islanders living in town. When there is good news on Tangier Island, it is also good news for the Town of Urbanna and Middlesex County.

The town of Tangier Island, Va., has been awarded a $2.3 million grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that will provide funding to create safe storage of fuel and continued supply of fuel and fuel oil to the island.

Tangier Island sits in the middle of Chesapeake Bay with a population of about 375 people. The majority of residents make their living working the water.

The current fuel facility, along with the transportation and delivery of fuel to the island by way of a fuel barge towed by a tugboat, have been privately owned for years.

“The owner of the fuel plant was going to close it down,” said the mayor of Tangier, James “Ooker” Eskridge. “If the fuel plant closed down, that would have been catastrophic to our community. We would not have accessible fuel to run our boats and fuel oil to heat our homes.”

“We are very grateful to DEQ because the community did not have the money to do all this,” he said. The town has already taken over the operation of the fuel station, hiring a secretary and two dock workers, said Mayor Eskridge…