At that time, the larger piece was home to the town of Valliant, a community of about 100 residents, with its own post office, school, general store, and a sawmill.

[3][4][5] In the relatively calm years between 1880 and 1920, about 15 families enjoyed community life on the island, which boasted productive farmlands, tobacco barns, a sawmill, schoolhouse, post office, and general store.

A clubhouse built on Poplar Island during the 1930s had two presidents among its vacationing guests, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.

The island when viewed in December 2017 on Google Earth satellite photos shows many odd colored pools of water and much environmental degradation.

This project is intended to allow for the long-term restoration of the island while keeping the Chesapeake's deep-draft shipping channels open, maintaining Baltimore as a major port, and halting the earlier practice of open-water dumping.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began reconstruction of the island in 1998 with the erection of dikes to contain the dredged material.

Work on James Island depends upon the project's inclusion in federal grants for the Water Resources Development Act, however, and funding had not yet been approved as of March 2011.

The Poplar Island restoration project will not use material dredged from close to Baltimore, which may be contaminated with heavy metals.

This prompted the Fish and Wildlife Service to undertake an active environmental education and volunteer program on in the island, including the popular Terrapin Bay.

"[8] Both the Poplar Island and Hart-Miller Island restoration projects are overseen by Maryland Environmental Service, an independent Maryland State agency responsible for finding innovative solutions to the region's most complex environmental challenges and preserving the region's natural resources for generations to come.