Under the mid-range sea level rise scenario, much of the remaining landmass is expected to be lost in the next 50 years and the town will likely need to be abandoned.

Smith called the region the "Russel Isles", but it is unclear whether this name was applied originally to Tangier, the nearby Watts Island, or both.

The next year, it was transferred to Charles Scarburgh and John West, two prominent estate owners from Accomack County who used the island to graze livestock.

[14] Other common surnames on the island include Pruitt, Thomas, Marshall, Charnock, Dise, Shores, and Parks.

When a dozen British sailors were captured, their account both of the hardships encountered there, with shortages of food and water on the island, and of the construction of Fort Albion were reported in a local newspaper.

[15] Tangier was used as the base for the attack on the American capital in the decisive British victory at Bladensburg and the subsequent Burning of Washington in August 1814.

This was followed by the Battle of Baltimore, when a failed British naval bombardment and barge assault on Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor and the simultaneous Battle of North Point southeast of the city on September 12–14, 1814, influenced Francis Scott Key's writing of the poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner", named the American national anthem in 1931.

The only other currently standing church on the island is called the New Testament Congregation, established in 1946, and is a non-denominational Christian place of worship.

[21] Most of the island's institutions, including the post office, restaurants, and Tangier Combined School, are located on the Main Ridge.

[25] Port Isobel, also called East Point Marsh, lies to the east-northeast and is home to an education center owned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

[29] A 2015 study by Davide M. Schulte, Karin M. Dridge, and Mark H. Hudgins, all members of the Army Corps of Engineers, concluded that Tangier has 25–50 years of habitability remaining and that the subsidence of the ridges is ongoing since at least the mid-19th century.

The authors also conclude that the primary causes of the subsidence in the southern Chesapeake Bay region are sea-level rise due to the melting of the Laurentide ice sheet, groundwater extraction on mainland Virginia, and the remaining effects of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater near Cape Charles, Virginia, 35.5 million years ago.

[30] The town has been talking with political representatives for decades to get protection for the island in the form of jetties or sea walls.

President Donald Trump called the mayor personally to assure him that the town would survive but offered no concrete form of relief or financial aid.

[36] Tangier marshes are home to many birds, including pelicans, blue herons, rails, egrets, several varieties of ducks and geese, and osprey.

The highest point of land is barely 4 feet (1.2 m) above sea level, and about 9 acres (3.6 hectares) of Tangier shoreline are estimated to erode into the Chesapeake each year.

Local residents see their existence threatened from falling catches, state regulation of the waterman livelihood on the Bay, constant erosion, and increasingly frequent flooding.

Some residents outfit golf carts with passenger trailers to offer "historical tours" of the island for tourists.

Many non-scholarly sources (i.e. the popular media and press) report that the unique dialect originated from early European settlers from Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom,[9] but this is disputed by Shores.

Before bridges were built, the only form of transport between or off the ridges was by boat, allowing the islands to stay isolated from the mainland.

Once a major industry on the island, oystering has returned in recent years as a supplement to the more prominent crabbing business.

Historically, there were two cases of Tangier disease, a recessive genetic disorder that causes high blood cholesterol.

[50][51] The residents of Tangier enjoy regular cable television and internet access through a microwave tower installed in spring 2010.

David Nichols treated residents for thirty years, piloting a Cessna 182 or Robinson helicopter for once-a-week visits.

Methodism has been and remains a very strong influence on Tangier, stemming from the charismatic preaching and revival camp meetings held there in the early 1800s by Joshua Thomas, the famed "parson of the islands."

Because of their ties to the Northern Methodist Church, Tangier residents in the 19th century did not support slavery and did not join Virginia in seceding from the Union during the Civil War.