The Legacy of a Vanished Island Landscape: The Story of Sharps Island, Maryland

By Darrin L. Lowery, Ph.D.

Discover the remarkable history of Sharps Island, once a thriving 700-acre landscape in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. Through careful research and vivid storytelling, Dr. Darrin L. Lowery traces the island’s transformation from a working farm and War of 1812 landmark to a popular Victorian-era resort—and, ultimately, to an underwater shoal shaped by relentless erosion and rising waters.

The book explores Sharps Island’s colorful past, including its grand three-story hotel, boardwalk, steamboat pier, farms, and close-knit community life. It also chronicles the island’s dramatic decline, its use as a U.S. Navy bombing range during World War II, and its final disappearance beneath the Chesapeake Bay in the mid-20th century.

Readers will also learn about the three lighthouses built to guide vessels past the island’s shifting shoreline. The last, a cast-iron caisson lighthouse constructed in 1905, still stands today with its distinctive 15-degree lean—a haunting reminder of the vanished island below.

A fascinating account of Chesapeake Bay history, coastal change, maritime heritage, and community life, The Legacy of a Vanished Island Landscape preserves the story of a place lost to the water but not forgotten.