Dewey Crockett – Living Language Fossil
Tangier Island is a remote community in North America in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Located twelve miles across the water from Crissfield, Maryland, the closest larger community, Tangier Island for a long time was isolated and insular. Some have called it a language fossil because many people speak with an accent close to that of Elizabethan England. Dewey Crockett was born and grew up on the island. In 1995, when this program was recorded, he was a social studies teacher, a Methodist minister, the Mayor, and the undertaker for Tangier Island. I spoke with Dewey Crockett about Tangier Island, its history, and some of the issues of the time.
Dewey Crockett recommends “The Parson of the Island,” by Adam Wallace.
Originally Broadcast: August 7, 1995
Click here to begin listening.
Podcast: Download
Post a comment