Explore Tangier: A Tour with Luke McFadden

BY MILES LAYTON

Scrolling through my phone the other day… Found this video of Tangier native son Cameron Evans giving a tour of his hometown to Luke McFadden.  

That video – 24 Hours on America’s Disappearing Island – is excellent because McFadden gets a true taste of Tangier’s people and places thanks to Cameron.  

If you don’t know who McFadden is, well… he’s an internet sensation as a working waterman of the Chesapeake Bay. McFadden’s videos show his love for his career and along with the challenges of being a waterman. Check out McFadden’s Facebook page that has more than 123,000 followers or go to his YouTube channel that has 687,000 followers. 

This is not one of those drive-by media videos narrated by some loser mainstream media reporter who smugly talks about shrinking shorelines and global warming while ignoring/paying lip service to the island’s beauty, culture and history. 

Instead, as Cameron gives McFadden a tour around the island, they talk regular — not reporter-speak — but guy-to-guy about the houses, characters, history and the special things that make Tangier a great place to live. Here is a collection of photos from the island.

Though Cameron shares Tangier’s challenges with the bay, McFadden’s video is more about life on the island — how this community is a treasure to Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay and the nation.    

Tour shows places including Loraine’s Seafood where McFadden and his crew have a good meal, the fire department, the gas station/hardware store and the grocery store where everybody knows your name.  McFadden had a seafood meal and spent the night in Cameron’s awesome crab shanty that has a kitchen and a television. Make note to self: buy/renovate a crab shanty!  

McFadden said Mr. Beast, a social media sensation with 26 million followers based in Greenville, NC, owns a crab shanty in Tangier. 

Thanks goes to McFadden and his crew (love your videos) for doing this video and to Cameron for making this tour happen.