By Miles Layton
When Mark Barber was a civil engineer working for the Army Corps of Engineers, traveling the country from White Sands, New Mexico to Washington, D.C., he figured he knew where his story ended — retirement, a fishing lot on Tangier Island, and puttering around on golf carts.
He did not figure on Muddy Toes.
“This fell in our lap, and here we are,” Barber said with a laugh. “Where we’re going next, I have no idea.”
Barber and his wife, Allison Meyerowitz Barber, co-own the Muddy Toes Cafe on Tangier, Virginia, a small island in the Chesapeake Bay accessible only by boat or small plane. The couple moved to the island from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, drawn by something that’s harder to measure than a tide chart — a feeling.
“We liked the tightness of the community, the safety of the community,” Barber said. “There are some of the greatest people in the world that live here. I truly believe that with my whole heart.”
A Roundabout Route to Tangier
The road to Tangier began, oddly enough, with a foreclosure listing in upstate New York. Barber was searching for a restaurant property on the snowmobile trails when he stumbled across a mislisted property near Four Brothers restaurant on Tangier.
“They accidentally had the house next to Four Brothers listed as a foreclosure,” he said. “So we came to the island.”
They tried Smith Island first. “There wasn’t a lot going on, it was very slow,” Barber said. Locals pointed them toward Tangier, and the couple made the trip. What they found changed everything.
“We met so many good people. We just had a great time. We enjoyed the people, the community, the island,” he said. “I asked my wife, ‘Would you consider moving there?’ She said, ‘I would.’ So here we are.”
Allison’s health was part of the calculation. She survived a catastrophic car accident in 1995 that left her in a coma for three weeks. Doctors told her parents she might not survive, and if she did, she likely wouldn’t be able to count money, talk, or walk.
“She’s basically a miracle,” Barber said. “Over the last 20 years we’ve been together, we’ve come a long way.”
The island’s close-knit, walkable community made it a natural fit. “We like the safety of the island,” he said. “We like the fact that the religion on the island is very tight, and the people on the island — there are just so many great people.”
No Coffee, Big Idea
The couple didn’t arrive on Tangier with a restaurant plan. They arrived as visitors who couldn’t find a cup of coffee.
“We stayed overnight here and one of the things that really grabbed me was there was no place to get a cup of coffee,” Barber said. “Woke up in the morning, couldn’t find a cup of coffee to save my life.”
Walking past the shuttered café space, Allison turned to her husband. “She said to me, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could just own that?'” Barber recalled. “And I was like, ‘Nothing’s out of reach.'”
The previous owners — three partners based out of the Eastern Shore — had been running occasional pop-up openings, coming to the island for a weekend or a week at a time. Barber tracked them down and made an offer.
“She said she’d be happy to entertain an offer. We made an offer and she accepted it,” he said. “Within about a month we were in operation.”
The Island Kept Them Going
The first summer was modest. The first winter tested them. But Tangier’s year-round residents showed up.
“I owe it all to them, I really do,” Barber said. “They are the ones that supported us all winter long when we were here when there was no tourists. The people from the island are the ones that actually kept us going, so we could still be here in the summer.”
Now heading into their first full summer tourist season, Barber said business has been strong, with tour groups and day-trippers keeping the kitchen busy. He’s made connections with the Brigandune Inn and works alongside neighbor Cameron Evans.
“God works in mysterious ways and I guess he brought us here for a reason,” he said.
His favorite thing to make? He paused.
“Unfortunately, it’s a milkshake. I am kind of addicted to them.” His go-to: vanilla with two Reese’s cups ground in. “It’s just — oh, it’s great.”
Living Like It’s 1985
After 15 years with the Army Corps and another 15 running a ServiceMaster franchise, Barber said Tangier has given him something no career ever did.
“I feel like I am actually living back when I was in high school, 1985,” he said. “You walk into the restaurant, everybody’s talking to each other across the tables. You go back to Philly, they’re sitting there texting each other across the tables. It’s like going back in time.”
He’s even gotten used to neighbors walking straight into the house — mostly.
“I have a little hard time getting used to it,” he admitted. “We’re from Philly. But it’s just a common thing here. It reminds me of Mayberry. It’s how I feel.”
He looks out at the Tangier Sound from his home, watches boats tie up in the shallow water at night, and traces satellites across a sky unbothered by city lights.
“I’ve seen things in the sky that I didn’t think existed,” he said. “This island is very, very unique. I probably wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
Miles Layton may be reached at mileslayton1969@gmail.com
Tangier Island, Virginia 