Hooper's Island

I was thinking about Hooper's Island, Maryland.  What an incredible fortune we had to be able to live for three and a half years there, while Jon went to seminary in DC and pastored two small churches.  We were still practically newlyweds and arrived 2.5 months before becoming parents.  Brishen lived the first years of his life, the ones he will never remember, on this island, and that is probably one of the reasons it will always hold such a dear place in my heart.

I was surprised--I don't know why--to see it has a wiki entry.  I thought this passage was the most beautiful one that seemed so true when we were there:

"Due to the geographical nature of Hoopers Island, the residents had to be self-sufficient and independent. Accordingly, the islanders maintained strong family and community ties. Once families moved to Hoopers Island, they stayed for generations. According to one source, for 300 years the population can be traced to just ten families.^[4] The outside world did not rapidly influence the way of life on the island. While in the 21st century, many places find it difficult to remain isolated, Hoopers Island maintains a sense of pride on their independence and self-sufficiency."

I love that I can find pictures online that bring back so many memories:

The Easter sunrise services were stunning!  I have never lived anywhere close to sea level before or after.

Here's our church in Hoopersville.

This is the bridge we would drive to get from one part of the island (and one church) to the other.

This hardware store was right across the street from our house.

I definitely remember the bridge looking like this, too!

This is the style of most of the island houses, including our parsonage.

A lot of the history can be found in here, including a picture of our parsonage on page 60.  

What a treat it is to remember those days!

Oh, and we went to visit the island again a few years ago, and I was blogging back then, too!