If you travel to the very south of Maryland, as far as the road travels before it turns into Virginia, turn right onto 413 S and travel 13 miles more, you will hit our town Crisfield, Md. Drive to the end of the street, about 2 miles, which ends at the pier, hop a boat and travel 7 miles out, and you will find Smith Island.
Smith Island is inhabited by about 450 residents who can trace their ancestry back 12 generations, most were born and raised on this small island.
Side note:
My father-in-law's mom was born and raised on Smith Island.
The residents are mostly crab and oyster fishermen and are pretty self sufficient in many ways. Unfortunately when they come landside I have a difficult time understanding them.
Their dialect is their own.
Smith Island residents speak a distinctive dialect, employing turns of phrase that only other islanders would understand. For example, instead of 'at night' you might hear 'a night'. Some features of the dialect can be traced to Elizabethan era English, such as using the prefix a- with verbs ending in -ing, giving you: 'to go afishing.'
Yet other distinctive features involving vowels have arisen in the last 50 years. Examples: brown may sound more like brain and side may sound like sad and 'about' 'is aboot'.
So when one comes to stock their fridge they will come and place an order at our store.
A sentence like - I knew it was about time to come shopping; ends up sounding like this: 'A knew i' was aboot tame to came ashappin.
Their children are mostly homeschooled until highschool, then they hop the mailboat for a small fee and ride a half hour to get to Crisfield High school only to hop again in the afternoon and ride back.
Most residents keep a car in storage here inland so they can shop when they take the trip in shore.
They do not have local government or police department to maintain order on the island, but each community has its own Methodist church where local decisions are made, thus providing political as well as religious cohesion.
One of the local delights came directly from Smith Island. It is a think 9 to 12 thin iced layers of cake.
Everyone here gets one for their special occassions, including weddings.
I am attaching the recipe found on line.
My hubby and I purchase them for birthdays and holidays and this past Memorial day my brother and family got hooked when we got one for their visit!
Although you may accomplish the cake itself, there is nothing like purchasing one here. Without being here, it is like trying to capture the Coney dog without being at Coney Island.
Just not the same.
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Smith Island 10-Layer Cake
Frosting
2 sticks butter
2-12 oz. cans evaporated milk
8 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa
2 lbs. confectioners Sugar
Melt butter. Stir in evaporated milk (off heat).
Whisk in Cocoa until smooth, return to heat and cook for approximately 10 minutes. DO NOT BOIL or Scorch.
Remove from heat and whisk in confectioners sugar slowly.
Cook slowly until thickened and will stick to back of a spoon or to the whisk (It will form a ribbon when you drizzle a spoonful onto mixture while cooking).
Approx time: 45 minutes.
Cake
2 cups sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks
5 - eggs
3 - cups flour
¼ - teaspoon salt
heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup water
Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix into egg mixture one cup at a time. With mixer running, slowly pour in the evaporated milk, then the vanilla and water. Mix just until uniform. Put three serving spoonsful of batter in each of ten 9-inch lightly greased pans, using the back of the spoon to spread evenly. Bake three layers at a time on the middle rack of the oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. A layer is done when you hold it near your ear and you don't hear it sizzle.
Start making the icing when the first layer goes in the oven. Let the layers cool a couple of minutes in the pans. Put the cake together as the layers are finished. Run a spatula around the edge oft he pan and ease the layer out of the pan. Don't worry if it tears; no one will notice when the cake is finished. Use two or three serving spoonsful of icing between each layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the rest of the icing. Push icing that runs onto the plate back onto the cake.
To ice the cake
Take one slightly cooled layer and spread with cooled frosting. Add next layers, frosting, and repeat process till the 10th layer.
Finish frosting the cake and sides. May have to wait to ice top and sides until the icing cools.
Enjoy!
From Mrs. Kitching’s Smith Island Cookbook by Frances Kitching and Susan Stiles Dowell. Copyright ©1981 by Tidewater Publishers. Used by permission of Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Maryland (800-638-7641).
