Nestled in the heart of the Chesapeake Bay is a tiny island community that is the last of its kind.

On Smith Island, there is no hospital or police station. There are few cars and just one school. The doors stay unlocked at night.

This small utopia is the only remaining inhabited island in Maryland, where the 267 residents make their living catching oysters and blue crabs. Many islanders can trace their ancestry back to the English colonists who settled the island in the 17th century. Today, they still speak in the Cornish dialect of these ancestors.

But these residents may be Smith Island’s last.

Similar to the surrounding islands who have all lost their communities, Smith Island is falling victim to erosion and rising waters. In the Chesapeake Bay, the water is rising at twice the world average, and the land around the Bay is sinking. Scientists estimate that this island town will be underwater sometime in the next 30 to 100 years.

Despite this despairing future, the residents remain optimistic, going about their days catching crabs, going to church, and sustaining the community that has defined Smith Island for centuries.