Vanished Chesapeake House Celebrated in Song, Video

I've posted a few pictures of the last house on Holland Island, a site where I've fished more than once, and wrote about. It's the site of my popular "Backhoe and Osprey" post as well.  The backhoe was still there the last time I visited, in fall.

A video artist teamed up with a pair of folks singers to make a video about it:

The haunting clay painting animation of the 'Ballad of Holland Island House'

If you've never seen clay-on-glass animation before, prepare to be amazed by the bittersweet beauty that is "The Ballad of Holland Island House." The award-winning short film, created by animator Lynn Tomlinson, tells the true story (with a twist) of the last standing home on Holland Island in the Chesapeake Bay.

"I stand alone in the Chesapeake Bay, against the grey horizon," the haunting tune by singers Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle begins. "But a house that's not shelter is not a home, and the seas they are a rising. And the seas they are a rising."

The Ballad of Holland Island House from Lynn Tomlinson on Vimeo.

Nicely done. I'm sure it's meant as "Global Sea Level Rise" propaganda, but it's subtle, and sticks to the truth.

Minor quibbles: The house was collapsed by a storm, and the wreckage removed rather than become dangerous floating debris rather than submerged whole as the video suggests. It's also unlikely that Yellow Perch would swim around what remains of it; the water in that region of the Bay is too salty for their liking. Make it a Speckled Trout or a Striped Bass and I'll buy it. The Blue Crab is totally appropriate.