Chincoteague Island and Assateague Island

Most famous for their ponies, these two islands are located on the northern coast of Virginia, just bordering Maryland. Like many Virginia islands, these two are barely rise above sea level and are not very large, but narrow barrier islands. Chincoteague Island does have year round residents, but most people flock to this island during the last Wednesday and Thursday in July for the pony swim and auction. To understand the pony swim, one must first understand these wild ponies.

On nearby Assateague Island, a herd of wild ponies live, graze, and play; they are truly the stars of these islands. These ponies, called Chincoteague ponies (they are a unique brand of ponies), are rumored to be descendents of ponies that survived Spanish shipwreck and swam to shore. The arrival of the ponies, and consequent shipwreck of a Spanish galleon, is roughly placed in the 16th century. Since their arrival, no human has ever been successful in domesticating these beautiful ponies.

Every year, crowds (you really wouldn’t believe how popular this event is until you see it for yourself) gather on Chincoteague and watch the ponies swim the short inlet from Assateague Island to Chincoteague. The ponies don’t exactly leave on their own volition; there are trained people who herd up a group of ponies and coax them to swim across the inlet. Once this selected group makes it to the other shore, they are penned and sold in an auction. If this treatment seems harsh, it really isn’t – the proceeds go to local charities and the yearly cleansing of the ponies ensures that Assateague Island will be able to sustain the pony population for yet another year. Since there are no natural predators on the island, if the ponies were left unchecked, the ecosystem would be destroyed and the ponies would perish. This event really does take place with the best interest of the animals in mind, and the auctioned ponies go off and delight people all around the country.

Assateague Island does is not only home to wild ponies, but to heron, cranes, migratory birds, and deer. The waters off the coasts of these islands teem with fish (which explains why the main cuisine on these islands consist of seafood), and the Assateague Island National Seashore is where you can see many of these animals. There are guided tours, but in the afternoon you have the option of driving yourself around the tiny island. This seashore, and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, provide Virginia with clean, pristine, unsullied beaches. Compare this empty beach with the crowded atmosphere that is Virginia Beach, and the stark difference becomes even clearer.

A famous writer, Marguerite Henry, made the island and the ponies famous with her work Misty of Chincoteague. This book later became the basis for a movie, and Misty the horse has her hoof prints cemented on Main Street. The Assateague Lighthouse has a unique history for the South – at the time of the Civil War, these two Islands sided with the Union, not the Confederacy like the rest of Virginia, and as a result this lighthouse was Virginia’s only operational lighthouse throughout the Civil War.

Besides nature and history, NASA has the Wallops Flight Facility located on Assateague Island, and it is here that they do orbit tracking, tests, etc. This research center isn’t very big, but you can t our parts of it and see interesting exhibits. There are several great seafood joints on these islands, and there are cute little bed and breakfasts too. Places to eat, things to do, and places to see can all be found on our homepage under their respective titles.



Virginia Tourists Guide