News
Story of Misty still brings folks to Chincoteague
ADVERTISEMENT
ONLINE EXTRA
Published: May 11, 2008
Updated: 05/11/2008 11:15 pm
CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, Va. -- Chincoteague Island, the only resort island off the coast of Virginia, owes part of its fame to a fictional pony.
Ever since reading Marguerite Henry's 1947 children's classic, Misty of Chincoteague, my youngest daugh-
ter, Sally, has wanted to visit the island of the wild ponies. Although the highlight of the year on Chincoteague is the wild-pony roundup in July, I proposed an off-season trip to avoid the crowds, the hot weather and the carnival atmosphere of the Pony Penning.
So we packed up and headed for Virginia's Eastern Shore in late March, combining the trip with spring break and her 16th birthday.
Chincoteague, which is 9 miles long and a mile and a half wide, is nestled behind the long, narrow, marsh and pond-ridden barrier island of Assateague, which stretches beyond the Virginia state line into Maryland as the Assateague Island National Seashore.
According to Lillian Mears Rew, an island historian, teacher and author of Assateague and Chincoteague: As I Remember Them, people started settling on the island in the late 17th century. The waters around Chincoteague provided a rich supply of oysters, and the islanders turned out their livestock for free grazing and safekeeping on Assateague Island. The feral ponies that live on the island today are probably descendants of these early free-ranging herds.
Although wild ponies range the length of Assateague Island, they are divided into two herds. The ponies on the Maryland side wander freely above the state line, while their Virginia cousins are restricted to marshlands on the southern tip of the island and are owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. The "Saltwater Cowboys" of the volunteer fire department round these horses up on horseback in late July, drive them across the bay and through the streets of the village to the auction site. They are auctioned to support the fire department.
Last year the bids ranged from $700 to $17,500 per pony, netting the fire department over $178,000 according to the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce.
The pony swim has become popular as a tourist attraction, swelling the island's population with tourists, pony lovers and the families of children who have read about Misty and beg to visit the island.
We rattled across the old metal truss drawbridge onto Chincoteague Island, turned left on Main Street past a quaint row of T-shirt shops, restaurants, ice-cream stands and antiques stores, and made a beeline out Beach Road to the wildlife preserve. We wanted to see the ponies right away.
As we crossed the low bridge and rolled up to the toll booths at the entrance of the preserve, we got the first indication that things operate a bit differently in the off-season.
The gates were open, but no one was home. The toll booths were empty.
As I drove past the gate into the park, I saw other cars behind me doing the same thing; slowing at the booth to pay their $5 fee, pausing, and deciding that it must be a free day. I later learned that admission is charged only on weekends during the off-season and every day during the summer.
The road wound through the maritime forest of loblolly pines and a few struggling live oaks, providing glimpses of the red and white striped Assateague lighthouse to the right. We stopped to trudge through the sandy trail and up a small hill on which the 1867 lighthouse was built, only to find it was closed.
The lighthouse is open for tours and climbing Thursday through Monday during the summer, but it's open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the offseason.
A bit farther on, the forest gave way to an open stretch along a causeway. I saw a number of cars pulled off to the graveled shoulders. People were standing along the road with cameras and binoculars, talking excitedly and pointing across the marsh.
"Ponies, Sally," I said. "I believe we're about to see a few ponies."
The ponies were a mixture of roans and paints -- that's "brown" and "white with brown splotches," to the un-horsey among us -- and looked a bit shaggy, with shedding winter coats and the marks of a rugged life in the wild. They seemed to pay no attention to the humans staring at them from the causeway, but continued munching the marsh grass. Several of the ponies had rather prominent ribs showing, but Sally assured me that was normal.
The ponies eventually wandered away. People put the cameras and binoculars back in their cars and drove off. On the other side of the causeway, standing in the glassy expanse of the Black Duck Pool, were white egrets, herons and belted kingfishers. They were probably just as happy to see the people leave. Neighboring Canada geese did not mind the people, of course. They stood around complaining loudly whether anyone was watching or not.
There are two visitor centers on Assateague Island, and we stopped at both of them. The Tom's Cove center is run by the National Park Service. It overlooks a marsh just behind the beachfront parking lots. The small facility offers a collection of beach detritus -- whalebones, shells, and the such -- a small touch tank and a few rows of books for sale.
The Herbert H. Bateman Educational and Administrative Center, an outpost of the Fish and Wildlife Service, is tucked into the maritime forest along the main road. The modern center features a theater, bookstore/gift shop, and clever exhibits illustrating the marsh environment and its wildlife.
The domestic side of Chincoteague is about what you would expect in a resort town. The houses are a mixture of styles, sizes -- from prosperous, to modest, to somewhat ramshackle. Now and then you might catch a glimpse of a pony penned in a backyard. Corn dispensers were perched at intervals along a fence, with a sign cautioning people not to hand-feed the ponies. Troughs were mounted on the fence to hold the corn and allow the ponies to eat.
Main Street runs along the Chincoteague Bay. It is an attractive mixture of family homes, vacation cottages and B&Bs. The substantial brick headquarters of the volunteer fire department, built by money from decades of pony auctions, anchors and rises above the rest of the commercial district of restaurants, used-book shops, gift shops and boutiques.
Several of the stores post small signs in their windows advertising Misty of Chincoteague for sale. A bronze statue of Misty paws in the bushes of a small municipal park in the center of downtown, and is undoubtedly a popular photo-op for young book lovers.
Visitors to the island are often reminded not to pet the ponies or try to approach them, since the ponies are wild and will bite or kick. But there is at least one place on the island where the ponies are more friendly.
The Chincoteague Pony Centre, housed in a large stable with a riding ring and pony museum, says it has "the largest herd of Misty family ponies on the island." Young pony lovers can take a pony ride, sign up for riding lessons or attend a pony show presented Monday through Saturday evenings.
If you should get a little saddle sore, there are plenty of other attractions to fill your time.
There is the beach, of course, with surf fishing, sunbathing and swimming. The local museums include the Oyster and Maritime Museum, the Refuge Waterfowl Museum, and the visitor's center for the NASA research station across the bay on the mainland. The islands are bike-friendly with paved bike trails -- and no hills -- and several bike-rental shops. Water-borne adventures are available during the season, from eco-tours by kayak to wildlife expeditions on pontoon and cruise boats.
If you go..
• Directions: The easiest land route to the island is by I-85 north to join I-95 below Richmond, Va. Then take I-64 east to Norfolk and U.S. Highway 13 across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel ( $12 toll for passenger cars), up the Eastern Shore to Va. 175 to Chincoteague Island.
• Accommodations: There are a number of motels, inns, rental cottages and B&Bs on the island. A complete listing can be found at the Web site for the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce, www.chincoteague
chamber.com. The chamber site is also an excellent guide to attractions, restaurants and services.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)
* Keep it clean
* Respect others
* Don't hate
* Don't use language you wouldn't use with your mom
* Use "Report Inappropriate Comments" link when necessary
* See Member Agreement for details
ADVERTISEMENT
N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
The Downtown Summer Music Series will begin on Thursday. Ed Bumgardner talks to some of the organizers of the Downtown Jazz lineup, in which a form of music known as "smooth jazz" will play a more prominent role this year.
Thursday's relish stories will appear in the Entertainment section.
Advertisement
Reader Comments
Posted by ( Caspergs ) on May 11, 2008 at 7:23 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
My family visited Chincoteague a couple of years ago and it was a fantastic trip. We were there for the Pony Penning, which was a little crazy, but totally worth seeing once in a lifetime. The kids will remember it forever! It is a family trip filled with trips to the ice cream shop, beaches, sitting on the front porch and just relaxing. Check it out!
Report Abuse