Assateague Island is an island that lies along the Atlantic Coast of the United States . The narrow, sandy island lies east of the Eastern Shore of the Southern States of Maryland and Virginia . The northern part of the island is in Maryland, and the remainder is in Virginia. The island is best known for its population of small wild ponies.
Assateague Island stretches about 37 miles (60 kilometers) along the southeastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula, which contains most of the state of Delaware and eastern parts of Maryland and Virginia. Chincoteague and Sinepuxent bays, inlets of the Atlantic Ocean , lie to the west of Assateague Island. The island’s widest section is only about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) across.
Ocean currents, erosion, and storms have shifted the island’s borders and dimensions over thousands of years. Historians date the island’s present form to August 1933, when a powerful hurricane accelerated the erosion of Assateague’s northern end, separating it from its connection to the mainland near Ocean City, Maryland.
The Eastern Shore region was home to several Native American groups prior to the arrival of European settlers in the 1600’s. An Algonquian tribe known as the Assateague used Assateague Island as fishing and hunting grounds during the warmer months. English colonists later grazed livestock there. Legends claim that the island’s wild ponies descend from the survivors of a Spanish shipwreck, but most historians believe they descend from horses left by English settlers.
A lighthouse was built near the southern end of Assateague Island in 1833. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1867. The light is maintained today by the United States Coast Guard . Settlers established a village near the lighthouse, but residents deserted the community in the 1920’s and 1930’s. In the 1940’s, the federal government purchased land on the Virginia side of the island primarily for a refuge for migrating birds. Private landowners began developing a residential community on the northern part of the island in the 1950’s, but construction largely stopped after a 1962 storm destroyed many buildings and buried the main road. The federal government began purchasing the Maryland section of the island in 1965, after an act of Congress established Assateague Island National Seashore. Assateague State Park opened to the public in 1965. The federal government completed its proposed land purchases for the national seashore in 1982.
Today, the Maryland side of the island is made up of Assateague Island National Seashore, administered by the National Park Service; and Assateague State Park, run by the Maryland Park Service. The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, covers the Virginia section of the island. The waters surrounding the island—extending as far as ½ mile (0.8 kilometer) from shore—are also a part of the national seashore.
A popular event in the area is Pony Penning on nearby Chincoteague Island, held annually in late July. Horse wranglers from the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company drive wild ponies from Assateague Island across the shallow channel to Chincoteague. Some of the ponies are sold at auction as part of an effort to control their population.
