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Assateague
Assateague is the northernmost one of the chain of barrier islands extending from about the southern boundary of Delaware to Cape Charles, Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. This is the account of its discovery, its early inhabitants, its settlement, its recreational facilities, its natural history -- including its famous ponies, of unknown origin, which have roamed there since the late seventeenth century.
- GenresTravel
65 pages, Paperback
First published December 12, 1972
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September 5, 2025
Assateague Island is located on the mid-Atlantic coast, within the states of Maryland and Virginia, and its natural beauty received U.S. Government protection in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the enabling legislation that established the Assateague Island National Seashore. The island’s scenic qualities and its rich history both receive suitable emphasis in author William R. Wroten Jr.’s 1972 book Assateague.
Early chapters of Assateague examine the geography of the island, its original Indigenous people, and its exploration and settlement by Europeans. The chapter on “Settlement” benefited from some evocative photographs; one on page 15, taken from the top of the Assateague lighthouse in 1915, shows Assateague Village, a fragile-looking collection of houses and outbuildings that have long since passed from the scene.
In case you were wondering – yes, there is discussion of the famed Assateague ponies. And yes, this part of the book does include a look at the annual “pony penning” through which the wild ponies are rounded up and herded across the channel from Assateague Island to the town of Chincoteague, where they are auctioned off, with the proceeds benefitting Chincoteague’s volunteer fire department.
Wroten explains that “The origin of the little ponies which have become famous in book and movie is obscure. One legend is that they came ashore from a Spanish vessel which ran aground off the coast; another, that they were horses put ashore to graze by pirates who sailed these waters” (p. 27). Many modern-day residents of or visitors to the town of Chincoteague would no doubt agree with what Wroten subsequently states: “Although there is little if any definitive evidence to support either of the legends, the one told about the Spanish vessel has grown in popularity through the years. Its acceptance has become so widespread among the residents of the region as to be considered unquestionably the ‘Gospel Truth’” (p. 29).
Marguerite Henry’s 1947 novel Misty of Chincoteague, which begins with a dramatic re-creation of the Spanish-shipwreck explanation for the origin of the Assateague ponies, has no doubt made an important contribution to the durability of the legend.
Later chapters look at economic and recreational activities along Assateague Island, the work of life-savers who sought to rescue the crews and passengers of ships that had run aground off Assateague, and the inlets that have formed in response to storms throughout the island’s history. A very fine map on pages 42 and 43 shows all of the life-saving stations that the U.S. Lifesaving Service established on Assateague, along with the sites of inlets old and new.
Particularly important, of course, is the Ocean City Inlet that was opened by the Great Storm of 1933. The inlet, kept open by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for almost 100 years now, has been of great importance in Ocean City’s history; it enabled charter boats to take sport fishermen out of Sinepuxent Bay for recreational fishing in the Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf Stream waters, contributing to O.C. becoming the “White Marlin Capital of the World.”
But the inlet has made another lasting and valuable contribution. Stand at the south side of the inlet, look over at Ocean City, and you’ll see where you can find the Oceanic Motel, and Jolly Roger at the Pier, and Piezano’s Pizza – all the manufactured amusements of a coastal beach resort town. People often want to enjoy such things on a summertime holiday, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But then go over to the O.C. side, and stand at the north end of the inlet, where O.C. had its beginnings. Look over from the Oceanic Fishing Pier, or Harrison’s Harbor Watch, and you will see a beautiful, peaceful, unspoiled island, looking much the way it did when the Nanticoke and other Indigenous nations visited Assateague in search of fish and crabs and clams and oysters. That kind of place, heaven knows, needs to be preserved as well.
Assateague was published by one of my all-time favourite regional publishers – Tidewater Publishers – at Cambridge, Maryland, in 1972. This was early in the company’s history, and perhaps it is for that reason that the edition of Assateague that I obtained from the interlibrary loan service of George Washington University is more like a pamphlet than a book, bound with two staples down the spine. The publisher’s printing technology at the time was so rudimentary that, when a symbol for the British pound (£) was needed, someone had to draw it and insert it into the text! There are later editions, published in proper book form, that reflect how Tidewater Publishers eventually grew in size and reach, improved its publishing technology, and relocated to the smaller town of Centreville in Queen Anne’s County.
Author Wroten, writing in 1972, seems to be thinking of the Apollo space program of that time as he concludes his book. In the same year when the last two Apollo space flights, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17, took place, Wroten states that “Although we are exploring the great dimensions of outer space, we are still rooted to the land of our forefathers, and we must endeavor to preserve some of its beauty and grandeur for future generations” (p. 56). It is a more than suitable note on which to conclude this fine little book.
Early chapters of Assateague examine the geography of the island, its original Indigenous people, and its exploration and settlement by Europeans. The chapter on “Settlement” benefited from some evocative photographs; one on page 15, taken from the top of the Assateague lighthouse in 1915, shows Assateague Village, a fragile-looking collection of houses and outbuildings that have long since passed from the scene.
In case you were wondering – yes, there is discussion of the famed Assateague ponies. And yes, this part of the book does include a look at the annual “pony penning” through which the wild ponies are rounded up and herded across the channel from Assateague Island to the town of Chincoteague, where they are auctioned off, with the proceeds benefitting Chincoteague’s volunteer fire department.
Wroten explains that “The origin of the little ponies which have become famous in book and movie is obscure. One legend is that they came ashore from a Spanish vessel which ran aground off the coast; another, that they were horses put ashore to graze by pirates who sailed these waters” (p. 27). Many modern-day residents of or visitors to the town of Chincoteague would no doubt agree with what Wroten subsequently states: “Although there is little if any definitive evidence to support either of the legends, the one told about the Spanish vessel has grown in popularity through the years. Its acceptance has become so widespread among the residents of the region as to be considered unquestionably the ‘Gospel Truth’” (p. 29).
Marguerite Henry’s 1947 novel Misty of Chincoteague, which begins with a dramatic re-creation of the Spanish-shipwreck explanation for the origin of the Assateague ponies, has no doubt made an important contribution to the durability of the legend.
Later chapters look at economic and recreational activities along Assateague Island, the work of life-savers who sought to rescue the crews and passengers of ships that had run aground off Assateague, and the inlets that have formed in response to storms throughout the island’s history. A very fine map on pages 42 and 43 shows all of the life-saving stations that the U.S. Lifesaving Service established on Assateague, along with the sites of inlets old and new.
Particularly important, of course, is the Ocean City Inlet that was opened by the Great Storm of 1933. The inlet, kept open by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for almost 100 years now, has been of great importance in Ocean City’s history; it enabled charter boats to take sport fishermen out of Sinepuxent Bay for recreational fishing in the Atlantic Ocean’s Gulf Stream waters, contributing to O.C. becoming the “White Marlin Capital of the World.”
But the inlet has made another lasting and valuable contribution. Stand at the south side of the inlet, look over at Ocean City, and you’ll see where you can find the Oceanic Motel, and Jolly Roger at the Pier, and Piezano’s Pizza – all the manufactured amusements of a coastal beach resort town. People often want to enjoy such things on a summertime holiday, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
But then go over to the O.C. side, and stand at the north end of the inlet, where O.C. had its beginnings. Look over from the Oceanic Fishing Pier, or Harrison’s Harbor Watch, and you will see a beautiful, peaceful, unspoiled island, looking much the way it did when the Nanticoke and other Indigenous nations visited Assateague in search of fish and crabs and clams and oysters. That kind of place, heaven knows, needs to be preserved as well.
Assateague was published by one of my all-time favourite regional publishers – Tidewater Publishers – at Cambridge, Maryland, in 1972. This was early in the company’s history, and perhaps it is for that reason that the edition of Assateague that I obtained from the interlibrary loan service of George Washington University is more like a pamphlet than a book, bound with two staples down the spine. The publisher’s printing technology at the time was so rudimentary that, when a symbol for the British pound (£) was needed, someone had to draw it and insert it into the text! There are later editions, published in proper book form, that reflect how Tidewater Publishers eventually grew in size and reach, improved its publishing technology, and relocated to the smaller town of Centreville in Queen Anne’s County.
Author Wroten, writing in 1972, seems to be thinking of the Apollo space program of that time as he concludes his book. In the same year when the last two Apollo space flights, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17, took place, Wroten states that “Although we are exploring the great dimensions of outer space, we are still rooted to the land of our forefathers, and we must endeavor to preserve some of its beauty and grandeur for future generations” (p. 56). It is a more than suitable note on which to conclude this fine little book.
December 14, 2020
Dated but wonderfully comprehensive.
November 7, 2016
Nice little paperback with some black and white pictures.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews