Monday, April 24, 2017

Chincoteague Island and Pony Information

Chincoteague Island is located in the state of Virginia along the Atlantic Ocean.  It is actually "sandwiched" between Assateague Island to the east, and the mainland (the Eastern Shore) to the west.  The Virginia part of Assateague is a continuation of the Assateague National Seashore, but it also consists of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (which, confusingly, is located on Assateague Island, not Chincoteague Island).  No people live on Assateague - only wild creatures.  People and businesses are located on Chincoteague Island and the mainland. (Again, there are limited camping sites on Assateague Island National Seashore on the Maryland end, accessible via the town of Berlin.  There is no camping on Assateague in Virginia.)
   For information regarding the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, please visit:
  Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - US Fish and Wildlife Service
      https://www.fws.gov/refuge/chincoteague/

  Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - Virginia State Parks
      www.stateparks.com/chincoteague.html

    For information regarding Chincoteague Island, Virginia:
http://www.chincoteague.com

http://www.chincoteaguechamber.com/

http://www.chincoteagueisland.org/

From Forbes Magazine, this article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/fathom/2014/07/26/forget-the-hamptons-chincoteague-island-is-the-place-to-be-this-summer/#5fb8325e4622

If you want to take a hands-on ecological tour and learn about marine life, take a trip with Captain Barry's Back Bay TourCruises. 
If you want to see ponies on Assateague from a boat, I suggest Captain Dan's Guaranteed Pony Tours.
If you want to get a good view of the islands and learn about the history of the area, Captain Dan's Tours and Daisey's Tours are great.

If you want to hear about the history of the island, and sit inside a comfortable van, with a true Teaguer (and CVFC Firefighter) check out Teaguers Tump Tours  with Denise Bowden, who is very involved with the Pony Round-Up each July.

   If you are seeking the most up-to-date information regarding the ponies on the southern end of Assateague Island, in Virginia - the ones made famous in the book Misty of Chincoteague - then the best place for information is the website of Darcie and Steve Cole, who own and operate DSC Photography out of Greenbackville, Virginia.  They have multiple photos of each pony - and the groups are separated into stallions, fillies and mares, and herds.  They also start a new album each year of the new babies, listing dam and sire, sex, and when the baby was first seen.  Their website may be viewed at   https://www.dscphotography.net    and they also have a great Facebook page.  There are also many other informative Facebook pages regarding Chincoteague itself - I recommend them all.
   If you want to learn the names and designations (breeding numbers) of the ponies on the Maryland end of Assateague, I highly recommend visiting two different Facebook pages:  The Assateague Island Alliance and Assateague Island Ponies.

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