Second Misty Descendant Born Wild On Assateague; Misty's Stable Burns To Ground

WH Wildfire delivered a foal on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge (CNWR) on Assateague Island this morning.  The foal (number 58) was sired by Surfer's Riptide, and appears to be a minimally marked chestnut tobiano, like her dam.  They were spotted across a marsh and behind tall grass and bushes.  This is the best of the five photos taken:

Misty of Chincoteague was bred and born on Chincoteague Island by Clarence Beebe.  Her sire was called the Pied Piper, as in the book with her name, and her dam was a black tobiano named The Phantom.  Marguerite Henry was visiting Chincoteague during Pony Penning 1946, and was interviewing the Beebe family for her book.  She fell in love with the foal, purchased her, and Mr Beebe shipped Misty to Fort Wayne, Indiana when she was weaned.  Misty of Chincoteague was published in 1947 and won the Newbery Award for Children's Literature that year.  The rest is history.
    Misty returned to Chincoteague in 1958, and lived the rest of her life there.  When Clarence Beebe died, she was moved to Ralph Beebe's Ranch, a little further north on Ridge Road, where she lived in a large stall with pasturage, until her death in 1972.  But she never ran free on Assateague Island during her life.
    In the past several years, the Chincoteague pony herds on the CNWR have lost quite a few ponies, both mares and weanlings, due to equine pythiosis (also known as "swamp cancer").  Several people who owned descendants of the real Misty decided over the past three years to donate two colts, two fillies, and seven adult mares to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, who are the legal owners of the ponies that run free on Assateague in Virginia.  One colt, named Winter, a cremello, with blue eyes, did not do well in the wild, and is now owned privately again.
   The first donation was a black tobiano colt, and it was announced he was named "Saltwater Renegade."  - I loved that name. - Once his registration papers were opened to the public, it was revealed his name was WH Rainy's Beach Boy; so Beach Boy he is.  there is a possibility that he is the sire of two foals born so far this year - but there is no certainty.  The two possible foals are numbers 31 and 46, those whose mothers' are Little Miss Sunshine and Milly Sue.
   Then the CVFC was presented with seven ponies - one was the colt named Winter, who is now living in Pennsylvania.  The others were all females: the youngest were Calendar Girl and Surfette, along with WH Summer Shandy, WH Sundance, WH Wildfire (see photo above), and WH Winter Moon.  This past year, the CVFC were gifted with WH Bailey's Star, WH Tidewater Treasure, and WH Millenium Moon (aka Oreo).  All of the Misty ponies are now on Assateague, except Star, who is still at the Carnival Grounds on Chincoteague.

   ********************

And a last note -  My Mom was a close relation of Mrs Ida Beebe, Clarence's wife; she grew up calling them Uncle Clare and Aunt Ida.  As a relative, when I was a child, I rode Misty and her daughters, Wisp o' Mist and Stormy, around Misty Meadows, at Ralph Beebe's house, ranch, and stable on Ridge Road.  I knew the stalls of Misty and Stormy very well.  The barn on Ralph's land started out as a chicken house, and was converted for the ponies to use as a barn. It's been there since the mid-1940s.

  On the night of 25 June 2019, there was a huge fire on Chincoteague Island, on Ridge Road, at Misty's old barn.  A few posts still stand, but that is all.  Ralph Beebe's son, Billy, and his wife were away on vacation.  The ponies, goat, and other animal residents were saved from the flames by neighbors and the CVFC, as was the house.  Two homes that were close to the barn and belonged to neighbors suffered some fire damage.

   But Misty's home is no more....   Another bit of island heritage and history is gone.  The house that Clarence and Ida Beebe lived in, and raised six kids plus two grandchildren in, burned to the ground in 1996....

Maureen Beebe, of "Misty of Chincoteague" Fame, Has Died

My cousin Maureen Beebe has passed away.  Maureen was a very private person and might be upset that I am posting this, but I felt the world should know a little bit about the real Maureen Beebe; not the fictional character that Marguerite Henry wrote of in her Newbery Award winning children's book, Misty of Chincoteague.
   Marguerite Henry had been told of Chincoteague and the wild pony round-up known as Pony Penning, and she talked her editors into a book deal about the wild ponies.  Mrs Henry stayed at Miss Molly's Inn while visiting the island in 1946, and she interviewed a lot of islanders, asking about the history of the ponies, and the history of Pony Penning itself.  One of the people she was told would be a fount of information was Clarence Beebe, who had his own Chincoteague pony farm on the southeast end of the island.
   Clarence Beebe was both a waterman and a farmer (or rancher) on the island.  He raised ponies, which he sold, pigs, chickens, and the occasional cow with calf.  He also worked as a waterman, harvesting fish, crabs, clams, and oysters, all to feed his family of eleven children.  He had married Ida Whealton in 1906 and the family grew quickly.  His sixth child was Harold Beebe, the father of Paul and Maureen.  Paul was born on 1936 and Maureen in 1937.  Due to family difficulties, Paul and Maureen ended up being raised by their grandparents, Clarence and Ida.  (Clarence and Ida's daughter Alma was born 5 January 1921; my Mother, Alma's first cousin once removed, was born on 28 January 1921.  The two were life-long friends, and Alma gave me a lot of Beebe family heirlooms before her death.)
  Marguerite visited the Beebe Ranch on 1 August 1946, and saw the new foal that had been born the day before - on Pony Penning Day.  The mother of the foal was named The Phantom because she blended into the shadows of the pine trees when she was born - she was a black and white pinto mare from Assateague.  The sire was one of Clarence Beebe's Chincoteague Pony stallions, named The Pied Piper.  Mrs Henry fell in love with the foal, who was golden and white and "looked like it had been wrapped in mist and fog."  That's how Misty came about.  Mrs Henry purchased the foal from Beebe Ranch and the foal was shipped to Fort Wayne, Indiana when Misty was weaned.
  In the meantime, Mrs Henry was charmed by Paul and Maureen, independent youngsters being raised by their grandparents, who worked very hard on the ranch, and really loved the ponies they worked with.  And so, her idea for the story was born.  Each of the four Beebes - (Grandpa) Clarence, (Grandma) Ida, Paul, and Maureen - were paid $100 apiece for the use of their names in the book Misty of Chincoteague.  I don't know what Clarence and Ida did with their payment; but the $100 was put into savings accounts for both Paul and Maureen, for their use once they each reached the age of 20. (Paul died after an automobile accident at the age of 21; he had just finished a hitch in the US Marine Corps, and had signed on for a 4-year stint with the US Coast Guard.)
   That is the only money that Paul and Maureen ever received for the use of their names in the book and in the movie, Misty, which was released in 1961.  A lot of people believe(d) that the Beebes received royalties from the books and movie. They did not.  Maureen was inundated with fan letters for her entire life, and really hated receiving mail.  She was in contact with Marguerite Henry until Mrs Henry's death in 1997.  She met Pam Smith, who portrayed her in the movie, and stayed in contact with her.
   Maureen married twice.  Her second marriage produced two daughters, of whom she was extremely proud.  She was widowed when both of her girls were young, and she returned quietly to Chincoteague to live the rest of her life, and raise her daughters on the island. She became somewhat of a recluse, and was a very private person.  Once visitors to the island found out who this quiet woman was, she was swamped with personal questions and requests and always for photographs.  She did not want to be a celebrity.  She wanted to stay at home and love her Irish Setters, and her horses and ponies.  She still loved horses and ponies of all kinds until the day she died.  She could take a five minute trial ride on any horse and know exactly what that horse or pony was capable of, and how it had been trained.  She was one of the most incredible horsewomen I have ever known.
   Maureen's health had declined over the past three years.  She was always a little more frail each time I saw her.  She passed away a few days ago.  All of her family and friends are grieving.

***  Visitation will be held at Salyer's Funeral Home on Church Street on Chincoteague on Thursday, May 30, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.  ***

Maureen Beebe jumping The Phantom

Maureen & Paul Beebe

Maureen Beebe at AJ's On the Creek during

Pony Penning a few years ago...

Misty of Chincoteague - and Why I Love the Island So Very Much

  I have always been "horse crazy" and so was my Mother up into her 30s.  Luckily she recognized my life-long obsession at an early age, and encouraged it as much as possible.  Mom was born and raised on Chincoteague Island.  The maternal side of her family traces back to some of the earliest settlers on Chincoteague and Assategue Islands, while her great-grandfather was a Danish immigrant who married into the Whealton family, and her father was a Swede who married into the Peterson and Tarr families.  Most people on Chincoteague are related through generations of cousins inter-marrying, and my maternal side is the usual Teaguer mish-mash of intertwined relatives.   (My Dad was an Oklahoma/Kansas farm boy who joined the Navy and was stationed at NAS Chincoteague.)
   The book Misty of Chincoteague made the island famous.  The "quaint" tradition of the pony round-up and selling of the youngsters had been written up in newspapers and magazines since the 1870s - and there are several old movie-theater newsreels covering Pony Penning prior to the book being published.  Marguerite Henry visited the island of Chincoteague in 1946 during the annual Pony Penning festivities.  When she made it known she was writing a book about the ponies, she was introduced to one of the private pony breeders on Chincoteague - Clarence Beebe.  She visited the Beebe Ranch on the southeast tip of Chincoteague frequently during her stay at Miss Molly's Inn on Main Street.  At the Beebe Ranch, she met Clarence's wife, Ida Whealton Beebe, and their two grandchildren, Paul and Maureen, whom the grandparents were raising.
   While on the island, Maureen's favorite riding pony, Phantom, gave birth (on 20 July 1946) to a palomino pinto filly, sired by Clarence Beebe's chestnut pinto stallion, the Pied Piper.  Marguerite Henry fell in love with the foal - and purchased her for $150 - with the promise of Clarence to ship her to Fort Wayne, Indiana when she was weaned.  Ms Henry also promised to use the real names of the Beebe family in her book, and each of those four Beebes were paid $100 each for the use of their names.  (Other than the fame from the books, this is the only monetary recompense that any of the Beebes ever received.)
   Ms Henry worked away valiantly on her book, Misty of Chincoteague, and it was published by Rand McNally in 1947.  In 1948, it won the coveted Newbery Award from the American Library Association.  It is a fictional account of two siblings being raised by their grandparents on Chincoteague Island, and their desire for a pony of their very own. How the two children work hard and save up enough money to purchase the wild pony they see, followed by heartbreak, and ending with an up-lifting gesture of freedom has won hearts around the world. Misty became a celebrity, and Ms Henry took her to library conventions throughout the United States.  She was taught to step onto a stool and shake "hands" with people wanting to meet her.  She was also a useful riding pony, being ridden in English gear with a double-reined Pelham bridle.
   The next book that Marguerite wrote about Chincoteague was titled Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague (published in 1949), after a visit to the island in 1948, where she witnessed the death of an orphaned foal. 
   In 1958, Ms Henry sent Misty back to Chincoteague to become a mother. Mares can be particular, and Misty was no exception - she fought off the advances of several stallions, and finally accepted the love of Wings in 1959.  She had three foals with Wings in three successive years - Phantom Wings arrived in 1960; Wisp O'Mist in 1961; and Stormy in 1962.  Phantom Wings was a palomino pinto like his dam; he produced only one known foal, a son named Sandpiper.  The fates of both ponies are unknown.  Wisp O'Mist was a solid chestnut mare, who also had only one foal, a solid palomino son named Cloudy, who was gelded.  Misty's third foal was Stormy, born after the disastrous Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962.  All of the ponies labeled "Misty family" ponies today are descendants of Stormy, a chestnut pinto mare with a small crescent moon on her forehead.
   The Ash Wednesday Storm killed a majority of the ponies running wild on Assateague.  Ms Henry immediately sat down at her typewriter and began writing Stormy, Misty's Foal, which was published in 1963.  And children around the world started saving money and sending it  for the replenishment of the herds on Chincoteague.  A  lot of people who had purchased ponies from the island previously gave them back so there would be wild ponies on the island once again.
   In 1960, 20th Century Fox made a movie of Marguerite Henry's book - the movie was simply titled Misty.  It was released in 1961, and was a quiet children's movie hit, but not a block buster.  The movie starred  Pam Smith as Maureen Beebe, David Ladd (son of Alan Ladd) as Paul Beebe, and Arthur O'Connell and Anne Seymour as Clarence and Ida (Grandpa and Grandma) Beebe.  The movie had used trained Welsh ponies as the Chincoteague ponies; and the foal portraying Misty was a liver chestnut, who had to have her fur dyed on an almost daily basis.
   With the Ash Wednesday Storm still a huge news item, the movie was re-released and Margueritr Henry and Misty made multiple appearances around the country, raising funds to replenish the ponies.  It was a great success.
    Paul Beebe, unfortunately, died from an automobile accident in April of 1957.  He had finished a stint in the US Marine Corps and had just joined the US Coast Guard.   Clarence Beebe passed away two months later in June of 1957.  Ida Whealton Beebe passed away in October 1960, just after the filming of the movie.  She never visited the film set.  Maureen Beebe is still living on Chincoteague, but she shuns the spotlight.  One of her daughters is a photographer and artist on the island, while the other daughter runs a charter Fishing boat service out of Puerto Rico, returning to Chincoteague during her off times.  - Misty herself passed away in her sleep on 26 October 1972 at the age of 26.  Stormy passed away in 1993, at the age of 31.
   Through my Mom's maternal family, we are cousins to Ida Whealton Beebe.  Mom used to walk from her home on Peterson Street down to the Beebe Ranch almost every Sunday afternoon in hope that "Uncle Clare" would allow her to do some chores around the Ranch and be able to ride one of his ponies with her cousin, Alma Beebe (Maureen and Paul's aunt).  So I come by my love for Chincoteague ponies very legitimately.  As a youngster, I rode Misty, Stormy, and Cloudy.  Stormy's son, Thunder, took a golf-ball sized piece of flesh out of my back one day while I was grooming him.  It took 38 stitches to close the hole, and I can still stick the ball of my thumb in it - almost 37 years later.
  Even though Misty and her immediate family never actually ran wild on Chincoteague, there are currently six descendants of Misty running free on Assateague.  All of the ponies were bred and born off the island, but were donated back to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company (who actually own the ponies) to re-establish the Misty line on the islands.  The following ponies were all sired by Walnut Hills Nightwind, a direct descendant of Misty: Beach Boy (a young stallion), and the mares and fillies named Sundance, Wildfire, Summer, Surfette (WH Surf and Sun) and Calendar Girl.  Winter Moon, usually shortened to Moon, does not have a pedigree listed.

Maureen Beebe riding the Phantom:

Misty was a rather small 12 hands high:

Misty and her first foal, Phantom Wings:

Misty and Stormy 2 months after the Ash Wednesday Storm - during the storm

Misty was "stalled" in the kitchen of the Beebe house:

** The first two photos are from the website Misty's Heaven  at   www.mistysheaven.com   **

Spring Pony Round-Up - April 7 & 8

The world famous Chincoteague ponies will have one of their three annual round-ups this Friday and Saturday.  The ponies, made famous in Marguerite Henry's book, Misty of Chincoteague, which 20th Century Fox made into a movie in 1960 (released in 1961) titled "Misty,"  live year round on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the barrier island of Assateague, in the state of Virginia.
   The island of Assateague is 33 miles long, and is located in both the state of Maryland and the state of Virginia.  All of Assateague Island is a designated National Seashore - and ponies roam free in both states on the island.  The ponies in Maryland, on the northern end of the island, are completely feral and receive no medical care - other than the females receiving contraception darts each year, to prevent over-breeding, which would lead to over-grazing, which would lead to a starvation death.
   The ponies on the southern end of Assateague are another story.  They are actually owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, they receive veterinarian care, are fed hay in snow storms, have firemen chop away ice at water holes when they freeze over during the winter, and are rounded up for care three times a year.  Other than the week of Pony Penning, which occurs during the last Wednesday and Thursday in July, the ponies have free range in the north and south compartments of the Virginia section of Assateague.
   Each pony is checked by veteran horsemen and a licensed local veterinarian (and his technicians), they receive their annual shots and have their blood taken to test for diseases.  Hoofs are trimmed, if needed, teeth are floated (filed) if needed.  Every single known pony will be checked out, and looked for, if missing.
   So far, as of 9 p.m. Mountain Time tonight, April 5, there are four new 2017 foals in the herds.  All four are sired by Tornado's Legacy, a buckskin pinto stallion.  There are three fillies and one colt.  Suede, a first-time mother in Riptide's herd, produced a handsome sorrel colt, allowed him to nurse and then abandoned him.  The CVFC had a mini-round-up, got the mare and foal back together, and trailered them to a farm for bonding and better growth.  The colt passed away after 4 days, even though he was nursing and looked well.
    The northern herds on the Virginia end of Assateague will be rounded up, examined, vaccinated and released on Friday, 7 April.  The southern herds will be rounded up and processed on Saturday, April 8th.  On Saturday, also, the nearly yearlings who spent the winter at the Chincoteague Carnival Grounds will be checked over and then released onto Assateague until the summer round-up and swim.
   This year, the Annual Pony Swim and Auction will take place on July 26 and 28. The Saltwater Cowboys will begin rounding-up the ponies on Saturday, July 22.  They will all be checked and vetted.  On Wednesday, the combined herds will swim the Assateague Channel (at slack tide) from Assateague to Chincoteague.  Thursday morning, the foals will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  A few foals will be designated "Buy Backs", and they will be announced before the bidding begins.  A Buy Back foal can be purchased by anyone - but they leave the foal in perpetual care of the CFVC  for breeding purposes.  If you purchase a Buy Back, you receive your bill of sale, you get to name the foal, and you get to have your photo taken with the foal.  That's it - other than being able to visit the baby as it grows through the years, at Round-ups, and seeing what babies it produces as an adult.  If you purchase a non-Buy Back foal, you must make arrangements to have it trailered to your home - you can't put the baby into the back of a pick-up truck, or an SUV.  It must travel in a stock or horse trailer.....     But that's several months in the future at the moment.

Misty (the Movie) Shows Free Next Week

Monday through Friday next week - Pony Penning week - the Island Theatre  on Main Street, Chincoteague Island, will show the 1961 film, Misty, at 11 a.m each morning.  The movie showing is free of charge, and tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.  I was 5 years old when Misty, the film, was released, and I don't remember any year that I haven't viewed it.   The four main human characters - the Beebe family - are portrayed by Hollywood actors: Anne Seymour and Arthur O'Connor play Grandma and Grandpa Beebe, while Pam Smith and David Ladd (son of Alan Ladd) played Maureen and Paul Beebe. Duke Farley appears as Fire Chief Eba Jones.  Everyone else seen on screen in the movie is from Chincoteague Island, or nearby.  A picturesque farm in Onancock, on the Chesapeake Bay, stood in for the real Beebe Ranch; and trained ponies were the fill-ins for the original Phantom, Pied Pier, and Misty.  Most islanders own a copy of Misty so they can view family members in crowd scenes - I always look for Louise Bowden Gaskins in the race scene - she's in a blue dress and is standing by the racetrack rail, until she gives way for Maureen and Paul...    Enjoy the movie Misty in the Island Theatre, or rent or buy it to watch at home.  It's a great movie, and it reminds me of the Chincoteague Island I remember growing up on.

Opening night for Misty at the Island Theatre in 1961.

The Eastern Shore Islands

It's now the fifth day of July.  On the first, my thoughts shift inexorably toward the Eastern Shore of Virginia,and by today, each year, my thoughts are centered on my two favorite islands in the entire world - Assateague and Chincoteague.  Chincoteague lies wholly within the state of Virginia, while Assateague Island belongs to two states - both Virginia and Maryland.  Long before the European settlers arrived, Native Americans used Chincoteague and Assateague Islands as places for fishing,  for hunting deer, geese and ducks, and for crabbing, clamming and oystering.  The first settlers were allotted land patents on the islands in 1642, and I can trace my ancestry back to one of the three men granted those patents.
   The early settlers of Chincoteague and Assateague were hard-working farmers and watermen.  At that time, most men could turn their hands to almost anything needed, and had few 'specialists' living in the area.  But, as the communities grew, coopers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights and boat wrights began to move in to help support the growing economy. The town of Eastville, in Northampton County, Virginia, has the distinction of having the oldest surviving court and community records of the United States.
   When the Civil War was declared, Chincoteague stayed with the Union, even though the state declared secession.  The islanders had strong economic ties with the states on the Eastern Seaboard to the north, and they knew well the possibility of a sea embargo, so they stood with the North.  The young men of the islands, however, were just about equally divided in their support of the Constitution and of States' Rights, and so the men who went off to fight ended up on both sides of the enemy lines.
   In 1946, Marguerite Henry, a children's author, stayed at Miss Molly's Inn on Chincoteague.  She met most of the locals, including Clarence Beebe and his wife, their children, and the two grandchildren (Paul and Maureen) that the older couple were raising.  Clarence Beebe had a farm on the southeastern end of Chincoteague, and he bred, trained and sold Chincoteague ponies.  Marguerite had an idea, wrote a book that was published in 1947, and, that year, Misty of Chincoteague won the prestigious Newberry Award.  The island and it's quiet ways were about to change forever.  The book was a world-wide best seller, and people came from all over to see the annual Pony Penning, instead of just the locals within a 300-mile radius.  Chincoteague is now dependent on tourism, and Assateague Island had become a part of the US government's parks and recreation system, being both the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and the Assateague National Seashore.