Ocean City and Assateague Island, Maryland

Assateague Island is an out-rider, a barrier island, that at one time was attached to the state of Delaware, and, possibly, New Jersey in ages past.  Assateague, like all barrier islands, has changed in shape over the years.  Assateague's shape, length, and over-all form is determined by the movement of sand in the littoral zone - the area between the island and the mainland.  In the 1800s, Assateague was connected to Fenwick Island in Delaware, and ran down the east coast to the giant hook of Tom's Cove in Virginia.  The island that became Fenwick Island, Delaware, and Rehobeth Beach and Ocean City, Maryland, and also Assateague Island, in both Virginia and Maryland, originally belonged to Native Americans, and was purchased from them by Englishman Thomas Fenwick for trinkets after having been given the patent by Lord Baltimore.
   I'm not very aware of the history of the northern end of Assateague, or when it separated from Delaware, but I know about the Maryland and Virginia end of Assateague Island.  Anyone who lives beside the sea knows the power of the waves and wind during a storm.  Wind, waves, and storms have sculpted Assateague over the centuries.  Besides salt marshes and beaches, trees grew upon the island, and there were sources of brackish water, meadows developed and waterfowl and wildlife abounded.  Sometime in the 1700s, the people of Chincoteague Island, Virginia began keeping their livestock on Assateague, the island to the east.  The main reason was to escape taxation; taxes had to be paid on stock on Chincoteague, but not on Assateague.  Cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, and chickens were turned loose to forage on Assateague, and eventually people formed small villages and enclaves on the island.  Stock ownership was known by ear notches, and round-ups occurred for sheep-shearing, and market times, as well as to prepare for the winter.  The Assateague Lighthouse was built in 1833, at a height of 45 feet, back in 1833; in 1867, it was rebuilt on the original site at a height of 142 feet.  When the original light was built, the lighthouse was located in the center of the Virginia part of the island.  You can see today, from the top of the lighthouse, how the island has changed form. A village named Assateague formed around the lighthouse, but it was removed to Chincoteague by 1925.
   In 1869, Isaac Coffin built the first water-front cottage used for rental in what became Ocean City.  The city was declared in 1875, and became incorporated in 1880.  There was a small cut,or gut, of water running through Assateague Island near the southern end of the town of Ocean City.  People could take shallow-draft boats through the gut at low tide, and those with deeper drafts at high tide.  In August 1933, a hurricane brushed up the Delmarva peninsula, and the gut became an inlet.  Normally, it would have silted back up, but a system of artificial jetties was built between 1933 and 1935 to preserve the inlet as a navigation channel.  This has caused Assateague Island to drift considerably to the west,and now the two islands are more than a half-mile apart. This has benefited Ocean City, creating wider beaches and better fishing access. However, it's caused erosion problems on Assateague.
   Between 1933 and the early 1960s, interest alternated between creating a National Seashore on Assateague and pushing  for residential and business development on the Maryland end.  In 1950, a 15-mile section of the Maryland side of the island, was platted for development and a paved road was built traversing the area. In 1962, the Ash Wednesday storm destroyed the road, Baltimore Boulevard, and many of the private homes were destroyed. Although some private landowners on Assateague supported re-development, Maryland, as a state, supported creation of a National Seashore, and legislation was introduced in the US Congress.  Assateague Island National Seashore was created by an Act of Congress in 1965.
   One reaches Ocean City, Maryland via US 50.
   Assateague Island National Seashore and State Park is accessible by visiting Berlin, Maryland via Maryland State Road 611.
   Photos to follow.

Photos from the 1933 Hurricane

Ocean City   24 August 1933

Ocean City, showing causeway at left bottom of photo

Ocean City causeway on 19 September 1933

The new inlet - 24 August 1933

24 August 1933 - car buried in beach sand from hurricane

October 1933 - the Ocean City Boardwalk

The new inlet cutting Ocean City from Assateague Island - all of the buildings in this photo eventually fell were consumed by the ocean waves, as the inlet grew

Citizens of Ocean City investigate the inlet, late August 1933

Mountain Lion, Skunk, & an Anniversary

Cloudy and Shady are not happy with me.  I have not allowed them outside to play, as usual, since I arrived to care for them.  The first day, it was because a coyote had attacked Bandit, the cat next door, just before I got there.  Yesterday, it was still due to coyote anxiety.  Last night, a neighbor spotted a mountain lion running through her yard at about 6 p.m. - she contacted me, and I sent out a Wildlife Warning immediately. About 9 last night, I kept thinking I smelled something rotten, but convinced myself otherwise.  I received a note this morning stating that one of the neighbors, and his dog, had "an incident" with a skunk while out for a walk...  Peter says he wishes he'd run into the mountain lion instead of the skunk.
   Rosie was very happy to see me this morning, as were my kits, when I got back to the apartment.  Lovey has rubbed all over me, and Nedi keeps coming back for a rub, but then trots back outside.  Yesterday, Bea and I visited the Olive Garden for lunch, then wandered to the library, and then over to Alfalfa's.  Alfalfa's is the all-natural, all organic, no GMOs grocery store that had Bea and I followed when we had stepped in to see what they were offering.  I wrote a letter of complaint to the store's website, and, finally, Bea and I agreed to revisit the store.  The general manager, assistant manager, and the manager of the wine department all met with us, and gave us $25 gift cards.  They still claim that the employee was just wandering on his break, and he unintentionally ended up drifting in our wake...
  I have to admit a huge gap in my knowledge.  I had seen older maps showing Ocean City and Assateague Island in Maryland on the same piece of land.  I had always thought that was just a mistake.  It wasn't, and I was just made aware of it.   Sinepuxent Bay runs between the mainland and Assateague Island up to Ocean City, Maryland.  Before the great hurricane of 22 August 1933, 80 years ago today, Assategue Island and Ocean City were the same land mass.  The hurricane cut what is now the Ocean City Inlet, and destroyed many homes that were built upon that stretch of land.  A few were swept away immediately, but most succumbed to to the repeated washing of the tides over several months.  Men had tried to make an inlet between the Bay and the Atlantic, but the Atlantic end always sealed up with sand... this time, the sand continued to wash away. I feel silly for not having known this.  For much more information, if interested, please see:  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20130822/WCT/308220060/ocean-city-inlet-storm-of-33-hurricane-of-1933

Miscellaneous Photos

Gamla Uppsala, Sweden - photo taken in the 1880s

Captain George Ashby and his horse, Cornet, of the Royal Cavalry at Motcomb Street

Assateague Lighthouse

A humpback whale playing off Ocean City, Maryland between 15th and 30th Streets

Popocatlpetl erupting on 4 July 2013 in Mexico

US Scenes

Arlington, Vermont

 

Horse and chicken coop in Wyoming

 

Shaft of sunlight in New Hampshire

 

Waves at Ocean City, Maryland

 

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean

 

Sandy Storm Scenes

Sea foam (blown spume) on the pier at Nag's Head, North Carolina

 

Ocean City, Maryland this morning

 

Easton, Maryland flooding at noon (EDT) Sunday