Accomack County is a United States county located in the eastern edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Together, Accomack and Northampton counties make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which in turn is part of the Delmarva Peninsula, bordered by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Accomac is the county seat.
Chincoteague is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, U.S. The town includes the whole of Chincoteague Island and an area of adjacent water. The population was 2,941 at the 2010 census. The town is known for the Chincoteague Ponies, although these are not actually on the island of Chincoteague but on nearby Assateague Island. These ponies and the annual Pony Penning Day are the subject of Marguerite Henry's 1947 children's book Misty of Chincoteague, which was made into the 1961 family film Misty, filmed on location.
The Eastern Shore of Virginia consists of two counties on the Atlantic coast detached from the mainland of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The 70-mile-long (110 km) region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is separated from the rest of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay. Its population was 45,695 as of 2020.
Assateague Island is a 37-mile (60 km) long barrier island located off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The northern two-thirds of the island is in Maryland while the southern third is in Virginia. The Maryland section contains the majority of Assateague Island National Seashore and Assateague State Park. The Virginia section contains Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and a one-mile stretch of land containing the lifeguarded recreational beach and interpretive facilities managed by the National Park Service. It is best known for its herds of feral horses, pristine beaches and the Assateague Lighthouse. The island also contains numerous marshes, bays, and coves, including Toms Cove. Bridge access for cars is possible from both Maryland and Virginia, though no road runs the full north/south length of the island.
The Chincoteague pony, also known as the Assateague horse, is a breed of horse that developed, and now lives, within a feral population on Assateague Island in the US states of Virginia and Maryland. The Chincoteague pony is one of the many breeds of feral horses in the United States. The breed was made famous by the Misty of Chincoteague novels, first published in 1947. While phenotypically horse-like, they are commonly called "ponies" due, in part, to their smaller stature, an adaptation to the poor vegetation and sparse habitat on Assateague Island. Variation is found in their physical characteristics due to blood from different breeds being introduced at various points in their history. They can be any solid color, often found in pinto patterns, which are a favorite with breed enthusiasts. Island Chincoteagues live on a diet of salt marsh plants and brush. This poor-quality food source—combined with uncontrolled inbreeding—created a propensity for conformation faults in the Chincoteague; new bloodlines began to be introduced in the early 20th century.
Waterfowl hunting is the practice of hunting ducks, geese, or other waterfowl for food and sport.
The Atlantic Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in North America. The route generally starts in Greenland, then follows the Atlantic coast of Canada, then south down the Atlantic Coast of the United States to the tropical areas of South America and the Caribbean. Every year, migratory birds travel up and down this route following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or traveling to overwintering sites.
Chincoteague High School is a public high school in Accomack County, Virginia. It is one of the four high schools in Accomack County Public Schools. It serves grades six through twelve and, due to its low number of students, has only approximately 40 students per grade. An approximate total of 280 students attend the school. Its mascot, the pony, is named after the feral Chincoteague Ponies on the nearby Assateague Island.
The Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art is located at 909 South Schumaker Drive, Salisbury, Maryland, United States. This museum has the most comprehensive collection of wildfowl carvings in the world, ranging from art sculptures to working decoys used by hunters. The museum was named after Lem and Steve Ward from Crisfield, Maryland, two pioneers who moved decoy carvings into the realm of fine art.
The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,000-acre (57 km2) wildlife preserve operated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It is primarily located on the Virginia half of Assateague Island with portions located on the Maryland side of the island, as well as Morris Island and Wildcat Marsh. The refuge contains a large variety of wildlife animals and birds, including the Chincoteague Pony. The purpose of the refuge is to maintain, regulate and preserve animal and plant species as well as their habitats for present and future generations.
The Museum of Chincoteague Island, located at 7125 Maddox Boulevard, Chincoteague, Virginia, United States, celebrates the people, culture and heritage of Chincoteague Island.
Delbert Lee "Cigar" Daisey, known as "Cigar" Daisey, was an American waterfowl wood carver and decoy maker. He was the son of Herbert Lee Daisey and Emma Jane Daisey. He was born, lived and worked in Chincoteague, Virginia, and was the resident carver at the Refuge Waterfowl Museum. His decoy carvings are recognized for both their artistic value and functionality as working pieces for waterfowl hunting. His works include black ducks, mallards, redheads, ruddys and red-breasted mergansers and often crafted in drake (male) and hen (female) pairs. He had carved about 1900 ducks in total and he generally used cork or wood as his medium. He carved his first duck out of balsa wood in 1940 at his father's wood shop. The Smithsonian has his works in their collection. He was given his nickname in 1945 by John Buckalew, Federal Game Warden and first manager of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge because Daisey would leave cigar butts to taunt game wardens while poaching ducks on Assateague Island. Later in life, Daisey was an avid conservationist.
The Ward Brothers, Lemuel T. Ward (1897–1984) and Steven W. Ward (1895–1976), were two brothers from Crisfield, Maryland, who became famous for their wooden wildfowl carvings, commonly called decoys. Their decoys are highly prized by collectors. Few examples of their work survive on the open market, as private collectors and museums now own most of their original works. In November 2006, a Ward Brothers goldeneye drake decoy sold for US$109,250 at an Easton, Maryland waterfowl festival auction. They adopted the moniker 'Wildfowl Counterfeiters in Wood' as the motto for their carving operation. Another rare Ward Brothers bird, a Broadbill Drake made in 1936, was sold for $51,750 at a January 2013 auction on Park Avenue in New York City.
Assateague Channel is a channel on the Eastern Shore of Virginia between Chincoteague Island and Assateague Island. The Assateague Channel connects to Assateague Bay to the northeast and Chincoteague Inlet to the southwest.
The Island Theatre is a historic U.S. building located at 4074 Main Street, Chincoteague, Virginia. It still serves as an operational movie theater. Originally named Island Theatre, the theatre was renamed Island Roxy from the 1980s until the name was reverted to Island Theatre in 2013.
A duck decoy is a man-made object resembling a real duck. Duck decoys are sometimes used in waterfowl hunting to attract real ducks.
The history of human activity in Chincoteague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, begins with the Native Americans. Until European explorers possessed the island in the late 17th century, the Chincoteague Indians used it as a place to gather shellfish, but are not known to have lived there; Chincoteague Island lacked suitable soil for their agriculture. The island's name derives from those early visitors: by one popular tale, chincoteague meant "Beautiful land across the water" in their language.
The Virginia Barrier Islands are a continuous chain of long, narrow, low-lying, sand and scrub barrier islands separated from one another by narrow inlets and from the mainland by a series of shallow marshy tidal bays along the entire coast of the Virginia end of the Delmarva Peninsula. Several of these islands were once significantly larger, covered with pine forests, and inhabited. After the completion of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad in the late 19th Century, at least five lavish hunting and fishing clubs were established on Virginia's barrier islands and they became a playground for wealthy sportsmen from Northeastern cities who would arrive by train. US President Grover Cleveland visited Hog Island to hunt waterfowl and go fishing in the early 1890s.
Ira Hudson was an American boat builder and prolific decoy and shorebird carver from Chincoteague, Virginia. He created over 20,000 decoys during his lifetime, full sized and miniatures.
