Where Oysters are King, Chincoteague VA [October 24 – 31, 2016]

An American Oystercatcher (bird) surrounded by oysters exposed at low tide.

Cans from the early oyster industry - display at the Chincoteague Museum

Oysters have fed and supported residents of Chincoteague and Assateague Islands since the first Native Americans arrived here.  They were once so plentiful that canning plants preserved oysters for distribution around the world.  Even today, if you go to restaurants that seriously serve oysters in the DC area, they will identify their saltiest oysters as coming from Chincoteague.  It would be hard to miss the impact that oysters have had on the economy and natural history of this area.

Oyster Rush boat bringing in full oyster cages

Oyster Rush oysters before cleaning and sorting

This machine cleans and drops out the smallest oysters (that will be returned to a cage to grow bigger)

Serendipitously, our campground has an adjoining fence with Tom’s Cove Aquaculture (TCA).  We gave them a call and got permission to come for a visit.  Tom’s Cove Aquaculture farms clams, and buys and resells oysters from oyster farmers.  We ran into farmers from a company called Oyster Rush who use the TCA dock and yard to off-load, clean and sort the oysters that they raise in nearby Tom’s Cove, off of Assateague Island.  Their products are called “Salty Ass(ateague)” and “Little Toms”.  They generously shared information about how they take care of their oysters.  It is painstaking work.  The oysters they sell have been hand sorted, and moved into larger cages 5 times before they are ready for sale.

Quite a few of these kinds of signs along Assateague Channel

Oysters in the foreground, Assateague Lighthouse in the background

Oysters growing in the marsh grass

The Assateague Channel, that separates Chincoteague and Assateague, has marshlands along the sides.  There are piles of oyster shells along the shoreline, and live wild oysters growing in the marsh grasses.  There are oyster and clam beds (called “rocks” by the watermen) all along the channel.  Signs warn you to keep out of smaller channels in order to protect private grounds.  Low tide exposes sand bars loaded with wild oysters.

Oysters in Tom's Cove

In early days, there was a town on Assateague Island, and watermen would walk from there to Tom’s Cove to harvest the plentiful oysters, wading out from the shoreline.  It is now the location of many leases for oyster farmers to cultivate their oysters in cages, including the lease farmed by Oyster Rush.  We kayaked into Tom’s Cove, it is huge.  The land around Tom’s Cove is all National Park Service.  The shallow water along the shoreline is loaded with oyster cages and wild oyster “rocks”.  Amazing stuff.  Keith, the farmer from Oyster Rush, told us that you would never go hungry living on Chincoteague with all the bounty living along the shoreline.  We are inclined to believe him.

Bicycling with the Ponies, Chincoteague VA [October 24 – 31, 2016]

We found ourselves with a whole week without a commitment, so looked for a place to visit that was close by home, salty, wet, and with lots of things to do.  CHINCOTEAGUE!!!!  

Chincoteague is famous for the Wild Ponies that live on Assateague Island across a narrow channel from Chincoteague Island.  The ponies live in bands with a stallion, 2 to 10 mares, and foals. We came across one such band as we rode our bicycles along Wildlife Loop.  These animals placidly munched the grass along the side of the road as we and other people took their pictures.  They are definitely used to tourists.

The ponies are actually genetically horses, but 300 years of adaptation to a poor quality salt grass diet, and survival in a harsh climate have resulted in animals of short stature.  They drink over twice as much water as domesticated horses because of their high salt diet, and as a result have a bloated appearance.  There is no denying that they are lovely to see in the wild.

We saw a band of the ponies in the distance as we drove along the Beach Road across the island.  One day at low tide, we saw another band on a spit of land across the channel from our campsite.  They had come across a newly exposed land bridge to graze on a tuft of high ground usually surrounded by water.

Assateague Island in Virginia has both a National Wildlife Refuge and a National Seashore (Happy 100^th Birthday NPS!).  The Maryland part of the island also has a State Park.  Wild Ponies live all along Assateague Island, though the Maryland ponies and the Virginia ponies are owned by different entities and are separated by a fence along the Maryland/Virginia border. About 125 ponies live in Maryland, and 150 live in Virginia.  Both herds are kept that size to prevent overgrazing the fragile barrier island ecosystem.

Even though the Wild Ponies aren’t very wild (they hung around while we took their pictures, after all) and are really horses instead of ponies, they are beloved.  Dana read Misty of Chincoteague and the other “Misty” books as a girl.  She saw Misty at the viewing of the movie based on the book in 1961.  A few years later, she came to the annual Pony Penning, where the ponies are rounded up by the Chincoteague Fire Department.  This a special place with special memories, and special ponies – I mean horses!