Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge - History

History

The legend of the Chincoteague Ponies are a constant reminder of Assateague Island's past. Legend has it that the ponies escaped from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon and swam to shore. However, historians believe that in the 17th century, settlers used the island for livestock to avoid fencing regulations and taxation. Even though no one is certain how the ponies got to the island, their descendants still live there today. The island is also famous for shipwrecks. The most famous shipwreck was the Despatch. President Harrison and Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Tracy, planned to visit the naval proving grounds on the Potomac River in 1891. The yacht's lieutenant had mistaken the orange glow from the Assateague lighthouse for the offshore hue on the Winter Quarter Shoals lightship. This caused the yacht to be steered off course and onto the shoals. No one was reported injured and everyone made it safely to shore. The Assateague Lighthouse was constructed in 1833 to warn ocean travelers of the dangerous shoals offshore. A more powerfully illuminated brick lighthouse was in the process of being built, but was postponed due to the Civil War. Work resumed after the war and the lighthouse was finished in 1867. A new assistant keeper's house was constructed in 1910, and in 1929 the keeper staff was reduced. In 1933, the original keeper's house was removed, and an oil lamp was replaced with an electric lamp. In 2004, the U.S. Coast Guard gave up ownership to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Coast Guard is still responsible for maintaining the light, the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge is responsible for the preservation of the lighthouse. In 2008, restoration of the lighthouse began. The Assateague Island lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When the construction of the lighthouse began, Assateague Village was established. In 1915, there were 25 to 30 families reported living there, not including the lighthouse keeper's and their families. Around 1922, the village started to decline in population after Dr. Samuel B. Fields of Baltimore acquired most of the land on the Virginia side of the island. Dr. Fields had his land fenced off, refusing villagers to cross his land to get to Toms Cove. Since Toms Cove was blocked, villagers began to leave the island. Their houses then became jacked up, placed on skids, and taken to the waterfront. There, they were placed on barges and relocated to Chincoteague Island. Bill Scott had operated the village's only general store and was the last one to leave the village. In 1943, the S.B. Fields family sold their property to the U.S. Government for use as a National Wildlife Refuge.