Illustration by Colleen O’Hara
I used to love reading the children’s book Misty of Chincoteague, which is about two kids who want a wild horse on Chincoteague Island in Virginia. I remember being amazed knowing there was a real place where the ponies can roam free. Then, in elementary school, my family ended up driving there from our home in Maryland. I still have an incredibly clear memory of this one moment from the visit. We were going really slowly on this empty road, and a pony just came up to our car. My grandmother—who was sitting in front of me in the passenger seat—rolled down her window, and the pony gently “greeted” her by sticking its head in and letting her pet it. I was mesmerized! My understanding is that there was a Spanish shipwreck on the island centuries ago, and a couple of horses ran off. The Chincoteague ponies are the descendants. When you visit, you’re not really driving from point A to point B; you just want to see how beautiful the area is and spot the ponies. Every July, there’s a big festival called Pony Penning when the ponies swim in the channel from Chincoteague to Assateague in Maryland. Everyone comes to town to see this, and there’s a carnival. Besides spotting the ponies, you can walk down Main Street along the shore and go into these cute little shops. It’s a resort destination for sure, so stay in a local inn. And the seafood! Getting crab cakes and fried clams—or, even better, a steam pot—is so much fun. Especially as a kid, I loved how messy it was. Steamers Restaurant and Sports Bar is exactly that sort of place. I actually haven’t been back to the island as an adult, and I miss the shrimp boils and crab shacks. I feel like my eight-year-old daughter would love it there. The East Coast is so busy, and Chincoteague Island is still this underdeveloped land. It’s very childlike in its magic.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is an award-winning author of nine novels, including the bestseller Daisy Jones & the Six. Her next book, Atmosphere, which centers on a female professor who joins NASA’s Space Shuttle program in the 1980s, was released June 3.
This article appears in the Spring 2025 issue of Southbound.
Advertisement
