CHINCOTEAGUE ISLAND, A COAST GUARD COMMUNITY

by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nate Littlejohn

An oysterman in a weather-beaten skiff prepares to tend his beds as a blood-orange sun peeks over the Atlantic horizon. A herd of wild ponies drink in a freshwater wetland where buffleheads and mallards hunt for breakfast among reeds on the glistening, glass surface. Laughing gulls fight over a jackknife clam, their cries muffled by the sound of crashing surf pummeling the sand.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia, making up the southernmost portion of the Delmarva Peninsula, is an isolated, often-overlooked stretch of land between southern Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Chincoteague, Virginia, a small island community teeming with maritime culture located just south of the Maryland border off Virginia’s Eastern Shore, is one special place the Coast Guard calls home. Locals there are passionate about their town, customs and history. As it turns out, this often means they’re passionate about the Coast Guard – the seagoing service has been a seam in the social fabric there for generations.

The spirit of honoring past Coast Guardsmen in the Chincoteague area helped prompt the National Park Service to promote preservation of the old Coast Guard station located on neighboring Assateague Island.

The Assateague Beach Coast Guard Station, located at Tom’s Cove, was constructed in 1922. The structure served as the Coast Guard Station for the area until it was decommissioned in 1967 and became part of the Assateague Island National Seashore.

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