Henry Popple failed to portray the Eastern Shore correctly in 1743, but did identify Chincoteague
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish settlements adjacent thereto (by Henry Popple, 1743)
Henry Popple failed to portray the Eastern Shore correctly in 1743, but did identify Chincoteague
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the British Empire in America with the French and Spanish settlements adjacent thereto (by Henry Popple, 1743)
An 1821 hurricane may have generated a storm surge, or perhaps even a tsunami after wave action generated an underwater landslide, that devastated Assateague and Chincoteague islands.
Residents reported that as the storm approached the coast from the southeast, the sea receded and exposed miles of ocean bottom. Soon afterward, a deep roar could be heard moments before a "monstrous wall of inky waters rushed with the speed of lightning toward the island." The wall of water struck Assateague first, decimating trees and anything else in its path, and then struck Chincoteague, carrying away men and ponies "like insects."
One man with his grandson clinging to his neck was reportedly swept far up on to the mainland six miles to the west. Another was found the next morning hanging in a pine tree by his waistband, twenty feet from the ground.1
The low-lying island is at high risk of flooding, particularly as land subsides and sea level rises. A nor'easter in 2022 triggered town officials to declare a state of emergency and call for a voluntary evacuation of the entire island. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) prepared to close the road on the causeway leading into town. The Chincoteague Emergency Management Department warned residents/visitors to fuel up vehicles, because gas pumps would not work if the island lost electricity.2
a Category 3 hurricane would flood most of Chincoteague Island under three feet of water
Source: First Street Foundation, FloodIQ
Today, Chincoteague economically benefits from its proximity to Wallops Island. Antares launches of resupply missions to the International Space Station bring tourists in the off-season. The general manager for Ropewalk Restaurant in Chincoteague reported in 2018:3
flooding risk at Chincoteague
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) Viewer
Chincoteague also benefits from its proximity to Assateague Island. For the last 2,000 years, longshore currents have carried sand south and extended the tip of Assateague Island. Today, it:4
southern end of Assateague Island on June 20, 1985
Source: NASA Earth Observatory, Assateague on the Move
southern end of Assateague Island on June 2, 2019
Source: NASA Earth Observatory, Assateague on the Move
building the new bridge to Chincoteague in 2009
Source: Virginia Department of Transportation, Chincoteague Bridge
the new drawbridge to Chincoteague, replacing the 1939 swing bridge, opened in 2010
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District
Toms Cove, morphing over time
Source: Google Earth Engine
Chincoteague Island, 2001
Source: NASA Earth Observatory, Assateague and Chincoteague Islands, Virginia
by 2080, sea level rise could make Chincoteague Island uninhabitable
Source: Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency , Sea Level Rise Projection