Travel Guide Assateague Island National Seashore

The wild horses of Assateague Island National Seashore live in the marshes of Chesapeake Bay, surrounded by birds, pine forests and beaches, where tourists come to relax during the summer months. Located along the Atlantic Ocean, on a 37 km long island, this protected area is the ideal place to admire the bay's ecosystem, which has influenced even the morphology of horses. The Chincoteague is a small horse because of its diet, which consists mainly of salt meadows, so it is sometimes mistaken for a pony. There are about three hundred horses on the island, one third of which are in the Maryland State part of the park. You will inevitably encounter some of them, along the road, hooves in swampy waters or even on the beach. Drive slowly, do not approach them and do not give them food, just watch them evolve in their exceptional habitat.Maryland and Virginia share Assateague Island National Seashore, and each state manages its portion of the park independently. Rates and opening hours vary, the ones listed below are only valid for Maryland. Even hair does not cross the border, fixed by a barrier, between the two states!