History of Chincoteague, Virginia
Chincoteague is a barrier island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The island is about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide. The name derives from the Native Americans, who used the island to gather shellfish. Chincoteagu Indians lived on the mainland, where there was suitable land for hunting and agriculture.
About History of Chincoteague, Virginia in brief
Chincoteague is a barrier island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The island is about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide. The name derives from the Native Americans, who used the island to gather shellfish. Chincoteagu Indians lived on the mainland, where there was suitable land for hunting and agriculture. The town of Chincotesague was incorporated in 1908. The seafood and poultry industries thrived through much of the 20th century, but neither is important to the island’s economy today. The area is a major tourist destination on the U.S. Eastern Shore, with many coming to enjoy the beaches on Assateague Island, which is also on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The word “Chincotes” means “beautiful land across the water” in the Native American language, according to local historian Kirk Mariner, 20th-century originator of the name. The term is also used to promote a song by an early settler of the island, who called it “large stream” or “inlet” The island was not occupied by Europeans until the 1680s, when it was granted to the Jamestown Colony, but it was not until 1691 that the title was determined by the courts. In the Civil War, the islanders supported the Union despite being located in a seceded state, and the war touched ChincOTEague only lightly. The carnival, pony swim, and subsequent auction constitute a highlight of the town’s calendar, attracting tens of thousands to the Island.
The last pony roundup took place in 1925, with ponies from nearby Assateagues Island swimming the narrow channel between the two islands as part of that roundup. The next year, a causeway was built to connect the islands, allowing automobile traffic to reach the island in 1922. The current causeway opened in 1936. The Town of ChIncoteague was formed in 1908; the municipality annexed the remainder of the Island in 1989. The city’s name comes from the word “chincotes,” which means “Beautiful land” in Native American languages, and means “land across the sea” in English. It is the name of a town, and of the barrier island, on which it is located, in the United States. Assateagu Island shelters Chincotague from the Atlantic and stretches north almost 30 miles to Ocean City, Maryland, to the north and south of the city of Ocean City. It was settled in 1607 by the Delaware Nanticoke people, who were later forced from their traditional reservation by the Europeans. The tribe moved to a new village site every few years, and visited Chincotedague Island to obtain shellfish, but are not known to have lived there. The Indians gradually withdrew northwards in the late 17th century; they are among the descendants of the Nanticote people in present-day Snow Hill, Maryland. They may have remained in the area, though some may have continued in their traditional area.
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This page is based on the article History of Chincoteague, Virginia published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
