Chincoteague is located in
Accomack County in the
Eastern Region of the state. Local legends say that Chincoteague ponies, an island trademark, are descendants of mine horses that survived the shipwreck of a 16th-century Spanish galleon. Off the Eastern Shore in Chincoteague Bay, the 7-mile-long, 1.5-mile-wide island is connected to the mainland by a causeway and bridges. Serpentine waterways punctuate Chincoteague's flat expanses of salt marsh and scrub-pine woods; duck and goose hunting and deep-sea or channel fishing are excellent. Crabbing is a popular pastime, especially in early summer when the blue crabs are out of their hibernation in the Chincoteague Bay mud. The pony-penning is held the last Wednesday and Thursday in July.
