Leading Horses to Water

Unique Virginia event has been entertaining visitors for a century

July 2025

by Audrey T. Hingley, Contributing Writer

On July 30, the world-famous Chincoteague Pony Swim will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Taking place in Accomack County on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, the beloved annual event continues a yearly tradition. Assateague Island’s wild ponies make a brief swim from their salt marsh grazing grounds across Assateague Channel at “slack calm” to the shores of Chincoteague as thousands of celebrants cheer them on in anticipation of the next day’s Pony Auction. Officials are predicting record crowds for this summer’s 100th anniversary event.

According to Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joanne Moore, “We market coming to Chincoteague, but we don’t specifically market the Pony Swim because it markets itself. We [usually] start getting calls in January about the Pony Swim, but [for 2025] calls started coming in 2024.”

The venerable tradition thrives in a world of constant change. The allure of wild ponies swimming to temporary captivity, where some will be auctioned off to ensure a manageable herd, remains strong. Volunteers known as “Saltwater Cowboys” help guide ponies across the channel. On land, they are examined by veterinarians and allowed to rest before the cowboys guide them through town to a Carnival Grounds corral where they remain until the auction.

A TALE OF TWO HERDS

Two separate herds of feral ponies roam Assateague Island, separated by a fence at the Virginia-Maryland line. The National Park Service oversees the ponies on the Maryland side of Assateague. The Virginia herd is owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, who cares for the ponies year-round, oversees pony management and purchases a grazing permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The permit allows the fire company to oversee a herd of about 150 ponies. The auction controls herd size, provides money for pony care and necessary veterinary services, and helps fund the volunteer fire company.

The average price for a Chincoteague pony is $6,223, but Moore says last year’s auction included one record price “buyback” pony that sold for $50,500. Buybacks are auctioned with the stipulation that they will be donated back to the fire company then returned to Assateague to help replenish the herd. Only foals born since last year’s Pony Swim are auctioned each year, and one foal will be awarded to a raffle winner. Raffle tickets cost $1 each and Chincoteague Mayor Denise Bowden says 12,000 tickets or so are usually sold. Last year, 88 foals were sold, with the lowest-priced auction pony fetching $1,600.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

The celebrated Pony Swim and Pony Penning began in 1925 after a series of disastrous fires swept through Chincoteague, prompting the town to authorize the fire company to hold a carnival fundraiser to help purchase new fire equipment. Fifteen colts were sold, 15,000 visitors attended and a century-long tradition was born. However, it was the publication of the now-classic children’s novel “Misty of Chincoteague” in 1947 (based on local residents Clarence and Ida Beebe and their family) and the subsequent 1961 film “Misty” (filmed on location on Chincoteague Island) that catapulted Chincoteague’s tradition into the stratosphere. The July event now attracts over 40,000 people each year, and that figure may double this year for the event’s centennial celebration.

In 2023, the Beebe Ranch was purchased for $625,000 by the nonprofit Museum of Chincoteague after a successful fundraising effort saved the property from developers. That same year the Chincoteague ponies were designated the official state pony of Virginia by the General Assembly.
Originally started by women who lived on the island who wanted to celebrate the heritage of husbands, sons and grandfathers who worked as watermen, the museum has morphed into a museum dedicated to preserving the history of Chincoteague.

The Beebe Ranch, a few miles away from the museum, is now an extension of the museum’s mission. Museum admission is $8 per person, but $15 will get you admission to both the museum and the Beebe Ranch, with a house tour included.

KEEPING THE LEGEND ALIVE

Once part of an over-140-acre ranch operation, the Beebe Ranch’s remaining 10 acres include the house where the real Misty survived the devastating 1962 Ash Wednesday storm stowed in the home’s kitchen. (Misty was foaled at the Beebe Ranch, not in the wild.) Three Chincoteague ponies, two of which are Misty’s descendants, live on the property.

Both Misty, who died in her sleep at age 26 in 1972, and her last foal, Stormy, who died in 1993 at age 21, were preserved via taxidermy and can be seen at the museum. The museum will feature special anniversary exhibits this year, including a carnival exhibit featuring a carousel with carousel horses in the main foyer.

Regarding the fundraising campaign, Cindy Faith, assistant director of The Museum of Chincoteague, says, “Yes, we received a couple of substantial donations, but most people sent small donations of $10 or less, with many enclosing a letter stating how important it was to save the ranch.”

Executive Director Kathy Martin notes, “One misconception is that our museum is tiny, but visitors often comment that it’s much bigger than they thought. They say they learn a lot.”

MISTY TO THE RESCUE

In a strange irony, the real Misty actually helped save the Chincoteague ponies. During the horrific 1962 Ash Wednesday nor’easter storm that hovered over the area in a three-day barrage, human residents were evacuated — but nearly half of the 300 ponies on Assateague and Chincoteague died, with many swept out to sea. Misty made national headlines for surviving the storm and Twentieth Century Fox re-released its “Misty” film in theaters as a fundraiser. Proceeds helped restock the pony herds via buying back Chincoteague ponies sold in the past. Misty and her newborn colt, Stormy, even made personal appearances at theatres in Virginia and Maryland.

Chincoteague lore has long posited that the ponies are descendants of survivors of a Spanish galleon that wrecked off Assateague’s shores. Others believe the horses came from colonial-era settlers. About the conflicting theories, Faith notes, “There is no reason those two stories cannot be the same story. But DNA evidence [in 2022] showed they are from Spanish stock.”

A SALTWATER COWGIRL MAYOR

Chincoteague born-and-raised Mayor Bowden joined the fire company “fresh out of college” in 1992, wanting to follow in her late grandfather’s footsteps, who was a fire company volunteer. She was turned down initially, but submitted another application and was eventually approved as the first female fire company member. She became involved with the fire company’s pony committee about 15 years ago and became the first female fire company member to ride as a “saltwater cowgirl.” Bowden served on Chincoteague’s Town Council for eight years before winning the November 2024 mayoral election.

“Every time I have ridden, someone lets me use their pony because I don’t own a pony or a horse,” she explains. “I would ride with friends, and you either take to it or you don’t — I was blessed to be accepted by the guys [in the fire company] and learned so much from them.”

Bowden estimates 45-50 Saltwater Cowboys participate in overseeing the wild ponies, including some who bring their own horses and travel from other localities. Although most visitors focus on the Pony Swim itself, related activities run from July 26 to August 2. Events include the Southern Herd Roundup on July 26; the Northern Herd Roundup on July 27; Beach Walk on July 28 (where Saltwater Cowboys walk the Northern Herd ponies along the Atlantic Ocean coast to join them with the Southern Herd); Pony Swim on July 30; Pony Auction of foals at Carnival Grounds on July 31; the swimming back of Southern Herd ponies across the channel to their grazing grounds on August 1; and the Carnival with fireworks on August 2.

Saltwater Cowboys are involved with all these activities. Bowden says with 16 nights of the Fireman’s Carnival also going on, including every night of Pony Week, 150 to 160 volunteers are required to staff the nightly events.

“Regarding Saltwater Cowboys, most of the time it’s a generational thing. We have third-generation cowboys who have come up through the ranks to participate. The Pony Committee itself usually is about 20 to 22 people,” Bowden adds.

YEARLONG PREPARATION

In addition to Pony Week activities, the fire company also does spring and fall roundups that allow ponies to have vet checks and immunizations. Bowden says, “The fire company always has a set of eyes on the ponies. In the wintertime if their fresh water ponds are frozen over, we go over and break the ice [to provide drinking water]. All of this is done totally by volunteers.”

An unapologetic cheerleader for Chincoteague and the wild ponies, Bowden is determined to be at this year’s Pony Swim event — despite the fact that she was seriously injured while working as a “saltwater cowgirl” in a corral during the April roundup, shattering her femur. She underwent surgery at R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland in Baltimore and says it went well. Currently, she’s undergoing physical therapy and jokes she’ll be at the July anniversary even if she arrives in a wheelchair.

Bowden advises those who plan to come to the 100th anniversary event to “bring your patience before you bring anything else.”

“If this is your first time here, plan and prepare, because there are so many people. Don’t be in a hurry to get anywhere. Come early and make sure you have everything you need,” she adds. “Some people come every year, and some will come once and say, ‘I have seen it.’ But as long as we have committed, dedicated volunteers, I think this event will go on.”

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For more information, contact Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce at 757-336-6161 or cvfc3.com, or The Museum of Chincoteague Island at 757-336-6117 or chincoteaguemuseum.com.