Assateague Island National Seashore
Berlin, MD
Wild ponies roam free along 37 miles of undeveloped barrier island coastline - one of the last undisturbed Atlantic barrier islands on the East Coast.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- golden hour
- Crowds
- Moderate
- Shot Types
- wildlifelandscapebeach
- Best Seasons
- springfall
Author's Comments
Thirty-seven miles of barrier island, and almost none of it developed. That fact alone is worth sitting with for a minute. There are not many places left on the Atlantic coast where you can walk a beach and see no building, no pier, no boardwalk pulling the eye back toward commerce. Assateague is one of them, and the ponies are only part of the reason to go. I prefer the Maryland side. Chincoteague gets the attention and the traffic, but the northern end of the island is quieter and the marsh behind the dunes is where I have done most of my best looking. At dusk in October, after the heat is out of the day and the ponies begin moving again, the light behind the beach is where the island reveals itself. The marsh goes copper. The sky opens. The ocean is doing its thing to the east, but the real photograph is often facing west, into the grasses and tidal channels that most visitors walk past on their way to the surf. Dawn is the other hour. The ponies graze in the low light, and if you are patient and keep your distance, you will see them move across the dunes in a way that feels genuinely uncurated. This is not a zoo and they are not performers. Come in spring or fall, when the bugs are manageable and the light is long. Bring more water than you think you need. Walk further than the parking lot suggests. The island gets wilder the further north you go.
Gallery
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