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MARYLAND
When most
people think of Maryland, they think of the Chesapeake Bay and crab feasts.
Maryland does not have a long ocean shoreline, but the 10 miles that make
up Ocean City are plenty of beach for the biggest party town within easy
driving distance of Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. On
a good summer weekend, this town of 7,500 residents swells to 400,000,
and sometimes it seems that they are all on the beach at one time. If
it rains, don't even think about trying to drive on the coastal highway
(the six-lane behemoth that runs down the middle of Ocean City) unless
you like parking lot traffic. Ocean City, sometimes termed "Washington's
sandbox," is by far the most popular beach in the region with hotels,
motels, and condo towers lining the shore, but this certainly does not
make it the best beach.
Ocean City was originally called Sinepuxent Village, but the residents
gave the area a glitzier name in order to draw more tourists; some people
in New Jersey still resent Marylanders stealing their namesake. The old
town is located on the south end, where the boardwalk arcades, amusement
center, and fishing pier are located. This honky tonk, almost carnival
atmosphere is what the young crowd really likes.
Of notable interest on the south end are the jetties that separate Ocean
City from Assateague Island. The large offset between the two barrier
islands is caused by the jetties. The beach at southern Ocean City is
so wide (reminiscent of Wildwood, New Jersey) that some people complain
about the long, hot walk to the refreshing surf. The large fillet of sand
is caused by the southward-moving sediment being blocked and trapped by
the north jetty, which is sand-robbing Assateague Island.
Prior to the devastating hurricane in 1933 that caused massive damage
to the buildings at Ocean City, Assateague Island was connected to what
was then a small fishing and resort village. The hurricane blew open the
inlet, which was then stabilized with jetties, and the channel depth has
been maintained ever since by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredging
operations. The sand starvation at Assateague was so complete that the
northern end of the island has experienced erosion rates of over 35 feet
per year. You could almost stand there and watch the sand wash away. Now
a huge, underwater sand shoal has re-established the sand movement around
Ocean City Inlet, slowing the rate of erosion, but not nearly enough to
halt erosion of Assateague's north end. The Corps has a plan to restore
Assateague Island, after having spent over $80 million pumping sand onshore
to widen Ocean City's beach.
Ocean City was a boom town in the 1970s when most of the high-rise buildings
were erected; some people call this shore "condo canyon." This
city on the beach has always been known for colorful politicians; when
asked about this type of construction on an eroding barrier beach, former
Mayor Kelley said that he was going to build them till they hit the sky.
His vision was to build a Miami Beach of the North with everything but
the palm trees. He also retorted that there was no erosion at Ocean City;
privately he told me that acknowledging erosion is bad for business. I
had a number of run-ins with the mayors of Ocean City over the years when
I have repeatedly questioned the city fathers permitting the construction
of high-rise buildings so close to the water's edge of an eroding beach.
Someone once said that denial isn't just a river in Egypt.
The Life Saving Station Museum near the jetty at Ocean City, Maryland
is worth a visit. Inside you will find historic photos of the damage by
the great hurricane of 1933 and the most severe northeaster in modern
times, the infamous Ash Wednesday Storm of March 5-8, 1962.
Ocean City is said to be the white marlin fishing capital of the world,
and exhibits of one thousand pound plus billfish outside the museum seem
to corroborate this claim. My kids were most enthralled by the huge tiger
shark exhibit; the sheer size of these ocean monsters is enough to keep
anybody out of the water. I assured them that they were caught far offshore.
Some people think that I should include shark attacks as one of the factors
in my beach evaluation. The truth is that shark attacks are so rare at
beaches that taking them into consideration would not affect any of the
650 public, recreational beaches that I rate. Most shark attacks in the
continental United States have been recorded in the Monterey, California
area by divers swimming in kelp beds with seals (a favorite meal of sharks).
Assateague is a 37-mile-long barrier island that is totally undeveloped
and includes a National Seashore, Maryland state park, and U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Refuge. The sand here is very fine and white; some of the best
along the mid-Atlantic coast. The beaches drop off gently, making the
larger swell break offshore on the second sand bar. The beaches are guarded,
and rangers are available for nature trips and interpretation. This is
the Best Swimming Beach in the Northeast, but watch out for those pesky
mosquitoes which can come out in swarms, especially after the sun drops
below the horizon.
Assateague State Park on the north end has the best facilities, but is
more crowded than the National Seashore camping area just to the south.
I love to walk north of the state park where only pedestrians are permitted.
You can walk for miles without seeing anyone; this was my favorite beach
when I lived in Maryland. Also, this is where I did my dissertation research
on the impact of coastal storms on beach erosion and barrier island rollover
by overwash.
As you walk along this barrier shoreline, you can see both the ocean and
the bay at the same time because the dunes have been flattened by repeated
storm attack. Several times a year, ocean water surges across Assateague's
northern end, eroding dunes on the seaside and burying living salt marshes
on the bayside. It may sound like pure destruction, but this is how islands
migrate naturally. This process has been greatly accelerated at Assateague
by the excessively high beach erosion rates caused by sand starvation
(see above discussion about the Ocean City Inlet jetties).
 You
will most likely see the famous ponies of Assateague Island. Beware -
these small horses are wild and are known to bite and kick. They are also
beggars for food, and feeding the ponies is illegal. During a camping
trip that I planned for a number of city folks to North Beach, we had
quite an encounter with the ponies. Someone brought a chocolate cake and
left it out on the picnic table overnight. About 3:00 a.m., we all awoke
to this horrible, loud barfing sound. A pony had eaten the whole chocolate
cake, become ill, and threw it up all over the owner's tent. The city
slickers were horrified, and I doubt that they will go on any more camping
trips.
Maryland
Office of Tourism Development
217 East Redwood Street, 9th floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 767-3400
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