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VIRGINIA
The south
end of Assateague Island is accessed via Chincoteague, Virginia. To reach
the beach, you first pass the NASA Wallops Island facility on the mainland,
which features an interesting exhibit and small museum. A long causeway
stretches from the mainland to Chincoteague Island; the miles of salt
marsh are wonderful, but the view is blocked on the north side by hundreds
of billboards. One irate resident chain sawed them down, but the signs
were replaced within weeks like mushrooms popping up after a summer's
rain.
Chincoteague is a charming old fishing village that has been more recently
gentrified by realizing the bounty of tourism. While the south beach at
Assateague Island is often called Chincoteague beach, the village itself
has no oceanic beaches. The famed Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
and the National Seashore beaches are both located on Assateague Island,
a short ride over a bridge from the village. This area has an extraordinary
reputation among birders, and I recommend taking a bicycle tour of the
wildlife loops, but by all means bring the bug spray. Ticks that carry
Lyme disease are also present, so it is best to stay on the paved trails.
The crabbing here with chicken necks is exceptional and a favorite of
children; I really enjoy eating these tasty critters.
The beaches at southern Assateague Island are wonder-ful; the setting
feels very remote. The National Seashore maintains several bathhouses
and parking lots in the face of progressive beach erosion. The dunes are
almost knife-edged on top as they are pushed back up by bulldozers following
every major storm. Sooner or later, the National Park Service will have
to abandon this "erosion hot spot," but they are trying to eke
out as much time as Mother Nature allows. This area was once the terminus
of Assateague Island; now the curving sand spit called Fishing Point continues
for many more miles until it reaches Chincoteague Inlet. The rate of island
elongation is only exceeded by the historical growth of the western spit
tip of Fire Island (called Robert Moses State Park).
The Virginia Barrier Islands are managed by the Nature Conservancy, and
there are no public beaches per se. Access to this nature preserve, which
extends southward from Wallops Island to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay,
is only possible by boat as there are no bridges to these barrier islands.
The crown jewel, the largest island of the 13, is Parramore Island, dominated
by a fairly high, pine tree ridge. All of these islands show ample evidence
of very high erosion rates, with tree stumps in the surf zone. Erosion
rates sometimes exceed 30 feet per year. It is indeed fortunate that major
development was never attempted on these unstable islands, which is probably
due to their remote location. The water is murky, and the beaches are
often little more than slivers of sand above lagoonal muds. Wildlife is
the big attraction here, but again be prepared for mosquitoes and ticks
during the summer season.
 Virginia
Beach is the magnet for millions of Americans who come here on vacation
each year. The main drag is Atlantic Avenue, which parallels the beach.
This beach town is dominated by the two-and-a-half-mile long boardwalk
which recently underwent a full face lift and renovation. People on bicycles,
rollerblades, and skateboards (motorized or not) are not only permitted
but welcomed to use this pedestrian highway. All of this activity makes
for a state of beach frenzy, but nobody seems to complain. After all,
this is Virginia's city beach. Virginia Beach is always sponsoring some
special event or free entertainment on the boardwalk to draw even larger
crowds.
Some Virginians claim that their city beach has more bikinis per mile
than any other coastal resort this side of the Mississippi River. While
this is not part of my survey, I believe that South Beach in Miami Beach
holds the record. In addition to the show on the boardwalk and beach,
ship watching is an interesting pastime here. Merchant ships and giant
warships, including nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, make their home
in the Norfolk/Newport News area. Fighter jets, locally known as "the
sound of freedom," regularly make their presence known in the skies
above. This place has everything but the two-person submarine races (Fort
Lauderdale takes this cake).
If you want to escape from all this frenzy, then drive south to Little
Island Park in Sandbridge, actually a part of Virginia Beach. This beach
abuts a federal wildlife area, which accounts for the remote character.
Sandbridge itself is a town at war with nature; hulking bulkheads have
been built to withstand storm attack, often failing in the heat of the
battle. The beach has largely been lost in the process as evidenced by
the many areas with no beach at high tide. It seems like the people are
just about to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Like their bigger
brother to the north, Virginia Beach, Sandbridge is now crying for federal
assistance through a taxpayer-subsidized beach nourishment project. This
is another erosion hot spot, characterized by high erosion rates, so that
any attempt to maintain sand on this beach will be fleeting at best.
Other things to see include the Virginia Museum of Marine Sciences and
the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse, where the beach makes a left turn along
the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The cut-stone lighthouse, first lit in
1792, provides a sweeping view of the Seashore State Park and the Chesapeake
Bay Bridge and Tunnel. Other "attractions" include Mt. Trashmore,
a park built on top of a mountain of garbage, off the Virginia Beach-Norfolk
Expressway. The Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island has this place beat
hands down as it has been the dumping ground for New York City for over
100 years and now is the highest point in the entire area. I don't recommend
either place, but people always want to know which is the biggest (and
in this case obviously not the greatest).
Virginia
Division of Tourism
Riverfront Towers West 19th floor
901 East Byrd Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-4484
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