Photo by Martha Steger
No winter visions of distant palm trees for us: Our family’s island holidays are closer to home — Chincoteague and Assateague islands, where November and December are special times of year at the top of Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Geese for Thanksgiving
We tuned in years ago to the honking V-formations of thousands of snow geese returning from their northern tundra breeding grounds to the milder climate of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Created in 1943 as a stop for Canada geese migrating along the Atlantic Flyway, the refuge is home to more than 300 species of birds.
Along with a variety of ducks and swans, my husband, Tom, and I, with children and now grandkids in tow, have flocked to the 14,000-acre refuge to celebrate the marvel of migration — in our case, with guided walks and programs during Waterfowl Week, Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 23-26.
The two islands, accessible via causeways, teem with human as well as wildlife activity for Thanksgiving. Town accommodations and stores offer special packages, and sales on Thanksgiving Friday are not typical mall shopping (but if you can’t live without shopping, the Funky Closet usually has a 40 percent-off everything one-day event).
It’s hard to beat the plumage of waterfowl such as green-winged teal, pintail, and black ducks (don’t forget a birding guide as well as binoculars). Tom and I hold a National Park Service/Fish & Wildlife Service lifetime senior pass ($80, but covers admission for all passengers in the vehicle) for accessing the wildlife refuge across the causeway from Chincoteague (past the Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center on the left and the trail to the Assateague Lighthouse on the right — note that the lighthouse is closed December through April). We always find the exhibits at the Refuge Center, along with those at Tom’s Cove Visitor Center close to the beach, educational as well as engaging — and are drawn to the telescopes for viewing osprey nests and distant remnants of long-ago shipwrecks.
A special hit with our family is the 3.5-mile Wildlife Loop around the refuge’s Snow Goose Pond — reserved for hikers and bikers during the earlier part of each day but open to vehicular traffic from three in the afternoon till dusk. We get our car into line before three, as nature enthusiasts want to get a closer look not only at Assateague’s famous wild ponies, abundant Delmarva fox squirrels, and sika elk, but also at long-legged waders such as great blue herons and cattle egrets. The one-mile-loop Freshwater Marsh Trail is a walking favorite — an easy hike on a boardwalk from which we often spot pelicans and plovers.
Photo by Martha Steger
Christmas by the Sea
Between Christmas and New Year’s our family loves pulling on cozy sweaters (average December air temperature is 50 degrees) to walk Assateague’s beach while listening to laughing gulls and the rhythm of breaking waves. We’ve witnessed a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and watched sunsets at docks on the Chincoteague Channel.
Those who find the New Year’s Eve Horseshoe Drop and the Polar Pony Plunge on Jan. 1 dip into the Atlantic a bit too invigorating will find bicycling the perfect winter activity.
The absence of development on Assateague is a big part of what keeps the beach — for my money — the most pristine on the Atlantic coastline. For modern amenities, Chincoteague — with its Island Creamery — is 5 minutes away. Save time for walking Main Street in this old fishing village proudly proclaiming, “Christmas by the Sea” from shop windows and street banners.
Staying There
Our experiences include Sunset Bay Villas’ three-bedroom condo (Chincoteague Resort Realty) — with kitchen, living/dining that provides ringside seats for sunset over Chincoteague Channel — and rooms at Marriott’s Fairfield Inn & Suites with shared lobby and deck space, where guests can eat food purchased at spots such as Gary Howard Seafood. There’s a good selection of island B&Bs, too.
We’ve enjoyed off-season prices, with no crowds, and year-round visitor centers open. A few restaurants and shops close after Waterfowl Weekend; a few of those that are open close between Christmas and New Year’s, but enough shops and restaurants remain open to please us.
ISLAND HOLIDAY EVENTS
NOV. 25: Holly Day Market &Wildlife Art Show, more than 80 vendors, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 6309 Church St. (chincoteagueculturalalliance.org)
NOV: 25: Annual Holiday Craft Show, $3, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,Chincoteague High School,4586 Mail St. (chincoteague chamber.com/events)
DEC. 2: Chincoteague Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade, 7 p.m., Main Street
DEC. 31: Horseshoe Drop, midnight, costume promenade at 10:30 p.m. (chincoteaguechristmas.com)
JAN. 1: Polar Pony Plunge,participants encouraged to come in costume to the beach for the surf plunge, 1:18 p.m. (chincoteaguechristmas.com)
