Sometimes a single, distant event has a profound
local impact. More than seventy-five years ago, this area was
forever changed by just such an event which occurred almost
twenty-five miles away! Ironically, the event that changed this
area for the worse, is widely believed to have benefitted the
community further North where it occurred!
Looking East beyond nearby Mills Island you can see the
barrier island now known as Assateague, which falls on both sides
of the Maryland-Virginia Line. Once it was known as Fenwick Island,
and it stretched from Virginia to Delaware.
To the South you can see several abandoned buildings,
testimony to the demise of a thriving local industry. In August of
1933 a hurricane moved up the Atlantic Coast, destroying many
buildings here, among them fifteen oyster packing houses.
Twenty-five miles North of here the storm hit Ocean City, altering
the shape and size of Fenwick Island by creating a new geologic
feature. Deciding that the new feature was beneficial, efforts were
begun to stabilize and preserve it. But...
The water current along the Atlantic coast continuously
moves sand from up the coast and from the seafloor in a Southern
direction along the undisturbed shoreline, maintaining the barrier
islands. This natural process has been disrupted by the artificial
measures employed at Ocean City, leading to reduced migration of
sediment to Assateague Island. This reduction, combined with
natural overwash, is causing Assateague Island to move west towards
the mainland at a rate of 200 feet since 1933.
Additionally, Ocean City’s decision to maintain
the geologic feature led to many changes within Chincoteague Bay,
including changes in water circulation patterns, sediment
deposition and erosion patterns, and access for aquatic organisms.
A host of problems associated with increased salinity ultimately
proved ruinous to the oyster industry. The elevated salinity
allowed predators, particularly oyster drills, to thrive. Fouling
organisms that compete for food and hard substrate also found
conditions more suitable. Although the natural oyster populations
rapidly declined, the culture based industry still managed to exist
for some time longer. The death knell of the oyster industry
sounded when disease came to the Coastal Bays in the late
1950's.
TO CLAIM A FIND YOU MUST:
Send us an email with the answers to the following questions: 1)
What do you think the 1933 storm created at Ocean City that
resulted in Fenwick Island becoming two islands—Fenwick and
Assateague? 2) How is maintaining that new geologic feature causing
Assateague Island to move? 3) How does that feature effect the
salinity here in Chincoteague Bay? 4) BONUS SMILEYS: What's an
"arster"?
OPTIONAL BUT NOT REQUIRED: We’d enjoy seeing a
picture of you with your GPS (or just your GPS) and the
interpretive sign, but please be sure that your picture does not
reveal the wording on the sign!
SPOILER LOGS OR PICTURES WILL BE DELETED!
OTHER NEARBY CACHES: GC17F1C, GC1732D and GC174DR.
For more information look up:
http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/wetlandswaterways/CB_AA.pdf
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/coastalbays/publications/Chapter8.4.pdf
http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/inventory/gre_publications.cfm
“Assateague NS”
http://www.beloit.edu/~SEPM/Geology_and_the_enviro/Fenwick_Island.html
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2003/assateague.html
http://visitworcester.org "Directory", "EA Vaughn Kayak
Trail"
http://www.ocmuseum.org/index.php/site/oc-history_article/stormy_weather/