Pony Penning 1946 - Newspaper Articles for Author Marguerite Henry's Stay

   On Monday, 15 July 1946, The Daily Times newspaper of Salisbury, Maryland reported  on page 5:  "Chincoteague Carnival Begins Two-Week Run  -  Chincoteague, July 15.  -  The Chincoteague Firemen's Carnival, one of the Delmarva Peninsula's outstanding events with Pony Penning Day on the 25th as its climax, opened here today. 

   Oldtimers who have looked over the famous herds of wild ponies in their grazing grounds on Assateague Island predict one of the largest round-ups of the sturdy little animals in the long history of the event.

   Although Pony Penning Day is the most important of the year for most Chincoteague residents, the firemen plan a series of nightly entertainments for every night of the carnival's two week run.  Among these features are aerial acts and pony races under lights."   ***

    In the Tuesday, 16 July, edition of the same newspaper, there is an advertisement on page 2 that takes almost 3/5 of the page for "Ralph & Gaskill," a men's clothing store in Salisbury, that has several drawings  - wild ponies, a compass, a couple in a speed boat, and, of course, men's clothing at the bottom - that says:  "Let's Explore the Shore  -  Chincoteague  "Where descendants of Old World ponies roam wild in its reaches" -  There's so much to see in the Shore ... so many places to visit ... cities and towns worth your time to see.  Nearby is Chincoteague ... where deep South traditions are preserved as ritual ... where long sandy beaches forbid the Atlantic Ocean to intrude on its serenity ... where descendants of Old World ponies roam wild in its reaches to be rounded up and sold once a year ... where fishing is a livelihood and a hobby ... where the Delmarva's poultry industry bloomed and flourishes ... where modernity blends with antiquity ... where winding oyster shell roads run from tip to tip of the chain of islands that make up Chincoteague ... where more people live than in any other Eastern Shore of Virginia town ... where oysters, clams, crabs and fish begin their journey to gourmets' tables throughout the nation and the world ... where youngsters learn to swim almost as soon as they begin to toddle ...  where a series of bridges from the Virginia mainland is the only approach, except by sea ... where a nearby air base brought the last war closer to home than the now-removed service stars for its sons serving in the Coast Guard ... where houses with long steps are the rule and not the exception ... where the folk are amicable ... Plan to make your week-end trips happier with proper summer clothing from the store 'one man tells the other' about. - Facts supplied by Wicomico Historical Society."    ***

   Several newspapers along the coast from South Carolina to New York carried a two sentence "article" stating the wild ponies would be rounded up and "herded through the shallow waters between Wallops and Chincoteague Islands" during the days between July 18 and 21. 

   Tuesday, July 23rd, saw The Morning News of Wilmington, Delaware run an article on page 6:  "Chincoteague Pony Round-Up Thursday - Special to The Morning News - Chincoteague, Va., July 22. -  The program has been announced for "Pony Penning Day" at the Chincoteague firemen's carnival on Thursday, which is expected to attract one of the largest crowds in the history of this famous event.  

   The colorful round-up will begin at 9 a. m. at Beebe's Ranch when  the wild animals will be transferred to the pony pens for sale.  Between 10 and 11 a. m. there will be an air parade.  Afternoon features include wild pony rides, bicycle races, bag race, fire fighting demonstrations and thoroughbred pony races."   ***

   On Wednesday, July 24th, The Daily Times of Salisbury ran a front page story about Pony Penning:  "Pony Roundup To Be Held  -  Chincoteague Event To Draw Thousands  -  Chincoteague Island, July 24.  -  A wild-horse roundup which began before many parts of the Far West ever felt the thunder of horses' hooves gets under way tomorrow when this island off the Virginia coast stages its greatest annual event, Pony Penning Day.

   The roundup of the famous Chincoteague ponies goes back 276 years to the island's first settlers, according to "Holiday," a national magazine which carries a story in its July issue describing the yearly capture and sale of the ponies.

   It's a roundup which carries none of the trappings of its western counterparts.  The "cowboys" are citizens of this fishing community.  White sand and marsh grass substitute for sage brush and greasewood.  Instead of a backdrop of purple mountains, the setting is a long, low sliver of land surrounded by blue water.

   And the horses - there is a tangled skein of legend about their origin which adds a touch of romance which no other roundup has.  One theory has it that the sturdy little animals, which stand about chest high to the average man, are descendants of other horses which were turned loose by their owners to avoid paying a tax on them.

  -  Another Version  -

   More popular is the story that the ponies are the progeny of horses which were bred by the Spanish in Florida.  Some of these horses, headed north, it is said, found "haven" in Chincoteague and have stayed ever since.  

   Still another yarn, as plausible as any and much more exotic, explained that the original ponies swam ashore from a pirate ship which sank during a storm off the Atlantic coast.

   At the crack of dawn tomorrow a group of horse hunters, most of them members of the Chincoteague Fire Department, will cross the channel from Chincoteague to Assateague Island, the ponies' habitat.  Riding their own domesticated ponies, the cowboys will split in two groups, ranging up and down the 35-mile length of Assateague and forcing the ponies back to the landing point.

   There every colt will be branded.  Curiously enough, almost every pony on Assateague belongs to some one, either the firemen or an individual, even though they have to forage for themselves the rest of the year on one of the bleakest ranges in the world.  It's easy to decide who owns each colt, because each sticks closely to its mother.  

  -  Swim Channel  -  

   After the branding, the ponies are made to swim across the channel to Chincoteague at low tide.  Spectators get their first glimpse of them as they swim, tightly bunched, with only their heads showing above water.  When they come out on the other side, heads low and shaggy coats still dripping, they are herded into pens at the 20-acre firemen's carnival grounds and sold.

   Most of the proceeds from the pony sale got to the Chincoteague firemen, who have made it the backbone of their annual carnival.  The carnival grounds, probably the largest on the peninsula, were paid for by the ponies.  Sales receipts in 1944 bought a new fire engine, and the 50-foot-high Ferris wheel is another example of pony money's importance.  

   Like everything else, the price of Chincoteague ponies has gone up.  As recently as 1940, they were sold for $25 each.  By 1944 the ante had been raised to $50.  Last year the firemen insisted on a flat price of $100 - and got it.  They took in $21,000 in a single day.

   In addition to the roundup, Pony Penning Day has two other important features - the rodeo and the water drill put on by a crack group of Coast Guardsmen stationed on the island.  For the bronco busting, men mount unbroken ponies from a platform and try to ride them out.  They usually succeed, although one stallion hasn't been ridden in two years.

   Chincoteaguers are predicting the largest crowd in the history of the event this year, and estimate that over 100 ponies will be put up for sale."   ***

   On Pony Penning Day itself, The Baltimore Sun ran an article dated on Wednesday, 24 July, from Chincoteague:  "Chincoteague Pony-Penning  -  300 Wild Horses Ready For Annual Event  -  About 300 shaggy, spirited ponies whose colonial forebears nibbled the wild marsh grass on Virginia's eastern seaboard as far back as the latter part of the Seventeenth Century, plunged into the shallows from Assateague and Wallops Island today and swam over to be on hand for Chincoteague Island's annual pony-penning tomorrow.

   The ponies will be overnight guests at Clarence Beebe's ranch until tomorrow's roundup, and then they will be herded through Main street to the Volunteer Firemen's carnival grounds for penning, inspection and possible sale.

   -  Pony Races Slated  -

   Carnival folks expect their horse wrangle tomorrow to bring a record crowd to Eastern Shore Virginia.  They are also offering visitors a program of pony races and wild-pony rides.

   Chincoteague's pony roundup and penning has been a part of the firemen's annual carnival for a quarter of a century, but for uncounted decades before the firemen took it over the it was cause for something of an island jubilee.  No one seems to know exactly when the first roundup was held, but in 1877 Howard Pyle wrote that they were held once or twice a year.

   -  History Lacking  -

   How the shaggy animals came to the wind-blown islets off Chincoteague is not definitely recorded, but the general belief here is that the ponies are descendants of horses put out to graze there after the passage of a colonial law in 1662 requiring horses to be confined.

   Fenced in by the water and beset by the rigors of weather and a diet of marsh grass, these horses developed successive generations of stunted shaggy ponies."   ***

   The Associated Press story, which ran on Thursday, 25 July, was also listed as being from "Chincoteague Island, Va., July 24;"  this quoted article is from The Bristol Herald in Tennessee, on page 1:  "First Ponies of Virginia Swim To Annual Festival  -  The FPV's - first ponies of Virginia whose ancestry over here on the eastern shore antedates all the records available - swam over from Assateague and Wallops island today for their day of glory in Chincoteague's annual pony penning festival tomorrow.

   Nearly 300 of the wild little shaggy mounts, a third more than were on hand last year, made their way through the shallow narrows separating the two islets from Chincoteague and were corralled for the night at Clarence Beebe's ranch in preparation for the parade, penning and pony auction tomorrow - the big moment of the annual carnival of the volunteer fire department.

   For the older ponies the trip through the surf and the penning to follow is a routine performance that interrupted their year of wild ranging in the pine woods and marsh grass of Assateague and Wallops.  But quite a few colts swam as first performers beside the mares.

   In the show this year the ponies will share some of the honors with an air show put on by the Chincoteague naval auxiliary air station and a demonstration of fire fighting and some bicycle races.  Then, too, Captain Earl McDonald will do his high dive twice tomorrow.  ..."    ***

   As a wrap-up, The Richmond Times-Dispatch had the following article on page 4 on Friday, 26 July:  "Pony Penning Feature Brings Wild West To Chincoteague  -  Chincoteague Island, 25 July. - AP - A bit of Wild West was transplanted today to this encrusted island in the Atlantic Ocean with the roundup, penning, roping, and sale of some 250 wild ponies from near-by islets.

   Just about everybody took a holiday for another renewal of Chincoteague's famous pony-penning day, climax of the annual two-week carnival staged by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company.

   After all the stunted little ponies were sold - and they went like hot cakes at prices up to $175 for the highest figure in the history of the event - a prize of $10 was offered to anyone who could remain on the back of one of the wild ponies for three minutes.  Several young men tried their luck but only one stayed the distance.  He was Dayton E. Finlay, 22-year-old Chincoteague truck driver.  He was wildly cheered by the throng as he stayed on the mare's back despite her desperate bucking, plunging and rearing.

   -  Thousands Attend  - 

   The whinnying of the ponies in their pens blended all day with the stentorian shouts of carnival barkers as the island's inhabitants and thousands of visitors in holiday mood rode the ferris wheel and the merry-go-round and watched pony races, bicycle races, ate hot dogs and drank soda pop, looked for lost children, and did everything that carnival crowds do.

   One of the largest crowds in pony-penning history mingled with Chincoteague's 4,500 residents to see the shaggy, spirited little animals herded through main street and into the pens for auction.

   The ponies took their annual swim yesterday through the Narrows to Chincoteague from Assateague and Wallops Islands, where they roam wild in the piney woods and find the salt marsh grass adequate as fodder.

   For the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company the event added substantial sums to its adequately lined coffers.  Fire Chief E. L. Jones said he started the company's finances in 1925 by passing the hat and in the intervening years the $4.16 tossed into the headgear has grown to $200,000.

   -  Feature Event  -

   The strongly solvent smoke eaters tucked into their treasury all the proceeds from the carnival and a goodly share of the money realized from the sale of the ponies, some of whom are owned privately.

   The firemen have made pony penning day a part of their annual carnival for nearly a quarter century, but the roundups have been held here beyond any of the written records available.  The ponies themselves are believed to be descended from horses "fenced in" on the islands when a colonial law of 1662 ordered horse owners to confine their animals. 

   Some of the ponies today were sold to dealers from other parts of the country, but most of them are sold individually to parents who were goaded by expectantly grinning children."