Pony Pennings Between Fires - 1921, 1922 and 1923

 The Democratic Advocate, printed in Westminster, Maryland, of 15 July 1921 stated:

"The Annual Pony-Penning will take place on Assateague Beach July 26, and on Chincoteague the following day."   

In "Once Upon An Island" by Kirk Mariner, the author states on page 104: "...that [pony penning] scheduled for 1921 did not take place because Field refused to allow the owners to cross his land and round up their herds..."     

And The Democratic Messenger, of Snow Hill, Maryland, in the edition of 30 July 1921, stated:  "Mssrs. Sewell T. Riley, Purnell West and Lloyd Pusey attended the Pony Penning at Chincoteague Island on Wednesday." 

Construction of the causeway and bridges in 1922

Most mentions of Chincoteague and the ponies in the newspapers in 1922 were with regard to the "soon to be completed" causeway from the mainland, via a series of bridges, to the island. The delicious seafood and pony penning were almost always mentioned in each article. Then, on 15 July, a Saturday, The Democratic Messenger of Snow Hill had this entry under "Local and Personal": "The annual pony penning on Chincoteague Island will take place on Wednesday, July 26th. The pony penning on Chincoteague has always been held a day later than on Assateague, but this year a consolidation has taken place, and the two events will be held on the same day." Under the heading "Dashes Here And There," The Denton Journal of Denton, Maryland, stated on 29 July: "The annual pony penning at Chincoteague Island was held on Wednesday." No one knows what deals were made with Sam Field for the owners of the private herds to be allowed access to Assateague Island to round up their ponies in 1922 and for the next two years. I can find no articles about how many ponies there were, or the amount of visitors.

The causeway and bridges finally opened to Chincoteague in October, just in time for a spectacular storm that caused vehicles returning to the mainland to get stuck, and the passengers and drivers needed rescuing by boat and horse- or pony carts. Most vehicles were towed to the closest shore - island or mainland - by teams of horses. Once the toll road was repaired, it had constant use.

Postcard of 1920 showing the Chincoteague Channel waterfront

In the York Daily Recorder of York, Pennsylvania, on July 21, 1923, an article on page 4 reads: "Annual Chincoteague Round-Up Of Ponies - Captain William C. Bunting, of Chincoteague, Va., has advised his York friends that the annual round-up and pruning of ponies on Chincoteague Island will take place on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Captain Bunting's round-up this year will include 150 ponies and he wants Yorkers who have attended previous round-ups and sales to pay him a visit next week and to bring along their friends. The round-up is a most interesting, not to say exciting, event, since the ponies are wild, and the attempts to corral them are usually attended with more or less excitement and considerable hazard. Captain Bunting is well known in this city."

Also on July 21st, The Worcester Democrat and The Ledger-Enterprise, of Pocomoke City, Maryland had this headline on page 1: "Annual Pony Penning At Chincoteague July 26 - The annual pony penning will take place on Chincoteague Island, Va., on Thursday, July 26, 1923. There will be only one penning this year. The stockholders on Assateague will bring their ponies to Chincoteague; there will be ponies of all ages, colors and sizes for sale, both privately and publicly.

The Eastern Shore Forest Tall Cedars, of Salisbury, Md., accompanied by their wives and daughters, also the Tall Cedars' Band, will be there on that day, for their annual outing.

In the evening they will hold a ceremonial in the auditorium of the new school building.

There will be special attractions for the visitors; such as, pony racing, boat racing, swimming races, and the best of all, you can go to Chincoteague over the new Toll road and bridge, the best road in the county."

The Wednesday headline on page 13 in The Evening Journal of Wilmington, Delaware read: "PONY-PENNING AT CHINCOTEAGUE - Tomorrow Will Be Round Up Day For Ponies On Island - Hundreds Will Be Caught, Branded - Franklin City, Va., July 25 - The annual pony-penning on Chincoteague Island, Va., will happen tomorrow, and visitors from all sections of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia are expected to be present for the yearly event. There will be no pony-penning on Assateague Island this year. The Assateague ponies will be taken to Chincoteague Island for sale.

From one summer to another the ponies are allowed to roam over the Island in a wild state, and what food they obtain is gotten in the lowlands. They subsist mainly on marsh hay and grass which grows in abundance along the shores of the Island.

The young ponies are raised in the forests of the Island, and the owners never know how many they have until the bands of horseback riders corral them in large pounds built expressly for the purpose. After impounding them they are branded by the owner and many of them are turned loose and roam about until the next summer when they with their young are again rounded up.

Owners are able to ascertain the young ponies belonging to them because they will follow the mother who has the owners initials branded on the pony's leg or rump.

Many years ago, after rounding them up, nearly all were driven back to the lowlands after being branded, but within recent years, a large per cent, are sold to persons who desire them for driving purposes for their children.

There are hundreds of ponies wandering in the woodland of the Island in a wild state just as they do on the Shetland Islands or on Texas ranges.

Photo from a 1913 Harper's Weekly Magazine displaying the "wild ponies

that roam Chincoteague Island at their will."

No one can tell how long the ponies have been roaming the Island in a wild state. Some are of the opinion that at one time Chincoteague Island was a part of the mainland. The belief is expressed that gradually the waters of the Atlantic ate their way into the land until the Island was formed and the ponies were cut off by the bay, which is about seven miles wide. Some advance the opinion that possibly a century ago when the bay was rather shallow that they swam across to the Island and began their propagation.

Chincoteague Island, which has become famous within the past three decades for its oysters, is an island about seven or eight miles long and has a population of more than four thousand people. The homes are built for the most part on the bayside facing Franklin City, Va., junction for the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad. The chief business of the Islanders is handling sea food, including oysters, clams, lobsters and fish. The woodland of the Island is on either end and to the rear of the residential section and it is in this scope of the Island where the ponies remain in a wild state."

I could not find any reports about the number of ponies sold, nor about the number of visitors for Pony Penning. However, the Wilmington, Delaware newspaper, The Morning News, had a brief paragraph tucked away on page 3 that read: "The Toll receipts Thursday at Chincoteague, as a result of the Tall Cedars' celebration, is estimated a little more than $1000. The charge made each car is crossing the bridge is 50 cents and 25 additional for each passenger." Notice the paper stated the high Toll receipts were due to the "Tall Cedars' celebration" and not the annual Pony Penning. The "Tall Cedars" referred to here is a Masonic group, the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, which promoted friendship, families and trust across communities.

Things on Chincoteague were again looking up.

And then came the fire on 25 February 1924.....