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Obscura Day Summer 2025: Roaming Among Assateague’s Feral Island Ponies

Obscura Day Summer 2025: Roaming Among Assateague’s Feral Island Ponies
Obscura Day Summer 2025: Roaming Among Assateague’s Feral Island Ponies

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Obscura Day is an Atlas Obscura tradition where the whole team takes a day off to explore—whether it’s a nearby hidden gem or a distant, wondrous site. Check out the places our team visited.

Lauren Johnston, Interim Executive Editor

I was on a family beach trip to Ocean City, Maryland and decided to visit nearby Assateague Island, a 37-mile stretch of land that is home only to herds of feral ponies. Guided by this entry in our Atlas, I started off at the visitor center to learn more about the ecology and how the ponies have adapted to their marshy, saltwater environment. Their presence on the island dates back hundred of years and there are theories that the herds today are ancestors of horses stranded after a shipwreck. You can drive, bike or walk around the island paths to take in the serene scenes of ponies grazing at the water’s edge or trotting along the beach.