We’re back at Chincoteague for a three-night stay, just the four of us.
The long-standing tradition for the last ten or so years had been to stay at “the brown house” on Deep Hole Road with my side of the family. In the early years of this iteration of our Chincoteauge summer vacation, we crammed the four of us, my sister’s family of four, my parents, and my older sister’s daughter and her husband into this four-ish bedroom home on Oyster Bay. We usually had two dogs with us (and our two baby kittens one summer, smuggled in and hidden in the bedroom).
As the kids have gotten less compact and my niece’s family has grown, we have spread out to two houses, and my younger sister’s husband’s family has begun coming for a second week with them at the brown house. They’ve fallen for Chincoteague, as well.
My parents haven’t come the last few years, and our family has skipped two summers because of big overseas trips. But not next year! We are returning to the brown house; nobody wants it to be a thing of the past.
I will say we have come up in the world as far as our accommodations go on the island. In the very early years, circa 1974-1986, we stayed at the KOA campground in our canvas tent and then our pop-up camper, doused in Off! and sweating as we chased lighting bugs. Then we rented a tiny, run-down house for about seven of us a few times in the late 80’s.
Then came the Chincoteague hiatus, at least for me. With college, moving to Oregon and then to upstate New York, attending grad school, and just life, in general, I grew apart from the island. I opted for the Outer Banks, Bethany, and Rehoboth instead.
When Maxine turned three, I decided it was time to show my young family the island of my childhood. Chris fell in love with the modest small town, the quiet docks, the bike rides to the beach and around the island, the ice cream shop, the trail to the lighthouse, the wild ponies, and crabbing off the dock.
When my sister and her growing family moved back from San Diego, I found a house barely big enough for all of us: Morningsong, the brown house with the lookout for stargazing two flights of stairs above the outside deck.
The three of us who grew up with Chincoteague have passed the love for it onto our spouses and children. The town has grown up a little, with better food options, a few fun shops, and even a small brewery, but the character has remained unchanged. This is not a place for those seeking luxury and beachfront homes.
The secret of Chincoteague is not as well-kept as in the past, but its charm and well-worn character provide a steady comfort through the generations.
My Corner of the Village 