Qualla: Assateague State Park

Assateague State Park: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fritz Geller-Grimm, CC BY-SA 2.5. Cross the Verrazano Bridge over Sinepuxent Bay on Maryland Route 611, and you arrive at the only state park in Maryland with ocean surf. Assateague State Park is two miles of barrier-island dunes wedged between two sections of Assateague Island National Seashore, all of it at the north end of the long, narrow island that runs 37 miles into Virginia. The Verrazano Bridge is not the famous one - that one is in New York, and this one carries less traffic in a year than the New York span carries in a busy weekend. But it is the only road onto the Maryland District of Assateague, and the wild horses come up to it. A driver paying the entrance fee at the gatehouse may see a band of ponies grazing twenty feet from the booth.

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Image: Fritz Geller-Grimm | CC BY-SA 2.5

Assateague State Park: The Bridge to a Wild Beach

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fritz Geller-Grimm, CC BY-SA 2.5. Assateague State Park covers about 825 acres on the north end of the barrier island. To the north, the federal land of Assateague Island National Seashore. To the south, more federal land. The state park sits in the middle, bracketed by the National Park Service on both sides - a...

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Image: Fritz Geller-Grimm | CC BY-SA 2.5

Assateague State Park: Camping in the Dunes

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0. The state park offers about 350 campsites for tents and RVs, divided between oceanside and bayside loops. The oceanside sites sit behind the primary dune, with the sound of surf carrying through the canvas walls all night. The bayside sites face Sinepuxent Bay, with sunsets over ...

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Image: Sarah Stierch | CC BY 4.0

Assateague State Park: The Surf and the Wildlife

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Judy Gallagher, CC BY 2.0. Two miles of lifeguarded beach on the Atlantic side make Assateague State Park one of the most popular swimming beaches in Maryland. The water is the cooler Atlantic, not the warmer Chesapeake; the waves are real surf, not the small breakers of the inland bays. Surfers and bodybo...

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Image: Judy Gallagher | CC BY 2.0

Assateague State Park: The State and the Federal Park

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fritz Geller-Grimm, CC BY-SA 2.5. From the air, the boundary between the state park and the National Seashore is invisible. The dunes look the same. The horses graze across both. The piping plovers do not check ranger uniforms before choosing nesting sites. But on the ground, the two parks operate under different...

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Image: Fritz Geller-Grimm | CC BY-SA 2.5

Assateague State Park: Maryland's Only Ocean Beach Park

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fritz Geller-Grimm, CC BY-SA 2.5. Maryland has thirteen miles of Atlantic coastline. Most of it is at Ocean City, which is privately owned developed beach. The rest is on Assateague Island, where the only public access is through the state park and the national seashore. The state park is the only Maryland state ...

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Image: Fritz Geller-Grimm | CC BY-SA 2.5