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Chincoteague Bay at sunset
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Each summer, teeming masses leave the metropoles of New Jersey and New York for the famed vacation escape of the Jersey Shore. But Long Beach Island nonetheless remains a bit off the beaten path. It's almost a sand bar on steroids, a spit that rarely exceeds a mile in width from shore to shore. But it does have an abundance of beaches, always the main attraction.
For fortunate residents of Manhattan and the rest of New York City, Shelter Island represents a diamond in the rough. Almost an entire third of this speck near the eastern edge of Long Island is dedicated to a nature preserve, and miles of white sand beaches work their magic. Access is via ferry only, keeping the crowds manageable.
For those few souls who have never read Misty of Chincoteague, Virginia's Chincoteague Island may not ring a bell. But it is still the only destination in the eastern US where horses run free. Every year there's a wild horse run across the channel that draws huge crowds, many from Baltimore, MD or Washington, DC, about 170 miles away. Chincoteague Island is also a stone's throw from Assateague Island, which abuts the Atlantic Ocean and features undeveloped stretches of nationally protected beach.
Just to the north, Maryland and Delaware residents alike flock to Fenwick Island on the Delaware Atlantic Coast. The island's famous lighthouse sits right on the Maryland-Delaware border, drawing sightseers from all along a thin strand of beach that stretches south from Rehoboth Beach and Cape Henlopen, Delaware, all the way to Ocean City, Maryland.
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