From Pine View Farm

New Parking Lot at Assateague Island National Seashore 0

What happened to the old one? Bad weather.

Buried deep in the story is this (emphasis added):

“Our land base is shrinking because of sea level rise and the accompanying strong storms,” said Lou Hinds, manager of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Virginia side of the island. “These are all naturally occurring reasons, and there’s nothing the American public or government agencies can do.”

Hinds said 115 yards of beach have been lost since 1962. Vestiges of former parking lots attest to this. Cables and a wellhead have been unearthed by the surf. And farther back from the ocean, concrete fragments intermingle with the sand.

Sea level rise. Yeah. Naturally occurring reasons. Hardly.

My father’s mother taught school on Assateague Island before she married my grandfather. (It’s pronounced ASS-a-teeg for those of you not from these parts.) That was back when Assateague was inhabited by persons as well as ponies.

I wonder whether it will still exist for her great-great-grandchildren to visit.

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