Part of Assateague Island was poised to be ‘Ocean City South’ when Ash Wednesday Storm hit

Paul McCardell, Baltimore Sun
·2 min read

Much of the Maryland part of Assateague Island could have been a large developed community called Ocean Beach if not for The Great Northeaster 62 years ago this week. When the Ash Wednesday Storm hit March 6, 1962, a road had been paved, street signs erected, thousands of lots sold and a handful of dwellings built on land that is now federally protected for recreation and preservation and roamed by wild horses as part of the Assateague Island National Seashore.

Assateague, which as a barrier island bends to the whims of the wind and waves even in ordinary weather, was described as being flattened by the storm, which pummeled the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to New England and remains one of the most destructive ever recorded in the region. Facing gale force winds and very high tides exacerbated by a full moon, both Assateague and Chincoteague islands were “completely underwater” and many of their protective dunes were washed away, the National Weather Service wrote.

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Reenergizing efforts to preserve Assateague, the disaster also vastly increased the prospective cost of developing Ocean Beach, with major restoration required even just to make lots developable again. In the face of this, the development fizzled, leading landowners to sell to the federal government.

What could have become an “Ocean City South” of homes, businesses and parks began in 1950 on the heels of failed conservation efforts when a group of Baltimore-Washington investors led by Washington real estate promoter Leon Ackerman purchased a large part of Assateague. The corporation paved a 15-mile road to the Virginia line called Baltimore Boulevard, remnants of which are part of the national seashore’s Life of the Dunes Trail. Newspaper advertisements and the opening of the Bay Bridge linking Maryland’s western and eastern shores in 1952 helped drum up interest, including from speculators.

Coveted even more so by landowners and investors was a bridge to the island itself, which otherwise was served by a small car ferry. With the pursuit of a private bridge unsuccessful, Ackerman’s North Ocean Beach Inc. created a rationale for a public bridge by donating to Maryland 540 acres to establish Assateague State Park in 1956. Maryland lawmakers ultimately authorized a bridge taking Route 611 over Sinepuxent Bay. But by the time the Verrazano Bridge opened in 1964 Ocean Beach’s fortunes had already shifted with the sand.

Have a story idea about Baltimore or Maryland history or a question that might lead to one? Email researcher Paul McCardell at pmccardell@baltsun.com.