Inside, the stylish Drummer’s Café (daily from 11am) may tempt you to alter your travel plans so you can enjoy the delicious local seafood.Īnother 23 mi (37 km) southwest of Ocean City, detour west from the highway to take a look at the 250-year-old town of Snow Hill (pop. Main St., 410/641-3589, $95 and up), where the rocking chairs along the open-air front porch all but demand that you sit and stay awhile. Redbrick buildings house antiques shops around the 1890s landmark Atlantic Hotel (2 N. Just southwest of the US-50/113 junction, the remarkably well-preserved town of Berlin offers a look back at a slower-paced era. Berlin and Snow Hillįrom Ocean City, the route turns inland around Assateague Island and Chincoteague Bay, following US-50 west for 8 mi (12.8 km), then turning south on US-113 through the dark cypress swamps along the Pocomoke River. The center has a small aquarium as well as maps, guides, and up-to-date information about the national seashore. To reach the island from Ocean City, follow US-50 west for two miles and turn south on Hwy-611, which loops around Sinepuxent Bay before arriving at the visitor center (410/641-1441, daily). Swarms of voracious mosquitoes and a lack of freshwater keep the crowds to a minimum. It’s also one of the few areas of the Atlantic Coast protected from commercial development, with some 37 mi (60 km) and 48,000 ac (19,423 ha) of hiking, swimming, camping, canoeing, bicycling, clamming, and bird-watching. Like its neighbor Chincoteague, the island is known for the wild ponies that live there.

In 1933, a major storm crashed through the sands and created the broad inlet that now divides Ocean City from the near-wilderness of Assateague Island National Seashore.

At one time, Assateague Island, the long thin barrier island on which Ocean City sits, stretched in an unbroken line all the way into Virginia.

Assateague island national park