On the Maryland part of Assateague Island, we went a little way out on a trail and came across a large dark rock formation ... only it didn't look like any natural rock that I've seen in the eastern states. I wondered if it might be some sort of sea wall or bunker. (We've seen a bunker at Cape Henlopen, but it was concrete.) We walked a bit farther and another section of the structure appeared. It was long and narrow, flat on the top... and obviously the remains of a road.
The Park Service has placed an interpretive sign on the dunes to explain that this was "Baltimore Boulevard."
The asphalt slabs you just walked on are pieces of Baltimore Boulevard, a 15-mile road built by developers in the 1950s and destroyed by a storm in 1962. These broken slabs are now used only by gulls, which drop and crack clams on the hard surface.
Developers also cleared land for more than 130 side streets along Baltimore Boulevard. many clearings have filled in, but gaps in the forest remain visible in some locations.
Baltimore Boulevard, which extended to the Maryland/ Virginia State line, was the only paved road on the island. Many people questioned the wisdom of 9,000 building lots on Assateague after the March 1962 storm. This great 'northeaster' was the single most important event which led to creation of the national seashore in 1965.
(The storm hit other parts of the coast too. Check out Long Beach Island which includes Beach Haven, NJ.)
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