National Park Guide: Maryland's Assateague Island

— -- Maryland owes it not to just one storm, but two, that Assateague Island National Seashore exists today.

A 1933 hurricane split the resort town of Ocean City at its barrier island britches, creating an inlet. It proved a boon for fishing but slowed plans for southward development to the Virginia state line. Three decades later, the Ash Wednesday nor'easter of 1962 halted plans for 5,000 seaside homes that would have formed a new community called Ocean Beach.

"That convinced folks that Assateague Island wasn't fit for commercial or residential development," says Carl Zimmerman, a spokesman for the park for 20 years.

The park has no highways or big neighborhoods nearby, and that's why Assateague can function "about as naturally as any barrier island along the Atlantic seaboard," Zimmerman says. The island's famed wild horses are its main draw. Zimmerman says more than 80% of visitors come to see the 114 native horses in their natural setting.

Allen Sklar of nearby Bishopville, Md., says the park offers "some of the most awesome hiking and photography on the entire East Coast."

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About the park

Size: 49,000 acres

Visitors: 2,105,419 in 2011

Established: 1965

History: Environmentalists lobbied for the island to become a park, and won, after a 1962 storm stripped it of residential property.

When visiting: 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, Md. Visitor information: 410-641-1441

Of note: The Audubon Society has named the island as a Global Important Bird Area for its many rare species of migratory birds.

Shane also reports for The Daily Times in Salisbury, Md.