Misty of Chincoteague

Marguerite Henry, a writer of children's stories, came to Chincoteague in 1946 to see the wild horses she had read about. She met people who had first hand knowledge of the horses and the shipwreck legend they had inherited from their ancestors. Her book, Misty of Chincoteague, was published in 1947 and earned a Newbery Honor for children's literature. In 1960, 20th Century Fox descended on Chincoteague Island and produced a movie called Misty starring Arthur O'Connell as Clarence "Grandpa" Beebe and Anne Seymour as Ida "Grandma" Beebe, two real people, not only familiar with the wild horses on Assateague, but the legend that said they came from a Spanish shipwreck. The Hidden Galleon describes the heritage of the Beebe family and how they came to know the popular tradition.