Virginia Barrier Islands

The Virginia Barrier Islands are a continuous chain of long, narrow, low-lying barrier islands along the Virginia end of the Delmarva Peninsula, separated from one another by narrow inlets and from the mainland by shallow marshy tidal bays. Several of the islands were once significantly larger, covered with pine forests and inhabited, and after a rail line reached the area in the late nineteenth century they hosted lavish hunting and fishing clubs that drew wealthy sportsmen from northeastern cities, including President Grover Cleveland, who visited Hog Island to hunt waterfowl in the early 1890s.