NASA Wallops Center

About a 10 minute drive from Chincoteague Island, VA is the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. It is free for all guests to enter, and is a great stop to hit either on the way into Chincoteague Island or on the way home. This is best experienced by children, and you shouldn't expect anything like NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

This is a small facility that weather satellites are typically launched from. There's various displays around showing visitors what is done at this facility, as well as interactive exhibits and toys to entertain younger kids. In addition, you can see an actual moon rock here.

Assateague Island National Seashore - Virginia

Located right after the final hotel of Chincoteague Island, you'll find the entry to both the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge as well as to the Virginia side of the Assateague Island National Seashore. In the wildlife refuge, there is plenty of birding that can be done, ponies to be seen and a lighthouse you can climb (but make sure you get there with plenty of time before closing as they do close the entry way for the lighthouse about 30 minutes prior to closing time). For the ponies, you won't find them out everywhere like on the Maryland side, but penned up in a large enclosure. Once you reach the seashore, there is a National Park visitor's center as well as a beach. We found the beach to be a bit dirty, especially for something maintained by the National Park Service, and in comparison to the Maryland side of the island, which was disappointing. However, it's still a decent place to visit.