# @mdhistory on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CRuMO_bpEiQ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/19780658-mdhistory-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/9ce78466b5.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-07-24T19:31:08.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC) (@mdhistory) — https://gondola.cc/mdhistory

## Caption

This weekend would have been the annual Assateague-Chincoteague Pony Swim in southern Maryland and eastern Virginia. Although not wild ponies, horses were a significant part of the Eyre family’s life over the centuries. 

Thomas Eyre, a doctor, owned one of the few horses in the area in the mid-17th century to reach patients quickly. William L. Eyre was so passionate about breeding and betting on racehorses and that he gambled himself into debtors’ prison in the 19th century. Margaret Eyre Taylor Baldwin carried on her family’s connection to horses in the 20th century, although the presence of horses at Eyre Hall began to dwindle in 1940 after a fire consumed the barn and the farm shifted to using mechanical equipment. 

Learn more about the rich history of the Eyre family and Eyre Hall in MCHC’s forthcoming book, “The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History,” publishing in September 2021. Preorder now at 20% off by visiting the Museum Store online using the link in our bio.

Image captions:
Margaret Eyre Taylor, January 1, 1927, unknown photographer, Eyre Hall. In “The Material World of Eyre Hall,” ed. Carl R. Lounsbury (Baltimore: MCHC, 2021), p. 144.

Assateague Island, photograph by A. Aubrey Bodine (1906–1970), June 1963. Maryland Center for History and Culture, H. Furlong Baldwin Library, A. Aubrey Bodine Collection, Baltimore City Life Museum Collection, B313-3

#Assateague #Chincoteague #AssateagueIsland #AssateaguePonies #ChincoteagueIsland #ChincoteaguePony #PonySwim #WildPonies #EyreHall #Maryland #MarylandHistory #MDHistory

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## Tags

assateague, chincoteaguepony, wildponies, maryland, mdhistory, marylandhistory, assateagueisland, eyrehall, assateagueponies, chincoteagueisland, ponyswim, chincoteague

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