Beebe, was one of Grandpa Beebe's many children. They raised their grandchildren, Paul and Maureen Beebe, who are the children in the book.) (Grandpa and Grandma Beebe in the book are Clarence and Ida Beebe. “Grandpa and Grandma Beebe were my grandparents,” Beebe said. He and his sister Barbara Beebe Massey Gray own the property. They have offered summer Misty tours there off and on since 1999.

“We cannot let this piece of history go to developers.”īilly Beebe and his wife moved to the ranch about 10 years ago, after he retired. “They need to sell the ranch, and it can’t wait two or three years. When the museum’s executive director, Cindy Faith heard the ranch was for sale, she scrambled to begin fundraising. The museum has only a short time to raise $625,000 to save the ranch. Although many Assateague ponies died in that storm, Misty survived in the Beebe kitchen, a story that is told in Henry’s sequel book, “Stormy, Misty’s Foal.” It’s where the family stashed a pregnant Misty to keep her safe when the island was evacuated during the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm, one of the most damaging extratropical cyclones to hit the United States coastline. While the 10.3-acre ranch lost its original barn to a tragic fire in 2019, the original home still stands. Misty died in 1972, but people still flock to the island to see the ranch, to feel the warm marsh winds and to cross the bay to Assateague Island to meet the wild Chincoteague Ponies. Released in 1947, the book catapulted Henry to the best seller list, bringing fame to Chincoteague Island and the Beebe Ranch. They became Maureen or Paul, dreaming of the Beebe Ranch and the island of wild ponies. Children across the country devoured the book. Newbury Award winning author Marguerite Henry wove fact and fiction together to share the story of sister and brother working side by side to make the dream of buying a wild pony come true. Now, after 100 years in the Beebe family, the iconic Beebe Ranch is for sale and the Museum of Chincoteague is asking YOU to help them preserve this piece of history, so visitors can come and relive the dream. In the children’s book “Misty of Chincoteague,” siblings Paul and Maureen Beebe live out the dream of every horse-crazy kid in America. An old photo provided by the Beebe family shows Misty of Chincoteague and her foal Stormy on the porch of the Beebe home.

Misty of chincoteague author