United States v. 222.0 Acres of Land

THOMSEN, Chief Judge.

Assateague Island, a long, thin strip of land off the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia, has the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Sinepuxent and Chincoteague Bays on the west. The northern part of the Island is in Worcester County, Maryland, the southern part in Accomack County, Virginia.

In 1965 Congress decided to acquire Assateague Island for a National Seashore. P.L. 89-195, 79 Stat. 824, 16 U.S. C.A. § 459f et seq. The government thereafter filed a series of land condemnation proceedings in this Court, the first of which was filed on April 27, 1967.1 At the…