CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. -- The Beebe Ranch, home to the famed pony, Misty, has been put up for sale. The Museum of Chincoteague Island is asking for help to save the land from possible development.
The museums executive director, Cindy Faith, tells WBOC a developer approached the Beebe family, offering up $625,000 to purchase the 10.3 acres of land. Now, the museum and Chincoteague community have a month to match it.
"This is a huge colossal request, to ask people to come up with $625,000," said Faith. "We have about a month to at least get the bulk of that to show the Beebe family that the community does want to support this."
Misty became famous after author Marguerite Henry visited the island in 1946. Just a year later, "Misty of Chincoteague", a popular children's novel was released.
Now, the home of the pony known by so many across the country is in jeopardy of possible development. So, the Beebe family turned to the museum for fundraising help.
"Knowing the Beebe family has preserved it, protected it all these many years and is now looking for a steward to help them in the future, we at the museum with Chincoteague desperately want to be able to do that for them," said Faith.
Beebe Ranch is, after all, where Misty was born. The steps Misty is pictured walking up in Marguerite Henry's book and the house Misty stayed in are still standing.
It's where Misty had three foals and where she passed away. Now, it's home to Drizzle and Angle, 4th and 5th generation descendants of Misty.
And there are those on Chincoteague, like Melynda Wrightstone, who want to make sure when people visit the island, it continues to remind them of the book they read as a child.
"When I talk about coming to Chincoteague or living in Chincoteague, people always say to me 'it's the Misty book'," said Wrightstone. "And I say 'exactly' and they say 'have you seen Misty, where's the Beebe Ranch, can you feed the ponies'?"
Steve Potts, another Chincoteague local, said it's not just about preserving history, but opening up opportunity for the future.
"It's not just what the Beebe Ranch could be as our history, but as our future," said Potts. "There's a lot of things to be done there, educational tools, events to be held there later."
Faith said if the town is able to come up with the well over half a million dollars, they will incorporate the ranch as part of the museum, while staying true to its current state.
"We don't want to build on the property to the point where you don't recognize it as the Beebe Ranch, but we would like to have it as a place for people to visit," said Faith.
Some of the plans include rebuilding a barn that burned down a few years ago to create a space for classes and meetings.
To make those plans a reality, Faith is hoping Chincoteague gets help from Delmarva and across the country.
"It really is hundreds of thousands of people around the country we're hoping will kind of get behind this and support the effort because it's really important to the community," said Faith.
If you would like to help with the fundraising efforts, Faith said you can drop off cash or a check to the Museum of Chincoteague Island. The address for the museum is 7125 Maddox Blvd, Chincoteague, VA 23336.
You can also donate on the museums website, the link for it can be found here.
There is also a GoFundMe set up, which you can access here.
The race is on to try and preserve the Beebe Ranch, and stop it from becoming just a memory in the pages of a book.