Decoys: The Folk Art of the Marsh
Near Chincoteague, Virginia
Before it was known for ponies, Chincoteague was a hunter's island, sitting square in the path of millions of migrating ducks and geese. And out of that hunting culture grew an art form that collectors now treasure: the wooden decoy. A decoy is a carved and painted bird, floated on the water to lure real waterfowl within range of the gun.
On Chincoteague, generations of watermen turned these working tools into folk art. The island produced a whole school of carvers with a distinct style, favoring broad, flat bottomed bodies and simple, bold paint. The most famous of them was Miles Hancock, who learned from the great carver Ira Hudson and, over a long lifetime, is said to have made thousands of decoys.
Hancock even guided duck hunters from a houseboat named Tarry Awhile. Another legend, Delbert Daisey, nicknamed Cigar, carved birds so fine that examples ended up in the Smithsonian. What began as a way to put dinner on the table became a genuine American art, and today a single old Chincoteague decoy can be worth thousands of dollars.
You can see fine examples at the island's museums, small wooden birds that carry the whole history of this marsh in their painted feathers.
