The high tide line is the line on land up to which the highest water line reaches during the spring tide. This line can usually be identified as the line in the sand separating the dry and wet sand. It is also usually identified as a line of wrack or a concentration of shells and/or rocks. At most barrier island sites on the seaside that are open for public use, all areas above the high tide line are closed April – August to protect shorebirds that nest on the beach and other sensitive resources. Please visit site pages for specific information about particular seaside locations.










This project was funded by The Nature Conservancy with support from The Volgenau Foundation and by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program led by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality through Grant #NA17NOS4190152 of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended. All Explore Our Seaside partners also contributed significant time and effort to the project.