Best Campground on the Island
Maddox Family CG is the best on Chincoteague. My family has been going every year since 2000, and my wife remembers camping here when she was a child (lets just say it was sometime in the '70's...).
The campgound is very well maintained, clean, and generally quiet. We have a popup camper, and usually have a spot under the trees. Larger RV's seem to have their own area, and tent campers are farther away. The sites are level, with good space between campsites.
The bathrooms and showers are always clean by campground standards. Any mess I've encountered is from inconsiderate campers who throw thier trash on the floor (and those who insist on smoking in the bathrooms!!).
The pool is nice enough, but is in the open, and tends to get too hot inthe afternoon. But then, again, you're there to go to the beach, so how important is the pool, anyway??
The website (such as it is) still shows a mini golf coursse, but that hasn't been there for years. They REALLY should update their web page.
The gulls are very annoying, but only if people insist on feeding them. If people wouldn't encourage them to be in the campsites, they would go elsewhere. But every year, I see a group laughing and throwing food to the skyrats, then cursing when the same birds go after their dinner.... STOP FEEDING THE BIRDS!!!!
MAddox is closest to Assateague (the beach), is next door to a hotel ( in case someone in your party needs an actual room), and is within walking/waddling distance to the only Mickie D's on the Island.
I've visited the other campgorunds on Chicoteague, and they are all far noisier, diritier, and closer packed than Maddox, as well as being farther away from the actual beach. Pines Grove is OK, but with fewer amenities than Maddox, and would be my second choice to camp. Not only is Toms Cove the furthest from the beach, I think you'd be taking your life in your hands to "camp" there - with all the motor bikes and unsupervised children racing around there. I'd skip Chincoteague/Assateague altogether if Tom's Cove was my only alternative.
These are just my opinions, but as far as it goes, I'll take Maddox this year and every year till I die.