6 Days on the Outer Banks of NC

On April 24, 2012 Sharon and I flew from Cedar Rapids to Raleigh/Durham airport in North Carolina, where we were met by Susan who has just finished her first year of graduate study at Duke University. We spent the night in Durham, consumed a fabulous meal at Dame's chicken and waffle house, and toured some of the Duke campus, including its lovely chapel.

The following day Susan drove us from Durham to Nags Head on the Outer Banks. Along the way we made several stops, including a farm where we picked a large bucket of fresh strawberries. We checked into the Nags Head Beach Inn B & B for a 6-night stay and then walked a short distance down to the beach to beachcomb.

The following day, after a very hearty breakfast, we got in the car and Susan drove South down the Outer Banks. For the most part the Outer Banks are insanely overdeveloped with vacation homes. Apparently, no one builds a modest little beachhouse anymore, as all of the homes were huge McMansions. Considering that no barrier islands remain stationary and that the Outer Banks are slowly moving towards the mainland, all of these very expensive homes, if not removed by hurricanes, will be in the ocean one day. It makes absolutely no sense, reminding me of the validity of the question: "Is there intelligent life on Earth?" Thankfully, between the areas of housing over-development there were sections of the Outer Banks left in their natural state, spared from human "progress". After about 70 miles we reached our destination, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse on the Atlantic Coast. He climbed the lighthouse, enjoyed the view, then went to the nearby museum where we saw a film documentating the impressive feat which took place in 1999, when the lighthouse was slowly moved further inland from its original location, where it was threatened by the encroaching ocean.

Just a few miles North of Nags Head is Kittihawk, and the following day we drove there to see the actual location where Orville Wright, assisted by brother Wilbur, flew the first motorized airplane in 1903. We toured the museum, then went outside to see the field where Orville Wright flew the plane on 4 separate trials, each attempt resulting in a longer distance than the last.

Leaving Kittihawk we drove North along the Outer Banks, past the rich and ritzy community of Duck, to the town of Corolla where we joined a tour offered by Jay's Adventure Company to see the Corolla wild horses, one of several populations of wild horses living on the Outer Banks. For several hours Jay drove us along the beach and into the dunes looking for horses. We came across several groups, each with 3 to 5 individuals, consisting of a stallion and several mares. The horses move freely in the dunes, amongst the houses being built seemingly everywhere, and often come down to the beach where they go close to the waters edge and stand looking out, much like equine philosophers, at the immensity of the ocean.

After the tour we returned to Corolla to see the Currituck lighthouse. Like all lighthouses it has a unique pattern of light flashing that allows ships at night to recognize it from all the other lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast, and like all lighthouses it is painted in a unique style so that it can also be identified in daylight from all other lighthouses by ships at sea. At Corolla we visited the Nature Museum where I bought 2 very nice hiking poles for only $17 each and saw the Whalehead Club which was built as a hunting lodge in the 1920's-1930's when Currituck Sound harbored huge populations of waterfowl. Returning back to Nags Head for the night we foolishly stopped in Duck for a hugely overpriced so-so supper.

The next day we journeyed to nearby Jockey's Ridge State Park where we climbed and explored the highest sand dunes on the Atlantic coast.

Later in the day we drove to historic Roanoke Island, location of the first English settlement in North America. There we visited Roanoke Island Festival Park and learned some of the history about the "Lost Colony". Queen Elizabeth I didn't want to let the French and Spanish have sole control of the New World; and so in 1584 armed with a charter from Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored England's first sustained exploration and settlement of the North American coast, in order to counter Spanish domination in the New World. Two vessels arrived off the North Carolina coast and the English established relations with the Algonquians on Roanoke Island. The ships departed after several weeks, taking with them 2 Alqonquians, Manteo and Wanchese, back to England. Seven ships returned in 1585 and an earthen fort was constructed. Then, in 1587, the first true colony was established. A group of 117 English colonists established the Roanoke colony and on August 18, 1587 the first English baby in the New World was born, a girl named Virginia Dare. The colonists experienced many difficulties in the New World -- disease, food shortages, conflict with the indians -- and when supply ships returned three years later they could find none of the original colonists, hence the designation "The Lost Colony". At the park we boarded the Elizabeth II, a reproduction of one of the English sailing vessels.

Afterwards, we walked to the nearby Elizabethan Gardens, which were built to memorialize the original colonists of the Roanoke Island voyages.

One day, while Susan and Sharon were enjoying the beach, I left the B & B with one of my newly purchased hiking poles and walked several miles North to the Nags Head Woods Preserve. Shielded from the ocean winds bya ridge of ancient sand dunes the preserve, which has been saved and protected by the Nature Conservancy, is a 1400 acre maritime forst featuring an incredible diversity of plant and animal life. During my hike I saw a young red fox outside its den, an osprey swooping over a pond, and many different song birds. The beauty and quietude of the preserve was a welcome change to the traffic and human dwellings that have now come to symbolize the Outer Banks.

To see all of my photo's of the trip to the Outer Banks just click on "Floyd's pictures" on the sidebar.