Coastal geologist Stanley R. Riggs is scheduled to be at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center this weekend to officially launch his three volume, 10-book North Carolina Land of Water series that explores the state’s coast.
He will be at the Harkers Island museum at 3 p.m. Sunday for a discussion and to sign copies of the first book in the series, “Cape Lookout National Seashore: Paradigm for a Coastal System Ethic,” which was released in October. A reception is to follow. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
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Riggs has spent more than six decades “studying North Carolina’s barrier islands, documenting how they shift and evolve as living systems shaped by wind, waves and storms,” organizers said.
He joined East Carolina University in 1967, where he taught for more than three decades before becoming a distinguished research professor. He has served on the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission’s science panel and Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change, and was recognized in 2022 with the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor.
“Riggs’ latest book establishes the geologic and climatic framework needed for understanding and learning to live with our changing coast,” according to R.A. Fountain, the book’s publisher. “He demonstrates that Cape Lookout is a model for how our barrier islands should be treated–compared especially to its northern neighbor, Cape Hatteras–while also engaging his readers with a fascinating social and cultural history of an island that’s now become America’s grandest national seashore.”
The books are geared toward a general audience and use “research, history and hundreds of photographs, illustrations and maps to show how wind, waves and storms reshape the coast and how North Carolinians can adapt,” the publisher continued.
Core Sound’s Executive Director Karen Amspacher said the museum is “honored to be the ‘official celebration’ of this amazing body of work and Stan Riggs’ life commitment to Eastern North Carolina. Here in the Hook of Cape Lookout this story is ours and we welcome Stan back to give to this community his research, but also his love for this place, its people and its beauty. Welcome home Stan.”
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To have a copy signed before it is shipped, purchase the book online through the museum. The book is also available through the publisher rafountain.com, and all proceeds of book sales will go to various nonprofits throughout the region as part of the author and his wife’s commitment to give back to coastal conservation, preservation and education.
