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Ice covers a patch of volunteer vegetation near Michael J. Smith Field Tuesday after an overnight freeze in Beaufort. Cold temperatures are forecast to continue through the weekend, when there’s potential for a coastal low pressure to develop, possibly bringing wintry weather, National Weather Service forecasters said Tuesday. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The Duncan House at 105 Front St. in Beaufort, a structure that dates back to the mid-1700s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only 11 properties in North Carolina designated as Statewide Properties of Significance, is cordoned off Tuesday after a blaze consumed the unoccupied building on Monday. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A siege of herons takes refuge Monday from high winds near Russell Creek in Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Barbara Johnson of Morehead City carries a pumpkin Thursday across the grounds of First Presbyterian Church, 1604 Arendell St., Morehead City. Held every October, the fundraising event that benefits the children and youth ministry program is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday until Oct. 31. Photo: Dylan Ray.

Though not producer in the country, more than 30 million pounds of pumpkins are grown each year in North Carolina. In 2023, more than $18.2 million worth of pumpkins were sold in the state. A symbol of fall, “Pumpkin is a winter squash that is usually considered a vegetable. However, pumpkin is technically a fruit. It is grown from a flower and contains seeds,” according to the N.C. Cooperative Extension.

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Storm swell associated with Hurricane Imelda and Hurricane Humberto breaks Tuesday along the Bogue Banks shore at Oceanana Fishing Pier in Atlantic Beach. The storm, while moving away from the U.S. Tuesday, still packed a potent punch, forecasters said, and could bring possible minor flooding in areas of onshore winds along the coast in the Southeast. At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the storm was moving to the northeast, toward near Bermuda, but swells and high surf from Imelda and Hurricane Humberto were expected to produce dangerous marine conditions and rip currents along much of the East Coast for several days. Farther north, the N.C. Department of Transportation on Tuesday closed N.C. 12 on the north end of Ocracoke Island between the National Park Service Pony Pens and the ferry terminal due to deteriorating travel conditions and five oceanfront houses collapsed on Hatteras Island. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Wild horses cross tidal waters from Town Marsh to Bird Shoal along Beaufort’s barrier islands, which are part of the Rachel Carson Reserve, in Carteret County. The cluster of islands includes Carrot Island, Town Marsh, Bird Shoal, and Horse Island, and the horses are descended from those brought to the islands by a Beaufort area resident in the 1940s, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. The state manages the horse population for its health and for the health of the environment, but the herd is otherwise left to fend and forage for itself. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A male luna moth, or Actias luna, finds a perch in the branches of a Japanese maple near Russell Creek in Beaufort. The easily identified species flies mostly at night and is found statewide this time of year in and near hardwood forests, wooded residential areas and, on North Carolina’s barrier islands, in maritime forests. Adult luna moths do not feed and live off food they consumed as caterpillars for the moths’ seven- to 10-day lifespan.

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The North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division vehicle ferry Avon prepares to dock at the Minnesott Beach Ferry Terminal in Pamlico County, making one of the service’s numerous daily, 20-minute trips each way, back and forth between here and the Cherry Branch terminal across the Neuse River in Craven County. The Avon is one of 21 state ferries serving commuters and visitors on seven routes across the Neuse, Cape Fear and Pamlico rivers, and the Currituck and Pamlico sounds, and their schedules vary seasonally. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A wall of sandbags extends along the roadside far into the distance aside N.C. Highway 12 on the north end of Ocracoke Island. This is where washouts and erosion from storm surge repeatedly chew away at the barrier island beach and roadway, part of the normal ocean dynamics that humans often try to control. Photo: Dylan Ray

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An anole sends out a message to potential mates by flexing his throat to reveal a show of color in a Beaufort garden. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A calf lies in a field of spring flowers near the Haystacks area of Morehead City in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

Carteret had 22 farms raising cattle and calves mostly for beef production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2022 county-by-county farm census, up by three from the 2017 count. The 2022 figure accounted for about 400 head of cattle.

Among coastal counties, Onslow leads in the number of cattle farms with 84 and about 1,900 head in 2022, down from 95 farms and nearly 2,100 head in 2017.

North Carolina had nearly 15,000 cattle farms in 2022 with just shy of 719,000 head, down from more than 18,000 farms and more than 776,000 cattle in 2017, but numbers rebounded last year to about 750,000 head, according to a 2024 USDA document.

By comparison, the state held steady at around 2,400 hog farms during the 2017-25 period, but the hog inventory during the 2022 census had decreased by about 700,000 from about 8.9 million in 2017.

About 32.3 million hogs were sold in 2022, compared to just over 11,300 cattle and calves sold that year.

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A state Department of Transportation crew works high above the Newport River Tuesday inspecting the underside of the Morehead City-Beaufort high-rise bridge next to the state port. Traffic delays were expected through Friday on this part of U.S. Highway 70 as one lane of travel was planned during daylight hours, or 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Track progress online. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Paint crews work high above the deck of the North Carolina Port of Morehead City March 13 as they apply a protective coating to the water tower. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A lone cypress stands apart from those closer to the shoreline at the old mill pond in Carteret County that was originally part of a tract owned by Welshman Robert Williams, who settled in Carteret County in 1763. Williams created the mill pond by having a dam built on Black Creek. A gristmill and a sawmill operated at each end of the dam, which is now below a bridge span on Mill Creek Road. Williams was also one of two county landowners whom historians say received money to build salt works in the county to assist in the Revolution. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Fog blankets the cannons Monday at Fort Macon State Park at the east end of Bogue Banks in Carteret County. Built during the decade after the War of 1812 to defend Beaufort Inlet, the fort was taken by Union forces early during the Civil War and was never again relinquished to the Confederates. Now, Fort Macon is one of the state’s most visited parks, welcoming more than a million visitors annually. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Snow covers Front Street in Beaufort Wednesday morning as the winter storm continues to blanket Carteret County and much of coastal North Carolina. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Kevin Hardy of Wilmar, near Vanceboro, fishes along Cape Lookout National Seashore as a commercial fishing trawler offshore heads southwest. Photo: Dylan Ray

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An egret hunts along the shore of an icy marsh Thursday near Pelletier Creek in Morehead City. Don’t look for a quick thaw as much of coastal North Carolina is under a winter weather advisory from 4 p.m. Friday until 10 a.m. Saturday. The forecast calls for the potential for light accumulations of ice and snow, although little to none is expected from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Visitors during a recent chilly day carry fishing poles while strolling along the water’s edge at Cedar Street Park in downtown Beaufort, with the construction site of the 103-room Compass Hotel Beaufort by Margaritaville Resorts on Gallants Channel in the background. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The 1859 Cape Lookout Lighthouse reaches 163 feet skyward beyond shorebirds hunkered down recently on a jetty across the bay at the Cape Lookout National Seashore visitor center at Shell Point on Harkers Island. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Striations of clouds blanket the sky at sunset over North River in Carteret County recently. Photo: Dylan Ray

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An especially young green tree frog catches the morning sun from an agapanthus leaf in a Beaufort garden. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A vehicle creates a wake Tuesday while passing through floodwaters from the saltmarsh along Crow Hill Road near Otway in Down East Carteret County. Carteret County and coastal Onslow County were placed under a coastal flood advisory Tuesday effective until 5 p.m. Wednesday. Up to a foot of inundation above ground level is possible in low-lying areas near shorelines and tidal waterways. Officials urge people not to drive through waters of unknown depths. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A green tree frog peers out at the rain from the safety of a fence railing near Russell Creek in Beaufort. Frogs all along the North Carolina coast may be in for more of the same with the potential tropical cyclone stalled about 185 miles south-southwest of Cape Lookout early Monday expected to move northward during the day, dumping very heavy rainfall, according to the National Weather Service Newport-Morehead City office. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A maze of creeks cuts through the salt marshes north of the Commissioner Jonathan Robinson Bridge and the gateway to Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A sea of sunshades hug the shoreline recently in Atlantic Beach on Bogue Banks. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A wedge of egrets fish in a salt marsh along North River near Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Gov. Roy Cooper speaks to reporters about renewable energy, sidestepping questions about his possible selection as a vice presidential candidate, Wednesday at a turbine blade-signing event celebrating construction of the Timbermill Wind project by Apex Clean Energy in Chowan County. The 189-megawatt wind energy project is the state’s second and the first to be built since 2017. It is expected to generate up to $33 million in tax revenue over its lifetime and become the county’s largest taxpayer during its first year of operation. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Red warning flags whip against the wind Friday in Atlantic Beach, notifying swimmers to not enter the water. Life-threatening rip currents were likely and the surf zone dangerous for all levels of swimmers on all North Carolina beaches north of Cape Fear Friday, according to the National Weather Service’s experimental Beach Forecast webpage, which is color-coded to indicate the forecast rip current risk level. Yellow flags indicating moderate conditions flew on Brunswick County beaches Friday. Conditions had improved to moderate to low risk Monday. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Lines of clouds move over Askin near New Bern and the power lines overhead as part of a weekend weather front. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The Coastal Railway Swing Bridge spans the Pamlico River in Washington, where the waterfront can be seen on the north bank at upper right in this recent image. Farther in the distance are the U.S. Highway 17 Business bridge into town and, beyond it, the U.S. 17 Bypass. Photo: Dylan Ray

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An anole, freshly shed of its skin except the still-peeling tip of the nose, suns in a Beaufort agapanthus bed. For us creatures who don’t normally peel, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise that protection from the sun’s rays is important year-round, not just during the warmer months. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Smoke rises in the pines Monday in a section of the Croatan National Forest after a prescribed burn of 561 acres in the area of Nine-Foot Road and Millis Swamp Road near Newport. The U.S. Forest Service also prescribed a burn of 499 acres off U.S. Highway 70, Hibbs Road and Shaver Road, near Newport. This controlled application of fire is to diminish fuel for wildfires and restore natural ecosystems. Note posted signs and watch for firefighters and personnel in the area. Helicopters assist during the burns, so drone use is prohibited. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A late winter fog blankets Beaufort’s historic downtown in this recent aerial view. The Gallants Channel Bridge is visible at the upper left, Pivers Island and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort Laboratory docks, lower left. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Fishing trawlers are protected from recent strong winds in a boatyard on the Sleepy Point peninsula between Gloucester and Marshallberg in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Aquatic vegetation appears to form a pleased expression on the water’s surface as viewed from above the Patsy Pond Nature Trail in the Croatan National Forest near Newport. The trails that are accessed from N.C. Highway 24 include lengths from 0.75 to 1.9 miles and are open from dawn to dusk. The small ponds here are fed by groundwater and often surrounded by carnivorous plants such as bladderwort and sundew. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A pelican stretches while perched upon a pylon in Core Sound near the Down East village of Atlantic. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A blue heron hunts in the marsh grass near Conch’s Point on Calico Creek in Morehead City. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge, right, is still in use Wednesday as the only route for motorists on and off of Harkers Island, while construction continues on its replacement, in this photo by Dylan Ray.

The state is replacing both the Earl C. Davis Bridge and Bridge No. 96, each of which is more than a half-century old and together link Harkers Island to the mainland with a short island causeway in between. The $68 million project began construction in 2021 and is expected to be complete in early 2025.

The old drawbridge was named in December 1988 in honor of the county native who was instrumental, according to county records, in getting built the bridge and the one it had replaced. He also played leading roles in providing phone, water and electric services to Harkers Island and the creation of an outpatient clinic here.

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The Jarrett Bay Boatworks campus is turned into a peninsula Monday as the waters of Eastman Creek rise over Tuttle Grove Road north of Beaufort. Sept. 25-Oct. 4 has been a period of king tides, the highest high and lowest low tides of the year — when the sun is aligned with the Earth and the moon is at its closest point to the Earth. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Undergraduate student Lara Breithaupt, left, stands alongside Duke University President Dr. Vincent Price as he holds a moon snail Wednesday during a tour of Duke University Marine Lab on Pivers Island in Beaufort, with Maggie Epps, secretary to the board of trustees and chief of staff to the president, and Frank Tramble, vice president for communications, marketing and public relations with the university. Also visiting were Provost Alec Gallimore and Executive Vice President Daniel Ennis. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A Duke Energy truck is seen passing through floodwater along Community Road in Davis in Down East Carteret County Thursday as the effects of Tropical Storm Idalia on the North Carolina coast became clear in the morning light.

The utility said that high winds and flooding left about 20,000 Duke Energy customers without power Thursday morning, but more than 60,000 customers have had power restored since Wednesday.

The company said it plans to restore power to all affected customers possible by Thursday night.

“Duke Energy has more than 4,000 personnel in place to continue power restoration today,” said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy’s Carolinas storm director. “We are committed to working as quickly and safely as possible to get the lights back on for our customers and we thank them for their patience.”

Photo: Dylan Ray

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Boats dot the Carteret County waters of, from left, Gallants Channel, Taylors Creek and Bulkhead Channel Thursday, with, in the foreground, Pivers Island, home to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort Laboratory and the Duke University Marine Lab; Front Street in Beaufort at top left; the Rachel Carson Reserve, center-left; Shackleford Banks, top-center and part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore; and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. Photo: Dylan Ray

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An osprey takes flight, leaving chicks in a nest on a leaning piling above the waters of Midden Creek near Tusk in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A lone Ibis hunts near a ridge of oysters near low tide on a recent morning in Marshallberg. Photo: Dylan Ray

Ten loggerhead sea turtles touched down at Michael J. Smith Field in Beaufort Monday, May 1, ahead of their release back into the Atlantic Ocean.

The loggerheads were rehabilitating at the Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri, after being cold-stunned in early January near Cape Cod. The New England Aquarium in Boston transported the turtles to the nonprofit aquarium in Missouri.

“It’s not often we have loggerheads in Missouri,” Wonders of Wildlife Director of Animal Care Mike Daniel said.

A private company named Turtles Fly Too transported the loggerheads from Boston to Springfield and then from Springfield to Beaufort. Upon arriving at Smith Field, turtle biologist Matthew Godfrey with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission organized the offloading and transport to Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic BEach with the assistance of Wonders of Wildlife aquarists Holly Blackwood and Jacquelyn Denney.

“We are super excited to help out with the rehabilitation,” Blackwood said. “We have 30-foot-long tanks at our aquarium that can accommodate these larger sea turtles.”

After a few minutes’ ride across the three bridges linking Beaufort, Morehead City and and Atlantic Beach, the loggerheads arrived at Fort Macon State Park at the eastern end of Bogue Banks. There, Ranger Ben Fleming led the procession of off-road-vehicles down to the shore for unloading and release.

The crates were placed on the sand, tags were removed and a last goodbye from staff and volunteers was given before the loggerheads hit the waves.

“It’s bittersweet,” aquarist Jaquelyn Denney said. “These guys have been with us for four months!”

As the loggerheads hit the sand they charged for the waves.

“It’s amazing how fast they move once they hit the water!” Blackwood said.

A series of several feverish paddles and the loggerheads were headed out to the Atlantic Ocean.

“I started to cry when they went under the waves,” Blackwood said. “Now they are where they belong.”

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A sailboat is anchored in the cut near Sugarloaf Island along the Morehead City waterfront in Carteret County, with two cargo ships shown berthed at the North Carolina Port of Morehead City in the background. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A green anole, or Anolis carolinensis, the United States’ only native anole, hunts near a row of agapanthus Monday in a Beaufort garden. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A great blue heron takes flight from an oyster bed at low tide near Russell Creek in Carteret County. These large birds, often called cranes, walk and beat their wings slowly and can be found near all kinds of waters all over North America, according to the Audubon Field Guide. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Low tide exposes clusters of oysters clinging to the piles supporting the Morehead City-Beaufort high-rise bridge over the Newport River and near the Radio Island Fishing Pier. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A yellow-bellied sapsucker forages on a rose bush Wednesday near Russell Creek north of Beaufort in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Two unidentified people paddle a dinghy into the cut near Sugarloaf Island from the Morehead City waterfront on a recent foggy morning in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A beach walker heads west along Bogue Banks near the dune line at Fort Macon State Park in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A strong southeast wind, heavy rains and an especially high tide combine to create a pool reaching from the ocean to the showers on the west side of the Oceanana Fishing Pier Thursday in Atlantic Beach. While not a king tide, which are the highest high- and lowest low-tide events of the year and happen when the Earth, sun and moon are aligned while the moon is at its perigee, or closest point in its elliptical orbit to Earth, Dec. 26-25 is a period of higher- and lower-than-normal tides. The the lunar perigee is Dec. 24. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Flocks of pelican and cormorant chase a bait ball of fish along the shoreline of Atlantic in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Pigeons take refuge from the wind Wednesday as an unidentified surfer cruises along the face of a wave at the Oceanana Fishing Pier on Bogue Banks in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The waters of Styron Creek in Sea Level are pushed by high winds Monday onto Cedar Creek Road, blocking access to a fish house in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The silken egg sac of a spider is strategically suspended against a yucca spine along Carteret County’s Bogue Banks. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A wedge of egrets hunts shrimp in the salt marsh along the Newport River in Mill Creek in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The sun sets recently behind the $60 million bridge under construction between Straits and Harkers Island in Carteret County. The project, which began in late 2021, is to replace two bridges that connect Harkers Island and the mainland, including the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge. Both are more than 50 years old, and the sole new fixed-span bridge will offer improved capacity and access in emergencies and hurricane evacuations, transportation officials said. The new bridge is about one-third complete and work is set to ramp up again Oct. 1 after the moratorium on in-water work to protect fish spawning that has been in place since April is over. The contractor is expected to shift traffic to the new structure in October 2024. The old drawbridge is to be removed by early 2025 but the other, Bridge No. 96, will be left in place as a fishing pier. A traffic shift on island side is expected next week in preparation of the resumption of in-water work. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A swallowtail butterfly peeks around the blossom of a Mexican sunflower Tuesday in a garden near Russell Creek in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The waters of upper Ward Creek near Otway in Down East Carteret County are shown in this Thursday aerial. The creek flows into the North River where its meets water from the ocean to create conditions considered favorable for tasty oysters. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Clouds settle over Town Marsh in Beaufort during a recent summer evening. Photo : Dylan Ray

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An assassin bug sets a trap for its prey near a blooming thyme plant in Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A cypress tree stands tall just off the shoreline of the Neuse River near James City. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Fox kits roughhouse in a clearing on the edge of the Croatan National Forest. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A lone paddleboarder moves over the slick waters of Onslow Bay near the Bogue Inlet Pier in Emerald Isle. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Judy L., of Morehead City, who says she’s also known as “the Bread Lady,” feeds the gulls at Fort Macon State Park on the east end of Bogue Banks.

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Wild mares enter the salty water between Town Marsh and Carrot Island in the Rachel Carson Reserve along Taylor’s Creek in Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Herons, shown in the foreground, look for prey along the shore of the Newport River near Crab Point in Morehead City. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A yellowjacket climbs the winter bloom of a Fatsia japonica, or paper plant, in a Beaufort garden. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A rainbow commands the sky over the Newport River and the Radio Island Fishing Pier Wednesday in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The sun sets over the Newport RIver in Carteret County on a calm December evening. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A droplet of rain catches a ray of sunlight as summer showers wash over Beaufort in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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The sun sets over the Newport River in between Beaufort and Morehead City in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A dragonfly descends upon a twig breaching the surface of Black Creek in western Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Fishers watch their lines as a scope reflects the pier house Thursday at the end of the Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier in Emerald Isle. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A blue heron hunts near the shore of the Straits in Marshallberg amid a combination of man-made bulkhead and living shoreline in Down East Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray 

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An onlooker holds on to his hat as waves crash into the pilings of the Oceanana Fishing Pier in Atlantic Beach Thursday as Tropical Storm Elsa moves through Carteret County. The storm brought to the state heavy rainfall and maximum sustained winds of near 45 mph as it accelerated toward the northeast. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Slick waters reflect the sky in the salt marshes earlier this spring near Davis in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A colorful eastern tiger swallowtail lands on a pollen-packed bull thistle off Pringle Road in the Croatan National Forest near Newport. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Clouds fill the sky and reflect on the water along with commercial fishing trawler Miss Katlyn’s riggings near the Oyster Creek boat ramp in Davis in Carteret County. Photo: Dylan Ray

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A dolphin passes by a section of wave attenuators put in place to protect Atlantic Harbor in Carteret County. The system put in place last year is part of a harbor improvement project that also included dredging of the harbor entrance channel by Carteret County and shoreline stabilization at White Point by the North Carolina Coastal Federation with funding from the Environmental Enhancement Grant Program and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Photo: Dylan Ray

Related: Atlantic Harbor Project Nears Completion

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Fog blankets Gallants Channel in Beaufort Tuesday evening while the sun sets behind Pivers Island, a 24-acre island that is home to the North Carolina Coastal Reserve, National Estuarine Research Reserve, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Lab and Duke University’s Marine Laboratory.

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The late-autumn sun nears the horizon Wednesday over a living shoreline on Carteret Community College property on Bogue Sound in Morehead City. Winter begins Monday, Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year. Photo: Dylan Ray

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Earth-moving equipment from T.D. Eure Marine Construction in Beaufort operates near a barge Monday, June 22, in the Atlantic Harbor of Refuge where a project is underway to build a 1,720-foot living shoreline.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation worked with Carteret County to install a living shoreline in conjunction with maintenance dredging of the Harbor entrance channel. The living shoreline is to help prevent the dredge spoils on White Point from entering the entrance channel to Atlantic Harbor, which has had navigation issues for the past 20 years.

Dredging began in mid-April to improve navigation in Atlantic Harbor and wrapped up in May. About 8,800 cubic yards of material was placed on White Point, according to the Coastal Federation. Construction of the living shoreline began May 15, when Wake Stone Corp. started delivering about 9,545 tons of granite stone to the site.

As of June 23, 1,000 of the 1,720 linear feet living shoreline had been built on the harbor side of the White Point peninsula and the contractor was beginning to work around the point of the peninsula to complete the living shoreline along the Core Sound side. The remaining portion of the granite sill was expected to be completed by Aug. 1.

Learn More

• Work Begins on Atlantic Harbor Project

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This handwritten sign reading “Fishermen Only” at the Ocracoke Seafood Co. on Silver Lake at Ocracoke Island sets guidelines in line with  COVID-19 restrictions determined by the state. As Phase 2 of North Carolina’s reopening begins, Elizabeth Dyer with the company’s retail market said the company is taking strict precautions, including cleaning routines.

“We require masks for our patrons and even have complimentary disposable masks and hand sanitizer,” said Dyer. “There is a one-way flow of traffic and lines of tape to enforce social-distancing.”

Dyer said business has been fair, although “Memorial Day weekend was great, we are making enough each day to stay open.”

She said the message for seafood lovers is that there is high-quality seafood in North Carolina waters and to support commercial fishermen as a resource.

“I don’t wanna lose that,” she said.