The Coastal Resources Commission has given the N.C. Department of Transportation approval to build a turnaround and sandbag structure perpendicular to the shoreline where the existing highway will come to a dead end once the Rodanthe “jug handle” bridge is opened to traffic.
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Cleanup of fallen house begins; beach near site closed
The owners of the oceanfront house that collapsed in Rodanthe last week have hired a contractor to clean up the site and the miles of Cape Hatteras National Seashore beach, temporarily closed because of the widespread, dangerous debris.
Our coast’s people: Last daughter of Davis Ridge
Historian David Cecelski shares the story of Nannie Davis Ward, who grew up at the now-uninhabited Davis Ridge in Down East Carteret County, and her description in an interview before her death of the remote community of formerly enslaved watermen and island women.
Community races against time to restore dilapidated church
Half of the $1 million needed has been raised to restore the mid-1800s Reaves Chapel, which has fallen into disrepair over the last 15 years since a congregation last worshipped within its walls.
Forgotten message in a bottle washes up 25 miles away
The message a South Dakota family put in a bottle and tossed in Corolla waters in 2016 was not an SOS, but a note asking to be contacted when and where the bottle washed up, which Steve Jarvis with Kitty Hawks Woods Reserve was happy to oblige.
Officials tout economic boom from offshore wind industry
Offshore wind manufacturing could bring an estimated $140 billion and tens of thousands of new jobs to North Carolina by 2035, if steps are taken now, say those who spoke during the first meeting last week of a state Commerce Department task force.
Answering the question: ‘What do we love about fishing?’
What is it about fishing that makes it such a rewarding endeavor? Maybe the answer is more than just what you catch.
Prospects improve for effort to save wild red wolves in NC
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is ramping back up the endangered red wolf recovery program, which had struggled amid declining political support and increasing cases of wolf shootings, poisonings and vehicle strikes.
‘They have got hold of the Bible’: Beaufort and the Civil War
The letters between an anti-slavery pastor and his daughter give a glimpse of Beaufort during the Civil War era, where escaped and liberated enslaved people could “come out of the shadow of slavery,” David Cecelski writes.
Questions remain following offshore wind energy event
Brunswick County officials, residents and interest groups who were initially wary of offshore wind development here said visual representations of turbines presented last week in Southport did little to change their minds.
Project to gauge how well storm drain traps catch litter
Cape Fear River Watch’s 80% Project is employing traps in a handful of stormwater drains in Wilmington and Leland to reduce the amount of litter that reaches the river and, ultimately, the ocean.
Declining, fluctuating spot numbers spur action, research
Commercial harvests of spot have been on the decline for more than 20 years and recreational numbers fluctuate, but a multistate management approach and independent research aim for sustainable stocks.
Final review ahead for wetland rules to fill permitting gap
The state Rules Review Commission is set to consider proposed permanent rules created to correct a gap in North Carolina’s permitting authority over certain federally defined wetlands.
When bridge is complete, part of NC 12 may return to nature
Scientists expect to see dramatic changes after a vulnerable segment of the Outer Banks highway is bypassed later this year and vehicles are rerouted via the nearly completed Rodanthe bridge.
Red knots, northern gannets highlight Christmas bird count
The totals are now in from when dozens of birders flocked to Ocracoke in late December to join in the annual nationwide Christmas Bird Count.
‘Cool critters’: Spotlight on 12 species of freshwater turtles
North Carolina is home to 17 species of freshwater turtles, with about a dozen calling the coastal plain home.
