The Ocracoke Preservation Society has purchased the old Island Inn and embarked on a plan to restore the original part of the structure, the 1901 Odd Fellows Lodge, as a visitor center.
Culture & History
Our Coast’s History: Winslow’s Oyster Maps
Navy Lt. Francis Winslow’s 1887 survey of oyster populations in N.C. waters provided data and insight still useful today, but his groundbreaking work did little to endear him to local watermen.
‘Rising’ Exhibit Documents Coastal Change
“Rising: Perspectives of Coastal Change,” a collaborative multimedia exhibition featuring photography and oral histories, is on display at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.
Remembering the Historic Mirlo Rescue
The Chicamacomico Historical Association is set to host five days of events this month on Hatteras Island memorializing the dramatic World War I rescue of the crew of the Mirlo.
‘Secret Token’ Casts New Light on Lost Colony
Our Kip Tabb interviews journalist and science writer Andrew Lawler and reviews his new book “The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke.”
Pitch Pines and Tar Burners: A 1792 Account
North Carolina historian David Cecelski shares an historical account of what he thinks might be the best description of tar making in the state he has ever read, written by an English merchant from a 1792 visit to coastal North Carolina.
Our Coast’s History: Plans for Carteret Town
About 130 years after the original Lost Colony, a concentrated effort by the legislature to develop a Colonial port town on Roanoke Island never found success.
Festival Celebrates Jazz, Coastal History
The ninth annual Ocean City Jazz Festival, July 7-8 on Topsail Island, was created to draw people of all walks of life together through music and promote the beach community’s African-American history.
‘Harm’s Way’ Exhibit Shows Century of Storms
Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center is set to open June 21 a collaborative exhibit, “Harm’s Way: How Storms Have Shaped Our Communities, Our History and Us.”
Our Coast’s History: Crew of the Bedfordshire
A solemn observance held Friday at Ocracoke’s British Cemetery honored the men of the H.M.T. Bedfordshire who died on May 11, 1942, in a World War II battle off the N.C. coast, but a few islanders got to know some of the crew before their deaths.
Deserted Island Village to Come Alive Again
The historic and normally quiet Portsmouth Village will be awash in voices and music later this month as island descendants and others gather for the biennial homecoming celebration.
Women’s History: Notable Coastal Women
March is Women’s History Month and today we take a look at a few of the significant women of the North Carolina coast and their contributions to history.
Operation Drum Roll: Ocracoke During WWII
World War II battles off the N.C. coast were for years kept secret from most of the American public, but Ocracoke residents saw firsthand the horrors of and the U.S. response to the Germans’ deadly Operation Drum Roll.
New Painting Brings Surfmen’s History to Life
The James Melvin painting honoring Capt. Richard Etheridge and his African-American crew of the U.S. Life-Saving Service Station at Pea Island was unveiled Sunday during a special performance of “Freedmen, Surfmen, Heroes” in Manteo.
NC Coast Home to Abundant Black History
Recognizing February as Black History Month, we explore a few of the many sites on the state’s coast where the important contributions African-Americans have made to North Carolina are honored and celebrated.
Our Coast’s History: North Carolina’s First Fish
Striped mullets, or jumping mullets, North Carolina’s first commercial fishery, provided sustenance and income and were a big part of life for coastal residents.
