“Port Light,” a new online exhibit, reveals through interactive multimedia the rich histories of vessels once vital to the trade, transportation and day-to-day lives of coastal North Carolinians.
Culture & History
Weekend Event Celebrates Decoys, Tradition
The Core Sound Waterfowl Weekend, Dec. 2-4 in Harkers Island, is an annual celebration of Down East North Carolina’s coastal culture and heritage.
Did Thanksgiving Tradition Begin Here?
Native people on Roanoke Island were gracious hosts when the English met them during the Raleigh expeditions of 1584-87, with encounters that seem much like an earlier Thanksgiving than what most Americans learn about in school.
Owners Seek to Move Beachcomber Museum
The late Nellie Myrtle Pridgen spent decades combing the beach at Nags Head, amassing a collection now on display at the Outer Banks Beachcomber Museum. Founders say a move will allow more to visit.
Of Lifesaving, Life Taking and Ghosts
The Kitty Hawk Lifesaving Station now serves tourists as a dining hot spot on the Outer Banks. No one much remembers its past except for maybe the ghost that roams its rooms.
Webe Talkin’ Sumthin’ ‘Bout Golla
The mayor of Navassa begins the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s summer Speaker Series with a talk about the Gullah culture of the coast.
Back to Square One With Lost Colony?
After digging around Hatteras Island, English archaeologist Mark Horton has returned to the original theory that the Roanoke colonists went to live with the friendly Croatan Indians in what is today Buxton.
A Hurricane and the Treasure Fleet
Weather and treasure collided off the coast of Ocracoke in 1750 and the result was the greatest act of piracy in history. And Blackbeard had nothing to do with it.
A Journey Though History and Culture
More than a decade in the making, the Outer Banks Scenic Byway is finally a reality. The road links the history, culture and natural beauty of the coast’s Outer Banks and the Down East communities in Carteret County.
The Gulf Stream and the Age of Exploration
That river of water that flows north along our coast played a vital role in Spain’s building of an empire and England’s first settlement in the New World.
Bogue Banks’ Lost Lighthouse Shone Briefly
Fort Macon is one of Bogue Banks’ best-known attractions – it’s North Carolina’s second most visited state park – but the lighthouse that once stood nearby and guided mariners into Beaufort Inlet remains unknown to many visitors.
A Secret No More: Sam’s Invitation to Lunch
The Salter Path Men’s Club doesn’t advertise it, but the group’s fortnightly feasts, a wintertime tradition since 2005, have attracted a growing number of attendees, as our Sam Bland only recently discovered.
Our Coast: Fort Macon and Elliott Coues
Fort Macon has a rich history as a Civil War site, but its story also features an ambitious doctor named Elliott Coues, whose interest in the natural surroundings helped focus attention on environmental science in and around Beaufort.
Oyster Farming Offers Hope to Some
Farm-raised oysters offer some commercial fisherman a means to make a living during troubling times, but can the challenges be met?
Oysters Tell the Story of Our Coast
Nothing tells the complicated story of our coast like the oyster. Symbolically, it’s a prism that refracts details about how our state’s economy, environment and culture. Wrapped up in it, is a story about our coast’s past, present and future.
Sometimes, a Boat Tells a Story
The story of the freshly restored Deepwater spans from post-World War II Manteo through the halcyon days of Outer Banks charter fishing out of Oregon Inlet with legendary Capt. Lee Perry at the helm.
