“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.
culture and history
‘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: 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.
Newspaper Archives: The Turpentine State
North Carolina historian David Cecelski discusses how the British press covered North Carolina in the 18th and 19th centuries, and their focus on the vital products of its vast pine forests.
The Birth of NC’s Coastal Wildlife Refuges
Historian David Cecelski came across in the Denver Public Library a collection of letters and maps from the 1930s that provide insight into the origins of some of the state’s coastal wildlife refuges.
Documentary to Focus on The Hammocks
The nonprofit Friends of The Hammocks and Bear Island and UNC-TV are teaming up to produce a documentary on the history of the area near Swansboro and seeking help from those who remember.
Progress Marked in Restoration of Sylvia II
The new owner of the Sylvia II, a round-stern, wooden work boat that may be the oldest charter vessel in North Carolina, recently celebrated a milestone in its overhaul.
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.
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 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.
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.
Death, Duty and Yellow Fever
A yellow fever epidemic killed hundreds in Wilmington in 1862, including the doctors and ministers who felt duty bound to tend to the sick.
Could Hatteras Be America’s First Colony?
Jamestown Virginia is the site of the first permanent English colony in the New World. Or is it? Recent archaeological findings could give that honor to Hatteras Island, and change history.
This N.C. Christmas Went Down in History
The blizzard of 1989 created the only coastal white Christmas on record for North Carolina. Our naturalist, Sam Bland, recalls Hammocks Beach State Park that day.
