Last week we had a chance for a quick getaway to the Outer Banks. We went to Ocracoke, a tiny barrier island off the coast of North Carolina. It was beautiful, and just the way we remembered it from our first visit 19 years ago. This time, though, the girls joined us!
This shows the most interesting part of our route:
Our first stop along the way was to the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo.
We had packed a lunch and found a picnic table under a shade tree. It was over 100 degrees, but it didn't feel that bad in the shade.
I thought it was cute that Madeline wanted to take Lydia's picture, so I snapped one of them.
The gardens were smaller than I had remembered, but that was good because of the heat; walking around in the sun was not comfortable! We will have to return sometime in the spring when the weather is cooler.
A surprise was waiting for us this time: a new (to us) statue of Queen Elizabeth I.
After the Gardens, we continued on to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It was a beautiful day and a perfect drive. Being on those slivers of land, so vulnerable between the Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean is quite an experience. It felt like we could be swept away at any moment (at least that's what I was imagining). During Hurricane Irene in 2011, part of Hatteras Island was swept away, and there is a new inlet there now. Click here if you want to see what NC-12 looked like after the storm.
We stopped quickly at Bodie Island Lighthouse, snapped a few pictures, and got back in the van. It turns out I've been mispronouncing Bodie for years. It's not pronounced with a long "o" but is pronounced like body, and is named for the Body family who owned the land where the original lighthouse stood. This lighthouse is the third Bodie Island Light. The others were just slightly south of this location. The first was abandoned due to a poor foundation. The second was destroyed by Confederate troops who feared Union troops would use it as an observation post.
Next stop, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Due to concern over erosion, it was moved from its original location in 1999. The Cape Hatteras Light is the tallest brick lighthouse structure in the United States and 2nd tallest in the world. From 1942 to 1945, it was used by the US Coast Guard as a lookout tower when German U-boats began attacking ships offshore.
We couldn't climb up inside this time, but maybe on the next visit!
Finally, we arrived at the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry, which is considered part of Route 12. It takes about 50 minutes to make the trip from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island now that the ferry goes around the Hatteras Inlet Crab Spawning Sanctuary. We saw several pelicans flying over the water, but didn't get any decent pictures of them.
After arriving on the island, it's about 10 miles to the village. Not long after we got off the ferry, we saw a little bit of sand covering the road in spots and heavy equipment there, ready to clear it. I guess they must keep the equipment there all the time.
We drove through the village and to our hotel and settled in for the night. It was an adorable inn right across from the harbor. Since I don't have a drone, here's a slightly grainy photo from their brochure:
We walked across the street for breakfast and out to the dock in the evenings. Apparently, they had some damage from Hurricane Dorian in 2019, but everything looked to be repaired when we were there. There were plenty of repairs going on to other buildings on the island, though.
Here's a view of the harbor where ferries come and go to Cedar Island or Swan Quarter. Maybe we will take one of those ferries and see that route someday. That's a long trip though, about 2 1/2 hours just for the ferry ride.
The next morning, we headed to the beach before it got super hot. We were there and back by about 7:30 am. I was hoping to find a Scotch Bonnet - the North Carolina State Shell - but the beach was almost completely devoid of shells. It was like someone dropped off a crew of several thousand people who meticulously picked up every shell worth collecting. We were there at high tide, so maybe that was the problem. We decided to return at low tide, which happened to be at 3:30pm that day, the hottest time of day. It was surprisingly pleasant that afternoon because there was a strong breeze blowing. The girls swam and we searched for the Scotch Bonnet. No luck. I have no idea how this could be. Ocracoke is ranked the #2 shelling beach in the country by Coastal Living magazine. We will have to return after a hurricane sometime and see what we find.
The land is considered British - it is leased to the UK.
On May 12th each year, there is a ceremony conducted by members of the US Coast Guard, the National Park Service, and the British Royal Navy honoring the men buried here. Two of the men could be identified, but two are unknown.
And, finally, a visit to Ocracoke is incomplete without seeing its famous lighthouse.
On the day we left, we did catch one more glimpse of the lighthouse as we were doing some more shopping near the harbor:
It's a good thing we went when we did; just 8 days after we returned, Ocracoke is now closed to visitors due to an approaching hurricane! Maybe it will kick up some shells!
We had packed a lunch and found a picnic table under a shade tree. It was over 100 degrees, but it didn't feel that bad in the shade.
I thought it was cute that Madeline wanted to take Lydia's picture, so I snapped one of them.
A surprise was waiting for us this time: a new (to us) statue of Queen Elizabeth I.
We saw Bodie, Hatteras, and Ocracoke this time. Next time we will have to choose either Currituck or Lookout.
We stopped quickly at Bodie Island Lighthouse, snapped a few pictures, and got back in the van. It turns out I've been mispronouncing Bodie for years. It's not pronounced with a long "o" but is pronounced like body, and is named for the Body family who owned the land where the original lighthouse stood. This lighthouse is the third Bodie Island Light. The others were just slightly south of this location. The first was abandoned due to a poor foundation. The second was destroyed by Confederate troops who feared Union troops would use it as an observation post.
We couldn't climb up inside this time, but maybe on the next visit!
Finally, we arrived at the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry, which is considered part of Route 12. It takes about 50 minutes to make the trip from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island now that the ferry goes around the Hatteras Inlet Crab Spawning Sanctuary. We saw several pelicans flying over the water, but didn't get any decent pictures of them.
After arriving on the island, it's about 10 miles to the village. Not long after we got off the ferry, we saw a little bit of sand covering the road in spots and heavy equipment there, ready to clear it. I guess they must keep the equipment there all the time.
This video is shaky, but I wanted to be able to remember how it looked with the sand and front end loaders there.
We drove through the village and to our hotel and settled in for the night. It was an adorable inn right across from the harbor. Since I don't have a drone, here's a slightly grainy photo from their brochure:
We walked across the street for breakfast and out to the dock in the evenings. Apparently, they had some damage from Hurricane Dorian in 2019, but everything looked to be repaired when we were there. There were plenty of repairs going on to other buildings on the island, though.
Here's a view of the harbor where ferries come and go to Cedar Island or Swan Quarter. Maybe we will take one of those ferries and see that route someday. That's a long trip though, about 2 1/2 hours just for the ferry ride.
The next morning, we headed to the beach before it got super hot. We were there and back by about 7:30 am. I was hoping to find a Scotch Bonnet - the North Carolina State Shell - but the beach was almost completely devoid of shells. It was like someone dropped off a crew of several thousand people who meticulously picked up every shell worth collecting. We were there at high tide, so maybe that was the problem. We decided to return at low tide, which happened to be at 3:30pm that day, the hottest time of day. It was surprisingly pleasant that afternoon because there was a strong breeze blowing. The girls swam and we searched for the Scotch Bonnet. No luck. I have no idea how this could be. Ocracoke is ranked the #2 shelling beach in the country by Coastal Living magazine. We will have to return after a hurricane sometime and see what we find.
After our morning beach visit, we went to a cute little coffee shop called Ocracoke Coffee Company (what else!). It was great and there was even a shady spot to sit outside. Next, we went to several interesting stores (saw plenty of shells for sale, but I prefer to find mine) and small galleries.
Inside one, I noticed this sign, posted on a wall, tucked back into a corner of the shop. I stood there looking at it for a while and the shop owner came over to talk to me. He explained that this was his family, and there was a photo on the wall of his father and several other family members too, dating back to the early 1900's (I wish I had gotten a picture of that!). I thought it was so interesting that Ocracoke was likely purchased by one of Blackbeard's men.
Later in the day, we briefly checked out the Pony Pens and the British Cemetery. These ponies are descendants of Spanish mustangs that were shipwrecked here several hundred years ago. The ponies have been penned up since the late 1950s and are cared for by the National Park Service.
The British Cemetery is easy to find in the village because it's located on the helpfully-named British Cemetery Road.
The land is considered British - it is leased to the UK.
On May 12th each year, there is a ceremony conducted by members of the US Coast Guard, the National Park Service, and the British Royal Navy honoring the men buried here. Two of the men could be identified, but two are unknown.
And, finally, a visit to Ocracoke is incomplete without seeing its famous lighthouse.
We were fortunate enough to see the lighthouse at night, after returning from a walk down to Windmill Point (we didn't see any windmills).
Here's what Windmill Point looked like at Sunset.
On the day we left, we did catch one more glimpse of the lighthouse as we were doing some more shopping near the harbor:
It was a short trip, with only one full day on Ocracoke, but we truly had a wonderful time. Here are a few pictures of the ferry ride back.
It's a good thing we went when we did; just 8 days after we returned, Ocracoke is now closed to visitors due to an approaching hurricane! Maybe it will kick up some shells!
