Family Trip to the Outer Banks, NC

Last week, I was in the Outer Banks barrier islands in North Carolina with my family. The Outer Banks (OBX) is a fantastic family destination–you’ll find far more rental houses than you will hotels. You can do as little as sit on the beach, or be as active as you want with tons of natural and historic attractions. There’s ample opportunity for fishing, surfing, hang gliding, kiteboarding, or any other sporty activity if you’re into that. Or you can sit around and read books like my family. 🙂

BEACH HOUSE

We rented this house in Avon, NC, about 15 minutes north of the Hatteras Lighthouse and an hour south of Nag’s Head. It is one row back from the beach, but you can still see the ocean from the top floor living room. Plus, there is a crow’s nest at roof level for an even better view. It was perfect for our family of 10, and best of all–every bedroom had a bathroom on it!

From this location, we ranged as far as Nag’s Head to the north and Ocracoke to the south. But most of our time was spent on the beach, especially the mornings. And we generally kept to the house in order to eat meals in. The house had a great kitchen and a nice big table we could all sit around, which we did every night at supper. I wish I were still there!

CHICAMACOMICO LIFE-SAVING STATION

We did get out to see a few things, the first of which was the Chicamacomico (chi-kah-mah-CO-mi-co) Life-Saving Station. We originally headed to Rodanthe for a Memorial Day arts fair in the community center across the street. Then we decided to check this out since it was so close. It is worth the trip even in the pouring rain!

All of the historic structures have been moved away from the beach where they once stood and now make a little campus just off HWY 12. First, you have the original 1874 Life-Saving Station, an early precursor to the modern Coast Guard. The building is surprisingly beautiful, built in gothic style. Then there is a separate cookhouse, and an old restored house staged like it would have looked in the early 1900’s. The main attraction is the large 1911 station, which was in use until 1954. This station was built to house 8-10 men and once held over 40 during WWII! Apparently, there was a lot of German submarine action around the Outer Banks during those days. It’s a neat look into the lives of some very heroic men. On Thursdays at 2 pm, you can see an actual demonstration of how they would rescue shipwreck victims using a pulley system and some inflatable trousers.

Cost is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors/students, $6 for kids 4-17, and free for under 4. Or, $25 per family of 5, making it $5 each, which is what we did.

CAPE HATTERAS LIGHT STATION

On another morning, we set out to climb the Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest brick lighthouse in the U.S. And that climb is no joke! But the view is worth it, and the museum in the keeper’s house is pretty nifty. Don’t miss the room under the stairs where they describe the 1999 move of the lighthouse 2,900 feet to its present location. They did it in half the time expected and without as much as a half-degree of tilt! Also, make sure to check the times for Ranger talks. We managed to get there right as one was starting and it was a fun presentation and informative.

One unique opportunity is to do a full moon climb of the lighthouse. It costs the same as regular admission, but you have to reserve ahead of time. A full moon was during our trip, but I didn’t buy tickets in time. They went on sale at 10 am three days before the tour and by noon they were sold out! I was bummed about that, but it turned out pretty cloudy on that night, so I don’t think we missed much.

Cost is $8 for adults, $4 for kids/seniors.

GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC MUSEUM

We stopped for a few minutes in the free Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, thinking it was pretty small. But it was a lot larger than we thought! Carve out about an hour to see the whole exhibit on general maritime history and some of the shipwrecks off the dangerous diamond shoals.

OCRACOKE LIGHTHOUSE

While we were in Hatteras, we took the free ferry south to Ocracoke. #1, the wait for the ferry can often be as long as the ferry ride itself! That was a little maddening both ways since they cut the line off right before our cars both times. BOTH TIMES. Then the ride itself is an hour long. So bring a book and a snack! All ferries have an air-conditioned area to sit down and escape the heat.

#2, the 13-mile drive from the ferry dock on Ocracoke to the village is my favorite drive on the islands. It’s natural, open dunes and forest and it’s just beautiful.

We didn’t do a whole lot here, what with lunch in Hatteras, the free museum, the wait for the ferry, and the ferry ride itself, we didn’t arrive in Ocracoke Village until around 3 pm. So all we managed was some ice cream and a look at my favorite lighthouse, the short Ocracoke Lighthouse. You can’t climb it, and there’s no museum, but there’s a nice boardwalk next to a musical marsh. And with a little light trespassing, you can reach a small cemetery behind the lighthouse. Back there are three gravestones with Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Crossing the Bar” divided between the three:

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

OCRACOKE VILLAGE

Had we more time in Ocracoke, some other points of interest include the Ocracoke Preservation Museum (complete with ghost) in an old house on National Park property, along with the Fort Ocracoke Civil War Memorial. The British Cemetery and shops like Books To Be Red, Mermaid’s Folly, and the Island Ragpicker all looked interesting. We did stop in Teach’s Hole Blackbeard Exhibit, at the behest of my pirate-loving niece, and that was a fun little $4 exhibit with a gift shop.

I recommend taking that dang ferry early in the morning, parking the car and renting a bike, and spending the day on Ocracoke eating and shopping and looking. There are a couple of short trails on the island as well, Hammock Hills Nature Trail in the campground and Springer’s Point Nature Preserve past the lighthouse.

JOCKEY’S RIDGE STATE PARK

The next morning, we drove up to Nag’s Head to check out the Jockey’s Ridge State Park, the tallest natural dune system in the Eastern United States. We went in the morning to avoid some heat, but it was still very hot! Take ice water! But it’s worth it–the view of the dunes is otherworldly. We walked up one dune where they were having some sort of hang gliding class, then headed over to a taller dune, thinking that was the bigger, main dune. But then there were two more dunes after that one! It felt like being in New Mexico or Colorado, or another planet, except that with the height, you could also see the ocean and highway on one side and the sound on the other. We took one marked trail through the sand to the sound, which was the most interesting (and most taxing) part of our visit. I recommend using the exhibits in the visitor center to cool down after your walk around the dunes.

JEANNETTE’S PIER

After a fantastic lunch at this spot, we visited nearby Jeannette’s Pier. Here, you’ll find a couple aquarium exhibits of life under the pier and a robust gift shop. It costs $2 for adults and $1 for kids to walk out on the pier, good for a full day. We ended up in some fun conversations with a few of the men fishing off the pier (fisherman LOVE telling stories) and saw a school of stingrays swimming gracefully through the water, which was super cool.

FIRST COLONY INN

Some personal history: I grew up going to the Outer Banks with my extended family, and that was because my grandmother, my mother’s mother, used to work in a hotel in Nag’s Head during summers when she was in college in the 1930’s. On this trip, Mom and I passed by the historic First Colony Inn and thought that might be the one in which she worked. We stopped in to inquire and the helpful desk clerk led us to the hotel library and gave us a packet of information on the Inn and let us look through some old ledger books.

And while it’s a super lovely hotel, it turns out it’s not the one she worked in. But through the information they gave us, we were able to figure out that the hotel she did work in, the Croatan Inn, was turned into a restaurant before being demolished in 2006. There are even stories of a playful ghost on the premises. Even though we didn’t get to see the actual building where she worked, it was fun to be able to fill in that hole and find out what happened to it.

BODIE ISLAND LIGHT STATION

After a final day at the beach and some shopping–I highly recommend Buxton Villiage Books–it was time for us to leave. On our way out, Mom wanted to stop at the Bodie Island Lighthouse because we couldn’t remember if we had ever been there before. We didn’t climb it, but we did walk down the nearby marsh boardwalk and got some nice pictures. This lighthouse still has its Fresnel lens, which makes it look especially beautiful.

Cost to climb is $10 for adults, $5 for kids/seniors.

REASONS TO RETURN

Of course, there was much we didn’t see–I would have liked to have gone up to Currituck and seen the lighthouse there, the historic Whalehead House, and possibly walk the boardwalk in the Currituck Banks Reserve, in hopes to spot some wild horses. There were several nature hikes that would have been fun to explore, like the Pine Island Sanctuary, the Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve, the Nags Head Woods, and the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge.

On Roanoke Island is a whole host of interesting attractions. There is the North Carolina Aquarium, a historic Island Farm, some Elizabethan Gardens, the Fort Raleigh Historic Site, and the Roanoke Island Festival Park, containing a settlement, a sailing ship, a museum, a fossil pit and more.

Writing all this makes me want to go back! It’s places like these that make me want to buy a camper and just take my sweet time down the length of the islands, seeing everything I want with plenty of beach time included. That is the dream!