I stood frozen with fear, unable to move. The terrifying image drew closer, his curved sword swinging wildly. Just as he seemed about to separate my head from my body, I snapped back to reality, left my all-too-real daydream about the pirate Blackbeard behind, and moved on to the next exhibit in the museum.
This dramatic—if somewhat grisly—story of Blackbeard is but one display that transforms the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, North Carolina, into a memorable, lifelike experience. The eclectic collection is among the attractions that make the Outer Banks—the chain of narrow barrier islands that parallels the state’s Atlantic coastline—into much more than just another sun-and-sand vacation destination.
No wonder Forbes has included it among the “20 Top Places Americans Are Dreaming About,” and a renowned seashore expert included one of its beaches among his list of the most outstanding in the country.
Another appeal is how the Outer Banks’s past co-mingles with life there today. Tiny family cemeteries stretching back generations are hidden behind homes. Some houses contain timbers that were salvaged from the hundreds of ships that fell prey over centuries to the treacherous waters off the coast.
The Outer Banks became a magnet for vacationers in the 1830s, when families of wealthy North Carolina planters found refuge there from the summer heat. They were followed by sportsmen drawn by the outstanding fishing and hunting that Native Americans had discovered centuries earlier.
Today, the beaches strung out along the 130-mile-long Outer Banks are the major appeal for many visitors. Cape Hatteras National Seashore runs for 70 miles and offers the largest stretch of undeveloped sand on the East Coast. Each of the tiny villages along the coastline has its own distinctive characteristics.
Many visitors rank Corolla and Duck, the northernmost towns, as the two prettiest. Duck has a wooden boardwalk that skirts a bay, leads into town, and ends up meandering through pockets of woods where bird calls are the only sounds.
Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head form the commercial hub of the Outer Banks, complete with a strip-mall atmosphere and two attractions worth a stop. It was at Kitty Hawk where, on Dec. 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first controlled power flights. Many people are surprised to learn that their longest journey lasted only 59 seconds and covered just 852 feet. A museum houses a full-scale replica of their rickety aircraft and other memorabilia that tell the story.
Nearby, Jockey’s Ridge State Park is home to the tallest sand dune on the East Coast. Winds constantly reshape the dramatic ridge, causing the dune to vary in height from 80 to 100 feet.
Roanoke Island became the site of the first English colony in the New World in 1587. A good place to begin your exploration is Roanoke Island Festival Park, where the life of Native Americans who originally inhabited the area is recreated. Longhouses, a dance circle, and planting and harvesting areas set the mood. Interactive exhibits appeal to generations of family visitors.
To relive another chapter of the story, clamber aboard the Elizabeth II, a sailing ship representing the seven British vessels that arrived during the 16th century. Costumed interpreters describe the small craft and entertain landlubbers with dramatic tales of the perilous voyage, speaking in a thick brogue that echoes the dialect of that time.
The history lesson continues at the Roanoke Adventure Museum, where 400 years of Outer Banks history are explored. From early pirates to the Civil War, from boat-building to shipwrecks, virtually every facet of life as it used to be gets its due.
In Hatteras Village, the aptly named Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is chock-full of dramatic exhibits that chronicle the tragic tale of more than 2,000 ships that met their fate on the treacherous offshore shoals. Many were sailing vessels that went down during the 18th and 19th centuries. Others were cargo carriers heading for England during World War II, when they were sunk by German submarines that lurked surprisingly close to our country’s East Coast. Parts of several shipwrecks still are visible today along beaches or in shallow water at low tide.
Among other vivid exhibits at the museum are displays about the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, ship-bombing demonstrations by Gen. Billy Mitchell off the Cape Hatteras coast in 1921, and lifesaving and rescue operations. And then there’s the section devoted to the notorious Blackbeard, who, after his life of marauding, was killed in the area.
Lighthouse buffs will be in their element, with three towers that mark this stretch of the Outer Banks. The original Bodie Lighthouse was built in 1847 to help ships navigate a dangerous stretch of water where many of them were lost. The Cape Hatteras light claims fame as the tallest brick beacon in the country.
