Peaceful Easy Feeling: North Carolina’s Outer Banks

Our Weekend Road Trip this week takes us to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. First stop, Jockey’s Ridge, the tallest sand dune in the eastern United States. The height of the dunes vary from 80 to 120 feet depending upon the weather and winds.

Jockey’s Ridge is located in Nags Head, N.C., home of world-record fishing, shipwreck remains, and the pirate, Blackbeard.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the country. Standing at 208 feet tall, it’s also the tallest brick lighthouse. The light’s beacon can be seen 20 miles out to sea, warning sailors of the dangerous Diamond Shoals off the coast of Hatteras.

In 1999, the 6,250 ton Hatteras Lighthouse was moved further inland due to an ever-eroding shoreline. A circle of stones marks the lighthouse’s original site. In the photo above, the lighthouse can be seen in it’s new location.

Names of former lighthouse keepers are engraved in each stone in the circle.

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla, N.C. was first lit on December 1, 1875. It remains unpainted to distinguish it between the two nearby black-and-white-striped lighthouses.

The marsh near the Currituck Beach Lighthouse

Walkway through the marsh

A family of geese enjoy their protected status

Beach at Nags Head

Nags Head coastline

Footprints in the sand are the only sign of human presence. Part of the attraction to Nags Head is the seclusion.