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A historical B&B within walking distance of the Square. Reserve ahead! 662-234-1250; 1008 University Ave, Oxford; r from $140;

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.beelerslife.wordpress.com

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LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner

TRIP

39 Driving the Natchez Trace Parkway

41 Oxford, Mississippi

43 48 Hours in New Orleans

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Return to beginning of chapter

TRIP 8

Southeastern Beach Getaways

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WHY GO From playing pinball on neon-lit boardwalks to crabbing with raw-chicken bait on isolated barrier islands, experience the A to Z of the Southeast coast in just over 600 stunning, sandy miles. Hope you like fried shrimp!

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Start on North Carolina’s northern coast, where the windswept Outer Banks have always been a little apart from the mainland, both geographically and culturally. These shifting ribbons of sand trace the coastline for about 100 miles. While the northern towns are inundated with vacationers in high season, other parts of the Outer Banks remain nearly silent but for the waves and the occasional crackle of summer thunder. If you’re driving from the mainland on Hwy 64, you’ll cross onto Roanoke Island, site of the first English colony in the New World. The settlers (about 100 of them) disappeared without a trace in the late 1580s; their fate is still one of America’s greatest mysteries.

Head across the causeway onto Bodie Island (pronounced “body”), where the contiguous villages of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head have laid-back beachy vibes. There is no shortage of 25-cent oyster bars and pirate-themed motels in these parts, no sir. Wilbur and Orville Wright made Kitty Hawk famous in 1903 when they launched the world’s first airplane flight here (it lasted 12 seconds). You too can soar over the Sahara-like dunes of Jockey’s Ridge State Park, a popular spot for hang-gliders. Take a lesson with Kitty Hawk Kites or, if you prefer to keep your feet on the ground, just fly a kite. Afterwards, dine on seared tuna at the Black Pelican, housed in an old lifesaving station decorated with funky knickknacks. Its bar is a local favorite in the early evening.

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TIME

1 week

DISTANCE

630 miles

BEST TIME TO GO

May – Sep

START

Roanoke Island, NC

END

Cumberland Island, GA

ALSO GOOD FOR

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Follow Hwy 12 (also known as Virginia Dare Trail or “the coast road”) south, crossing the bridge onto largely undeveloped Hatteras Island. Here, the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge is a birder’s paradise – wander miles of nature trails with your binoculars in search of endangered Peregrine falcons. A 13-mile stretch of isolated beach is perfect for peaceful strolls and shell-gathering.

Take the free car ferry to Ocracoke Island and spend the day watching the wild horses run, or putt-putt around Ocracoke Village’s narrow streets on a rented scooter – try Wheelie Fun Scooter Rentals in the marina. Ocracoke’s native population of fishermen and craftspeople were so historically isolated that some still speak with the brogues of their British ancestors, a dialect known as “Hoi Toider” for the way they pronounce “high tide.” Buy one of the island’s famous hammocks at Ocracoke Island Hammock Company then check out the 1823 Ocracoke Lighthouse, North Carolina’s oldest. For dinner, have a fried-oyster sandwich at Howard’s Pub, where visitors and salty locals alike drink beer on tap and listen to live music on the porch. At the end of the day, lay down your head in the you-know-it-must-be-haunted Island Inn, built in 1901 entirely from shipwrecked wood. Rooms have the feel of an eccentric great auntie’s house, with old dolls and oil portraits.

Cross back onto the mainland on the Cedar Island ferry and head south, where the Outer Banks give way to an area known as the Crystal Coast (or, as locals call it, “Down East”). Photogenic Beaufort is one of the oldest towns in the state, with a truly Gothic history of piracy, rum-running and Civil War spying. Blackbeard himself lived here, in the so-called Hammock House off Front