Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [63]
The second Outer Banks lighthouse you come to is Bodie Island Lighthouse, on Oregon Inlet. While you can’t enter the lighthouse itself, a gift shop and keeper’s quarters museums will delight history and lighthouse buffs. Keep heading south on Hwy 12 to reach the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station. Even with the invention of the lighthouse, more than 500 ships met their maker in the battering waves off the coast of the Outer Banks. The United States Life-Saving Service (the precursor to the Coast Guard) would risk their lives in treacherous conditions to help beleaguered sailors, and perfectly preserved rooms display their history here.
Keep going on Hwy 12 to reach the iconic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, known as “America’s Lighthouse” and with a famous black-and-white striped base. As you walk up its 248 steps to admire the breathtaking view, imagine being the lighthouse keeper back 100 years ago, carrying the 5-gallon, 40lb canister of oil on your back each day. Your last stop before catching the ferry to Ocracoke is the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, where you can check out shipwreck artifacts dating back hundreds of years. Hint: claim a car space in the ferry line early, then walk the 200ft to the museum for a quick look-see.
If North Carolina ever had a different kind of secessionist movement, it would most likely start on Ocracoke. Gone are the ubiquitous beachwear shops and BrewThru drive-through convenience stores of the Carolina coast and, in their place, handmade craft stores, organic coffee shops and hemp design boutiques. Your first stop coming from the ferry is Teach’s Hole store and museum. Originally a pirate-themed gift shop, it’s opened a museum-quality exhibit filled with bountiful treasure like historical artifacts and a documentary about Blackbeard’s life in the Outer Banks.
Laze on what’s known as one of America’s best beaches at Lifeguard Beach, the most popular of the 16 mile white-sand-and-seashell strip of coast (there’s a nude beach, as well, but we’ll leave it to you to find). Head into Ocracoke Village to stroll the shops or grab an ice-cream cone. But be sure to get offshore at least once during your time on the island; surfing, boating, fishing or kayaking are all options. Ride the Wind’s knowledgeable guides take landlubbing visitors through the reedy coast to the spot where Blackbeard was beheaded. The locally owned surf shop also has the coolest summer camp known to kidkind: a three-day surf camp for kids aged 9 to 17 (older folk can take private lessons).
Dinners are taken very seriously on Ocracoke, almost as seriously as relaxing. For fried seafood perfection, start with the crab beignets at Back Porch Restaurant and ease into the crab cake main dish, topped with a sweet red pepper sauce. Stay a second night just to dine on even more seafood at Café Atlantic. Ocracoke doesn’t have a single chain hotel or restaurant, and we highly recommend Blackbeard’s Lodge, where you and your lodgemates might tap out a sea shanty or two on the grand piano downstairs or grab one of the bicycles for a jaunt around the island. Those looking for quiet romance should check out the Cove B&B. In a serene garden in the heart of the village, the well-appointed historic home comes with balconies, and the hosts greet each guest with plenty of insider information about the island and a wine reception each evening. It’s not the grandest of the Outer Banks lighthouses, but the stout 1823 Ocracoke Lighthouse is the second-oldest lighthouse still operating on the North Carolina coast.
For more pirate booty, take the Cedar Island Ferry from town and continue down Hwy 12 towards Beaufort, home of the world-class North Carolina Maritime Museum. Artifacts from 15 shipwrecks are on display, including from Blackbeard’s presumed flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. To see the southernmost lighthouse in the Outer Banks, take a boat tour with the Outer Banks Ferry Service to Cape Lookout Lighthouse. The boat sails past Shackleford Island, home to hundreds of wild horses. You know a house is old when the “new” extension