Ten Things You Must Do On An Outer Banks Vacation

This Outer Banks Mansion is the biggest beach house rental in North Carolina.

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to start planning your summer vacation. One of the best places to go on the Carolina coast is the Outer Banks. Why? Because there is so much great stuff here. In fact, there is too much to do over the course of a long weekend or even a week-long stay.

Here’s my Top Ten recommendations:

1. Go to Jockey’s Ridge: Highest Sand Dune on East Coast and part of 426-acre park. Hang gliding, hiking, and kite flying are popular here.
2. Visit the “First in Flight” Wright Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk.
3. Climb America’s tallest beacon, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Beware! This lighthouse is the equivalent of a skyscaper and has 257 steps to climb, but the view is worth it!
4. Go see one of the best outdoor dramas in our great nation, The Lost Colony. It is also the longest running outdoor drama in America. Waterside Theatre, Manteo.
5. Visit the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, which will show you why this area has been given this sinister nickname.
6. Take a ferry ride to Ocracoke Island to see where Blackbeard used to party. Oh, and you can also see the British Cemetery, Ocracoke ponies, and visit the Ocracoke Preservation Museum. The oldest and shortest lighthouse in North Carolina is the Ocracoke Lighthouse.
7. Go fishing. This area is known as “The Billfish Capital of the World. You can fish off Jeanette’s Pier or go out on a charter boat.
8. Go windsurfing. This is one of the best places along the East Coast for this watersport. Or you can go surfing, kitesurfing, kayaking, or accomplish just about any other watersport.
9. Explore the Elizabethan Gardens, which include an impressive collection of Elizabethan-style structures and Renaissance statues. Nature lovers should also plan to visit the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge, which boasts more than 400 species of birds.
10. Don’t miss one of the most complete lifesaving stations still in existence, Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station.

FIVE FUN FACTS:

On December 17, 1903, two brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, made the first successful flights just south of Kitty Hawk.

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore, encompassing more than 28,000 acres along the Outer Banks, was the first to be established by our government.

The Nags Head Woods Preserve is considered one of the best remaining examples of a mid-Atlantic maritime forest; made up of 640 acres of protected wetland, dune and hardwood forest and is a national natural landmark.

On November 22, 1718, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was slain by Lt. Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy, in Ocracoke Inlet.

In 1874, the U.S. Lifesaving Service was begun by building a chain of seven lifesaving stations along the Outer Banks, at the points of greatest danger to ocean going vessels. The U.S. Lifesaving Service was the forerunner to the U.S. Coast Guard. The lifesaving stations, working in conjunction with the several lighthouses located along the Outer Banks, helped to save and rescue many vessels as they passed through the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Richard Etheridge became America’s first black lifesaving station keeper with his appointment to the Pea Island post in 1880.

For more help planning your summer vacation