Vacation Paradise

The Outer Bank islands is a playground for just about everyone. Nature lovers will enjoy the diverse wildlife, in particular the numerous birds that take up refuge in the backwaters of the islands and the protected sounds on the western edge.

Outdoor enthusiasts will find hang gliding, deep sea diving, fishing or just riding across the sand in 4 wheel-drive vehicles both relaxing and entertaining.

Historians are equally at home here. This is where England first established a colony, where pirates roamed just off shore and where they buried their loot in undisclosed locations that have been lost to the ages. It is where man first learned to fly.

The Outer Banks is also a great place for doing nothing at all, and not feeling guilty.

Outer Banks Lighthouses

Perhaps the most iconic image of the outer banks are the numerous, uniquely painted lighthouses erected in the 1800s to protect ships from the dangerous shoals.

So treacherous were the seas off the coast the area became known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Today there is a museum in Hatteras Village dedicated to these shipwrecks.

Elizabethan Gardens and the Lost Colony

Protected from the outer band of islands is Roanoke Island. Roanoke Island is much larger than the narrow stretch of the Outer Banks. In July of 1587 a group of 117 men women and children established a foothold here on this island. It was almost 100 years after Columbus had first landed several hundred miles south.

These early colonists left the safety of England and under the guidance of Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I, that these early Europeans built one of the earliest colonies. that for some reason disappeared with no apparent explanation and it became known as the "Lost Colony."