Outer Banks History: Shipwrecks, Lighthouses, Pirates and First Flight

The Lost Colony, Roanoke Island (1587)

On Roanoke Island in 1587, 115 English colonists vanished, leaving the word CROATOAN carved into a post. Four centuries later the mystery is still open, and still the reason a summer play runs in Manteo.

Blackbeard at Ocracoke (1718)

Edward Teach — Blackbeard — used the inlets around Ocracoke as a hideout, and he was killed in a battle there in November 1718. Teach's Hole, the channel off the island, still carries his name.

The Graveyard of the Atlantic

More than a thousand ships have gone down off these barrier islands, wrecked on the shifting shoals of Diamond, Wimble and Platt. At low tide after a storm, ribs of old hulls still surface on the beach at Corolla and Nags Head.

That danger is why the Outer Banks got its lighthouses — and why the U.S. Life-Saving Service built stations every few miles along the coast.

Twelve seconds at Kill Devil Hills (1903)

The Wright brothers chose these dunes for their steady wind and soft landings. On December 17, 1903, they flew 120 feet in twelve seconds. The monument on the hill is worth the climb for the view alone.

Moving a lighthouse (1999)

In 1999 the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse — about 4,800 tons of brick — was rolled 2,900 feet inland over 23 days to escape an ocean that had crept within roughly 120 feet of its base. It remains the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States.

Outer Banks Lighthouses Wrapping Paper | OBX Gift Wrap$19.99 · View on Outer Banks Dreaming