LAND OF THE...
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Issue 15.2
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
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Son is shining! Photo: Daniel Pullen
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Could he be any happier? And can you blame him? Little Buddy’s got the whole day ahead of him. His whole summer. His whole life! And, man, what a life it is.
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Splashing in tide pools and building sandcastles. Sharing juice boxes with his closest pals. Stuffing his face with fistfuls of Cheetos, then sticking his little hands right back in the bag. Over and over. Until every bite’s covered in sand, and his whole upper body’s smothered in orange.
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www.KittyHawkChairs.com accidentally kicks sand on some sunbathing beauty, she won’t yell “Creep!” Instead, she screams, “How cute!” (Hell, in his world, all the hot babes want to pick him up.)
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MAKE SURE THOSE BLISSFUL BEACH DAYS HAPPEN — THEN MAX OUT EACH MINUTE.
At some point Dad will grab him and run for the shorebreak, dunking him for hours on end. Later, Mom will cradle him under a shady umbrella, stroking his hair ’til the breeze puts him to sleep. And in-between, he goes nuts in ways no adult could imagine.
Truth is, this dude could literally walk into a circle of beach chairs and poop his pull-ups, and every single person would laugh. And him? You wouldn’t be able to wipe the smile off his face.
If he runs down the beach naked, nobody calls the police — they crack jokes. If he
I kid, of course, but it’s hard not to be envious. Summer on the Outer Banks is a
tricky time for grown-ups. Sure, we’re all supposedly here to have fun, but making that happen ain’t always easy. Rental homes turn out worse than expected. Summer doubles take their toll. Gridlock traffic jams us all. And somehow it only seems to get harder with every year, whether you’re a visiting family herding cats for dinner or a longtime local on his seventh straight shift.
BEACH ROAD BAR & GRILLE
That’s why it’s important to forget all the hassles and focus exactly on what brought us to the Outer Banks to start with: The sun. The sand. The surf. The good times goofing off with friends and relatives. To work just as hard at making sure those blissful beach days happen — then max out each minute in every way possible. To be just like our Little Buddy. He don’t care what it took to get to this moment. He’s just happy because he’s here. — Matt Walker
Thank you for reading Outer Banks Milepost. We hope you enjoy it. If not — before chucking this issue into the nearest dumpster — please consider one of the following equally satisfying ways to express your disgust: fold it into a diaper and leave a negative review — then walk up to the nearest group of people and just drop trou! On second thought, maybe just toss it on that 6-month pile of newspapers you’ve yet to recycle. (Trust us, you’ll feel better.) Then, send any and all feedback — positive, negative or just plain confused — to: editor@outerbanksmilepost.com. We promise to find some way to re-purpose them.
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"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing." — Thomas Jefferson “Alright, Hamilton!” — Jeff Spicoli Issue 15.2 Summer 2026 Cover: Red, White & “Yew!” Photo: Callaway Ramsey Reader You Brushes & Ink Carnell Boyle, Jared Cera, George Cheeseman, Marcia Cline, Carolina Coto, Kim Cowen, Cloey Davis, Michael J. Davis, Fay Davis Edwards, Mary Edwards, Laine Edwards, Marc Felton, Janet Fenton, Travis Fowler, Adriana Gomez-Nichols, Amelia Kasten, Chris Kemp, Nathan Lawrenson, Dave Lekens, Tim Lusk, Elisa McVearry, James Melvin, Ben Miller, Dawn Moraga, Ben Morris, Holly Nettles, Stella Nettles, Rick Nilson, Barbara Noel, Kyle Oden, Holly Overton, Stuart Parks II, James Perry, Tisch Perry, Charlotte Quinn, Meg Rubino, Shirley Ruff, Amy Snowden, Noah Snyder, Rob Snyder, Griffin Soderberg, Janet Stapelman, Alyse Stewart, Willow Temple, Kenneth Templeton, Stephen Templeton, Shane Thomas, George Tsonev, CW, Christina Weisner, Chris Wheeler, John Wilson, Mark Wiseman, Bri Young, Mike Zafra Lensfolk Nate Appel, Matt Artz, Nathan Beane, Chris Bickford, Russell Blackwood, Mike Booher, Don Bower, Aycock Brown, Mark Buckler, Jon Carter, Rich Coleman, Marc Corbett, Kim Cowen, Chris Creighton, Mere Crockett, Benny Crum, Jason Denson, Amy Dixon, Susan Dotterer Dixon, Lori Douglas, Julie Dreelin, Tom Dugan/ESM, Roy Edlund, Bryan Elkus, Ben Gallop, Cory Godwin, Treveon Govan, Michael Halminski, Cody Hammer, Chris Hannant, Katie Harms, Bryan Harvey, David Alan Harvey, Ginger Harvey, Bob Hovey, Biff Jennings, Jenni Koontz, Daryl Law, Mike Leech, Anthony Leone, Jeff Lewis, Jared Lloyd, Matt Lusk, Ray Matthews, Brooke Mayo, Mickey McCarthy, Nic McLean, Roger Meekins, D. Victor Meekins, Richard L. Miller, Dick Meseroll/ ESM, Ashley Milteer, David Molnar, Rachel Moser, Ryan Moser, Elizabeth Neal, Rob Nelson, Candace Owens, Anne Snape Parsons, Crystal Polston, Daniel Pullen, Cal Ramsey, Ryan Rhodes, Casey Robertson, Terry Rowell, Cyndi Goetcheus Sarfan, Katie Slater, Tom Sloate, Wes Snyder, David Thomas, Ed Tupper, Eve Turek, Chris Updegrave, Dan Waters, Kati Wilkins, Cyrus Welch, Jay Wickens, Cody Wright Penfolk Ashley Bahen, Madeline Bailey, Sarah Downing, Ty Evans, Laura Gomez-Nichols, Jim Gould, Steve Hanf, Sam Harriss, Catherine Kozak, Katrina Leuzinger Owens, Dan Lewis, Michelle Lewis, Terri Mackleberry, Fran Marler, Amanda McDanel, Maggie Miles, Matt Pruett, Mary Ellen Riddle, Peter Graves Roberts, Arabella Saunders, Corinne Saunders, Kip Tabb, Brian Tress, Emmy Trivette, Kathleen Wasniewski, Hannah West, Clumpy White, Sharon Whitehurst, Natalie Wolfe, Michele Young-Stone Pointing/Clicking Jesse Davis
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Sales Force Laurin Walker Big Mouth In Chief Matt Walker Blame It All On Suite P Inc. PO Box 7100 • KDH, NC 27948 Office: 252-441-6203 • Sales: 949-275-5115 editor@outerbanksmilepost.com • sales@outerbanksmilepost.com Outer Banks Milepost is published quarterly (sorterly) by Suite P Inc. All contents are the property of Suite P Inc. and do not reflect the opinion of advertisers or distributors. Nor do their contents reflect that of the creative types (who would never, ever sell out). Comments, letters and submissions are usually welcome. Please include SASE for return delivery of all snail mail, however, Milepost and Suite P Inc. still aren’t responsible for any unsolicited materials. And don’t expect much else to move much faster than IST (Island Standard Time). Oh yeah: if you reprint a lick of this content you’re ripping us off. (Shame on you.) To discuss editorial ideas, find out about advertising or tell us we blew it – or just find out what the waves are doing – call 252-441-6203 or email: editor@ outerbanksmilepost.com; sales@outerbanksmilepost.com.
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“Self Portrait with Red Umbrella” By Rick Tupper www.tupperstudio.com
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03 StartingPoint Start kidding around. 06 UpFront Merging traffic, bygone bridge tenders, and Billy revolts. 20 GetActive You’ve not yet begun to farm! 22 FirstPerson One small step for man; one giant leap for Burning Man. 24 S tar-Spangled Sandbar How Colonial Outer Bankers helped keep the British at bay. 30 A merica’s Pride Local industries and endeavors our whole country can brag about. 40 GraphicContent These colors won’t run. (But they may tan.)
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42 T he Pursuit of Happiness We hold these joy-filled images to be self-evident.
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54 Man at Work The carefully crafted creative life of Rick Tupper. 61 FoodDrink Mouth-watering biscuits. (And then some.)
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62 GoFreestyle You say “bust a hip” like it’s a bad thing.
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65 SoundCheck Rage against the machismo. 67 OutThere Good ode days? 69 PhotoFinish This tyke is toast. 70 EndNotes The bold type is coming! “Rick’s a wonderful fisherman. He would actually drive some of the other fishermen crazy. Because they would go to the tackle shop and spend a fortune buying absolutely everything — and show up with these wagons with all this stuff hanging out — and sometimes they’d catch one, and sometimes they didn’t. Then, Rick would show up with his old rod, in cut-off pants and flip-flops; he’d cast once or twice, pull up a fish and go home. The people at the Outer Banks Fishing Pier used to say, “Here comes Tupper to catch his supper.” [laughs] So, one year, he painted this for Glenn Eure’s Annual “Art of the Self-Portrait Show.” I don’t think he’s painted anything like it since, but I think it’s perfect, because I think Rick really is a fish.” [laughs] — Didi Tupper
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upfront soundcheckAVENUE? ELECTRIC Get ready to share the road with more golf carts.
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Sorry, seagulls. Street-legal golf carts have become the Outer Banks’ latest summertime friction point: some people love them; some people hate them. But as soon as warm weather kicks in, they’re everywhere.
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Officially known as Low Speed Vehicles, or LSVs, these 4-to-6-passenger electricpowered carts can roll along at 25mph and have spiked in popularity since the state legislature gave them its blessing in 2001, when standards and regulations for the vehicles became law. Since then, you’ll find them in every local community — some more than others — from Corolla to Ocracoke.
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But the whiplash Southern Shores decisionmakers have experienced over LSVs —Yes! In 2022; No! in 2025; Okay, kinda! In 2026 — demonstrates just how strongly folks feel on both sides of the divide.
graphiccontent Three years later, conflicts between full-
According to town manager Cliff Ogburn, the Town Council first decided to lower the offseason speed limit on Duck Road/NC12 from 45mph to 35mph in 2022, “because it was thought that vehicles on that road were going way too fast.”
sized vehicles and LSVs led Southern Shores to revisit the issue. In December of 2025, the council voted to ask the state Department of Transportation to increase the Duck Road speed limit to 40mph, which would render LSVs impermissible.
However, the change also effectively legalized state-registered LSVs, which are permitted on North Carolina roads with speed limits 35mph and below.
According to town minutes, the council worried about traffic hazards when cars tried to pass the slower carts and agreed that “changing the speed limit to 40mph
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year-round would address safety concerns by removing LSVs from NC12 while maintaining reasonable traffic flow.” But after the vote, Ogburn says there was “a pretty strong outcry” from folks who were upset that the loss of LSVs would restrict their access to places in town along the four-mile stretch of NC12, as well as the town of Duck. As Southern Shores resident Tisa Head
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wrote to the town council following December’s meeting: “The [speed limit] change affects something my family — and many longtime Southern Shores families — have cherished for years: the simple tradition of taking a golf cart up to Duck to shop, eat, and enjoy events in the park.” But, she also believes the carts have much broader benefits, from less pollution to easing congestion to encouraging people to shop locally and enjoy “a more walkable,
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village-style environment.” Other residents protested that the LSVs were important because health or mobility issues limited their ability to get around independently. “The comments were enough to get the council to re-think [the change],” Ogburn says. At May’s meeting, the town responded by basically splitting the difference. As of May 15, the speed limit on N12 in Southern Shores is: 35mph from the southern town limit to Porpoise Run; 40mph from Porpoise Run to Sea Oats Trail/13th Ave.; and 35mph from Sea Oats Trail/13th Ave. to the northern town limit. “The Town Council carefully considered feedback from residents, businesses, and local stakeholders before approving updated speed limits along NC12,” says Ogburn. “The changes are intended to reduce conflicts between low-speed vehicles and other traffic while maintaining access to interior roads throughout Southern Shores. The Town also agreed to revisit the 40mph section if roadway conditions or safety concerns change in the future.” In other words, LSVs can still get to Duck — they just can’t stay on NC12 the whole way. It’s the latest example of coastal resorts finding ways to share the road with LSVs. And you can expect to share it even more as they expand their range along the Beach Road and Bay Drive, from Ocean Acres to
Avon — basically any neighborhood that the speed limit and state law allow. According to a December 2020 article in the Journal of Safety Research, golf carts were invented in 1932 to allow people with physical challenges the ability to travel golf courses and carry equipment. Their popularity steadily increased for transportation off the course, especially in retirement and golf communities. Today, street legal LSVs are ubiquitous in coastal communities, especially beach towns with lower speed limits, where residents see no reason to hop in a full-size ride to travel a few miles down the road. But these are not your standard golf carts. By law, LSVs with a range of 25 miles must be registered and insured, and equipped with lights, turn signals and seat belts. They must drive on the road with a posted speed limit of 35mph and below — though they’re allowed to cross the bypass at intersections — and park in a parking space. Licensed drivers must be at least 16 years old. Only street legal carts can be driven after dark. Neither type of cart can drive on the beach, multi-use paths, offroad trails, or sidewalks. So, if there is friction, it’s usually when one of these laws is broken. Since the explosion in demand on the barrier islands for LSVs, Chris Marik, the general manager at Ocean Atlantic Rentals, says that there have been few serious incidents, though admittedly the phones at their four offices ring all summer long with various concerns. Depending on the
“You know, this is a tourist area,” he says. “They’re trying to get to the beach. They’re trying to not take a Suburban. And we see that as a good thing.”
degree of the problem or violation, the customer can be warned, or the vehicle could be taken away. The most frequent violation, he says, is parking improperly at beach accesses that have no empty spaces. “People think that they can just park it on the curb ‘over there,’” Marik says. “It requires a proper parking spot.”
Between increasing gas prices and bypass gridlock, local neighborhoods might begin to look more like Ocracoke — which may give a sense of where we’re ultimately heading.
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Then of course there’s the underage drivers we’ve all seen illegally operating the vehicles, sometimes dangerously.
IF THERE’S FRICTION, IT’S USUALLY WHEN LAWS ARE BROKEN.
More so than other Outer Banks communities, the sleepy village has embraced both golf carts and LSVs, which share the roads with strolling tourists, two electric trams and cars and trucks inching around them.
“We get a phone call from a concerned citizen: ‘Hey, there’s 14-yearold kids driving down the side of a dune.’ You know, we have to go take it,” he says.
According to resident Randal Mathews, who represents the island on the Hyde County Board of Commissioners, Ocracoke has inadequate sidewalks and narrow streets, so traffic jams had become a problem in a tiny village with a 20mph speed limit.
Marik declines to say how many LSVs, and to a lesser degree, standard golf carts, the company rents every year, but he says there’s plenty of demand. And Ocean Atlantic also sells the vehicles, which cost about $9,000 to $12,000 for LSVs and $6,000 to $8,000 for standard golf carts.
“I think, generally, people appreciate the golf carts,” Mathews says, adding that they’re also less polluting. “Yeah, it’s all within 1000 acres, and golf carts (and LSVs) in Ocracoke are probably better than big trucks and sport utilities. As congested as it can be, you never stop at an intersection in Ocracoke and have to wait.”
And while the proliferation of the carts might be an irritant to locals stuck behind them cruising 10mph slower than the speed limit, Marik insists it’s a net positive for communities.
And yet, Mathews says it took some time to adjust to the growing number of carts. “Golf carts were not popular, even with me, to begin with,” he says. “But when you get to see how things have worked out after a couple years, then you realize it’s good for safety.” — Catherine Kozak
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END OF AN ERA:
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A tender farewell to Dare County’s Bridge Tenders
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Spanning eras with Albemarle Sound bridge tender, WE Spruill, circa ’89. Photo: Drew C. Wilson/ Outer Banks History Center
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Travel west or east on US Highway 64, you’ll notice a new high-rise span being built across the Alligator River. Work on the $532 million structure began in February 2025 and is scheduled to be finished by the time fall bluefish bite in 2029. Upon completion, it will replace the existing swing-span bridge named for North Carolina Congressman Lindsay A. Warren. (Dedicated May 10, 1962, the current bridge is still safe but has been deemed “structurally deficient.”) When vehicles cross the new concrete ribbon, there will be three fewer bridge tenders in the state — and none in Dare County — which means it won’t just be the end of the bridge, but the end of an era. Opening bridges to allow for the passage of floating vessels has been an important and necessary occupation across Eastern North Carolina’s coastal waterways for more than a century. It’s a unique job that sounds like a strange mix of lighthouse keeping and traffic cop.
Carlton Smith, who would grow up to become the first mayor of Kitty Hawk, lived in the Bridge Keeper’s house with his parents and three sisters when his father tended the Wright Memorial Bridge in the late 1920s and 1930s. “It was a small house, but it had five rooms in it,” Smith recalled in 1995. “The front living room with a bedroom next to that, a middle bedroom, and a back bedroom, and the kitchen and dining room combination. The bathroom was an outhouse hanging over the water. “ Long hours and isolation came with the job. Captain Ephraim Meekins was one of the first tenders of the Roanoke Sound Bridge in 1929. The former lighthouse keeper and local raconteur spent his free time carving waterfowl from pieces of juniper. Frank Shepard and W.H. Guy, tenders of the Cape Fear River drawbridge in 1947, simply read and listened to the radio. Of course, the work provided for
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interesting opportunities. B.E. Bowen, tender at the Wrightsville Beach Bridge, helped an angler on the causeway land an 18-pound striper. Carlton Smith, too, had fond memories of tight lines during downtimes. “When things was slack,” he recalled, “I could take a little skiff that we had out there and go down to the bridge and go fishing.” But the job also came with its own unique set of challenges and hazards. Consider the case of Asby Jones, chief bridge tender over the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) in Hyde County. Jones demonstrated quick reflexes in 1958 when he threw the gears in reverse and kept the bridge open to stop an intoxicated truck driver who drove through a safety gate. Chowan River Bridge Tender James Struill helped avert a tragedy in 1963 by calling in authorities when a young father threatened to jump. And Larry Fischer, tender at the
Coinjock Bridge in 1982, helped nab a convicted arsonist during a highspeed chase. At the request of the Currituck sheriff’s dispatcher, he opened the span two minutes before the culprit arrived.
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IN 1982, A TENDER HELPED NAB A CONVICTED ARSONIST DURING A HIGHSPEED CHASE.
Unfortunately, not every story had a happy ending. Imagine the heartache felt by CG Holt. In 1944, the keeper of the ICW bridge near Carolina Beach lost all three of his children to drowning when his two sons fell from the bridge, and his daughter dove in after in a failed attempt to save her siblings.
But it was 64-year-old David Lindsay, keeper of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal Bridge at Coinjock, who made the ultimate sacrifice. Lindsay lost his life in 1934 after a mechanical malfunction caused the bridge to open unexpectedly. Lindsay was lifted by the rising portion of the bridge and fell to his death. The Coinjock Bridge was particularly dangerous. Other fatalities occurred when the gas-powered machinery wasn’t able to open in time for boats in the canal to pass through safely. As a result, citizens of Currituck, Dare and surrounding counties petitioned Congressman Warren, asking “the Government of the United States to provide a modern structure at Coinjock
N.C. equipped with ELECTRIC and GASOLINE motors to the end that a mortal danger to countless thousands of human beings shall be forever removed.” Today, most of Eastern North Carolina’s draw and swing spans have long been replaced; however, a few remain, including Elizabeth City’s Pasquotank River Bridge, Hertford’s Perquimans River Bridge, Washington’s Pamlico River Bridge, New Bern’s Alfred A. Cunningham Bridge, and — of course — Alligator River. At least until the new bridge is completed, allowing cars and boats to travel back and forth unimpeded — and leaving another era of transportation in Dare County’s collective rearview. — Sarah Downing
Sources: “Bridge Tenders Life One of Monotony, Lonesomeness,” Wilmington Morning Star, June 13, 1947; Carlton Smith interviewed by David Stick on Oct. 26, 1995, recording and transcript housed at Outer Banks History Center, Manteo, NC; “Jump from Bridge is Prevented,” News and Observer, Apr. 18, 1963; “ Quick Action of Bridge Tender in Hyde Saves Life,” Coastland Times, Nov. 28, 1958; “Stirred by Death of David Lindsay, Currituckians Demand that Gov’t. Abolish Deathtrap at Coinjock,” The Independent, July 20, 1934; “Three Believed to be Drown at Canal Bridge,” Wilmington Morning Star, May 11, 1944.
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upfront soundcheck getactive startingpoint roadmap A cheering, jeering gokite look at recent events and their potential milepost impacts.
SHELL, YEAH! Maybe you’ve been living under a rock — or just didn’t catch our summer 2024 cover story — but hermit crabs were never designed to be souvenirs, especially the way tourist shops do it. (Plastic cages, painted shells and food pellets are actually lethal to these cute, coastal scavengers; that’s why they always die within months, instead of living for decades.) Luckily, the OBX SPCA has taken steps to compel shops to improve living conditions or stop selling them altogether. (They even helped rehome a few hundred.) Want to help the cause? Learn about the complex aquarium set-ups and care routines necessary before buying one. Even better, take home a puppy instead.
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IT’S NO SMOKING GUN... But it is a smoking musket! (Sort of.) In April, researchers from the Croatoan Archaeological Society revealed that an arrowhead found in a deer carcass during Hatteras Island excavations was really an Elizabethan-era musket ball, adding to the pile of evidence that some of the so-called “Lost Colony” went south where they “peacefully assimilated” with natives. HARD TRUTHS It’s not rubble and sand that secure disappearing shorelines. It’s money. And that’s bad news for coastal communities as beach engineering costs seem to be rising quicker than sea levels. (See last issue.) Meanwhile, at press time, FEMA was still radio-silent about whether we’d receive funds for this summer’s projects on Hatteras Island — a whopping $30 million of the total $45 million. And while the county remains committed to repairing the first
groin and putting down some sand in Avon and Buxton — with hopes of adding more later — the fact that FEMA’s ’25 budget included no nourishment dollars makes you wonder if any more cash will be coming down the pipe. SUBPAR SEASON What do golf scores and hurricanes have in common? The lower the number the bigger the grin! No wonder Outer Bankers were beaming to hear Colorado State University’s April forecast called for a “below average” total of 13 named storms, with just six hurricanes and two major storms — slightly under the usual average of 14, seven and three. Just don’t get cocky, ’cause it only takes one bad hit to wipe the smile from your face. THE KILLER AMONG US Talk about a cold case. For 36 years, a Manteo man got away with murdering a
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New Jersey woman — allegedly— right up until April, when Dare and Currituck Sheriffs helped nab him during a traffic stop. The good news? He’s back on ice in the Garden State awaiting trial. Bad news? He still remains a person of interest in Charleston, SC over the unsolved disappearance of his wife, who went missing in 2012. (But at least he’s no longer chilling right next door.) ORDER IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION! Guilty until proven innocent? Not on the Outer Banks interwebs! Get popped here, expect the news to go out in some police press release, so your tear-streaked face can run down the screens of local news sites and Facebook pages, to be widely shared and ridiculed, often for some lowlevel drug offense. And while we agree catching a potential murderer is more than newsworthy, public shaming some college
student or middle-aged dude for having a weed pen seems like shameless clickbaiting at best and, at worst, cruel and unusual punishment. TANGLED UP IN GREEN Fresh off her victories getting balloonreleases banned across Dare County, Debbie Swick is tackling another unnecessary pollutant and wildlife killer: fishing line. Every year, used monofilament entangles turtles and fish, or just litters beaches. Now, with the help of the Outer Banks Anglers Club, anyone can dispose of their old lines in PVC collection vessels at local piers, marinas and other locations where members will collect it and send it off to be upcycled. DO YOU CATCH OUR GRIFT? Can you really trust the representative on that unrecognized number? That’s the million-dollar question these days —
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For detailed reports on these stories and breaking local news on a daily basis — plus plenty of local discussion — visit www.outerbanksvoice.com, www. islandfreepress.org, www.coastalreview. org, www.samwalkerOBXnews.com, www.outerbanksnews.org, and www. thecoastlandtimes.com.
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WHADDYA RECKON?
We got questions — you got answers. getactive Frank Hester, 64 Pea Island Preservation Society Skyco “George Washington. He fought with the British prior to the Revolution, which allowed him to be successful against a more powerful force later on. And as president, he was not swayed by the power of the office; he understood he was at the service of the people.”
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Nancy Byrne, 74 Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Outer Banks Point Harbor “George Dalton. Not only was he one of the few freedmen to side with America — as the British were offering enslaved people freedom in exchange for service — he was also a church leader who was instrumental in the fight for separation of church and state in America.”
graphiccontent gosurf Jeff Huff, 46 Computer Engineer Colington “Ben Franklin. He was a renaissance man. By far, the smartest man involved in the Revolution — and essentially the first modern electrical engineer.”
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rearview Haber, 62 photofinish Sherri Physical Therapist
Southern Shores “John Hill. He fought in the French and Indian War and, in 1776, joined the Washington County Militia to fight in the Revolution. He’s also my 7th great grandfather.”
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Who’s your favorite figure from the American Revolution? Thomas Beeler, 28 Interpretation/Education Kill Devil Hills “Margaret Corbin. She took over her husband’s cannon during the battle of Fort Washington after he was killed. And when her arm was almost ripped off during the battle, she became the first woman to receive a full military pension for disability.”
Ellen Aidoock, 61 Dare County Veterans Advisory Council Kill Devil Hills “Anna Strong. She’s believed to be Agent 355 in General Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, which functioned almost like a precursor to the CIA. She would use her laundry to signal to other members when it was safe to meet to transfer messages.”
John Vandermyde, 55 Real Estate Agent Southern Shores “John Adams. He defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. He stood up for the rule of law and the right to a fair trial, even when it went against his personal feelings.”
Leah Marshall, 24 Public House Barkeep Manteo “Paul Revere, for getting on that horse and warning everyone that the British were coming. Although, I feel like they could have had a better system — like three cannon blasts or something.” [Laughs]
Interviews and images by Tony Leone
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DEAR SCABBY
Local advice from an OBgenXer who’s seen a thing or two — getactive and has the scars to prove it. Yo Scabby, I come down to the OBX every summer with my family, and I gotta ask, how’s am I supposed to cross the beach road? Friggin’ sketchy, bro. Some drivers stop for us, some keep going, some accelerate. But who’s really got the rightof-way around here? — Sal, New Jersey
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roadmap I mean, every conceivable shred of human decency dictates that the right-of-way
should always go to any family unit juggling children and chairs, coolers and boogies en route to making beach-happy memories — and the entire mechanized world should freeze the second a toddler’s toe touches a single centimeter of NC 12.
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On the other hand, it’s summer, dude. Traffic’s already a nightmare, the locals are probably late for work, and if we stopped every time for every one of the Outer Banks’ 300,000 weekly visitors, our entire existence would screech to a halt. That’s the whole reason they created those cute little crosswalks a few years back — to strategically corral all the pedestrians into crossing at the same time, allowing drivers to hit the gas between stops. So, the first step (literally) is to locate the nearest crosswalk — marked by a big yellow sign with a stick figure doing the Watusi — even if that means marching a block or two.
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Dear Scabby, Corolla warns tourists every Fourth of July that fireworks are NOT allowed in the county. There are even large digital traffic signs reminding everyone of this. Yet, I still see grocery stores selling fireworks. How is this allowed? Don’t the police have enough to do? — Befuddled in Corolla Gosh, B, I wish I could speak to Corollian sensibilities, but that there’s a whole ’nother county with a whole different, distinctly upscale vibe than what we’re used to down here in ol’ Dirty Dare. All my pool-cleaning buddies don’t even call it “Corolla” anymore. They call it “Diet Virginia Beach.” To answer your question, though: I don’t really know. Maybe fireworks are “not allowed” in the same way that you can’t smoke marijuana in NC — but anyone 21+ can skull THC seltzers with impunity. What I do know is that, in those legally gray areas of Profits v. Whiners, the house always wins. And by house, I mean “supermarket.” And from a consumer perspective: What? You’re gonna sell me something and expect me not to use it? I guess I’ll just frame this pack of ciggies and hang ’em on my wall. That said, B, you and I do park our cars in the same garage. I, too, hate fireworks. Hate ’em. They scare my dog, they start fires, they smell like egg farts, they turn our beautiful beaches into an ashtray, they set off active shooter alarm bells, and…Did I mention that they scare my f#@&ing dog?! In fact, if it were up to me, every beach town from here to Waikiki would cancel their Fourth of July fireworks shows, indefinitely, in favor of something more canine-allied and ecologically friendly — like, a big ol’ drone light show. I mean, did you see the way Jockey’s Ridge celebrated their 50th anniversary last year — with 300 li’l spaceships all lit up and tricked out with choreographed music and narration? That was, like, the raddest thing I’ve ever seen in these skies besides the Northern Lights’ surprise winter cameo.
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Also, your unit should be all clustered together like a Griswoldian carbuncle — no stragglers left in the rear with the gear — so your whole party can pass as quickly as possible. However — and this should go without saying — don’t just jet out into traffic. Ironically, those aforementioned signs can sometimes obscure the people they’re meant to protect. And the beach road is rife with fleshy unveilings and other distractions. So, look both ways multiple times to be sure vehicles are stopping. (Pro tip: make eye contact with the driver. Then, once you’re given the nod, haul ass.)
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Even in peak season, it shouldn’t take more than a minute or two before someone stops for you. Real G’s might even flash their lights or throw a lil’ hand jive out the window to show they’re yielding. If you have a free hand, then give a little wave of thanks. And smile. Maybe insist that your family do the same. It’s a good look.
But that’s just wishful thinking. Because Corolla’s already locked in this year’s fireworks show for July 3 to work around changeover day. (Sounds like Dare’s beaches are all doing Independence Day proper.) The good news? I just googled “ear muffs for dogs” and found a dozen cool options. Maybe you can find yourself a human-sized set to ease the pain. Keep on Scratchin! — Scabby
Got a question for Dear Scabby? Email editor@outerbanksmilepost.com. milepost 15
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MADE YOU LOOK! Correctly ID this summertime fun machine — win two tickets to OBX SPCA’s “Stand Up For Strays”! This here contraption is a surefire blast! Yeah, some moments are gonna be grating. And you’re likely to encounter a couple close scrapes.
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But when it comes to fueling summertime fun, You’re guaranteed at least one person will flip. Think you’ve cooked up the right answer? Send your guess — along with a name and phone number — to editor@outerbanksmilepost. com by July 26. One lucky dog will win a pair of free tickets to OBX SPCA’s hilarious “Stand Up For Strays” fundraiser on Nov. 13, starring nationally renowned, rapid-fire comic, Steven Rogers!
rearview photofinish PS: Congrats to Mattie Helms for sawing off the right answer to last issue's puzzle: a pine tree. milepost 17
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HANDS-ON HISTORY startingpoint
Wanna relive the past? Pitch in at Island Farm.
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“Today, we had a group of 110 students, and every student made their own candle,” says Jane Bailey, Island Farm’s Administrative Coordinator. “Then, they helped us make food in the cook house. So, we’re not just telling them things, we’re making experiences.”
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The very experiences that a local family, the Etheridges, first enjoyed as far back as 1847.
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Let’s face it: sometimes history can feel a bit old. Staring at books. Sitting through lectures. But it doesn’t have to be that way. At least not at Island Farm. Here, visitors of all ages don’t just hear about the “good old days” of 1850s Roanoke Island — they enjoy them firsthand.
Come get your hands dirty for a good cause. Photo: Ryan Moser
In 1997, their descendants donated the farmhouse and land to Outer Banks Conservationists, Inc., who refurbished the structures and added animals to create
a working farm. In 2010, Island Farm opened to offer live demonstrations and hands-on activities — including agriculture and hearth cooking, food preservation, weaving, woodworking, blacksmithing, and interacting with livestock — recreating daily life from a century and a half ago, while tying the lessons to the modern world. “There’s a quote that basically says, ‘The past is the best way to create the future,’” says Bailey. “So, a lot of our work here, in practicing these very old traditions and skills, are ways we can inspire where we want to go forward and what we want our future to look like.” “But,” she continues, “we can’t do what we do without volunteers.” And here’s where anyone can make a historic difference. Got a green thumb? Or just dig dirt?
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Come out to Tater Day on June 17, where volunteers help hand-harvest potatoes, then slice and cook them so visitors can enjoy kettle chips. Big on America’s Birthday? Every July 4, Island Farm celebrates with musket firing and a reading of the Declaration of Independence — which means they can use some extra hands handling the increase in visitors and activities. And come October, it’s their biggest event of the year — Pumpkin Patch — where they need as many as 40 volunteers every Saturday to help with parking and making popcorn, plus family-oriented games and activities like nail driving contests and a bubble-making station. “It’s amazing when you get to see that many people contributing their talents towards an amazing, lovely event,” says Bailey.
Or, if you have a bit of a theatrical streak, join the educational interpretive team for when school groups come to the farm. These volunteers wear period clothing and assist staff with activities like candle making, cooking in the 19th-century cookhouse, toys and games, animal education, graveyard interpretation, and genealogy stories.
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“EVERYONE BRINGS SOMETHING INDIVIDUAL TO THE SITE.”
More into helping behind the scenes? They can use assistance every Monday, when the site closes for routine chores like mending fences, chopping wood, tree work, and maintaining the sheep pasture, as well as seasonal tasks like planting and harvesting.
Monday is also a day for experimental work. For example, over the winter, Bailey says they used Mondays to render tallow to make candles, and this year they planted a flax crop because they want to start making linen on the farm.
large animal and equine care.
“It’s our general day to just kind of get exposure, to spend time there, to explore, and help knock stuff out that’s on our todo list,” she says.
But Bailey emphasizes that you don’t need to have a specific talent, reason or timeframe to pitch in.
For those who have a special trade or skill, the farm is always in need of volunteers who can help staff with blacksmithing, woodworking, plowing with animals, and making fiber arts. And critter-lovers of every kind are invited to help out with
Island Farm also works with groups from various companies, clubs, or organizations to coordinate a group itinerary for volunteering.
“If someone has Tuesdays free and would like to come in to help with anything, we can accommodate them,” she says. “Everyone brings something individual to the site, and everyone’s skills and interests makes the site what it is. It’s built on the people that are here.” — Maggie Miles
Feel a growing urge to help Island Farm? Go to www.VolunteerOBX. com to find upcoming opportunities for individuals and groups. Or reach out to Jane Bailey at jane@obcinc.org.
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We make the vacation experience the best it can be for our customers. If you are looking for that perfect home to rent or are interested in investing in your own Outer Banks property, contact Joe Lamb, Jr. today!
MOTHERSHIP gofast CONNECTION gogolf What do flying saucers, desert festivals and parade floats have in common? They’re all part of Kenny “Kinetic” artisticlicense Lovell’s infectious energy.
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endnotes
ADVENTURE AWAITS
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Mylar-covered, freaky and habit-forming. Photo: Ed Tupper
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Project. We made a big Viking schooner with a big old sail out of an old Mazda B2000 pick-up. Another year, we made a big stationary temple, with a DJ booth on top. Then, in 2024, I joined the Vrill Society. We made a flying saucer out of a 1962 Merecedes Unimog, which is a military transport vehicle. This damn thing was 28 feet wide! There were 70,000 people and countless art cars that year — but there was only one flying saucer there with lights, smoke machines, and an 8000-watt sound system pounding music. We absolutely blew them away.
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“IT’S ALL A BIT OF COLLECTIVE IMPROV; WE JUST BRAINSTORM STUFF AND SEE After a couple of years, the bus wouldn’t make it out to Burning Man. So, I jumped in with a crew called the Thor WHAT WORKS.”
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All summer, we’d play with it on the beach. Then, in August, our Asheville buddies would drive it out to Burning Man, and we’d go play with them in the desert. It was such a blast. Not only because I got to use my skills as a carpenter and mechanic, but the energy it created; it was really remarkable. It basically changed all our lives. Especially in Carova. People would come up on the beach and say, “This thing’s nuts! How’d you do this? Why did you do this?” I’d say, “The look on your face, that’s why!” [laughs]
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The Gypsy Queen was basically an Alaskan salmon trawler sitting on a 40-foot bus. You could drive it to a location, unload the bow, stern, trawl net — everything else — attach it all and cruise around. But it needed a lot of work. So, we started fixing things — then we started adding things. Lights. A sound system. Friends would come by and say, “Let’s do this! Let’s do that! Let’s put a flamethrower on the top of that thing!” And sure enough, we put a flamethrower on the top of that thing! [laughs]
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These projects all started with my buddy Mark Thompson in Carova Beach. He was part of the Burning Man community. He said, “Hey, Kenny, how much fun would it be to have a boat that we could drive up and down the beach, play a lot of great music, and have the best parties in the world?” I said, “That sounds like the best f#@king idea I’ve ever heard of in my whole life!” And that was how we got the Gypsy Queen.
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That year, Avalon Pier decided to throw an "Out of this World" party. My first idea was to make another flying saucer. But I realized it would have to be at least eight feet wide, which would be impossible to drive around. So, I dropped this space shuttle design on my Can-Am and drove it all the way to the pier. I parked it right on the ramp, and just the reaction I got from people, I was like, “I’ve got to do this every day!” So, this past spring, we made another spaceship for the St. Patty's parade. The design is simple. I made a frame of PVC pipe and wood and attached it to a golf cart. Then I found this reflective Mylar on Amazon that came in 50-foot sheets. From there, I went shopping at the Dollar Tree. I found some reflective tape to hold it together; we made engines out of flowerpots. Then, my buddy, Scott Cahoon, gave me solar powered LED light strips. And my niece said, “We should add streamers!” It’s all a bit of collective improv; we just brainstorm stuff and see what works, then we can reevaluate to make it better next time. The parade was insane. There must’ve been 10,000 people there. The judges’ tent didn’t know what to think. But to have all these friends run up and give me a hug and go, “What the hell is this?!” — that was really the only reaction I wanted. Because I’ve been here for thirty years. I have a whole island of f#&ing awesome people that support me and who I just love to see every day. And to share that positive vibe and energy with them was really special. In fact, next year, I really want to have a whole fleet of little ships. Even better, a whole fleet of tiny, little flying saucers! Because all I’m really doing is building shit to make people smile. And anyone can come join me.
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How a rag-tag bunch of Outer Bankers helped America win the Revolutionary War — then were largely washed away from our collective memory.
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YOU’VE HEARD OF YORKTOWN AND VALLEY FORGE. Bunker Hill and the Boston Tea Party. But what about the Roanoke Inlet Skirmish? On August 15, 1776 — barely a month after our forefathers officially declared independence — a British patrol ship sent a party of 25 men ashore to steal cattle near a long-closed waterway that once cut through modern-day Nags Head. Only our local militia had other ideas. According to the website Carolana.com, “On shore, Capt. Dennis Dauge commanded the Outer Banks Independent Company that patrolled between Currituck and Roanoke [Inlets] on the barrier island chain. Capt. Dauge discovered the British foraging party and attacked them, killing some and capturing the rest.” It was one of several examples of our coastal militias foiling the Brits — even seizing their ships. And yet to most Outer Banks locals — and even many historians — these details remain forgotten. But why? “When we think about the big story of the American Revolution, it tends to be George Washington’s continental forces against the British Army,” says Dr. Kathleen DuVal, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina. “But on the Outer Banks and other parts of the coastal South, the war was fought between British Army and Navy forces on ships, and coming off of ships, and — on the American side — militia forces who just happened to be nearby. So, this coastal struggle — this long part of the Revolutionary War — tends to get forgotten, because there were so many skirmishes like that over goods coming in and out for so many years.”
“The contemptible Port of Ocracock... has become a great Channel of supply to the Rebels...”
Over the course of the war, at least seven clashes occurred at sea and on land between Currituck Inlet (which once cut through modern-day Carova) and Ocracoke Inlet. And while the North Carolina General Assembly had established five Independent Companies to protect our shores by April 1776, it was the ability of our captains to avoid detection along the Outer Banks’ waterways that proved most vital to America’s cause.
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As noted historian David Stick explains in his book, The Outer Banks of North Carolina: 1584-1958, while the British were able to “blockade or occupy practically every Central Atlantic and New England port” and had ”successfully bottled up Hampton Roads,” our barrier island inlets and sounds were often too narrow and shallow for the royal Navy’s larger warships. Plus, dangerous sandbars and rough seas made it impossible for them to lurk offshore for long. Meanwhile, a nimbler fleet of savvy captains used smaller vessels and local knowledge to slip through these same inlets and waterways —particularly Ocracoke Inlet — then sneak further up the coast to resupply our forces. Dr. Norman C. Delaney broke down Ocracoke Inlet’s essential role in a 1959 article for the North Carolina Historical Review:
On April 14, 1776, the two sides first traded blows in Ocracoke Harbor when a Portsmouth, Virginia Captain and landowner named John Goodrich sailed in on a small, armed sloop named Lilly. According to Stick, Goodrich “was familiar with the waters on the North Carolina coast and was well known to the pilots of Ocracoke.” But, what these pilots did not know was that Goodrich had already sided with the British, and that another, larger armed sloop, the Fincastle, was to follow. Entering the harbor, Goodrich approached the Polly, a merchant schooner that was waiting out the tide to cross out over the bar; he asked the captain to come aboard with her papers, claimed the vessel as lawful prize, then allowed the Polly’s crew to remain aboard, unguarded, under a gentleman’s agreement.
“When war broke out... Ocracoke Inlet....was considered the most important That evening, the Fincastle inlet of the Revolution, not arrived and — “apparently only to North Carolina and unaware of Goodrich’s “In the darkness before sunrise, five small boats Virginia, but also to the success” —plundered her and Continental Congress. By left “a prize master and four slipped up beside the anchored Lilly...” this route Colonial Trade armed men aboard.” could escape the dangers For two days, all three vessels of the British Blockade of remained in harbor due to foul weather before the Fincastle finally set sail for open Delaware and Chesapeake Bays...[Thus] The dangerous North Carolinian Coast, sea. considered a handicap to trade during peace time, became a valuable asset during the Revolution.” “That was exactly what the [Ocracoke] pilots had been waiting for,” Stick writes. “In the darkness before sunrise the next morning, five small boats...slipped up Stick even suggests that, “When Washington’s bedraggled troops were burrowed beside the anchored Lilly [and] without a shot being fired, Goodrich and his down in those frightful winter quarters at Valley Forge, one of the main hopes of crewmen were taken prisoner...The small boats then moved on to the Polly, caught getting supplies was [via] Ocracoke Inlet, through the sounds and rivers to South her prize crew by surprise, and took them prisoner, too.” Quay in VA, and the overland by lesser water courses.” Needless to say, the British were just as keen to block this most important backwater supply chain.
For the rest of the war, a perpetual game of cat and mouse played out around Ocracoke between England and North Carolina — and at times France and Virginia,
BARRIER ISLAND Dr. Kathleen DuVal is more than just a Distinguished Professor of History at UNC. She’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Guggenheim Fellow. The kind of expert that doesn’t just earn the honor of teaching a top-level course to Tarheels, but scores airtime in Ken Burns’ documentaries. (Find her in Episode 3 of The American Revolution.) It also makes her more than qualified to explain how our barrier island’s captains and communities helped erode all chance of a British victory.
MILEPOST: Thanks for agreeing to talk, Dr. DuVal. As we discussed, this whole article began when we were surprised to discover the Outer Banks was the site of all these little conflicts — like the Roanoke Inlet Skirmish. And more shocked we didn’t know more about it already. Does it sound like something that would happen? DR. KATHLEEN DUVAL: Well, to be honest, I wasn’t aware of all the particulars until you wrote me, either. But, yes, it seems completely like the kind of
UNC’s Dr. Kathleen DuVal explains how the Outer Banks proved crucial to keeping the British at bay.
thing that would happen. And it makes sense once you start thinking about it, because the war starts over taxes and tariffs that have to do with trade that’s coming in and out of ports in North Carolina, as well as Virginia and New England. But then it also wouldn’t get that much attention, because there were so many skirmishes over the war. And this was a long war. It started well before July 4, 1776, and went on after Cornwallis surrendered in 1781. It’s funny, because we tend to see
the Revolution as our entire country rising up on July 4 and throwing off the shackles of their oppressors. In reality, it was more of a slow boil that started years prior. And some people wanted it, some people didn’t, and some weren’t sure. Correct? That’s right. A lot of people were just working for themselves, working for their families. Many didn’t have strong opinions about this revolution that they hadn’t started. They didn’t necessarily want to help the British, either. They just milepost 27
as well. In some cases, the larger royal vessels successfully blocked trade and stole ships; in others, the Colonies’ skilled pilots and captains would evade capture — and occasionally — achieve victory. Their efforts proved so successful that, in 1778, North Carolina’s former governor, Josiah Martin, wrote that “the contemptible Port of Ocracock...has become a great Channel of supply to the Rebels...[for] considerable importations of the necessaries they most wanted for the purpose of carrying on their Warfare from the Ports of France and the French West India Islands.” Similar scenarios played out up the coast as the British fought to cut off all trade into our sounds — and harried our shores on resupply missions. Delaney quotes a July 1778 issue of the North Carolina Gazette lamenting that “The cruizers are yet very troublesome on our coast, having lately cut several vessels and small craft out of Roanoke and Currituck Inlets.”
“The Bankers rushed down upon them, killed five and took their muskets...”
Furthermore, Delaney writes, “with no base of supplies within easy sailing distance, war vessels could not be adequately provisioned for blockade duty. [So] at times, the British were compelled to conduct raids upon the Banks for livestock, to the chagrin of the Bankers.” And at times to the chagrin of the patrollers themselves. Delaney recounts that, in 1779, “A British tender chased an American ship over the [Ocracoke] Bar and followed for several miles. The militia was sent to defend the
were looking out for themselves and their communities. Some even backed the British! We had a figure here named Captain Goodrich. He was a Virginia landowner who piloted for the Royal Navy and later plundered our shores. And pilots were tremendously valuable to both sides. They needed men who knew the inlets, knew the local area, knew where you could take a ship — and where you couldn’t — and how to maneuver a boat through very confusing-looking places. They needed locals in order to fight, whether they were the British or the Americans. That’s interesting. Because a historian named Norman C. Delaney basically calls Ocracoke an “island of pilots.” He also wrote that Ocracoke Inlet was the most important inlet to not just North Carolina, but to the Continental Congress. Does that sound valid? Or does that sound like maybe a bit of NC braggadocio? milepost 28
It’s probably in between, right? I mean, Ocracoke was certainly one of the most important, because the British Navy is trying to blockade it throughout the war. They think, “How can we defeat this rebellion? Well, if we can choke off goods.” So, keeping places like that able to operate were key to the Continental Congress keeping the war going. David Stick even suggests that Ocracoke Inlet might have been key to getting Washington supplies at Valley Forge? Is that accurate? I don’t know for sure, but I don’t hear it and think, “That can’t be right.” Washington was desperate for supplies. His army had really worn out their welcome in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and weren’t getting much more from New England, so they absolutely were looking to the south. So that would be the Carolinas and Virginia. From an Outer Banks perspective, I just love the concept of a bunch of locals sneaking goods in and up the coast. It
Banks, on the assumption that more British raids would follow. The Bankers had their most successful skirmish with the British at this time.” He then goes on to quote the Colonial Records of North Carolina: “Two Brigs, one Schooner, and one Sloop, with a small Boat, came to anchor a little to the Northward of Cape Hatteras; sent three boats on shore with the men (seeing a gang of cattle near the shore); the Bankers were concealed amongst the hills, but had not the patience to wait their coming, rushed down upon them, killed five and took their muskets and several articles they left behind, which sold amongst themselves for eight or nine hundred Dollars. The shipping kept up a constant firing, otherwise the Bankers would’ve made prisoners of all that landed.” But don’t mistake these actions for unbridled patriotism. At times, pilots refused to help either side, because they wouldn’t pay enough. And when called to enlist, coastal Bankers more or less refused, stating they would not leave their homes and livestock unprotected. Delaney writes that “few men could be recruited on the Banks because of the ‘Enemies sending their tenders within our sound and so frequently landing near us on the Banks.’” And that one Colonel Jarvis complained that “we are hourly in expectation of having our property taken from us, which we guard at our own expense.”
so fits our history, from pirates to prohibition, when Buffalo City was sending booze up to NYC speakeasies. And it totally makes sense. From the beginning, North Carolinians do not like being ruled by people who don’t live here. In fact, North Carolina sent back a huge percentage of its royal governors to Britain — some of them got sent back in chains. So, it’s not surprising at all that when the revolution comes, it sounds like a good idea.
"They needed men who knew the inlets, knew the area... They needed locals in order to fight."
In some ways, it feels like the colonists were kind of learning as they went along, too. North Carolina only forms their five Independent Companies after Goodrich helps the British sneak into Ocracoke.
It’s like, “Whoops! We better get some men together and protect our shores.” And that totally makes sense for most of the war. There’s no Continental Army down here, right? It’s got to be local men banding together in these militia units. And some of them were inspired by the ideals of the revolution, and others, I’m sure, just thought, “Why are you invading my home?” And they fought for that reason.
And then we get these classic little stories of locals charging over the dune and taking the British by surprise — maybe even jumping the gun a bit. But then, later, when they try to enlist Outer Bankers to send them to Georgia
“The British navy found it difficult to check all the commerce carried on by numerous small vessels that maneuvered through the shallow inlets and shifting channels,” Delaney writes. Furthermore, “The British were unable to blockade Ocracoke Inlet successfully at any time during the war. The approach of a storm endangered any ship lying either inside or outside the Bar. Cape Hatteras took its toll of ships during the Revolution just as it always had.”
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In the end, whether for love of country — or just plain self-interest — the Outer Banks did their part to repel the enemy, thanks to a blend of steely resolve, good fortune, and the coast’s own natural defenses.
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And yet, these feats remain mere footnotes in America’s origin story. Even in our local community, where minor historic feats get routinely revered and memorialized, there’s not a single statue, sign or placard commemorating the Outer Banks’ contributions to the Revolutionary War. It’s as if, 250 years later, these skirmishes are as lost to time and memory as the Roanoke and Currituck Inlets themselves. Or, as Stick writes, “Except for the remains of Fort Hancock at Cape Lookout, the carcasses of numerous cattle and sheep killed by British raiding parties, and the hulks of vessels wrecked or destroyed, there [is] little physical evidence to show the Banks had been involved in the revolution at all.” — Matt Walker
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For much more detailed narratives on the Outer Banks’ role in the Revolution, see the following sources: The Outer Banks of North Carolina: 1594-1958 by David Stick; and “The Outer Banks of North Carolina During The Revolutionary War” by Norman C. Delaney, The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jan. 1959). For maps, charts and more from the state at large, visit www.carolana.com. And for a real deep dive into NC's revolutionary days, see all 22 volumes of the Colonial and State Records of North Carolina: 1662-1790. Or for a more local perspective, see Danny Couch’s “America 250” series on IslandFreePress.com.
and South Carolina, they’re kind of like, “My name’s Paul, and that’s between y’all...” [Laughs] That’s right. And that’s a pretty typical thing with militias all across the colonies. And that’s one of the things that George Washington learns pretty quickly: he’s got to have a Continental Army, because militias, well, they’ll fight at home, and they’ll fight hard, but you can’t send them someplace else. So when you think of these skirmishes, how important were they to the overall effort? What would have happened if the British had succeeded in blockading Ocracoke? Can you even say? Yeah, I think so. Defending the coast against the British — both against British invasions and against the British having complete access to supplies that they could raid from the coast — proves essential in this war. Because winning the American Revolution is mostly about just hanging on and not letting the British completely defeat and beat down this rebellion. And defending the coast and
these small-scale skirmishes are key to surviving, and eventually the British just giving up. And yet, you never really hear about it. Even here on the Outer Banks, where there’s a lot of love of local history, there’s not one Revolutionary War monument. Maybe 2026 is the time to do it! For the 250th anniversary! But why is that? Why is it always Bunker Hill and Yorktown? Is it because people just like big battles? I mean, Virginia and Boston do tend to suck up most of the oxygen. And it is easier to tell the stories of those big battles than it is to really explain why all these little skirmishes maybe mattered more. But why that isn’t told locally? I don’t know. But I try to put a lot of North Carolina history into my US history classes for my students here, obviously. And now I’m going to put some of this stuff in my Revolution class now — so there’s a little more North Carolina! [Laughs]
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PWCs and ATVs help keep Hatteras beachgoers A-OK. Photo: Daniel Pullen
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OCEAN RESCUE SHIFTING SANDBARS. Relentless
“These men performed incredible acts of bravery in incredibly dangerous conditions,” says Joan Collins of the Pea Island Preservation Society, Inc., whose family line boasts 400 years of continuous combined service in the USLSS and Coast Guard. “And when there was no motorized equipment to aid them.”
winds. Erratic weather. The turbulent waters off the Outer Banks have claimed thousands of vessels and threatened countless lives throughout history. Fortunately, a steadfast supply of courageous souls have stood ready to dive into the fray.
Today, the Hatteras Island Rescue Squad regularly patrols 30 miles of beach between Ramp 30 and Hatteras Inlet, relying on a mix of 4WDs and PWCs — aka “personal watercraft” — plus cell phones, walkietalkies, and an almost all-volunteer crew.
Brave men like Richard Etheridge, the first African American to command a United States Life-Saving Service station. On October 11, 1896, his legendary Pea Island Lifesavers pulled ashore the entire nineperson crew of the E.S. Newman, swimming out to the wreck and back mid-storm, using nothing but ropes and floats.
“We have members that live in each village on Hatteras Island, and they respond from their house and perform the rescues,” says Molly Greenwood, the squad’s water rescue captain.
One hundred years later, those surfmen were posthumously awarded the prestigious Gold Lifesaving Medal. And that’s just one of the hundreds of daring rescues credited to Etheridge’s crew.
All told, they respond to over two dozen 911 calls each summer month — plus 15to-20 unpaged water rescues each week — with stunning results. “We haven’t had any reportable drownings in the past couple of years,” Greenwood says. “And our response time is less than four minutes.”
AMERICA’S PRIDE Five things the Outer Banks does better than just about anywhere.
Up in town, paid lifeguard services keep watch from strategically placed stands during the high season. But they work just as hard between shifts to stay top-notch, from excelling in national and regional lifeguarding competitions to promoting more awareness about our beaches’ inherent risks. Frustrated by the misinformation swirling around rip currents, Kill Devil Hills Ocean Rescue Supervisor David Elder spearheaded two key public awareness ideas. First, he helped design red and yellow flags that read, “Dangerous Current,” which notify beachgoers of existing rips; next, he pitched the idea of predicting rips and worked with the National Weather Service as they developed a computer model that warns when conditions are ripe for the deadly currents to form. A Rip Current Risk forecast is now prominently displayed in NWS reports and is sent out locally through Dare County’s “Love the Beach, Respect the Ocean” campaign. Elder says that may explain why KDH’s rescue numbers — which reached the high 700s some summers — has now dropped by more than half.
But water safety isn’t just about the visitors. All year long, local surfers frolic in heaving seas. That’s why longtime lifeguard Bri Young brought the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group to the area for the first time three years ago. Born along Hawaii’s outer reefs, where surfers often use PWCs to tackle giant waves, BWRAG offers regional workshops to help make sure surfers don’t get in over their heads in waves of consequence. As more local thrill-seekers began using PWCs on the heaviest days, Young figured hosting a class here made sense.
step in the Outer Banks’ collective effort to keep local waters as risk-free as possible. “Since I first started guarding when I was 16…education and ocean safety have gotten so much better,” she says.
“Ninety percent of what we do is preventing incidents before they happen.”
“I had taken the class before in Puerto Rico, and I just have a passion and a crazy love for big wave surfing and the safety around it,” says Young, who boasts 15 years of lifeguarding experience and now runs Outer Banks Water Safety and provides ocean rescue for the Town of Duck. Since then, REAL Watersports hosted another summit. Young sees it as just another
But the area hasn’t forgotten its history. Head south to Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site and Museum on a summertime Thursday and you can watch weekly reenactments of breeches buoy drills.
A century later, Chicamacomico is about the only place you can still see the beach apparatus in action. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, volunteers put on a dramatic recreation every Thursday at 2pm — the same day and time that lifesavers historically ran their own weekly drills all across America’s shores. “It’s an event that happened all over the nation,” says Site Manager Dinah Beveridge. But past or present — Great Lakes or Gulf Coast — training hard, promoting awareness and mitigating risks ahead of time remain paramount to America’s rescue teams.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, surfmen would use a Lyle gun to shoot a projectile with a rope connected into a foundering ship; then, they’d use what was essentially a life preserver ring with breeches attached — collectively called a beach apparatus — to transport survivors to safety using a rope and pulley system.
“The majority of lifeguarding isn’t necessarily that heroic stuff where you’re making rescues,” opines Chad Motz, captain of Nags Head Ocean Rescue. “Ninety percent of what we do is public outreach and communication…and preventing those incidents before they happen.”
According to the site, “The beach apparatus was the preferred method of rescue…as it was much safer than launching surfboats into violent, storm-tossed seas.”
The U.S. Lifesaving Association calculates the chance of a person fatally drowning at a beach protected by USLA-affiliated lifeguards at 1 in 18 million. — CORINNE SAUNDERS
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“The CRAB” helps supply Duck’s Research Pier — and the world — with bushels of data. Photo: Nick Spore milepost 32
SHORELINE SCIENCE AT 1840 FEET, YOU WON’T FIND A LONGER EAST COAST PIER THAN DUCK’S FIELD RESEARCH FACILITY. But if you think that one-third-
of-a-mile length of concrete and steel looks impressive jutting out into the Atlantic, you should see the mass of scientific information it rests upon. An unbroken stretch of water temps and wave heights, sand transport numbers and dune shapes. One that extends back nearly a half-century and will only keep growing into the future. “There’s always something here measuring the coastal zone,” says Dr. Ian Conery, Research Oceanographer at the US Army Corps Engineer Research and Development Center. “We measure not just the wave heights, but the full wave spectrum and direction, currents, wind, rain, water temp, and morphology of the sea floor, beach and the dunes. That’s why they call Duck the most studied beach in the world — because the FRF is home to the longest continually running record of coastal data anywhere.” The facility’s roots reach back even deeper. All the way to 1775, when George Washington appointed the first engineer officers to help fortify Bunker Hill. Since then, the Army Corps of Engineers has supported US troops in every war, from sweeping for mines in Normandy to building landing strips in Vietnam. At the same time, they helped create and manage America’s infrastructure, whether it was widening canals for transportation or damming rivers to create energy. But coastal processes remained particularly tricky. So, in 1977, the Army Corps opened the Field Research Facility — aka Duck Research Pier — to focus on the dynamic zone where sea and shore meet, particularly during storms. As a result, they helped pioneer much of today’s scientific methods in this most chaotic battlefield. “Research really started here in 1978,” says Conery. “And at that point, there were so many unknowns. How do you actually collect data in breaking waves where there are bubbles and turbulence? How do you install a pipe in the surf zone? How long until it’s fully covered in sand or gets washed away? Really simple things that we don’t
think about now. Then they began to create and collect this immense amount of data that you can use for developing coastal science models and tools.” Models and tools we benefit from today. For example, when the US Geographical Information Service wanted to find a way to predict overwash impacts from impending storms, they used the FRF’s run-up data to help verify their forecasting models. Today, beach towns everywhere can use the tech to prepare. Or consider the ongoing nourishment projects across America’s beaches. Every time you see a three-story tricycle gauging sand depth offshore, that’s a direct descendent of the CRAB — aka the Coastal Research Amphibious Buggy — a mechanical creature the FRF designed in 1980 to help map the seafloor, and now gets used in myriad ways, from collecting “vibracores” from parts of the seabed to just giving divers a place to rest between setting buoys.
“They call Duck the most studied beach in the world.” “If you were in a bay, you could use a little barge as a research platform,” says Conery. “But you can’t do that in breaking waves. Sometimes you can’t even swim, let alone deploy things. The CRAB also allows us to turn the real world into a test bed. We can even mount a LiDAR on it, then march it out into the surf zone and laser scan the entire shape of a breaking wave from within. Normally, you would need a wave pool or laboratory to do that kind of unique research.” Rather than sit on all this data and resources, they share it with the rest of the scientific world. Might be comparing sediment transport numbers with researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography or developing coastal imagery monitoring with the University of South Wales — or collaborating with the Coastal Science Institute to deploy wave buoys.
“These problems are so complex that it takes an international community of scientists to come together,” says Conery. “And that’s allowed us to go from a data-starved field to a data-rich field.” In fact, Conery estimates the FRF’s been cited in thousands of academic papers. At the same time, they also help private companies test their algorithms and machinery in real, working conditions. “Several companies are working on a bottom crawler that can find underwater hazards,” says Conery. “So, we deployed some metal targets in the surf zone so they could test their technology. Other companies are working on single-person portable boats that are self-righting, wavepiercing, and pretty nimble in the surf zone that can be used for beach project monitoring. We can help test and develop them, and then we can determine which ones have the best applications for us and our district partners throughout the country. Or even our military.” All this information flows back and forth to lift the collective tide of coastal science. And it couldn’t happen at a more crucial time, when you consider the range of seen and unforeseen threats that may lurk offshore in the future, whether it’s rising tensions around a Middle East waterway — or rising seas along the Mid-Atlantic. Which is why Conery says they’ll keep finding new ways to add to the data stream. “I’m sure we’ll be using more satellites with greater resolution and new sensing capabilities,” he says. “And more automation in data collection, processing, and analyses. We’re also expanding to other locations around the globe — we’ve got some similar efforts happening right now in Alaska to understand the coastal dynamics of those frozen landscapes.” But whether it’s adopting to more hightech gear, expanding into whole new environments, or just figuring out what happened to that last round of sand, the world’s ocean researchers will always need to put boots on the ground to test their findings in tough coastal conditions. And that will keep the FRF on the frontlines of shoreline science for years to come. — GARY WALLACE milepost 33
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Scientists call this red wolf “#2525F." Her pups just call her “Mom.” Photo: Eve Turek
RED WOLF RECOVERY THERE ARE PLACES ON THE OUTER BANKS WHERE THE WORLD FEELS OLDER THAN MEMORY. Drive west along US 64 as the
light begins to soften, Alligator River opens itself in fragments — blackwater canals, windraked marsh, stands of pine and cypress rising like silhouettes from another century. The air changes. It grows quieter, heavier, as if something is moving just beyond the tree line. Sometimes, something is. In this vast, watery wilderness on the Albemarle Peninsula, one of the rarest mammals on Earth is still writing its story. The red wolf — the only wolf species found solely within the United States — survives in the wild nowhere else but here. In this year’s 250th anniversary of the nation, its presence on the Outer Banks feels like its own kind of American comeback story — one of resilience, reinvention, and the enduring instinct to try, fail, and try again. Not many places in the country can claim a conservation legacy quite like this. Before California condors were returned to the wild and became a symbol of species revival, the red wolf recovery program in northeastern North Carolina was already making history. As Emily Bizwell Weller, coordinator of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, puts it, the effort was “the first of its kind.” According to Weller, the red wolf was one of the earliest species in the world to be reintroduced into the wild, the first species successfully reintroduced from captivity in the United States, and the first carnivore globally to make that leap. “The really cool thing about this program,” Weller explains, “is that so many of the practices first developed here are now used in other reintroduction efforts” — from transferring animals out of captivity and establishing breeding pairs to introducing pups into wild dens and monitoring populations in real time. It starts, as a lot of wildlife stories do, with disappearance. Once, the red wolf ranged across much of the eastern United States, from Florida to the southern edge of New York. Predator-control campaigns, habitat loss, and increasing competition and hybridization with coyotes pushed the species farther and farther west, until only a slim remnant of the original
population remained in coastal Louisiana and Texas. Beginning in 1973, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched a captive-breeding effort to preserve the species, trapping more than 400 wild canids in an attempt to identify the remaining, true red wolves. From that work emerged 14 founders, with 12 of those original bloodlines remaining in every living red wolf today — both wild and captive. In 1980, the species was declared extinct in the wild. By 1987, the first captive-bred red wolves were released at Alligator River. Weller calls that moment “pioneering,” and the numbers bear it out. By 2012, the population had climbed to roughly 120 animals — proof that wolves bred in captivity could not only survive here, but reclaim territory, breed, and establish family groups.
“The red wolf was the first species successfully reintroduced from captivity in the United States.” According to Kim Wheeler, director of the Red Wolf Coalition, that legacy now extends far beyond the refuge itself. “The red wolf program was the model for the Yellowstone project,” she says, referring to the later reintroduction of gray wolves in the West. It also helped shape the cross-fostering techniques now used in the Mexican gray wolf program — the practice of placing a captiveborn pup into a wild den so it is raised by a wild mother and grows up fully acclimated to life on the landscape. But like most recovery stories, this one hasn’t moved in a straight line. After peaking in 2012, the population fell sharply amid a pause in the recovery program, vehicle strikes, and gunshot mortality — often the result of red wolves being mistaken for coyotes. By 2020, only seven known wolves remained in the wild. That’s when the recovery effort shifted gears, with the Service resuming active management — pairing wild females with captive-bred males, expanding cross-fostering of captively bred pups into wild dens, and intensifying coyote
sterilization efforts to protect the species’ genetics. At the same time, the monitoring system itself evolved: red wolves are now fitted with orange GPS and VHF collars with reflective tape, making them far more visible at night and easier to distinguish from sterilized coyotes, which wear white collars. Those measures have helped lift the population to 26-to-28 wolves by early 2026. For Wheeler, the numbers only tell part of the story. “It’s always been about hope for me,” she says. “It’s totally cool that we were part of their original range and they are back here now.” Today, the current recovery area spans five counties — Dare, Tyrrell, Hyde, Washington, and Beaufort. And because wolves are not confined by lines on a map, the next chapter is unfolding along a stretch of US 64 that cuts through Alligator River, where vehicle strikes have become the leading threat to the wild population, according to Will Harlan, Southeast Director and Senior Scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “For a species with such a small wild population, the loss of even one breeding male can ripple far beyond a single death,” Harlan warns, “destabilizing a pack and leaving pups more vulnerable.” The solution has come in the form of a newly funded wildlife crossings project — administered by the North Carolina Department of Transportation and currently in the planning stage — with large underpasses for wolves, bears, and deer and smaller passages for other species. It’s an example of the changing tempo in a complex dance: as humans continue to encroach on the wild, the challenge becomes one of coexistence. Against that backdrop, monitored wildlife populations worldwide have declined by an average of 73 percent between 1970 and 2020, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2024. Maybe that’s what gives the story its weight in this anniversary year. The red wolf’s return is not an ending, but an ongoing act of stewardship — a reminder that recovery is rarely linear, often contested, and always dependent on human effort. That it continues here, in this landscape of marsh and forest and shifting edges, remains one of the coolest stories the Outer Banks can tell. — BRIAN TRESS milepost 35
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Forget parking fees. Outer Bankers know that every free beach access is its own pot of gold. Photo: Cory Godwin milepost 36
FREE BEACHES FEEL LIKE SPENDING A DAY AT THE BEACH? Don’t wanna spend
a penny to do it? Take your pick of 102 Dare County accesses that lead straight to our ocean. Don’t feel like braving the waves? Try out more than 30 soundside accesses that line Outer Banks’ western shoreline. And the best thing about all of them? There’s not a parking meter in sight. “We’ve got to be the longest stretch of beach with free parking,” says Lee Nettles, executive director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. “I mean, there’s 100 miles of shoreline in just Dare County.” In fact, Nettles says the Visitors Bureau frequently receives letters of thanks and surprise from folks who can’t believe the Outer Banks doesn’t charge to reach the beach.
There are a couple of caveats, like beach driving. But even here, the Outer Banks also stands out for charging comparatively little for ORV permits. Want to cruise the National Park Service beaches of Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke? Expect to pay $50 for ten days or $120 for the year — and that’s to access 28 miles of potential serenity. (Compare that to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where cars cram together for $30 per day or $150 a year.) Meanwhile, Currituck charges $50 for a weekly permit to rove the sands of Corolla — and nothing at all for locals. And Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head’s winter ORV passes run just $25 and $100 per year, respectively.
After all, most resort areas live to soak would-be sun-seekers. In Virginia Beach, public parking lots run as much as $20 per day; private lots can cost you double. In New Jersey, most shore towns sell “beach badges,” charging individuals $7, $10, even $12 per day to access the sand — whether you’re parking or not. And the list goes on.
“When we remove the financial barrier to entry, we are allowing the ocean to act as a natural refuge for the entire community’s wellbeing.”
“I’ve heard of other places up north where you’re assessed a fee just for crossing the bridge to get to the island before you even deal with parking,” says Nettles. “So, it’s not uncommon to see access fees before you get near the beach.”
And don’t get us started on Duck and Southern Shores, where public access is virtually nil if you don’t rent or live there.
According to Nettles, that’s because there is a lot of revenue that can be generated by charging people to park. But it’s a dangerous precedent, because once a town starts charging, the fees creep up and the city becomes dependent on that revenue, making it very hard to reverse. He would know. Growing up in Wrightsville Beach, Nettles never saw a meter. Then it was just pay to park in summer — maybe a quarter per half hour. Fifteen years ago, it rose to $1.25 per hour. Today, it’s generally $5 an hour, or $6 an hour for premium spots. “That’s $25 to $35 a day,” notes Nettles. “So, I think that we’re incredibly fortunate to live where we do and to have different governmental entities that make it such a priority to have free access to the shoreline.”
On the other hand, most everywhere south of Kitty Hawk Pier is wide open. In fact, if you need specialized access, each town provides handicapped accessible beach accesses and beach wheelchairs, which can be reserved for free through each municipality’s fire department. (More info on handicapped accessible accesses can be found on each town website.) “I think that we’ve made pretty great strides in the last few years” in terms of handicap accessibility, says Nettles. “And it seems to be increasing in its prevalence out here. So, you know, we’ve got work to do, but we’re heading in the right direction.” According to the Surfrider Foundation, it’s that ethos to always make it easier to reach the beach that makes the Outer Banks unique. Furthermore, they say that
commitment is a powerful statement of inclusivity. “Nationally, the Surfrider Foundation recognizes that beach access is a universal right, yet it has historically been hindered by systemic barriers,” says Chloé Evans, Vice-Chair for the Outer Banks chapter. “When coastal towns implement high parking fees or ‘resident-only’ restrictions, they aren’t just managing traffic, they are often reinforcing a history of exclusion that has disproportionately affected communities of color and low-income families.” Evans says that by keeping parking free, Dare County honors the Public Trust Doctrine, ensuring that our beaches remain a shared resource for all North Carolinians, not just those who can afford the “price of admission” to the shore. Moreover, free access to the beach has ripple effects across the community that extend far beyond recreation and are essential to public health. “We often talk about the ‘Blue Mind’ effect, the measurable decrease in stress and increase in mental clarity that comes from being near the water,” Evans says. “When we remove the financial barrier to entry, we are actively supporting the social determinants of health, allowing the ocean to act as a natural refuge for the entire community’s wellbeing.” So why do we do it? Is it because Outer Bankers are so spiritually and morally advanced that we recognize beach access is fundamentally priceless? Or is it something more cynical: like free parking’s just a way to hook tourists now — and fleece ’em later? Who knows? Maybe we’ve just done it that way for so long, we can’t imagine it any other way. And maybe that’s all that matters. “We’re sticking out in the ocean — 30 miles at some points — so we have a connection with Mother Nature,” says Nettles. “And we all make our living off of the water one way or another. So maximizing the public’s access to the water is a fundamental thing that we value, it’s just written into what makes the Outer Banks the Outer Banks.” — MAGGIE MILES milepost 37
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The Outer Banks owes a big slice of its global fishing rep to Wanchese boat designs. Photo: Matt Lusk
CAROLINA BOATS ONE NEVER KNOWS WHAT TO BELIEVE IN THE OUTER BANKS SCUTTLEBUTT. But this rumor turned
out to be true: Michael Jordan, the basketball legend himself, had commissioned a custom boat with Bayliss Boatworks in Wanchese. A man who can buy literally anything in the world had chosen a handcrafted vessel in a fishing village so small it doesn’t even qualify as a town. Of course this wasn’t just any boat. It was an 82-foot, multimillion dollar yacht, built to catch prize-winning billfish in the lap of luxury. But while that purchase may have shocked most landlubbers, it was no surprise for the tight-knit sportfishing community. Anglers the world over know Wanchese as ground zero for the legendary Carolina-style sportfishing boat. In fact, last year, Power and Motor Yacht called Wanchese “the global mecca for custom sportfish building.” Which raises some questions: How can a village with a population barely pushing 2,000 be one of the most respected boatbuilding capitals on the planet? And how did Carolina boats — once the workhorses of Outer Banks charters — become the very picture of sportfishing prestige, combining cutting-edge designs, features and finishes into sleek packages that command $15 million or more? The answers to both go way back to the beginnings of recreational sportfishing and Captain Ernal Foster. In the 1930s, adventurous Hatteras visitors began asking Foster, a commercial fisherman, to take them fishing offshore. Ultimately, he received enough recreational requests to commission his first charter boat, the Albatross, from Willis Boatworks on Harkers Island, and, in 1937, he started his first charter season as a supplement to his commercial fishing business. Following World War II, PR guru Aycock Brown began promoting the Outer Banks as a sportfishing hub, while commercial fishermen from Roanoke Island to Hatteras began offering recreational charters, as well. As the roads and bridges helped reel in more tourists — and charters reeled in blue marlin — offshore sport fishing took off. Only the boats could not keep up. The earliest designs evolved from shad boats and commercial vessels; they took too long to get to and from the Gulf Stream and often drenched
customers in rough conditions. Captains needed a smoother, faster ride that could still catch big fish. While other local builders were crafting boats for recreational fishing, the most long-lasting answer came from commercial fisherman Warren O’Neal. Through some college and trade school education, O’Neal had drafting and design experience. He had also built his own commercial craft, the Pearl, in 1949, which he later refitted for charter fishing. In 1959, he started O’Neal Boatworks in Manteo and constructed a boat for Captain Omie Tillett, who wanted some of the features he had seen on the Rybovich vessels coming out of Florida.
“Some of us have spent more of our lives on the water than we have in the boat shop.” The resulting Sportsman was the first local sportfishing boat designed on paper rather than by eyeballing the lines in the shop. It borrowed the Florida elements of broken sheer line and inset cabin, plus added a flared bow, tumblehome and a deep vee in the hull — a combination that would later become known as the Carolina boat. And O’Neal’s progressive deadrise running bottom was designed specifically for Outer Banks conditions. “Along with a deep vee, O’Neal’s boats flattened toward the stern to accommodate the weight of larger engines and to handle better in following seas,” writes Neal Conoley in Carolina Flare, Outer Banks Boatbuilding and Sportfishing Heritage. O’Neal, remembered today as the father of the Carolina sportfishing style, freely shared his knowledge, design innovations and construction techniques with future builders. “He either directly taught or indirectly inspired nearly every major boatbuilder who came after him,” Bethany Bradsher writes in Big Fish, Better Boats: The History of Sportfishing and Boatbuilding on the Outer Banks. That spirit of collaboration carried over to the next generation of craftsmen.
Of course, the best local builders were fishermen first. They knew how a boat should run through inlets and in ocean swells and what they needed for fishing. And they passed knowledge along to each other and made improvements with each one. “I can’t imagine building a boat not having been deeply involved in fishing,” says John Bayliss, owner of Bayliss Boatworks. “We were all trying to come up with ideas on how to best support our addiction to fishing and support our families. It certainly didn’t hurt things that some of us have spent more of our lives outdoors and on the water than we have in the boat shop.” By the late 1970s and into the 80s, Carolina boats were turning heads in regional tournaments. Prolific builder Buddy Davis, who went on to build more than 300 boats, ranging from 28 to 90 feet, is credited with first getting his boats to fishing hotspots all over the world, carrying the Carolina boat far beyond North Carolina. Meanwhile, Wanchese Seafood Industrial Park was feeling the pressures of tighter commercial fishing regulations and a shoaling Oregon Inlet. As the industrial spaces became vacant, more boatbuilders moved in. By the 1990s and early 2000s, the park was bustling with world-class craftsmen working side by side. Along with other builders scattered around Wanchese and Manns Harbor, they began accommodating anglers’ desires for boats with Carolina bottoms that could reach speeds of up to 48 knots with all the latest technologies and yacht-style finishes and interiors. Construction methods improved. Systems became more advanced. Fit and finish reached new levels. Today, hundreds of Outer Banks-built sportfishing boats — from Bayliss Boatworks, Spencer Yachts, Scarborough Boatworks, Blackwell Boats, Briggs Boat Works, Paul Mann Custom Boats and so many more — are found from the East Coast to the West Coast, from Costa Rica to Mexico, and from the coasts of Africa to Australia. While each is unique, they all share variations of those distinct Carolina boat features, and a passion to keep pushing the designs forward — while never forgetting their blue water roots. “All of us coming behind the early builders had a great foundation to learn from here,” Bayliss says. “You just try and keep learning and getting better.” — TERRI MACKLEBERRY milepost 39
RED, WHITE, AND... “OW!” Burning with patriotism? Prove it with this handy-dandy, UV-activated body art! Any pansy can put on a star-spangled speedo and run down the beach. But only real patriots will go the extra mile to show their true colors. Introducing the Milepost UV-Activated Colonial Flag Back Tattoo! All you need is a pair of scissors, a roll of scotch tape, a few hours of uninterrupted sunshine and a couple cases of beer — plus a moderate-to-high tolerance for pain and/or ridicule — and you too can be part of America 250’s hottest summertime trend! Step One: Cut out flag along dotted lines. Step Two: Remove shirt and any/all excess back hair. (It’s a flag, not a Chia pet.) Step Three: Ask another trustworthy American to tape flag across shoulders. (No upside-down “traitor stamps”!)
Step Five: Consume the required number of alcoholic beverages to pass out, face-first.
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Step Six: Lie still for six-to-eight hours to reach peak redness (or until skin is hot to the touch).
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Step Seven: Wait for someone to stroll by and smack you hard on exposed skin. Step Eight: Sit up and scream, “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
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Step Four: Find a fully sun-exposed stretch of beach before 10am.
Step Nine: Resume partying. (Preferably by marching up and down the shoreline.)
For best results, apply aloe or skin cream regularly to prevent fading; or, let it peel for that gritty, tattered flag look. Bonus points for filling in star field with blue Zinca.
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The Outer Banks has always been a place where folks go to chase a little bit of bliss. The lucky ones keep chasing it for life...
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS PHOTOS AND CAPTIONS BY MATT LUSK, ASHLEY MILTEER, DANIEL PULLEN & ED TUPPER
“Barry Wells has been running a DIY summer music festival for a while now. It’s called Shake Hatteras. This was the first year he held it at his house in Salvo. And it was like a legit festival, with regional bands, two stages, artists, and vendors — better than a lot of the so-called actual festivals that I’ve been to. But musicians love coming to the Outer Banks. And part of it’s because the bands get to come to the beach and have an awesome party; then another part of it is because, even though the local music scene is tiny, we have really interesting acts and there’s always cool stuff like this going on. I was actually at a show at Goombay’s just last week and this band from Charleston was like, ‘We love coming out here; I feel like we’re in on something that no one else knows about. It feels special.’ And he’s right.” — ED TUPPER
SWEET MUSIC
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Two Urgent Care Centers to Serve You Kitty Hawk & Nags Head
PHOTO BY JONATHAN CLARK
The Outer Banks' top spot for dining and shopping with a view!
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candles | art | vintage | classes
HIGH TIMES
“This place is synonymous with hang gliding. Has been since before I can remember. I guess since whenever John Harris and his buddies saw Jockey’s Ridge and said, “Hey! We can jump off of that!” Later, they started a school. And you’ll see them teaching people all summer long. But lots of guys who showed up to instruct in the summertime never left. Now, when the wind blows a certain way, you can see them flying over the beach. They’ll find, like, a 10-foot sand dune and hover and do a little bit of maneuvering. You can drive down the beach road and see some guys just floating there. Others just watching. And everyone’s having a blast.” — ED TUPPER
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“I had one of my favorite surf sessions ever on July 4. It was just these mushy, chest high, crumbly waves at Nags Head Pier. We weren’t even expecting to really surf because, you know, Fourth of July is the day where you’re supposed to sit on the beach with all your friends and get hammered and eat hot dogs. So, when we came over the dunes and saw how good it was, we drove back to the house, grabbed every single longboard we had and all paddled out. And anytime you get waves in the summer, you’re happy. It’s even better when it’s just the girls in the water. Because guys can be so competitive. When it’s the girls, it’s not so serious. We like to joke around and party wave. We’re not worried about cutting each other off; we’re all just trying to have fun, like, “Let’s go!” — ASHLEY MILTEER
PARTY WAVE
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INSPIRING WONDER SINCE 1976 The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island has been inspiring aquatic appreciation and conservation on North Carolina’s Outer Banks since 1976. Join us in 2026 as we celebrate 50 years of joy, discovery, and connections with our natural world.
Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head was founded in 1939 and rebuilt in 2011. Walk 1,000 feet out over the Atlantic Ocean. Drop a line. Catch a fish. Access the Beach. Sightsee for dolphins. Watch the surf. Soak in the Sunrise. Breathe the fresh air.
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JOY RIDE
“If you were gonna pick a reason to move here, it would be this. Or some kind of wind sport. Because we’re not just the best place to do it on the East Coast. We’re one of the best places in the whole world. There’s so many houses on Hatteras you can rent where you can literally run out the backyard, hop in the sound, and take off; then ride back, lay your gear down in the yard, crack a beer and start the grill. But Canadian Hole and Kite Point are, like, the epicenter of all that. As the water starts getting warm, that whole area just fills up with cars. And if it’s blowing southwest at 25, the whole area leaving Buxton is just slam full of anything that catches wind and can be ridden on water. They’re out there just riding back and forth. Hootin’ and hollerin’.” — DANIEL PULLEN
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Protecting What we Love, Together Volunteering on the Outer Banks helps make people more aware of, and connected to, the important work that nonprofits are doing within the community. By getting involved with local organizations, residents, visitors and second homeowners come away with a deeper appreciation for the area and a greater sense of responsibility. Let‘s protect what we love, together.
2ND ANNUAL OUTER BANKS VOLUNTEER WEEK OCTOBER 10-17, 2026 Part of the Visitors Bureau’s expanding Voluntourism program, Outer Banks Volunteer Week aims to support local partners, promote off-season visitation to Dare County and highlight the ongoing work that goes into caring for and sustaining the Outer Banks. Learn more at outerbanks.org/volunteerweek.
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“When you grow up as a kid down here, there’s not really shit to do. So you’ve gotta get kind of creative. I was down in Salvo when I saw these kids on their boogie boards, sliding down a big pile of fill on an empty lot. It reminded me of when we were little; we’d take the wheels off our skateboards and make sandboards out of them, and go sliding down Jockey's Ridge. No cell phones. No social media. And those kids were so pumped. They were like, “Hell yeah! A big ass pile of dirt!” So, if you want your kids to be happy, throw their phones in the sound, give ’em a boogie board and go find a dirt pile.” — ED TUPPER
CHEAP THRILLS
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HOOKED ON LIFE
“The ocean is what drew me here. And what keeps me here. It started with surfing, then turned into spearfishing and fishing. Now I run fishing charters on occasion. It’s not the most lucrative thing, but it’s very rewarding just seeing how excited people get. Especially in mid-summer, when it can be kind of challenging. So, we were fortunate on this trip to find a school of jumbo red drum in the very last hour. And when we pulled up on this football field of fish on the surface, it blew the family’s minds. And it was so awesome seeing this kid from Pennsylvania catch the biggest fish of his life — multiple times. He just had a huge smile on his face the rest of the day. And you know he’s never going to forget it for the rest of his life, which is way more thrilling than filling the cooler with meat. Because that’s what hooks and connects everyone down here, really: that whole lure of the sea.” — MATT LUSK
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Rick Tupper’s spent 53 years building a creative life on the Outer Banks. And he’s still not finished. What do you picture when you hear the phrase “struggling artist”? Some hipster kid tagging billboards in protest? A hungry guitar player busking street corners for tips? Or a Korean-born Outer Banker — and college-educated illustrator — whose work appears in galleries and private collections across the country. Who bailed the big city for a coastal backwater, only to build a successful gallery, devoted clientele — and most importantly — a fruitful life.
put us on a truck and sent us away to a huge hole in the middle of nowhere. Eventually, I guess the South Korean soldiers took over. They put the ladder down into the hole. So, I got out and walked away, and here I am.” Not quite. For eight years, Rick eked out a living on the streets of Seoul before the US found him a loving home with the Tupper family, starting in West Virginia and, later, Northern Virginia. Life drastically improved, but new challenges emerged.
“I have a “I never thought of the Outer survival “I started 7th grade without Banks as a creative hot spot,” instinct. any schooling,” he recalls. says Nags Head resident, missed all the grammar Rick Tupper. “I just thought of Always “I’d school stuff. But I was very it as a cool place to live and my new brothers and make up your own mind to have.” lucky; family helped me. And there do whatever you can do —
thru Saturday
fishing, carpentry, building houses. I decided to paint. It was a struggle, but I liked it. I still like it. But I have a survival instinct. Always have.”
was pretty intense tutoring. And anytime you live in a new culture, you catch up with it quick — you have to.”
Born “Lim Tae Il” in Korea, in 1946, Tupper’s parents were killed shortly after the war began, leaving him an orphan at the age of five. His earliest memories are a mix of clay walls, thatched roofs and armed men. Both the ones that killed his parents — and the ones who rescued him.
The one class Rick never took was art. He’d never thought about a creative career. Until he was about to graduate from high school and his guidance counselor showed him some college catalogs.
“I saw the North Korean soldiers coming down the mountain, a lot of them,” Rick recalls, 75 years later. “They
“One had lots of pictures of people working with their hands,” he says. “That interested me. When I sent away for the test, you had to draw a bicycle or a pair of boots. I happened to be
“ANOTHER ONE THAT GOT AWAY...” Originally purchased at Glenn Eure’s 1990 “Art of the Self Portrait” exhibit, “Self Portrait with Red Umbrella” now hangs in NC’s Hickory Museum of Fine Art. Photo: Drew Wilson/Outer Banks History Center
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wearing a pair of boots. So, I took them off and drew them. That’s how I got into the Rhode Island School of Design. [laughs]”
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For the first two years, he majored in architecture. But he gradually realized he preferred personal expression to working in groups and mapping out blueprints, so he switched to illustration. “Which is just more drawing stuff,” Rick laughs. “But that’s also how I learned to paint and use color.” In 1970, he graduated and moved west to San Francisco. His work at the time was a mix of the era and his intellectual interests. Abstract interpretations of the I Ching’s ancient texts. Portraits of authors like Albert Camus. And personal relationships, whether it was media made from his own bows and arrows or semipsychedelic portraits of close friends. He soon began showing in local galleries. But the city itself proved overwhelming.
But it’s not very conducive to an art career. At least not in 1973. While today you can buy local paintings in almost any coffee shop or restaurant, back then there were hardly any galleries. And no real outlets for a graduate of one of the nation’s top art colleges.
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“I did all the festivals,” he recalls. “Mollie Fearing, the New World Art Festival. I helped hang the Frank Stick at Glenn Eure’s gallery for years.” At the same time, he kept his heart full by surfing, fishing, gardening, and building a family. And he supported it all by getting his hands dirty.
“You could “I did a lot of commercial always fishing for quite a while,” recalls. “I drove a sell a little he 46-foot deadrise boat, nets in the winter seascape or setting a few miles offshore, lighthouse catching thousands of pounds of dogfish. The fish market would not take for 20 them unless you gutted bucks. But I them. It was pretty gross. Eventually, I went decided not [laughs] into a carpentry with my to go that brother-in-law.” Occasionally, Rick’s worlds way.” would crash together. Like
“San Francisco was too crowded,” he explains. “And growing up, my parents had a cottage in Southern Shores. We’d come to the Outer Banks every summer. I thought, ‘This is a place I could be alone and there were no distractions.’ Whether I walk on the beach or sit in the studio; it’s very quiet, very conducive to creativity.”
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direction. Where others might paint happy beach scenes, Rick produced technicolor wheat fields. No grizzled lighthouse keepers scanning the ocean for shipwrecks — he floated longstem roses in breezy windows. Meanwhile, he took his work to established fine arts festivals in more populated places; all while actively helping to construct the burgeoning art scene back home.
“I made beer money doing sketches of people’s cottages in pencil and charcoal,” Rick laughs. “And you could always sell a little seascape or lighthouse for 20 bucks. But there’s no creativity involved. I decided not to go that way.” Instead, he went in a totally different
when he hung a mural of fanciful figures dancing on the old Trading Post, made from paint and poured fiberglass. Or put a fish’s head on his own self-portrait. Or sourced fine arts supplies from the local hardware store.
“I wanted to paint grassy fields with a lot of motion,” he recalls. “You can’t do that with a little brush, so I put paint in little squeeze bottles and squeezed it out. It worked! But painting is always a challenge; it’s something you see in your mind, then go figure out how to do it.” By the early 90s, travel was getting old. The beach was getting busier. Customers where more refined. After finding a home for his work in some higher-end galleries, Rick and his wife, Didi, decided it was time to start their own. So, in 1992, they bought a bypass shanty in Nags Head. But he didn’t
EARTH VASES “Growing up in Korea, the village would make these big vases to preserve kimchi over the winter. Lots and lots of them. Then they’d pile them up on the side of a ravine, cover them with pine trees, dry them out, and light them. They’d burn them the whole night and next day, and that’s how they fired the pots. And that’s what I saw growing up — that’s true. But when I got older and more mature, I realized humans have used vases for thousands of years. Could be wine in it, could be grain. So, I thought that was a pretty good image to stick with. Because it’s universal.” milepost 57
FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED SINCE 1987!
drop the hammer entirely — at least not yet. “It was a little shack that was all twisted,” says Rick. “So, I added an addition in the back. That’s the new part. That still looks good! But Didi’s who made it work. She’s very articulate, very organized, totally the opposite of me. She could keep track of all the business stuff. That’s what kept us going.”
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Later, they added another location in Duck and ultimately relocated. For more than two decades, Green Leaf Gallery served as a fine art oasis, showcasing as many as 100 artists from all over the country in almost every medium, from local painters, like Marcia Cline, to worldfamous ceramicists, such as Cliff Lee. “His work is in the Smithsonian,” Rick notes. “But we didn’t really look at who the artist was — we looked at the art itself.”
even considered. But I know for a fact that his work is anywhere from LA to Seattle, New York City to Miami.” A few pieces still remain close to home. You can see them for sale in galleries like Urban Cottage and Silver Bonsai — or on public display in town halls at Manteo and Nags Head. And come August, you can catch Tupper’s biggest effort to date when College of the Albemarle’s Dare Campus presents a retrospective show covering Tupper’s entire career. Titled “From Then to Now,” the exhibit will feature works from every era — as well as photographs by his son Ed — including grasses, florals and fish; portraits, hearts and vases; plus a handmade table or two. Reaching all the way to early efforts from college and San Francisco.
“We didn’t really look at who the artist was — we looked at the art itself.”
Meanwhile, he continued to create. Even after they sold the gallery in 2015, he would work in his home studio on giant panels of abstract acrylic — or small, framed wedges of watercolor fruit. (Not to mention the occasional piece of furniture, like a dining table cut from premium Guanacaste, inlaid with fish and covered with resin.) And the clients continued to pop by during summer to snap up some new pieces. Today, Tupper’s work lives in private and public collections, from Duke University to Charlottesville’s Martha Jefferson Hospital to the Hickory Museum of Art — to who knows where?
"That’s the thing with selling art on the Outer Banks,” laughs Rick’s wife, Didi. “These people come down here. They buy a piece. It becomes part of a collection. And you find out later it’s hanging in some place you never
“His early work was more based on books he liked, like Camus or the I Ching,” muses Didi. “He was more intellectual then. But when he came here, he started taking in the physical beauty of the Outer Banks. His work became more physical and more organic, maybe. But then, sometimes he goes back, full circle.” Sometimes the styles even blend together. Maybe it’s a bug-filled field from his Korean boyhood, floating above fish-filled soundwaters; or a moonlight ocean swim framed with wheat instead of sea oats. Or perhaps a series of vases, inspired by the giant kimchi jars he recalls from his village, recreated in 3-D detail. Molded by a mix of imagination and memory — then fired by decades of skill and ingenuity. “When I painted my vases, I had a hard time figuring out how to give them the look of real ceramics,” Rick says. “Finally, I put down glue, then filled in with color. So much of painting is just a problem-solving exercise. But then, so is life.” — MATT WALKER
“FROM THEN TO NOW: A Retrospective Look at the Work of Outer Banks Artist Rick Tupper” — featuring photographs by Ed Tupper — will hang at College of the Albemarle’s Dare Campus from August 26 to October 22, 2026. Learn more at www.tupperstudio.com.
EVENING SWIM “When you paint, all the living you do, it adds up in your head. Then it all comes back to you when you need it. Living by the beach, I’ve always loved the ocean, especially when the moon comes up at night. So, to swim on an evening like this is very special. And when I was real little, I used to run through the wheat fields, which were about my height. Some days, I used to run through them very fast, and wheat was smacking me, and the bugs would come out. That image — that motion — has always stuck with me. So that became the sea oats. Because everything matters, once you live through it.”
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fooddrink endnotesCAME FIRST: THE BISCUITS OR THE PORN? WHICH questionauthority upfront soundcheck How buttermilk, flour and the First Amendment helped give rise to an Outer Banks institution.
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There’s never a bad time for a biscuit. Crispy with an oven’s whole history of bacon grease. Fluffy with a recipe older than most of your extended family. It’s the perfect mid-winter hangover cure, early-riser special for the 5am workforce, or a post-surf summer snack. And while everyone this side of Wright Memorial Bridge knows that the best biscuit in town comes from Stop Quik — aka "Ms. Helen’s," or more infamously, "Biscuits n’ Porn" — what they might not know, is the porn really came first.
morning regulars pulled pork. So, when Stop Quik opened its current spot in 1990, they added buttermilk biscuits — both plain and cheesy-baked (aka “catheads”) — topped with gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, chicken, and cheese. All of them made from scratch.
“Back in the 70s and 80s, porn had a really bad rap, and nobody wanted it in their store,” says Julia Scheer, who’s worked at the shop since 1992 and serves as its unofficial historian. “But Miss Helen said, ‘People buy it — I’m not gonna turn down their money. It may not be my cup of tea, but I’m not here to judge others.’”
For the next 15 years, Miss Helen hand-mixed and rolled the iconic buttermilk biscuits herself, creating the beach’s most lusted-after breakfast sandwich.
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Of course, when Helen and Paul Grandy opened the original Stop Quik in 1978, they didn’t know they’d be founding an Outer Banks institution. They simply thought the KDH town line was a good spot for a convenience store and gas station. (Fun fact: the original location was actually where the Dollar Tree is now.)
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At the time, Paul was a top American drag racer, out on the tracks most weeks of his life. (In fact, the Saturday before he peacefully passed away in his sleep, he was out racing, and winning, at age 83.) Miss Helen was in charge of steering the food counter.
Says Scheer: “When someone asked Miss Helen why her food was so good she simply replied, ‘It has to be good, we eat here!”
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Meanwhile, the magazine rack built its own mouth-watering rep.
IN SUMMER, THEY’LL AVERAGE 1200 BISCUITS EACH DAY.
Let’s face it, Outer Banks winters were longer and lonelier back in the days before the interwebs. Gas stations were already a go-to source for racy “reading” material. Why cast stones when you can ring the cash register?
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In fact, at one point, Miss Helen’s proudly displayed a DVD rack, too. Until about 20 years ago.
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“Somebody complained to the police,” Scheer recalls. “They spent six or eight weeks investigating — which meant that every Friday, the cops would come in, buy four or five titles and go back to the station to see if they were pornographic.”
At first, she focused on traditional counter fare, like BBQ and mac-n-cheese. Biscuits weren’t even on the menu. But Miss Helen soon realized she couldn’t keep feeding her
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Ultimately, movies moved behind the counter. But the mags remained right by the door, the models’ nipples tastefully concealed with little stars or a titillating cover blurb. Sometime around the early 2000s, the name “Biscuits n’ Porn” caught fire around town, so the current manager, John Grandy, figured why not embrace it? “Once he got it in his head to make Biscuits n’ Porn stickers, it was game over,” says Scheer. Stickers turned into shot glasses that turned into hats and t-shirts that turned into koozies and hoodies. “I have personally shipped shirts to Chile, Germany, Japan,” Scheer says. “They’ve gone to England, they’ve gone to Italy. Now the world can find a Biscuits n’ Porn sticker on the back of Luke Combs' guitar at some museum somewhere in Nashville.” Still, while a spicy name may sell the swag — it’s the tasty biscuits that still draw the crowd. In fact, in summer, they’ll average 1200 biscuits each day between 5:30 and 11am — or until they run out of breakfast grub and shift over to sandwiches and lunch specials, like hamburger steak and roasted pork loin — plus some nearly as legendary fried chicken. But they all share the same wholesome goodness at heart. “There’ve been different biscuit-makers throughout the years,” says Scheer. “Right now, we have three! But we’ve always used Miss Helen’s recipe.” — Emmy Trivette milepost 61
gofreestyle skull. He almost died at least twice. And yet, he still sends it.
Eternal spring? Chuck goes sky high at the Y, April 2026. Photo: Ed Tupper
“Now that I’m in my fifties, I do get frustrated sometimes, feeling like I shouldn’t be out there,” he admits. “But then there’ll be that day where the energy’s high and I’m like, ‘Damn, I can still do a few cool things!’” Hargis got his first BMX bicycle in 1986, a surprise 14th birthday present from his parents, and immediately fell in with a tight crew of skateboarders and BMXers in his hometown of Colonial Heights, VA. Two years later, he was competing in contests from Hampton to Charlottesville. “We didn’t have big skateboard parks like the West Coast had,” he recalls. “Just a few small ramps, so it was mainly flatland riding in the 80s. These jams would pop up locally, then my parents would drive me to the bigger contests, which were basically fun battles between North Carolina and Virginia.” At first he racked up some impressive results in the National Bicycle League’s flatland contests. But it wasn’t long before he succumbed to the allure of transition.
POST-PEAK PERFORMANCE BMXer Chuck Hargis defies both time and gravity.
The thing about action sports is they’re easy to do, hard to get good at, and impossible to stay good at. Hell, anybody with a shred of mobility and balance can ride a BMX bike straight. But to transcend physics and do something truly radical takes equal parts talent and commitment. And even if you do reach your athletic zenith — be it competitive glory or a personal feat — it doesn’t last. milepost 62
Father Time has his own agenda. And forever doesn’t factor into it.
people my age can barely walk, and they never even did extreme sports.”
And that’s what makes Kitty Hawk BMX rider Chuck Hargis so inspiring. At 54 years old, he isn’t lamenting yesteryear’s peak. He’s still pedaling, onward and upward, visualizing the next summit.
Or had extreme slams. Over the years, Hargis has destroyed his knees, ankles and shoulders. Broken his thumb, tibial plateau and multiple ribs. Suffered concussions, shattered his collarbone, and gotten permanent nerve damage in his foot. He also punctured his lung and fractured his
“Oh, I’m just thankful to be on the right side of the ground,” Hargis laughs. “Some
“When I was a freshman, some cool seniors gave me their vert ramp — an eight-foottall, eight-foot-wide quarter pipe.” With that, Hargis was off to the races, so to speak. Charging half pipes and bowls. Launching airs and grinding coping. Pushing higher and harder, going bigger and faster — until disaster inevitably struck. “I did a seven-foot air, hung up real bad, and landed straight on my head,” he explains. “Thankfully, I had a helmet on.” That slowed his roll a bit. Then, in 1995, Hargis moved to the Outer Banks and immersed himself in the subterranean boardsports scene. A couple years later, Outer Banks Bicycle owner Chip Cowan opened the Sand Box, a BMX/skateboard shop with a legit skate park, and brought Hargis in. “I didn’t move to the beach to ride my bike,” Hargis laughs. “I actually wanted to
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pick up surfing. But the late 90s were such a unique time. Everybody that was good at skating surfed, and every surfer skated a little bit. Then, once the Sand Box opened up, I went full-throttle back into riding ramps again. The BMX community really started growing around here, because they finally had a place to go.”
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“THEY SAID I’D BE LUCKY TO WALK The Sand Box was like an oasis for NORMAL BY the local boarding SEPTEMBER. culture, hosting everything from I DROPPED little jams to big IN AT THE Y contests. And drawing huge THAT JULY.” names. “Dave Mirra came out for one jam, which was wild because he was winning all the X-Games back then,” Hargis remembers fondly. “For him to take the time to come here, ride the same stuff as us, and win two hundred bucks, it showed the locals that you can make it if you put in the time. Or you can just have a great session with one of the best riders in the world.” Hargis benefited from the momentum, as well. USA BMX ran a hotly contested digital series with riders submitting a 45-second run to apply to their ranking. Considering he was up against some former top pros, Hargis did quite well in the Masters 40+ class — one 1st place, several 2nds and 3rds, and a couple 4ths. Not to mention two 2nds and a 3rd at a physical event in Woodland, PA, where he got to hang with pros earning points for the 2020 Olympics. Then, at the Huff Jam — an annual flatland contest in Winston-Salem, Hargis’ first flatland event since 1989, he placed 14th against some of the world’s best. But the most feel-good result came from his last contest, sponsored by Mongoose Bicycles, where Hargis earned the Creative Rider award and won a brand-new pair of classic Motomag wheels. “I always wanted a pair, but my parents weren’t gonna spend 150 bucks on a set
for a $40 Huffy back in 1979,” he laughs. “It’s funny, though, because when I was younger, I was always putting so much pressure on myself. Now, my thought processes are all about having fun, like, ‘Normally this park is crowded, and I get it to myself for 45 seconds!’ And 45 seconds is a long time when you’re 54!” But while his attitude has softened up with age, the pavement hasn’t. During a solo session at the YMCA park in June 2021, Hargis nearly met his maker. “I got knocked unconscious,” he recalls. “When I came to, blood was pouring out of my nose. I climbed outta the bowl, drove home, and my wife made me go to the hospital. Turns out, if that blood hadn’t come out of my nose, they would’ve had to cut my skull open — and if I’d gone to sleep that night, I’d be dead.” “The doctors also told me I’d be lucky to walk normal by September,” he grins. “I dropped in at the Y that July.”
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Hargis takes more calculated risks these days. Oh, he still gets rad, believe that. And he still gets props. Greystoke BMX magazine profiled him last winter. But now he understands that adrenaline isn’t the thing. It’s the thing that gets you to the thing. “A lot of the top BMX riders in the world have come through here, and I got to have sessions with them!” says Hargis. “I got to know them on a personal level; now they hit me up when they’re in town. Or I’ll be at a contest in Cleveland and run into someone I competed with 30 years ago. And I still do NC/VA jams whenever I can — just to challenge myself, reconnect with old friends, meet new people, and support the scene.” “I never went pro, never made it big,” he finishes. “I didn’t get a picture in a big magazine until I was in my fifties. But I’m thankful for that, because some of my peers got real good real fast and burned out a long time ago. But I still need that release. Even if it’s only once or twice a week, as soon as I grab my handlebars I feel freedom.” — Matt Pruett milepost 63
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Not your average scream queens. Photo: Olivia Lowry
But it’s never some whiney take from the “weaker sex.” Instead, they spit hard truths — “Comparison is the killer of joy! Don’t change yourself for a fuckin boy!” — delivered with all the subtlety of a heartfelt bitch slap. At the same time, they get to exorcise a few personal demons, as well.
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“It’s cool to have an outlet to say, ‘You pissed me off, and now I'm gonna tell every single person I know,'" says drummer Molly Hanburger. “And lots of times I feel like writing for my younger self, coming up with stuff that I wish I heard a lot earlier.”
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But not every song rants about dumb men. Other targets are dumb feelings. (“I hate the way I love you so...”) Dumb lust. (“A dangerous cravin’, but I like misbehavin’...”) And some songs are just plain dumb fun. (“She got some Kinnakeet Feet, oh what a treat.”)
milepost graphiccontent gosurf PRETTY IN PUNK
The ladies of Sikovit blend brash sounds and bold statements.
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“Beastie Girls.” “Rage Against the Machismo.” “The Bramones.” (Okay, that was bad.) But as entertaining as it might be to riff on silly names for Sikovit’s brand of high-octane, hard-rocking, female energy, it will never be as clever or fun as the band themselves. A contagious blend of hot looks and brutal hooks — savvy branding and on-stage swagger — and most of all, sheer bravado.
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“We didn’t go to school for music, none of us are superproficient at our instruments, and we’re out there playing songs we wrote ourselves that nobody’s ever heard of,” laughs bassist, Sam Skelton. “I mean, check out the balls underneath these hemlines! But just because we’re four women doesn’t mean it only resonates with the girls. A lot of it is just being raw and authentic and coming from the youth of the Outer Banks.”
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No kidding. Just 18 months ago, they were just four twentysomethings with a shared vision to rock local stages. By summer’s end, they were the talk of Shake Hatteras, with more folks singing down in the pit than on the mic. Well, not as much singing as shouting. Screaming. Raising their voices. Venting steam over a range of issues against a
had a voice all of a sudden are in the crowd singing the words — and they have four bitches on stage screaming for them, too.”
backdrop of distorted, dissonant styles. Might be an old-school punk anthem pillorying the 9-to-5 lifestyle. (“I’m tired of working for the stupid man, I just wanna play in my stupid band.”) Or a “Sabotage”inspired assault on social media. (“The propaganda of self-promotion will lead you to become someone who’s broken.”) Or just some good, old-fashioned XX-rated innuendo like The Runaways (“He pulled me aside, and I had to decide...This wouldn’t be sweet, but I could feel the heat...”) But if there’s a running theme, it’s female rage, as they tee off on topics from sexual objectification — “Don’t put me in a box, don’t put me in a corner, you piss me off, so I cut my hair shorter” — to toxic relationships. (“I see you every day, your clothes are in my car, my towel is at your house, soaked in blood from the scar.”) “A lot of it is just from navigating life as four young, strong women,” says Skelton. “You grow up having interactions with men like they can say whatever they want or objectify you. It’s hard not to yell, ‘F#$k you!’ But the message is very positive, because people who maybe feel like they haven’t
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“I wouldn’t call our lyrics juvenile,” says guitarist Nan Myers. “More tongue-in-cheek, like a middle school diary.” Why not? Impish mischief is what put punk on the map. But everything else about Sikovit is wise beyond their years, from their approach to branding — one-of-kind of merch gets made at Avon’s Heart Space studio from repurposed duds — to how they mash up covers like Wu-Tang’s "C.R.E.A.M." with the “Bad Boys” theme song, or Amyl & the Sniffers’ “Jerkin’” with Soft Play’s “Slushy” — to picking a theme for every gig, then dressing like total rock stars. “We’ve done leopard prints, Stevie Nicks, pink and black, Alice and Wonderland,” says lead singer, Camden Hoover. “And we will never do a show that is careless; because everything we do is made and done with intent.” All that focus comes out when they play live. Prowling the stage in pretty, pink outfits — then spitting profanities to make sailors blush. Berating bro culture to its face, while daring the boys to look away. All of it done with a nod to the ladies, a wink toward the fellas, and a big middle finger for “The Man.” Or maybe this is just another dumb dude misreading the signals? “Oh no, it’s a big middle finger,” laughs Myers. “But it’s a middle finger with a smile.” — Leo Gibson Catch Sikovit with Potluck at the Tap Shack, July 30 and with Cor De Lux at Fishhead’s on Aug. 31. Follow their antics @sikov.it. milepost 65
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A LONG TIME AGO The shrimp and the crabs boiling over power naps in a beat-up bug summer crawls, summer cries at crickets for a fish boat and sea salt fries oystercatchers skimming dolphins laughing, swimming it was all our own in frisco a long time ago. Overhead at the lighthouse early rodanthe pier, with no one there light rain falling, sun going down single-fin strapped to my bug summer crawls, summer cries the ocean at S curves in my eyes and dawn patrols with three other guys it was all our own in frisco a long time ago. The sun above the waves all day the moon, all night canadians in canadian hole local boys on a beach set haul stinking marsh, salty breeze sea oats strangely green that girl from jersey at froggy dog a guy on a stool doing dylan songs it was all our own in frisco a long time ago. A mark richards film, beer, a fight in avon somewhere on a friday night that girl from jersey in the parking lot paradise takes a lover her salty skin in an endless summer we melted into a backseat ride in a bug heading back to frisco a long time ago.
Art by Kyle Oden
The shrimp and the crabs boiling over the years flying, falling stars exploding, disappearing as fast as they came would love to live it all again crazy times, lazy summers on a beach looking south that girl from jersey in my dreams in my arms in the moonglow back in the day back in frisco a long time ago. — Tyler Evans milepost 67
Historic Corolla Park
Signature Events
Yoga in the Park Thursdays • May 28-September 3, 2026 • 7:30am to 8:30am
60-minute Yoga class for all-levels. Every session includes guided meditation to re-center you, breath work to calm you, and a series of seated and standing postures to make you feel like your best self. Classes are held outside in front of Whalehead overlooking the sound. Please bring a yoga mat, beach towel or tapestry, plenty of water and sun protection. In the event of rain or inclement weather, classes will be canceled. And best of all, it’s FREE to participants! So Relaxing…
Under the Oaks Art Festival Tuesday & Wednesday • June 23 & 24, 2026 • 10am to 5pm
This popular festival brings together a collection of talented artists and visitors can expect to find paintings and prints, photography, pottery, jewelry, woodworks, and much more. Free for all attendees, local food concessions are available as well as a silent art auction that is open to the public.
Independence Day Celebration Friday • July 3, 2026 • 5pm to 9pm
What better way to celebrate America’s independence than with free live music and a spectacular firework show on The Northern Outer Banks! Come out to Historic Corolla Park for the Independence Day Celebration with loads of fun family activities and food available by local vendors. Activities and live music begin at 5:00 pm with fireworks at dusk. Admission is free and free parking is available at the park until lots are full. Please note that no coolers, alcohol, or on-street parking is permitted. The Historic Corolla Park boat ramp and air-up stations are closed this day with no docking allowed. Dogs are permitted on leashes.
Corolla Cork & Craft Wednesday • August 5, 2026 • 12pm to 7pm
Local wine, beer, and craft cocktails, live music and curated local craft artisans in the breathtaking and peaceful setting of Historic Corolla Park. Admission to this event is free. Beer, wine, food, and crafts will be available for purchase. Adults over 21 may purchase wine, beer or spirits by the glass or by the bottle. There will be no free tastings at this event. Please bring a photo ID if you are interested in purchasing alcohol. For more information on these events and more, Call 252.453.9040 or visit our website
CorollaEvents.com
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SUMMER MELTDOWN!
Oh, dear. Looks like Little Buddy’s had a rough one. First, none of his bros could be at the beach, then the shorepound was too heavy to get in the water. Dad forgot his shovel-and-pail — and Mom made him put on that stupid rashguard. No Cheetos. No nap. Not a tide pool in sight! And those sunbathing beauties? Wouldn’t even look at him, much less pick him up. Once that outta-town kid threw sand in his face, it was tantrum-city, baby! Sorry Buddy, but even this place can’t be paradise all the time. Best you can do is keep on ‘truckin... After all, tomorrow is another beach day! PHOTO: DANIEL PULLEN milepost 69
SOUND. SPARK. SOUL.
endnotes Party in the bleachers. Business on the diamond. That’s how Outer Banks Swinging Mullets does high-level collegiate baseball. Watch ’em whip a mess of Old North State League teams at First Flight High on select evenings, May 29-July 17. For deets and tix, slide into www.outerbanksbaseball.com. • Support the Outer Banks’ original “home team” when The Secotan Alliance brings “In the Spirit of Wingina 3: Seeds of Wisdom & Sustenance” to the Virginia Tillet Center and Jennette’s Pier, May 29-30 — two days of indigenous learning and artistic entertainment. Learn more at www.secotanalliance.org. • Did you know that Hatteras Island is the East Coast mecca for wind sports? Make a pilgrimage to Waves Village Watersports Resort, May 29-31, when Kitty Hawk Kites’ Kiteboarding Kickoff blesses the summer season with demos, lessons, and other rad rituals. Sail over to www.kittyhawk.com for details. • In Dec. of 1775, a 16-year-old Corolla girl bravely rode 50 miles to Hertford to warn of British troops advancing on Great Bridge. On May 30, America 250 will relive the drama with Betsy Dowdy’s Midnight Ride, where four local ladies will travel from here to Hertford — with cheering crowds at every stage — starting from the Currituck Animal Shelter at 9:30am. Get the full route at www. visitnorthernobx.com. • Can’t wait to hear how it all ends? Be at Currituck Middle School on May 31 for a free 2pm showing of 1787: The American Constitution — complete with a Q&A sesh with award-winning documentarian, David Garrigus. Learn more at www. visitnorthernobx.com. • Dive down to the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum every Tues. through Aug. 18 to hear the Salty Dawg Lecture Series resurrect maritime history in many forms, from daring rescues by the United States Life-Saving Service ( June 2) to classic Sea Shanties ( June 9). 11am-12pm. Find topics at www.graveyardoftheatlantic.com. • Then circle back to Aviation Park for Kill Devil Derby Brigade’s First Tuesday New Skater Nights, where ages 18+ can get a free roller derby lesson, June 2, July 7 & Aug. 4. 6-8pm. Got skates and protective gear? Bring it. Need some? Email thekilldevilderbybrigade@ gmail.com for possible loaner options. • Stretch out your weekly exercise program at Dowdy Park where Yoga on the Lawn strikes poses every Tues. starting June 2, while Wake Up Wednesdays mixes up tai chi, resistance bands and core strength exercises, June 3-Aug. 19. (Both run 7:30-8:30am.) Pilates peeps will wanna try Fitness Fridays, June 5-Aug. 14, from 7:30-8:15am. And Family Fun Times fire up the kids every Tues. and Fri, June 3-Aug. 18, with activities from music circles to gardening to visits from NC Aquarium educators. 9-10:30am. Find updates on Facebook. • Then bolt west to Grandy’s Betsy Dowdy Equine Center any Wed. through Aug. 26, where Stately beacons. Golden photos. It’s Mustang Mornings at the all part of NC’s Lighthouse Challenge. Farm invites horse-lovers to Photo: Cody Wright meet rescued Banker Ponies, prod staff with questions, and enjoy 10am & 11am showings of The Secret of Corolla, a riveting documentary about Currituck beaches and their culture. 9am-1pm. Suggested donation of $10 per vehicle. More at www.corollawildhorses. org. • Or watch wittle baby bugs take their first winged steps when Butterfly Releases lift off at Elizabethan Gardens every Wed. & Thurs. at 10am & 2pm. Get pricing, tickets and details at www.elizabethangardens.org. • Rather visit local critters in their natural settings? Every Fri., Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge’s Free Bird Walks stroll
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In the DUCK TOWN PARK
OCTOBER 10-11 Featuring Adam Hawley | Brass Queens Gerald Veasley | Shayna Steele David Esleck Trio ft. Jordan Garrett The Hot Lanes ft. Bobby Jasinski First Flight High School Honors Jazz Band Tito Puente, Jr.
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OPEN TUESDAY-SATURDAY OPEN TUESDAY-SATURDAY @ @ 11:00AM 11:00AM by the North Pond, home to any of 400 avian species. (8-9:30am; just meet at the Visitor Center.) Can’t tell the difference between loggerheads and leatherbacks? Come back for free 2pm Turtle Talks every Tues. and Thurs., June 14-Aug. 9. Or head to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge where you can see multiple animals in myriad ways, from Open Air Tram Tours to Canoe Tours to Bear Tours to Van Tours. Some cost money — others are totally free. But all require reservations. So head to www.fws.gov for details, then call 252-216-9464 to hold your spot. • And Nags Head Woods offers free weekly guided hikes on Mon., Wed., & Fri. at 9am. (Email nagsheadwoods@tnc.org for sign-ups and details.) Or do a DIY mission any day between dawn and dusk. Parking is limited, so please carpool when possible. Trail maps, rules and tips at www. nature.org/nhw. • Join herds of humans as they gallop around Historic Corolla Park when the 16th Annual Lighthouse 5K/1 Mile Race Series returns every Wed. at 8am, June 3-Sept. 9. Sign-ups from 6:50-7:50am; step over to www.obxrunning.com for deets. • Or just flop around the Whalehead Front Lawn with your fellow man at Thurs.’ Yoga in the Park, June 4-Sept. 3. 7:30am. (Please bring a yoga mat or beach towel and plenty of water and sun protection; follow their Facebook page for weather updates.) • As long as you’re in Corolla, why not join NC Lighthouse Challenge? Here’s how it works: you visit all of NC’s ten lighthouses by the end of the year — including Currituck Beach Lighthouse, Bodie Island Lighthouse, and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse — and take a photo at each site with the beacon visible; then submit the photos via email to nc.lighthouse.visit@gmail.com. They’ll send you a personalized, commemorative certificate. Illuminate yourself at www. outerbankslighthousesociety.org. • Why stop there? Bodie Island Lighthouse Tours will let you step right up, all summer, every day, starting at 7am — provided you’ve bought a ticket in time. (Run over to www.recreation.gov ASAP to reserve your spot.) And while the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse may be closed for renovations, there are plenty of ranger-led tours and activities — ditto for Fort Raleigh and Wright Bros. Memorial. Just Google for options. • Or step back in time at Roanoke Island Festival Park, where summer educational programs include Ropemaking in the Adventure Museum, Live Arquebus Demonstrations, and Live Sling Gun Firings aboard the Elizabeth II — plus a bevvy of interactive exhibits and costumed interpreters throughout the grounds. Tues.-Sat.; 9am5pm. Find a full calendar at www.roanokeisland.com. • Outer Banks Health invites folks to focus on the present — and their physical and mental well-being — when Namaste at the Beach Free Weekly Yoga returns to Jennette’s Pier every Thurs., June 4-Aug. 27, at 7:30am. Bring a mat/towel and water. Questions? Call 252-449-4529. • And choreographed cowboy moves are all the rage at the Wanchese Tiki Bar, when Thurs. Night LineDancing kicks off, June 4. Then come hoot-and-holler most Sat.’s with more music and dancing at 7pm, like June 6’s Daniel Jordan Band and June 20’s DJ Styles. Follow their Facebook page for the full score. • Rather boogie down to the beats of your choice? Jack Brown’s hosts OBX Silent Disco every Thurs. from 9pm-12am. Or share the musical fun at full volume all summer long, in the backyard (7-10pm) and inside (10pm-1am), courtesy of local acts such as Trickfly and Gustavo ( June 12), Havana Club and Yacht Dogs ( June 13), or Anchor Blazer and DJ Styles ( June 19). (PS: That Guy Shane will solo the backyard every Tues. starting June 16.) Follow @jackbrownskdh for the latest. • The Blue Moon backyard and porch is ground zero for guitarists and singers, such as Bryan Campbell (Mon.), The Bar Cats (Wed.), Donald Rice (Thurs.), Andy & Cherry (Sat.), and Gerry Madddox (Sun.). And Fri. could feature a variety of string-based virtuosos from Brent Nultemeier to the Dockside Duo. 6-9pm. More at www.bluemoonbeachgrill.com. • The Swells’a Duck Dive Bar will pour on weekly jams by Suzi Jacuzzi (Mon.) and Bird Dog (Tues.) from 6-9pm; plus Harrison & Wentz (Wed.), and Yacht Dogs (Fri.) from 7-10pm. Meanwhile, KDH’s Swells’a Brewing HQ will host Harrison & Wentz on Mon. and Suzi Jacuzzi on Sat. (Both 6-9pm.) And the DC Duo will bounce between the two locations on Thurs., 6-9pm. Follow @swellsa_brewing and @swellsa_duck_dive for updates. • Head west to Sanctuary Vineyards for Acoustic Sunsets every Thurs., where top bands, tasty
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endnotes native dancers. Runs Mon.-Sat., June 4-Aug. 22. Get tix and special events at www. vintages and a technicolor solar display make for one groovy evening. 5:30-8:30pm. See thelostcolony.org. • Come June 5, it’s time for Downtown Manteo’s favorite don’t-miss www.sanctuaryvineyards.com for deets. • And the Outer Banks Brewing Station fills the tradition — First Friday — where the streets teem with live music and friendly faces, stores backyard with breezy jams every damn day from 5:30-8:30pm, thanks to Kevin Wilder stay open for later shopping, and Downtown Books will (Mon.), Jeremy Russell (Tues.), Jim Ansell (Wed.), have John Railey and Nancy Gray signing copies of Bryan Campbell (Thurs.), Phil Watson (Fri.), Doc Perkins (Sat.) and Bird Dog (Sun.). Find a full music Aycock Brown on the Outer Banks from 5:30-7:30pm. calendar at www.obbrewing.com. • Got the itch to Follow Facebook for updates. • Meanwhile, next door, scratch out a few tunes of your own? Head to Manteo for big creative names think small at Dare Arts' Tiny Works Old Tom’s Open Mic Wed., hosted by The Conch Show. (Opening reception from 6-8pm.) Plus it’s the Shells' Hugh & Dee. 6:30-9:30pm. Learn more on launch of Dare Arts’ Pride Project! From 6-8pm join Facebook. • Or spend your free time with Joe Mapp & LGBTQ+ peeps and their allies in the Courtyard as they the Coordinates at Rundown Café’s Jazz Night, where line dance with Andrea Thomas, followed by hula hoop instrumental improv is Mon. night's special — and even performances by Summer Alker and fire artist Panda the standards are never standard. 7:30-10:30pm. Tune Daniels. Then head inside for Essie Somma’s into Facebook for updates. • And come Fri., set a course “Undomesticated” — an essential exhibition exploring for cruisy vibes at Country Deli, where Yacht Rock identity. (PS: come back June 9 to laugh and cry through a With Captain Crystal serves up a sparkly combo of special screening of the documentary Will & Harper at cold beers, smooth tracks and the occasional Capt. 6:30pm. Then, on June 11, head to Hi-Vibe Holistics to Stubing cameo. 3-8pm. Follow @countrydeli for more. • hear the Outer Banks’ queer community raise its Music’s just a fraction of the draw, June 5-7, when the collective voice for Pride Project Open Mic Night. Summer Alker lights up Dare Arts’ Pride Project performances during Ocrafolk Festival fills our favorite island getaway with Reserve seats and learn more at www.darearts.org.) • Manteo's First Friday on June 5. Photo: Casey Robertson bands and storytellers — artists and dancers — from all Come Sat., June 6, George Washington Creef Park is a across Eastern NC. Tix and deets at www.ocracokealive.org. • And when it comes to song rainbow of local makers, bakers, growers, and artists when Downtown Manteo Market and dance, you can’t beat The Lost Colony! America’s longest-running outdoor symphonic returns every Sat. through Sept. 19 from 9am–1pm. Tasty deets at www.meetmeinmanteo. drama has depicted the ill-fated story of England’s failed first settlement for nearly a com. • Then keep on shopping at Wanchese’s Secotan Market, where Sat. mornings see a century. But, it’s only gotten better in recent years, thanks to more high-tech effects and real fine selection of artisanal goods, from fresh produce to fine art. 8am-12pm, now through
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Sat. Oct. 17, 2026 10:00 aM – 6:00 PM ticketS gO On Sale June 1St!
$20 Admission* Includes:
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Kill Devil Hills Nags Head Manteo Kitty Hawk Raleigh (Fuquay-Varina)
• Beverages will require Beverage Bucks • Food Purchases must be made with cash or credit card directly to the participating restaurants. (Seabucks will NOT be used for food purchases.)
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• Arts & Crafts • Mullet Toss • Kids’ Activities
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The Soundside Event Site • MP 16 • 6800 S. Croatan Hwy. • Nags Head, NC This project is funded in part by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. *Children Under Age 12 FREE when accompanied with adult
Sept. Find a complete list of participating farms and manufacturers at www.secotanmarket. com. • Or pick a peck of pesky plastic, June 6, when the NC Beach Buggy Association hosts an Adopt-A-Beach event at Ramp 23 from 9am-12pm. (PS: meet ’em again at Ramp 4, when June 20’s Adopt-A-Highway event will make a piece of NC12 look even more pristine from 7:30-10:30am.) Email Tom.Brueckner@ncbba.org for more. • No matter what, make your way to Wanchese Marina for June 6’s first-ever Dare Day Dockside, a full-day celebration of local culture, featuring seafood, kids activities, fishing clinics, and silent auctions — even short dolphin trips and mini-tours on the charter boats. 10am-5pm. Email questions to info@wanchesemarina.com. • Kitty Hawk Kites is awash in weekly family-friendly activities at every location, from June 9-Aug. 8. On Tues. & Wed., Kids Days offer interactive and educational activities from games to kite flying in Duck and Nags Head. (10am-2pm.) Then head to Jockey’s Ridge, where Sunset Festivals shine with live music, great views, and everything from mermaids to ice cream to yoga to fire juggling, every Mon.-Fri. (7pm-Sunset.) And Rodanthe’s Waterfront Festivals offer evening shenanigans all week long from Monday Markets to Fishing Fridays. 7pm-Sunset. (Find full scheds at www.kittyhawk.com.) • From June 10-Aug. 26, mix up your morning fitness routine with Town of Duck’s Wild Card Wednesdays — a potpourri of yoga poses, pilates, mindfulness, and mobility. (7:308:30am.) But don’t worry, weekly entertainment favorites like Concerts on the Green and Variety Shows will remain in play — just check www.ducknc.gov for times and deets. (PS: while you’re up there, peep the Duck Town Hall Rotating Art Exhibit by Kate Leal before July 30.) • And you know the Fritz Boyden Memorial Youth Fishing Tournament ain’t going anywhere. Well, technically, it’s going everywhere, as Avalon Pier, Nags Head Pier, and Outer Banks Pier all let kids fish for free on June 10 from 7am-12pm. And don’t forget Jennette’s Pier, which not only hosts wee anglers — they host the awards and after
party, too! Learn more at www.nagsheadsurffishingclub.org. • Dowdy Park’s Summer Concert Series keeps reelin’ and rockin’ with live local bands Wed. evenings, June 10-Sept. 12, from 6:30-8pm. (Follow their Facebook page for acts and updates.) And Dowdy Park Farmer’s Markets roll out the finest homegrown foods and handmade local art, every Thurs., June 11-Aug. 20. 9am-1pm. Find the freshest fodder on their Facebook page. • Like sand in your shoes? Nags Head’s Sunrise 5K/1 Mile Beach Race Series sets off from two different locations twice monthly: Jennette’s Pier ( June 11, July 9 & and Aug. 6); and Epstein Beach Access ( June 25, July 23 & Aug. 20). 8am start; same-day signups start at 6:50am. Dash over to www.obxrunning.com for deets. • Kids age 7+ get to mix artistic creations with nautical history twice a week at Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum thanks to Make and Take Craft Days, where the lessons include Craft a Sailor’s Valentine ( June 11, July 9 & Aug. 13) and Make a Morse Code Bracelet ( June 17, July 15 & Aug. 19). Visit www. graveyardoftheatlantic.com for more. • And kids of all ages can go fly a kite on Jockey’s Ridge during the Outer Banks Rogallo Kite Festival, June 12-13, where Kitty Hawk Kites will be displaying amazing 30- to100-foot fabric masterpieces while hosting demos and stunt kite lessons for kids of all ages — all in memory of the NASA scientist and inventor of the “flexible wing.” 10am4pm. Learn more at www.kittyhawk.com. • What would Jerry do? On June 12, he’d shakedown to Festival Park to hear Joe Russo’s Almost Dead resurrect the sights, sounds and vibes of the world’s greatest jam band. And on June 13, it’s time to get funky when R&B legends Kool & the Gang bust out their biggest booty-shaking hits of the 70s & 80s. Get deets, times and tix at www.livefromobx.com. • How many free shows can one venue fit? Find out at Morris Farms, where 2:30pm shows include funk-masters Sneezy ( June 14); Sublime stunt doubles, Badfish ( June 27); 90s ska standouts The Pietasters ( July 19); and regional bluegrass beacons Fireside Collective (Aug. 16). And that’s just a fraction of the
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endnotes no-fee lineup; find a complete calendar at www.morrisfarmmarket.com. • The jams keep flowing freely at Swells’a Duck Dive Bar, when local firebrands Hot Sauce rip sizzling licks from Phish to Hendrix to Talking Heads, June 13. And come back June 18 for indie-style originals by Stereo in Words. 7-10pm. Tune into @duck_dive_bar for updates. • Hate spending a penny to visit public lands? On June 14, head to Wright Bros. Memorial as they celebrate Flag Day by waiving admission fees — then come back for more National Park Service Entrance Fee Free Days in honor of Independence Day Weekend ( July 3-5), Aviation Day (Aug. 19) and the 110th Birthday of the NPS (Aug. 25). Learn more at www.nps.gov. • You say “cancel culture” like it’s a bad thing! Join the Outer Banks Stamp Club at Nags Head’s Grace Lutheran Church the second Sun. of every month — that’s June 14, July 12 & Aug. 9 — to see how mailing letters keeps American history and traditions alive. 2:30-5pm. • “Loving Life on the Outer Banks.” That’s the message behind Catherine Hamill’s homages to her home’s natural beauty. Find out firsthand, June 16-July 23, at Glenn Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery. (Opening reception on June 28 from 2-4 pm.) And duck in before June 12 if you want to explore Amanda Love’s “Wanderlust: Unfiltered” — candid, photographic truths about the natural world. More at www. glenneure.com. • Aviation Park is a colorful canvas of arts and crafts, tasty treats and skin care products — even music and food — when First Flight Farmer’s Markets return every Tues., June 16-Aug. 4. 9am-1pm. Follow Facebook for updates. • And Nags Head’s Summer Soundside Markets are all that, plus a giant Connect Four game. See for yourself every Wed., June 17-Aug. 26, where there’s always activities to keep kids busy while you peruse 60+ booths of bad-ass, locally produced fare in a fun, pet-friendly atmosphere. 9am-1pm. See www.soundsidemarket.com for the latest. • The America 250 salutes continue at the Museum of the Albemarle, June 17, as they unveil their “Discover Colonial Life” exhibit — a new interactive way to explore what northeastern North Carolina was like during the American Revolution — and extra festivities include a musical performance by the Fifes and Drums of Yorktown at 12pm. 10am-2pm. Learn more at www.museumofthealbemarle.com. • Want the real dirt on how Roanoke Islanders survived the 1850s? Head to Island Farm’s Tater Day, June 17, and join historic interpreters as they dig in the gardens and harvest potatoes, then kick back and enjoy kettle-fried chips. 9am3pm. $11 for ages 4 and up. More at www.obcinc. org. • Goodbye, spuds. Who knows what kinda party Hello, Spuds McKenzie! animals you’ll run into at Nags Head Dog Park's Waggin’ That’s the poop behind Wednesdays, June 17-Aug. 12. Nags Head’s Waggin’ Wednesdays, as Satterfield Landing Dog Park parties down with a pup pool, games and plenty of furry friends, June 17-Aug. 12. 9-10am. Sniff out the latest on Facebook. • Run? Walk? Stroll? Anything goes when The OBX Running Company lets humans off the leash at the Nags Head Summer Race Series behind Outer Banks Mall, June 18, July 16 & Aug. 13. Or pick up the pace for Avon’s Run Hatteras Summer Series, every Fri. from June 19-Aug. 14. Both
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T G H I L F T R I S F
ADVENTUR E PARK SOUTH CROATAN CROATAN HIGHWAY, HIGHWAY, NAGS NAGS HEAD HEAD SOUTH
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races start at 8am, with same-day sign-ups beginning at 7am. Find sign-ups and routes at www.obxrunning.com. • There’s no place more important to be on June 19 than the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum’s Juneteenth Celebration, where a wide range of Outer Bankers gather to commemorate the liberation of America’s enslaved peoples with plenty of songs and community spirit. 5:30-7:30pm. Visit www.peaislandpreservationsociety.com for details. • Then, the A250 party continues on June 20, when Downtown Books, Friends of the Outer Banks History Center and College of the Albemarle bring author Andrew Lawler to the Dare Campus to discuss A Perfect Frenzy, “a story of rebellion in Virginia that will forever change our understanding of the American Revolution.” 6pm. Follow socials for updates. • June 21’s all about kings — the “Sport of Kings”, that is — as Outer Banks Surfrider celebrates International Surfing Day by giving local beach accesses a royal clean-up while hopefully slaying some waves. Watch @surfrider_obx for the latest. • That night, get caught up in ooey, gooey jams when Live From OBX brings String Cheese Incident to Festival Park, June 21. Tix and deets at www.livefromobx.com. • And green thumbs dispense golden advice at KDH Arboretum, when Dare Master Gardeners meet monthly to discuss everything from Shade Plants ( June 24) to Pruning ( July 22) to Southeast Pollinators (Aug. 21). 11am start. Got some other horticultural head-scratcher? Cruise over to the Baum Center any Wed., 9-11am, and Ask a Master Gardener. • Then, shady places yield vibrant times at Whalehead’s Under the Oaks Arts Festival, June 23 & 24, where booths brim with one-of-a-kind local paintings, prints and photos — plus photography, pottery, jewelry, woodworks — and a silent auction earns green for local causes. 10am-5pm. Learn more at www.visitnorthernobx. com. • Bit of a night owl? Love flying bugs? Join Frisco Native American Museum’s Moth Night, June 24, and help Backyard Butterflies document different species along the Nature Trail. 8:30-11:30 pm. Pricing and deets at www.nativeamericanmuseum.org. • Watch two actors metamorphosize into 20 different characters when Kitty Hawk’s Theatre of Dare presents the classic off-Broadway comedy, Greater Tuna, every Wed. & Thurs. at 7:30pm, from June 24-Aug. 13. 7:30. Think your pipsqueak could do Pygmalion? Check out TOD’s Children’s Theater Summer Camps, where age-specific groups and interests run from comedy to musical theater to special effects, from June 15-Aug. 15. Find tix and fees at www.theatreofdareobx.com. • On June 28, Uncle Sam and Sam Adams combine forces — sorta — for the Outer Banks Brewing Station’s 6th Annual Independence Beer Mile, where star-spangled joggers chug beers and do laps in honor of our favorite, fermented forefathers. 11am start; sign-ups at 10ish. More at www.obxrunning.com. • Girls just wanna have a free country on June 29, when Duck Ampitheatre presents two showings of Racing the Night, a mini-musical about Susanna Bolling, yet another 16-yearold girl who galloped for miles to deliver crucial information to the Continental Army in 1781. 6 & 7pm. See www.ducknc.gov for updates. • And A250 is a four-day party at Dowdy Park, starting June 30, when Family Fun Time lets kids build and decorate American flags. (9-10:30am.) Then July 1’s Summer Concert with SOULone invites the audience to join in a patriotic-themed sing-along. (6:30-8pm.) Even July 2’s Americana Farmers Market is a more diverse melting pot of arts, crafts and artisanal foods. (9am1pm.) And come July 3, Family Fun Times will expand kids’ physical freedom with games inspired by our Founding Fathers. March over to Facebook for updates. • From July 1-31, kids chase red-and-white striped shirts with the return of Find Waldo in Manteo. Pick up a passport at Downtown Books, then seek him out in 20 local businesses for a shot at prizes. Find deets on Facebook. • Need tips for preserving your own personal history? On July 1, the Museum of the Albemarle will share how to protect family textiles and other 3D objects with History for Lunch: Caring for Your Family Heirlooms. (12-1pm.) Then score a double shot of nautical knowledge, July 15, when Summer Fun Day: Maritime Heritage covers subjects from pirates and lighthouses to underwater archaeology from 10am-1pm; and History for Lunch: North Carolina’s Naval Raiders will revisit famous (or infamous) seafaring personalities, pirates and privateers from 1700-1865. 12-1pm. More at milepost 75
endnotes www.museumofthealbemarle.com. • On July 2, swing south to the Hatteras Village Independence Day Cookout and Golf Cart Parade, where folks pregame the holiday with grilled-up goodies from 5:30-7pm, and golf carts cruise the streets saluting Old Glory ’round 6pm. Haul to www.hatterasonmymind.com for details. • Then hop a ferry for more holiday festivities at July 2-4’s Ocracoke Island Independence Day Celebration, where weekend hijinks start with Thurs. night fireworks, followed by Friday’s square dance and Sat’s. combo of a Sand Sculpture Contest and Olde Tyme Parade. Get a full sched at www.visitocracokenc.com. • On July 3, get a head start on the holiday weekend with two Fri. footraces: the Freedom 5K blazes a star-spangled streak around KDH Town Hall at 7:30am. (Sign up at www.obxrunning.com.) Then, at 8am, join the army of athletes charging Jockey’s Ridge for the Killer Dunes 2-Miler & Fun Run. Find battle plans at www.obxse.com. • Just wanna scream “USA!” with your friends and neighbors? Try July 3’s Town of Duck 4th of July Parade and Community Celebration, where Scarborough Lane and Christopher Drive bustle with festive floats starting at 9am, followed by music, refreshments and awards at Duck Town Park. More at www.ducknc.gov. • Then march straight to The Duck Dive Bar’s Parade After Party, where the bar’s open from 9am-10pm, and the Yacht Dogs start howling at 7pm. Stuck in town? No sweat! Head to KDH’s Swells’a Brewing, where Hot Sauce fires up the holiday weekend with scorching jams from 7-10pm. Follow their respective socials for updates. • Or hit Wanchese Tiki Bar’s Independence Day Weekend Kick-Off, July 3, where music by Jonny Waters floods the harbor with high-spirited energy. 7pm. Find more on Facebook. • Come July 3, Historic Corolla Park’s Independence Day Celebration is the land of free music, free fireworks and free parking (while supplies last) from 5-9pm. Rockets fly at dusk. Just remember: no coolers, alcohol, or on-street parking permitted. More tips and rules at www.
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LOCATED ON THE MAINLAND IN GRANDY.
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102 Young Rider Lane graphiccontent Grandy, NC 27939 252-453-8002 corollawildhorses.org
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Every Wednesday June -July -August 9am–1pm Suggested donation: $10 per vehicle
visitnorthernobx.com. • Downtown Manteo is the place to pursue happy vibes, later shopping, and live tunes with the return of First Friday, July 3. Plus, Dare Arts launches a trio of eye-popping exhibits: first, “The Perception Project” will feature intricacies by Emily Holmes (hangs through Aug. 1); next, a Group Photography Show will focus on local lensfolk’s finest work through Aug. 22; and there’s a fresh Summer Courtyard Installation by fiber artist Lara Parks. 6-8pm. Visit www.darearts.org for all the colorful details. • On July 4, America’s birthday rager begins for real, starting in Kinnakeet Shores, where the Four for the 4th four-mile race and 1776 Fun Run invites folks to work up a sweat, salute the flag, and support great causes such as Hatteras Island Meals, Hatteras Island CERT Team and Chicamacomico Life Saving Station, while helping Buxton’s own Mighty Milly beat leukemia. 7am start. Sign up and learn more at www. barrierislandgroup.com. • Or party like it’s 1849 at Island Farm Independence Day, where families are invited to bring a picnic lunch and savor an old-fashioned day of traditional games from 9am-3pm, plus a reading of the Declaration of Independence followed by musket-fire at 10am, 12pm & 2pm. Pricing and deets at www.obcinc.org. • Come nightfall, red-white-and-blue rockets will fly all over Dare County, from the Manteo Waterfront Fourth of July Fireworks Show to a Nags Head Pier Fireworks Spectacular, the Kill Devil Hills Independence Day Celebration at Avalon Pier to the 4th of July Celebration at Avon Pier. All are set to go off between 9-9:30pm, but you’ll want to get there plenty early to find parking. Keep tabs on Facebook for more. • Ever have a massive party? Remember what your home looked like the day after? Luckily, there’s an Outer Banks Surfrider Beach Clean-up in the works for July 5, so folks can help clear away all the incriminating evidence of the previous night’s blow-out. Follow @obx_surfrider for a TBD location. • Bright lights. Big jams. That’s the spectacle behind the Moe.MenTum Tour, July
“wonky-tonk cosmic country” of Dalchord ( July 16) to acclaimed REM tribute act, Dead 6, when two of the hottest acts in high-energy improv, Moe and Umphreys McGee, take Letter Office ( July 30). All from 7-10pm. See socials for updates. • Yo, Ahab! Set sail for the stage at Festival Park. And come on back July 12 for a blast of high-octane country, the Moby Watersports Festival, July 24-25, where you can captain a courtesy of Josh Turner. Showtimes at 6:30pm. Buy tix at www. kayak from Kitty Hawk Kites, hoist a beer by Lost Colony Brewery, livefromobx.com. • Fan of indigenous traditions and rhythms? Beat it then swallow a Benny Tosoro’s pizza slice whole! Hit every shop in down to the Frisco Native American Museum, July 15, where the Whalebone Shopping Center, you might harpoon a prize! Thunder Dancer & E Nah Dah from the Eastern Band Cherokee of 10am-4pm. Sail over to www.kittyhawk.com for the latest. • And North Carolina demonstrate Native American dances and calling all speaker tweakers, twirling hippies and mountaintop toe drumming and explain their significance. 2pm. More at www. tappers! The 7th Annual Keller Williams Duck Dive returns to the nativeamericanmuseum.org. • It’s never too early to sweat Tap Shack, July 24-25, where Fri. features two sets of Grateful Grass, Christmas...See for yourself, July 15, when joggers don gay apparel while Sat. sees KW Solo segue into Keller Grass, before the whole and race around Whalehead for a special XMAS in July 5K. 8am; party shuffles over to the Roadside for a Silent Disco with Hobby sign-ups start at 6:50. Ho-ho-haul over to www.obxrunning.com for Weird from 11pm-1am. Tix at www.kellerwilliams.net. • Then tiny details. • Then summer breezes bring giant kites and big smiles to yachts rock the Manteo Waterfront for July 25’s One Design Regatta, Wright Brothers Memorial, July 17-18, when the Wright Kite where captains of Optimist, 420, Sunfish, and Topaz sailboats put Festival fills the skies with incredible floating displays, hands-on on star performances for a crowd of cheering spectators. Youth and demos, stunt kite lessons, and more.10am-4pm. Free with $10 park adult divisions. Registration at 10am; races start at noon. Awards to entry fee. Get the full flap at www.kittyhawk.com. • Just be sure to follow. More deets at www.meetmeinmanteo.com. • Sign-ups for July bust a move over to Jennette’s Pier, July 17-19, when the OBX Skim 26’s Surfing for Autism may be all locked up, but the volunteer Jam draws the nation’s top skimboarders for three days of high-flying process is still wide open. Head to www.surfingforautism.org for ways shorebreak acrobatics. Divisions and deets at www.skim-usa.com. • At Rumble down to Frisco Native American press time, details were still fuzzy regarding July 19’s Swells’a Brewing Museum for Thunder Dancer & E Nah Dah to help the cause, from running silent auctions to greeting folks at the on July 15. Photo: Stacey Saunders NC Aquarium to setting up and breaking down the main event at Fifth Anniversary Party, but we guarantee it’ll be a festive blend of Jennette’s Pier. • Sick of summer already? Head north to Town of homegrown hoppy ales, locally tested lagers, and at least one killer Duck’s Christmas in July, July 28-30, where a full weekend of holiday-themed events will band. But! We do know that Stereo in Words will crank things up in the backyard on July transport you to chiller times. Follow www.ducknc.gov for the latest. • Sorry. There won’t be 24. Meanwhile, the Duck Dive Bar is a veritable flight of intoxicating musical tastes, from the
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PET HARNESSES (WITH BACKPACKS!) & ACCESSORIES WALLETS & PURSES
RC CARS • BOATS & PLANES SPORTS & TRADING CARDS GAMES • MODELS ACTION FIGURES 252-489-7182 • 300 E. Driftwood St. • Nags Head SportsZoneToysComics.com milepost 77
endnotes water — and nightly parties and fundraisers on the dock. Sail over to www. any “Handprint Rudolphs” at Glenn Eure Ghostfleet Gallery when they present piratescovebillfishtournament.com for a sched. • On Aug. 10, set a course for Down South, Beyond the Lesson Plan: Work by Dare County Art Teachers, July 28-Aug. 28. But you when Shake Hatteras hosts another ragtag crew of raging bands and festive times will find a wide range of imaginative works by some of your favorite creative educators. somewhere ’round Rodanthe. Full deets still TBD, so just follow @shakehatteras. • But steer Opening reception is Aug. 2, 2-4 pm. Visit www.glenneureart.com for more. • And there’s clear of Kitty Hawk Kites in Nags Head, Aug. 12-13! Word be there’s buccaneers about, as only one painter hanging at Swells’a Brewing in Aug., and that’s Jackie Tury! (Though the Outer Banks Pirate Festival lines up a swashbuckling selection of storytelling and there will surely be plenty of local artists present at Aug.1’s opening reception, from themed activities, like the ever-popular Scallywag School. Learn more and reserve spots at 6-9pm.) But come spread some green around, Aug. 28, when Pints for Parks raises funds www.kittyhawk.com. • You get a line and a pole — and they’ll do the rest — when Manteo for Outer Banks Forever’s mission to support our NPS. Follow socials for details. • Looking Kids Fishing Tournament invites anglers ages 4-17 to bring their gear down to the to log more hours with good live music? On Aug. 1, the Overtime Band takes care of Roanoke Island Maritime Museum & Downtown Docks for a free tourney on Aug. 15. business at Wanchese Tiki Bar. Then, pick up an extra shift with country artist RT Johnson 8am start. Ages 16 and up must have a license. More at www.meetmeinmanteo.com. • on Aug. 22. 7pm start-times. (Don’t be late!) Get more on Facebook. • Preserving the past Hooked on planes? On Aug. 19, head to Dare County Regional Airport for National is a labor of love at Museum of the Albemarle, where Aug. 5’s History for Lunch reveals Aviation Day, where you’ll find a hidden maritime secrets with boatload of displays, exhibitors, Searching for Shell Castle: Exploring speakers, and food trucks. Find an Submerged Histories on the North itinerary at www.firstflightfoundation. Carolina Coasts, while Aug. 19’s org. • Flightless pink flamingos. Starched Caring for Your Family Heirlooms: white suits. Captain’s hats. Must mean Part II advises how to protect photos Thurston Howell’s bringing their and documents. (Both 12-1pm.) And “premier yacht rock experience” to the on Aug. 8, there’s a tasty new exhibit on Outer Banks Brewing Station on Aug. the importance of baking traditions, 21. Sets sail at 10:30pm. Learn more at called Into the Mix. Full calendar at www.obbrewing.com. • And if you www.museumofthealbemarle.com. • think they look sharp, be at Frisco Did someone say “tasty traditions”? Native American Museum, Aug. 25, Must be time for Corolla Cork & where Survival Techniques of the Craft! On Aug. 5, head to Historic Eastern Woodland Tribes covers Corolla Park for an epic outdoor essential weaponry, from archery to soiree, where live music and local atlatls, knives to spears. 2pm. Take a artisans cover the lawn, and ages 21+ stab at www.nativeamericanmuseum. can enjoy a diverse palette of local org for details. • On Aug. 25, grade wine, beer and cocktails. 12-7pm. Find schoolers get survival tips at Dowdy more details at www. Park’s Kids’ Back To School event, visitnorthernouterbanks.com. • Head to covering important topics, from Duck Town Hall, Aug. 5, and help pop crosswalks to bike helmets. Plus the cork on the next Rotating Art popcorn and swag from local police Exhibit — a small group show by and fire departments. 3:30-6pm. Get Tammy Goodrich, Brent Nultemeier the 411 on Facebook. • From Aug. 26and Liz McBain — with an opening Oct. 22, witness some of the beach’s reception from 5-7pm. (Show runs Feelin’ crabby? Brighten your mood with a trip to Town of Duck’s Small Group Art Show, featuring colorful most lasting, legendary works when the through Nov. 5.) Sinking vessels take paintings by Brent Nultemeier — plus works by Tammy Goodrich and Liz McBain — Aug. 5-Nov. 20. College of the Albemarle presents center stage at Duck Amphitheatre, From Then To Now: A Retrospective Look at the Work of Rick Tupper. Learn more at Aug. 10, with 6 & 7pm showings of The Wreck of the Dictator, a mini musical about an www.albemarle.edu. • Then check out pieces so new the paint’s barely dry, when Fresh: A 1891 rescue by the US Lifesaving Service. For the full schedule and details of summer Plein Air Event challenges artists to capture their favorite outdoor muses from Sept. 2-4 events, visit www.ducknc.gov. • Seed-spitting contests. Lawn bowling. Eating races. Tie-dye for a Dare Arts show to be revealed on Sept. 5’s First Friday. More at www.darearts.org. • stations. You won’t find sweeter summertime fun than Aug. 6’s Watermelon Festival at Or just watch top World Surf League talent rip watery canvases by day — and maybe tear Kitty Hawk Kites Jockey’s Ridge Crossing. 10am-4pm. Tix required for some events — through a few watering holes at night — when the WRV Outer Banks Pro Presented by but funds support the Outer Banks Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Coalition. More at Pacifico returns to Jennette’s Pier, Sept. 2-6. Can’t make it? Watch live at www.wrvobxpro. www.kittyhawk.com. • And the tasty times continue at the 13th Annual Ocracoke Fig com. • Don’t wanna say farewell to summer? Stretch the final days out in four festive ways: Festival, Aug. 7-8 — two days of live music, square dancing, a Fig Cake Bake-Off, and Live From OBX’s Labor Day Weekend Kick Off with a TBD reggae act on Sept. 4. (more vendors selling the island’s favorite fruit in every form, from trees to preserves, beer to art. at www.livefromobx.com); Wanchese Tiki Bar’s Labor Day Weekend Party with Redline Devour all the deets at www.ocracokefigfestival.com. • And First Friday adds flavor to Band & DJ Jesse on Sept. 5. (7pm; find deets on Facebook.); A fun morning of local arts Downtown Manteo, Aug. 7, with another medley of live music, late shopping and lovely and crafts vendors at the Labor Day Soundside Market, Sept. 6. (9am-1pm; www. folks from 6-8pm; plus, Dare Arts’ newest opening reception serves paintings on wood by soundsidemarket.com.). And Sept. 7's 3rd Annual Labor Day Lighthouse 5K (7:30am; Dave Roberts. Show hangs ’til Aug. 29; learn more at www.darearts.org. • Chasing big fish more at www.barrierislandgroup.com). • Then, OBX Pride Festival is back for the weekend and foam checks is only half the fun, Aug. 8-14, when the Pirates Cove Billfish of Sept. 11-13! Find a full sched of events at www.obxpridefest.com. Tournament and Alice Kelly Fishing Tournament return for daily adventures on the
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