America’s Historic Story on the Outer Banks

By Aaron Tuell on Nov. 07, 2019

OUTER BANKS, N.C. -- Among coastal vacation places, the Outer Banks of North Carolina holds a remarkable past. Its story reaches from the beginnings of the nation to the start of aviation, giving the Outer Banks an important place in the history of North Carolina, the country and the world.

Sands in Motion

The barrier islands of the Outer Banks formed thousands of years ago from a tall line of dunes that remained after the earth’s glaciers melted. These islands are called barriers because they protect the coastal mainland from ocean waves and storms. Every barrier-island chain takes shape differently based on local tides and weather. Along the Outer Banks, the coast and waterways are always moving, so the region’s climates, wildlife and scenery continue to change.

Early Exploration of the Outer Banks

Human habitation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina is believed to date back more than 10,000 years. Historians identify the Carolina Algonkians, also known as Croatans, as the first people to live along the island chain. They lived near Cape Hatteras from approximately 1000 to the 1700s, when contact with European explorers contributed to the tribe’s demise.

Italian explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano became the first European explorer to land in the Outer Banks in 1524. He incorrectly thought the island chain was an isthmus separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Sixty years afterward, Sir Walter Raleigh sent English explorers Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, who found a navigable passage through the islands to the coast. Their two ships came ashore at Roanoke Island, where the crews encountered rich natural resources and peaceful natives. During the next three years, more than 40 English ships reached the Outer Banks, helping England establish its early position in colonizing the New World.

The Mystery of the Lost Colony

To continue the colonization of the New World, Sir Walter Raleigh organized a three-ship expedition to the Outer Banks under John White. The group, the first to include women and children, reached Roanoke Island in 1587. The colonists turned the abandoned cottages, fort and military quarters left by earlier British explorers into a permanent settlement. One month later, Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White, became the first English child on American soil. Soon after, John White departed from the 117 colonists on the Outer Banks and returned to England for food, supplies, and more colonists. War with Spain delayed White’s return to the American settlement for three years. By the time he came back, the colony was gone.

The homes at Roanoke stood empty and its valuables had disappeared. White’s family and the remaining English colonists were nowhere to be found, with only two puzzling carvings left behind: CRO on a tree trunk near the Roanoke Sound and CROATOAN on another tree close to the crumbling fort. White took the markings as a sign that the settlers may have gone to live with friendly Croatans on Hatteras Island. At the abandoned settlement, there was no evidence of violence or struggle.

Ideas about what happened to the colony differ. Some accounts suggest the colonists were killed by natives or taken during a skirmish. Others believe they tried to return to England by sea and were lost. Another possibility is that they set out to explore the Carolina mainland or other parts of the Outer Banks. Historians have debated the fate of the Lost Colony for more than 400 years, and the answer is still unknown. That compelling mystery inspired The Lost Colony, America’s longest running outdoor symphonic drama, which has told the Roanoke story for more than 60 years at Waterside Theatre in the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island.

The Outer Banks at Sea

The Outer Banks coastline, with its changing sands and powerful storms, created dangerous conditions for countless ships. Hurricanes and nor’easters, which continue to threaten the region, ended many voyages and claimed hundreds of lives. Because so many ships were lost on its shoals, American statesman Alexander Hamilton gave the Outer Banks shore the name Graveyard of the Atlantic.

Following the Civil War, steamers took the place of sailboats that had traveled the Outer Banks’ coast. Even these iron vessels were vulnerable to the region’s perilous waters. In 1874, seven U.S. life-saving stations opened on the Outer Banks to rescue sailors and recover ships. The keepers of these stations, called surfmen, were often hardy Outer Banks natives who watched the shoreline day and night, prepared to enter the surf whenever a ship or sailor was in danger. The life-saving stations of the Outer Banks were connected to several maritime firsts, including the first all-African American surfmen staff at the Pea Island station. Outer Banks surfmen created a lifesaving device called the breeches buoy to bring shipwreck and storm victims safely to land. Its pulley system connected to a life preserver fitted with short pants, helping victims stay afloat even in high seas. Before the stations became part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915, Outer Banks lifesaving crews rescued thousands of people during hurricanes and storms.

Civil War

When the Civil War began in 1861, the Outer Banks inlets became key military objectives. The Hatteras and Ocrcoke inlets served as encampments for both sides. Nearly 600 Confederate soldiers were positioned at Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark on opposite sides of the Hatteras inlet. A few months later, Union troops had driven opposing forces north toward the Confederate stronghold of Roanoke. In February 1962, Union forces numbering 11,500 soldiers attacked Roanoke Island, leading 1,050 Confederate to surrender. For the remainder of the Civil War, Union troops controlled Roanoke Island and most of the Outer Banks.

War damaged many Outer Banks landmarks. Union forces destroyed the original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Confederate soldiers demolished the Bodie Island Lighthouse so Union enemies could not use it as an observatory.

As Confederate troops withdrew from Roanoke Island, thousands of former slaves came to the Outer Banks. These refugees settled near Union headquarters and built churches, a school and a community that grew into a government-sanctioned colony, later known as the Freedman’s Colony. Major General John G. Foster, Commander of the 18th Army Corps, directed Union chaplain Horace James to create a colony for former slaves and the families of black Union soldiers. During the summer of 1863, James planned a New England-style village from Weir’s Point to Pork Point on the northern end of Roanoke Island. Freed slaves received lots for building homes and found work in shad fisheries and the sawmill. By the end of the Civil War, the colony had grown from about 1,000 former slaves into 3,500 free American citizens and operated as a self-sufficient village.

World War II

Although World War II fighting occurred mostly on other continents, military action also reached the Outer Banks. German U-boats moved along the coast near shipping lanes, destroying at least 60 Allied vessels and giving the dangerous wartime waters of the Outer Banks the nickname Torpedo Alley. Enemy submarines also suffered losses. The first German U-boat sunk by Americans rests offshore from Bodie Island. This part of the coast contains a greater concentration of sunken U-boats than any other location along the American coast. Many Outer Banks residents remember nightly blackouts during the war, intended to keep enemy ships from spotting the shoreline.

The First Flight

After the major aviation milestone that happened more than 100 years ago on Dec. 17, 1903, the Outer Banks became known as Home of the First Flight. Bicycle shop owners Orville and Wilbur Wright spent years designing the 40-foot glider that became a world-changing aircraft. At 10:35 that morning, the glider rose from the ground and the Wright Brothers completed the first successful powered flight along the beaches of Kitty Hawk. The flight lasted only 12 seconds and covered 120 feet, yet it changed the world forever.

For more information about the Outer Banks and its history, contact the Outer Banks History Center at (252) 473-2655.

Author

Aaron Tuell develops and contributes to award-winning projects in public relations, social media and travel customer outreach. His background includes national media outlets, celebrity projects, social media strategy and oversight, commercial broadcast and web video production, marketing photography, publicity and promotion, and work both with and as news media.

Manager of Public Relations
Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
252-473-2138 office
877-629-4386 toll free
tuell@outerbanks.org