Visit The Outer Banks

Outer Banks History and Culture Draw Visitors

By Aaron Tuell
Nov. 07, 2019

OUTER BANKS, N.C. – Every year, millions of travelers come to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for its celebrated beaches and natural scenery. Many also arrive eager to experience the area’s distinctive role in American history and the well-loved local attractions that help share that story.

The Outer Banks appeals to people curious about both the present day and the past. This is where Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved the first powered airplane flight. It is also where English settlers tried to establish a colony on Roanoke Island in 1587, 22 years before Jamestown, Va., and 35 years ahead of Plymouth, Mass. Modern-day explorers can visit no fewer than nine major historical sites and cultural attractions across the region.

Wright Brothers National Memorial

One of the Outer Banks’ signature distinctions is its identity as the Home of the First Flight. The Wright Brothers selected the area because its wind and terrain suited their powered glider experiments. On December 17, 1903, their famous flyer stayed in the air for 12 seconds, making them the first ever to sustain powered airplane flight.

The location of that history-changing moment is now recognized by a 60-foot granite monument, dedicated in 1932, that stands on 90-foot-tall Big Kill Devil Hill. Numbered markers show how far each of the four flights traveled that day.

A visitors center on the grounds includes exhibits such as a full-scale replica of the Wright Brothers’ original plane, the Wright Flyer. Guests can also see reproductions of the camp structures used by the brothers in 1902 and 1903, including one that served as a hanger for the 1903 Flyer and another used as both workshop and living space, furnished with items similar to what the Wrights had on site.

The 20,000-square-foot Centennial Pavilion was built in May 2003 for the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ accomplishment. Still located at the site after the Centennial celebration, the semipermanent building contains more exhibits and a 1,000-seat auditorium. Displays cover aviation, space travel and the Outer Banks at the turn of the century, including replicas and reproductions of equipment the Wrights used.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial is operated by the National Park Service and includes interpretive tours along with a bookstore. The park welcomes visitors daily except for Christmas from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from September through May and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from June through August. Admission is $4 per person, with free entry for individuals age 15 and younger. The Memorial is found at milepost 8 on the U.S. 158 Bypass in Kill Devil Hills. More details are available from the National Park Service at (252) 441-7430.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

The National Park Service also manages Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, a 513-acre park on the north end of Roanoke Island, about three miles from the historic town of Manteo, N.C. Established in 1941, the park honors the first English efforts to settle the New World from 1585 to 1587. Backed by Sir Walter Raleigh, the venture concluded with the disappearance of 117 men, women and children, an unresolved mystery that continues today. The site is also known as the birthplace of Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America before the colony disappeared completely.

Current features at the park include a visitors center, museum, Elizabethan Gardens, The Lost Colony outdoor drama, historic tour trail, gift shop and picnic area. Its purpose has grown to include the preservation of Native America culture, the American Civil War, the Freedom’s Colony and the work of radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden.

Popular experiences at the park include seeing a live performance of The Lost Colony outdoor drama at Waterside Theatre, walking the Elizabethan Gardens, an accurately reproduced early English garden, and watching the 17- minute film Roanoke at the visitors center for background on the Roanoke voyages and Sir Walter Raleigh’s colonization efforts.

The park operates year round, except for Christmas, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In summer, while The Lost Colony outdoor drama is staged, the visitor center stays open until 8 p.m. Admission is free. Additional information is available from the National Park Service at (252) 473-5772 or online at www.nps.gov/fora.

The Lost Colony outdoor drama

The still-unsolved mystery of The Lost Colony inspired America’s first and oldest outdoor drama in 1937, when North Carolina’s Pulitzer Prize playwright Paul Green wrote a production about the famous New World colony. Originally expected to last only one season, Green’s combination of music, dance, drama and comedy, which he described as symphonic drama, quickly attracted standing-room audiences and strong reviews. Visitors soon made the trip to North Carolina’s remote Roanoke Island for the show. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attended during that first season, as did Brooks Atkinson, drama critic for The New York Times, whose praise brought national attention.

Except for four years during World War II, when German submarines threatened the coastline, The Lost Colony has returned every summer to Waterside Theatre at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Since opening, the show has been seen by some 3 million visitors. Today, audiences gather outdoors in the newly renovated 1,650-seat theatre, with updated sets and lavish costumes by Tony Award-winning costumer designer William Ivey Long. Acclaimed Broadway actor Terrence Mann directs the production for the second consecutive season. Mann, a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, also performed in the show during the 1970s.

The production runs at 8:30 p.m. nightly, except Sundays, from early June to August 20th. Tickets are $20 for producer’s circle seats, $24 for adults, $23 for seniors, and $7 for children age 2 and over. Regular admission children’s tickets are half price on Monday nights. Ticket details are available through the box office at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site at (252) 473-3414 or at www.thelostcolony.org.

Roanoke Island Festival Park

A short bridge from historic downtown Manteo, N.C., leads visitors to a 25- acre island destination. Overlooking Roanoke Sound, Roanoke Island Festival Park brings together history, education and the arts. With living history interpretation, exhibits, and a range of visual and performing arts programming, the Park traces Roanoke Island and the Outer Banks from the late 16th century through the early 20th century.

Once at Festival Park, visitors find many ways to explore. They may board Elizabeth II, a sailing ship representing vessels used in the Roanoke Voyages and sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to the New World in the 16th century. Interpreters dressed as Elizabethan sailors share seafaring stories that help animate the voyages. Guests can then visit the Settlement Site, a recreated military camp staffed by historically costumed soldiers watching for Spaniards and Algonquin Indians. The camp, tent and equipment offer hands-on ways to learn.

After those living-history experiences, guests can move through the Roanoke Adventure Museum, where interactive exhibits cover 400 years of Outer Banks history. Topics include boat-building, shipwrecks, pirates, lighthouse keepers, the Lost Colony, the Freedom Colony, the Civil War, Lifesaving Service and a 1950s era general store. Visitors looking for deeper research can use the Outer Banks History Center, whose extensive library includes books, magazines, journals and other published materials tied to many areas of Outer Banks history.

Other Festival Park activities include:

Festival Park is open year-round. The picnic areas, boardwalks, fossil site, art gallery and museum store have no admission charge, and parking is free. Most services at the History Center also are free. Park admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students and free for children age 5 and younger. For more information, call (252) 475-1500, use the 24-hour events line at (252) 475-1506, or visit www.roanokeisland.com.

North Carolina Maritime Museum

Visitors most interested in seafaring history can stop at the nearby North Carolina Maritime Museum in downtown Manteo, N.C. Created to preserve and interpret North Carolina’s rich maritime heritage, the attraction presents educational exhibits and programs on many related subjects.

Museum exhibits include artifacts recovered from the Queen Anne’s Revenge, believed to have been Blackbeard the pirate’s former flagship; more than 5,000 shells from 100 countries; shipboard equipment; fossilized marine life and prehistoric land animals; venomous snakes of North Carolina; working watercraft such as a dugout canoe, flatbottom and spritsail skiffs and traditional small boats; commercial fishing displays covering whales and whaling, oystering and fishing; and waterfowl hunting and decoy displays. Maritime arts, crafts and photographs are also part of the museum experience.

Across the waterfront from the museum is the George Washington Creef Boat House, where guests can watch ongoing work involving the conservation, preservation, construction and restoration of wooden boats.

Beyond its collections and live demonstrations, the North Carolina Maritime Museum offers more than 300 public programs each year, including guest lectures, concerts, workshops and field trips. The museum is open 360 days a year on Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Watercraft Center operates Tuesday through Sunday. Museum admission is free. Details are available at (252) 728-7317 or ncmaritimemuseums.com.

North Carolina Aquarium

A short drive from the North Carolina Maritime Museum brings visitors to the North Carolina Aquarium at the northern end of Roanoke Island. Set on 14 acres beside Croatan Sound, the 68,000-square-foot facility contains seven major exhibits and 18 tanks, ranging from 300 gallons to 285,000 gallons. The largest tank is 17 feet deep and approximately the size and shape of a baseball infield. It contains 450 fish and a number of sharks, and a live webcam lets Internet visitors view the tank.

The aquarium also includes two touch tanks, interactive exhibits, research space, a large auditorium and a gift shop. Outdoors, guests will find a nature trail, shoreline boardwalk with observation decks and mounted telescopes, plus an excavation area for digging fossilized shark’s teeth.

At this popular attraction, one of only three state aquariums along North Carolina’s coast, marine-life enthusiasts can touch a stingray or watch river otters moving through their pond. Exhibits also feature alligators, sea turtles, moray eels, snakes and other marine life. Daily dive shows, animal feedings, educational program and videos, craft classes and off-site field trips are also offered.

Admission ages 3-12 years of age $6; 13-61 years old $8; 62 years and up $7. Open year round 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. 252-473- 3494 or 800-832-FISH.

Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station

For more Outer Banks maritime history, travelers can continue south to the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station on N.C. Highway 12 near Rodanthe, N.C., on Hatteras Island. Built in 1874, it was one of the first seven stations on the Outer Banks and among 12 created by Congress in 1873 so crews could patrol beaches for vessels in trouble along the hazardous North Carolina coast now known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Stations stood at seven-mile intervals in the Chicamacomico coastal area, with crews of five to ten men patrolling on foot or horseback. Chicamacomico became the best known of these stations because of its crews’ many bold rescues.

When a new shingle-style station and outbuildings were constructed in 1911, the original station became a boathouse. The Coast Guard, which developed from the U.S. Lifesaving Service, decommissioned the complex in 1954. The property was bought at auction in 1978 and given to the Chicamacomico Historical Association, which then restored the site to detailed 1911 specifications.

Today’s buildings remain as one of the most complete U.S. Lifesaving Service/Coast Guard Station complexes on the Atlantic Coast. They function as a museum and gift shop honoring those who assisted shipwrecked people at sea. Exhibits include pieces from hundreds of vessels wrecked off the North Carolina coast over a 400-year period, and a volunteer is available for visitor questions.

Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station is open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., from May through September. During the off-season, the station is also open on weekends from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather permitting. Further information is available at (252) 987-1552 or www.chicamacomico.net.

Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center

Along with preserving its maritime past, the Outer Banks also shares Native American history through the Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center, which opened in 1987 on N. C. Highway 12 in Frisco, N.C. The attraction is run by a non-profit educational foundation and guides visitors through the development and achievements of the island’s earliest Native inhabitants. Dedicated to preserving Native American artifacts, art and culture, the museum’s nationally recognized collections are displayed in a building with 100 years of history as a general store, post office and shell shop.

Galleries featuring native art extend through the museum and include information and artifacts from Hatteras Island’s earliest inhabitants as well as Native Americans from across the U.S. Local discoveries include a dug-out canoe found on museum property and items recovered from East Carolina University’s archaeological dig at Buxton Village. The gift shop complements the exhibits with works by more than 30 Native American artists, along with unusual and specialty items.

In addition to standard exhibits and guided tours, museum programming includes Native American workshops and seminars, special programs for the visually impaired, and special events such as its annual Inter-Tribal Powwow. Guests can also walk the museum’s nature trails, which pass through several acres of maritime forest and include labeled specimens and exhibits, open areas with benches, and roped walkways through wooded sections.

The Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center is open year-round Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Monday by appointment only. Guided tours are available with advance notice. Details are available at (252) 995-4440 or www.nativeamericanmuseum.org.

Author

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

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