Ocracoke Island Recreation - Outer Banks

Molasses Creek
Based on Ocracoke Island off the coast of North Carolina, this high energy acoustic folk-fusion band delights their audiences with foot-stomping bluegrass, ballads, and a bit of wacky humor. For information on booking, ordering recordings or the touring calendar use the links to the side.

	Coyote Music This singing and songwriting couple of Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro have a loyal following on their home island and well beyond with their engaging and spontaneous presence and colorful music tinged with folk, rock, blues and jazz. During the summer, they host Songs & the Stories Behind the Music at Deepwater Theater with Noah Paley and are principal performers in the Ocrafolk Opry. They are also part of the NC Arts Council Touring Artist Roster, performing all over the state and country. Listen in for their music in the upcoming Nicholas Sparks movie, Nights in Rodanthe, set for release in September 2008! You’ll find their CDs for sale all over the island – get one to bring some of the island’s magic home with you.
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Historic Ocracoke Tours and Tales

Ocracoke Ghost and History Walk
Village Craftsmen, 170 Howard Street
(252) 928-6300
Led by native islanders descended from pirates, these 90-minute, one-and-a-half-mile walking tours are sure to entertain and educate. The tours explore either the ‘Round Creek or Down Point areas of the island and cost $12 ($6 for children 6-12 years old; children younger than 6, free). Tours leave from the Village Craftsmen at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday nights. Limited to 24 people, reservations are strongly recommended. Group and special tours can be arranged. Call for off-season schedules.

Cottage Ghost Tales
(252) 928-6300
Acclaimed professional storyteller Lou Ann Homan has been steeping herself in island lore and will captivate and delight your family and friends with an evening of storytelling in your cottage or home. Ghost and pirate tales are a specialty and are appropriate for all ages. Cost is $150.

Outer Banks Murder Mystery
(252) 928-6300
For an unforgettable night of intrigue, play-acting and flat out fun, invite up to 20 of your closest friends (or those who think they’re your friends) for an interactive dinner theater. Lou Ann Homan has hosted murder mysteries for more than a decade. She will tailor characters and instructions for your “cast,” and show up with a trunk loaded with costumes and props to help get everyone in character. Please reserve at least two weeks in advance. The evening costs $250 on Ocracoke and $350 on the rest of the Outer Banks. A full Bed & Breakfast Weekend is $650.

Ocracoke Attractions

The Beach on Ocracoke Island

Ocracoke’s beach has attracted increasing national attention as it worked its way up Dr. Beach’s much ballyhooed list of “Best Beaches.” In 2007 we finally reached the summit and became America’s #1 Beach! The wide sandy beach is clean, and there are plenty of spots where, with a little effort, you can enjoy it undisturbed by others. The ocean reaches high temperatures of 85 F in the summer and can adopt the clear aquamarine hues of tropical waters when the conditions are right. Board sports, surf fishing, swimming, shelling, reading and napping are all popular beach pastimes. The 16 miles of oceanfront beach are part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and are free of development.

There are nine on and off ramps between the beach and N.C. Highway 12, five of which provide four-wheel-drive access. The southern and northern ends of the beach, the areas most popular with surf fishermen, are open year-round to four-wheel-drive vehicles. The section of the beach between Ramp 70, by the airport, and Ramp 59, at the Hatteras ferry, is closed to vehicle traffic seasonally and has plenty of good spots for families with children and those looking for more solitude. Several threatened and endangered species, such as the piping plover and several species of sea turtles, nest on the island’s beaches, and sections may be closed to the public in order to protect these nests.

Lifeguards are on duty at the most popular, though by no means overcrowded, beach from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The lifeguard beach is on the right about 1 1/2 miles north of the village and is identifiable by a small brown swimmer sign and its large parking lot. There are restrooms, changing rooms and a shower facility here as well.

National Park Service Ocracoke Island Visitor Center
38 Irvin Garrish Highway
(252) 928-4531
The majority of land on Ocracoke is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and is publicly owned and administered by the National Park Service. The NPS Visitor Center, located at the southernmost end of N.C. Highway 12 near the Cedar Island and Swan Quarter ferry docks, is a clearinghouse for all types of island and national seashore information. You’ll find an information desk, helpful staff, a bookshop, free maps, informational brochures and exhibits about the island. From Memorial Day through Labor Day three or four ranger-led programs are offered daily. The visitor center is open year-round.

Historic Marker of Fort Ocracoke
Irvin Garrish Highway, behind the NPS Visitor Center
This marker is a little hard to find, but it’s worth seeking out. It’s on a grassy patch behind the National Park Service Visitor Center and next to the boat ramp. Park the car and walk out to the sound and you’ll see it. The marker commemorates Fort Ocracoke, the remnants of which lie submerged in Ocracoke Inlet toward Portsmouth Island. The fort was constructed by volunteers beginning on May 20, 1861, the day North Carolina seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy. One side of the marker lists all the men from Ocracoke and Portsmouth islands who were killed in the Civil War.

Ocracoke Preservation Society and Museum
49 Water Plant Road
(252) 928-7375
For a peek into Ocracoke’s past, visit Ocracoke Preservation Society’s Museum. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to preserving the island’s history and cultural heritage and to protecting its environment. Housed in the turn-of-the-century home of Coast Guard Capt. David Williams (see the Walking Tour section of the Ocracoke Island Walking Tour & Guidebook), the museum lets visitors glimpse island life in the early to mid-1900s. Many of the original architectural elements are still intact, and a bedroom, living room and kitchen are decorated with period furnishings donated by locals. The museum has photographs, artifacts and exhibits that pertain to island life and culture – our favorite one being a video on the Ocracoke brogue. There’s a small gift shop as well as rotating exhibits by local artists. Upstairs is a small research library that can be used with permission. And they’re adding outdoor exhibits such as a newly installed cistern, a Francis Lifecar used by the U.S. Lifesaving Service to rescue shipwreck victims and The Blanche, which is a traditional 1934 fishing boat.

It's free to visit the museum, though donations are encouraged. It's open from Easter through Thanksgiving.

British Cemetery
British Cemetery Road
On May 11, 1942, about 40 miles south of Ocracoke, a German submarine torpedoed and sank the British vessel HMS Bedfordshire. The 170-foot ship was one of 24 antisubmarine ships loaned to the United States by Winston Churchill. The entire crew of four officers and 33 crewmen drowned. U.S. Coast Guard officers found four of the bodies washed ashore three days later. The soldiers were buried on a plot of land next to a family’s cemetery on land donated to Britain. The Coast Guard still maintains the grave sites and flies a British flag over the graves. Every year on the anniversary of the sailors’ deaths, there is a ceremony to honor the British sailors. The adjacent village cemetery also provides an interesting look back into Ocracoke Island’s past.

The Blackbeard Museum at Teach’s Hole
Irvin Garrish Highway
(252) 928-1718
Since 1992 this shop and pirate exhibit has delighted visitors of all ages. The life-like re-creation of Blackbeard is a highlight of a museum also featuring weapons, old bottles, original art, pirate flags and a hand-crafted model of the Adventure, Blackbeard’s ship. Take time to browse the exhibit, enjoy the history and shop for a pirate souvenir to take back home.

Located on Irving Garrish Highway across from the Variety Store, there is a large parking area. Teaches Hole is open daily, Memorial Day through Labor Day, and is closed on Sundays March through May and September through November.

Ocracoke Lighthouse
Lighthouse Road
Ocracoke Lighthouse may be the shortest of the four Outer Banks lighthouses but that only makes it all the more charming. About 70 feet tall, the whitewashed tower sits on a lawn of flawless green surrounded by a white picket fence, outbuildings and a quaint keeper’s cottage, creating a picturesque scene of old island life. Built in 1823, this is the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina and the second-oldest in the nation. It is still in operation, and its beam can be seen 14 miles out to sea. During the summer season, docents are often on hand to answer questions and offer tours of the lighthouse, though climbing is not permitted.

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Springer’s Point
Loop Road
Springer’s Point covers about 90 acres of maritime forest bordering Pamlico Sound near South Point. In 2002 after 10 years of research and negotiation, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust purchased a 31-acre tract of this land and established a nature preserve. A high point of land overlooking the inlet, Springer’s is believed to be the site of the earliest settlements on the island. Supposedly Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach, met up with some fellow pirates here shortly before his 1718 death for several days of rum drinking, a pig roast, bonfires and music. He was discovered at his hangout in November and beheaded in a bloody battle. The deep hole just off the point is a popular fishing spot and still called “Teach’s Hole.”

Today the preserve is available for more serene pleasures. A half-mile stroll along the groomed trail takes you among the gnarled and ancient live oaks and maritime evergreen forest to the water’s edge, where a rookery of heron, egret and ibises can be spotted to the east. Along the trail visitors will see an old well, all that is left of a former home site. You should also take time to notice the amazing fences made of natural wood and vines. The inimitable Sam Jones, who once owned the property, is buried here, next to his horse.

Parking is not available, and you must walk or bike to access the property. Donations supporting maritime forest restoration can be made at the Ocracoke Preservation Society.

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Ocracoke Pony Pens
Irvin Garrish Hwy.
There are many theories about how ponies found their way to Ocracoke Island. Some say they arrived on English ships during 16th-century exploration, others say they were victims of Spanish shipwrecks and some say they were simply livestock for the locals. However they got here, the ponies roamed the island freely for at least two centuries and were very much a part of the island lifestyle in days gone by. The local Boy Scouts even rode them, making them the only mounted troop in the country.

When N.C. Highway 12 was paved in 1957, cars and ponies began to collide. The National Park Service wanted to get rid of the entire herd, but the islanders protested and the Park Service agreed to contain some of the ponies on the island. In 1959, they developed the Ocracoke Pony Pens, a 180-acre pasture area that today houses about 24 ponies. Several ponies are rotated up to the front pasture so that visitors can always get a look at these unusual equines. The Ocracoke ponies have distinctive physical characteristics: five lumbar vertebrae instead of the six found in most horses, 17 ribs instead of 18 and a unique shape, posture, color, size and weight.
The pens are located on N.C. 12 about 7 miles north of the village. It’s free to visit, but donations are welcomed to help pay for the food and veterinary care of the ponies. Remember: The ponies are not tame, and they may try to kick or bite you if you try to feed or touch them.

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Hammock Hills Nature Trail
Irvin Garrish Highway
The pens are located on N.C. 12 about 7 miles north of the village. It’s free to visit, but donations are welcomed to help pay for the food and veterinary care of the ponies. Remember: The ponies are not tame, and they may try to kick or bite you if you try to feed or touch them.

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Portsmouth Island
Portsmouth Island, just across the inlet from Ocracoke Island, is an enchanting place to visit. This uninhabited island is rugged and remote, one of the last Atlantic coast islands that is free of development, thanks to its status as part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. There is much to do on this island, all of it free and simple, filled with history and the allure of the natural world.

On the north end of the island is a veritable ghost town known as Portsmouth Village. The village was once one of the largest settlements on the Outer Banks, though no one lives there now, save a caretaker. Portsmouth Village was established in 1753 on the shores of Ocracoke Inlet, and it was predominantly a “lightering” village. Large ships that used Ocracoke Inlet as a major trade route to the mainland would have to be unloaded to pass through the inlet and the shallow sounds and then reloaded as they found deeper waters. The residents of Portsmouth Village did the lightering of the load by moving goods to several smaller flatboats and then reloading the ships a ways down the water. A large community sprang up around this business, with a post office, a church, a school and many homes.

In 1846 Hatteras Inlet opened in a hurricane and was deeper and safer than Ocracoke Inlet. The shipping route shifted to the north, and the Portsmouth villagers had to find other ways to make a living. Later, during the Civil War, many islanders fled to the mainland to avoid advancing Union troops and never came back after the war. Portsmouth Village’s population continued to decline until there were only three residents left in 1970. In 1971, one of them died and the other two left the island reluctantly. In 1976 Portsmouth Village was saved when Cape Lookout National Seashore was established. The village is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Many of the buildings have been restored, and visitors can enter the church, Coast Guard station, school house and post office for a peek at old island life. The interiors look as if the people have just left, and you can look into the windows of some old buildings and see the villagers’ former belongings. There is also a visitor center in a restored house where you’ll find restrooms and exhibits on the island’s history. You can walk from the village to the beach, though it is a long walk so be prepared. The beach at Portsmouth Island is expansive and clean, and the shelling is outstanding.

Conveniences are few on Portsmouth Island. Restrooms are available, but drinking water and food are not. Bring your own, plus sunscreen and insect repellent. The mosquitoes are voracious on Portsmouth Island. The island is only accessible by boat. See Recreation for information on Portsmouth Island ferry services and boat rentals.

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Ocracoke Attractions, Recreation, Performances and Events

Looking for something to do on Ocracoke Island? You won't have trouble finding fun here.

Running

The Ocrafolk School Begun in 2007, the Ocrafolk School invites participants to join week-long workshops during the spring and fall in arts, crafts, cooking, music, local history and sailing in a relaxed island setting. For a schedule and more information, contact molassescreek@embarqmail.com.

Also don’t miss the Rumgagger Pirate show on Tuesdays at Deepwater Theater, featuring tall tales and songs of the sea, and on Fridays, the amazing songwriting talents of Coyote and Noah Paley.

Doors opens at 7:30 and shows begin at 8 p.m. Ticket prices are around $10-15 for adults and $5-7 for children. (MC/Visa are accepted; there are no advance ticket sales.)

If you visit the island in early December, look for posters announcing the Deepwater Theater Christmas Show.

The Beach on Ocracoke Island

The Ocrafolk School
Begun in 2007, the Ocrafolk School invites participants to join week-long workshops during the spring and fall in arts, crafts, cooking, music, local history and sailing in a relaxed island setting. For a schedule and more information, contact molassescreek@embarqmail.com.