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Old Posted Aug 7, 2019, 9:17 PM
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Cirrus Cirrus is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2001
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North Carolina 2019: DUCK & ROANOKE ISLAND LOST COLONY

Cirrus' North Carolina Series:
Today, Duck and Roanoke Island. Duck is a beach town. Roanoke Island is home to the first attempt by England to colonize North America (it failed), decades before the successful colonies at Jamestown and Plymouth.

Here's Duck

The Outer Banks ("OBX") are North Carolina's version of the beach town strip that most Atlantic states have. They're on a narrow collection of barrier islands, separated from the mainland by Currituck Sound and Pamlico Sound. The real center of OBX population & activity is the section from roughly Nags Head to Kitty Hawk (of Wright Brothers' fame). Duck is a little north of there, and is a lot quieter. It's the OBX version of Hamptons, compared to Nags Head's Jersey Shore.

Most of the town is just big houses. Most of which, I take it, are seasonal rentals. I'm always there during the off-season.








I'll impose one single beach photo on you:




Downtown Duck, as it were, is on the Currituck Sound side rather than the ocean side. It's a collection of buildings that from the only road look like strip malls. But the "main street" is really the boardwalk along the sound.


All photos in this thread are mine EXCEPT this one. This one is from Jack on Flickr.




You can just make out the main land in this photo. It's about 4 miles away as the crow flies.




A lot of people go to Duck. But let's talk about what I think is a lot more interesting:

Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island is just west of the OBX barrier islands, protected by them from the Atlantic. The British established a colony on Roanoke Island in 1584, 23 years before Jamestown, and 36 years before the Pilgrims made it to Plymouth.

The "lost colony" ceased to exist sometime by 1590. Archaeologists have never conclusively proven what happened to the colonists, although there is evidence that at least some of them went to live with nearby Croatan Native Americans.

Today the northern tip of the island is a national historic site. The exact location of the colony is unknown; it may even have eroded into the sea. But there are reconstructions, including earthworks built in 1950 to represent our best guess of the colony's fort.






The nearby town of Manteo dates from the 19th century, and is a cute historic fishing village.








In Manteo there's a reconstruction of a 16th Century ship.




As well as a prominent monument to Virginia Dare, the first English person born in America. Her fate is unknown.




Back near the fort historic site, there's a big formal garden named the Elizabethan Gardens. It has nothing really to do with the historic site except for a vague theme. But it's nice and very photogenic.












Thanks for reading. See you next time.

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