U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Professional Paper 1827

By Robert Dolan, Harry Lins, and Jodi Jones Smith

The

of

Outer Banks

By Robert Dolan, Harry Lins, and Jodi Jones Smith

The

of

Professional Paper 1827

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Outer Banks
U.S. Department of the Interior

SALLY JEWELL, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Suzette M. Kimball, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2016

For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment, visit 

http://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS.

For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit 

http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod

To order this and other USGS information products, visit

http://store.usgs.gov

Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. 

Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner.

Suggested citation:

Dolan, R., Lins, H.F., and Smith, J.J., 2016, The Outer Banks of North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1827, 153 p.

https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1827

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dolan, Robert, author. | Lins, Harry F., author. | Smith, Jodi Jones,

 1966- author. | Geological Survey (U.S.), issuing body.

Title: The Outer Banks of North Carolina / by Robert Dolan, Harry Lins, and

 Jodi Jones Smith.

Other titles: U.S. Geological Survey professional paper ; 1827.

Description: [Second edition] | Reston, Virginia : U.S. Department of the

 Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, [2017] | Series: Professional paper /

 U.S. Geological Survey ; 1827 | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016052141| ISBN 9781411340978 | ISBN 1411340973

Subjects: LCSH: Coast changes--North Carolina--Outer Banks. | Storms--North

 Carolina--Outer Banks. | Shore protection--North Carolina--Outer Banks. |

 Land use--North Carolina--Outer Banks.

Classification: LCC GB459.4 .D64 2017 | DDC 333.91/716097561--dc23 | SUDOC I

 19.16:1827

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052141

ISSN 1044-9612 (print)

ISSN 2330-7102 (online)

ISBN 978-1-4113-4097-8
Foreword

The U.S. Geological Survey published the first edition of “The Outer Banks of North Carolina”1 in 

1986 as a companion to “Geographical Analysis of Fenwick Island, Maryland, a Middle Atlantic 

Coast Barrier Island.”2

 These two reports, issued respectively as U.S. Geological Survey Professional 

Papers 1177–B and 1177–A, were produced to demonstrate and promote the application of Earth-science 

information to sound environmental planning. Since its original release, “The Outer Banks of North Carolina” 

has been through four printings and has become one of the U.S. Geological Survey’s most popular books, 

particularly among those who vacation on the Outer Banks.

Although much of the information contained in the original report has a timeless quality from an historical geology perspective, 

much of the report describes very dynamic processes; changes in barrier island landscapes are common. Additionally, in the two 

decades after its initial release, human development of the Outer Banks expanded more than during the previous three centuries. 

As a result, many sections of the report were out of date and in need of revision.

This second edition of “The Outer Banks of North Carolina” is not simply a revised or updated version of the original; it is a rewritten 

book containing new and expanded sections, more-detailed illustrations, and current information on coastal science. This book 

collects into one volume sketches, diagrams, and historical photographs that richly illustrate the natural and cultural history of the 

Outer Banks. In addition to being a valuable source of scientific information on the natural history and dynamics of these unique 

barrier islands, as well as on the effects of human activities on them, this book will deepen the experience of everyone who visits 

the Outer Banks.

Finally, I was saddened to learn that two weeks after this book was approved for publication, the senior author, Robert Dolan, 

passed away. Bob was my major professor in my Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia; from him I gained a deep appreciation 

of the forces that shape the coast and the inherent majesty of our barrier islands. Although Bob had spent his professional career as 

a member of the faculty at the University of Virginia, he had been a collaborator, consultant, and friend to numerous researchers and 

managers at the U.S. Geological Survey for nearly 50 years. His passing is a loss for all of us who had the pleasure of working with 

him during those years.

Suzette M. Kimball

Director, U.S. Geological Survey

1

Dolan, Robert, and Lins, H.F., 1986, The Outer Banks of North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1177–B, 47 p.

2

Dolan, Robert, Lins, H.F., and Stewart, John, 1980, Geographical analysis of Fenwick Island, Maryland, a Middle Atlantic coast barrier island: 

U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1177–A, 24 p.
Acknowledgments

Our thanks to the following individuals who contributed to the revision of 

this Professional Paper:

Marcia Lyons and Jim Ebert of the National Park Service; Laura Barry, K. Leigh Rhodes, and 

Tara Leavell Illgner of the University of Virginia; David Stick and Bill Harris, longtime residents of 

the Outer Banks; Bill Birkemeier and Carl Miller of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research 

Facility in Duck, North Carolina; Mark Brooks, Peter Childs, and Ryan Boyles of the State Climate 

Office of North Carolina; Michael Rikard of the Cape Lookout National Seashore; and John T. Wells 

and Jim Craig of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences.

Thanks also go to Rob Thieler and Loren Wehmeyer, both of the U.S. Geological Survey, whose 

careful technical reviews significantly improved the quality of this report. We also acknowledge 

Jane Carlson’s editorial assistance.

Finally, we extend our sincerest thanks and appreciation to Carol Quesenberry, graphic designer, 

whose layout brings to life the beauty, mystery, and many moods of the Outer Banks, and to 

Mary-Margaret Coates, whose keen eye and understanding of geology transformed this book into 

what we hope will be a pleasurable read for all who enjoy the Outer Banks experience.


Contents

Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ iii

Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................................................................................................ iv

Abstract........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Agents of Change in the Outer Banks ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7

Part I: Natural History of the Outer Banks .......................................................................................................................11

Barrier Island Landforms: An Introduction to Geographic Features of the Outer Banks................................................................................ 11

Beaches................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11

Inlets...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Washover Deposits ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 12

Sounds.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 13

Dunes.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Capes and Shoals ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks................................................................................................................................. 16

Oceanic and Atmospheric Forces ................................................................................................................................................................... 17

Wind............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 17

Waves .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Tides............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19

Storms.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Storm Surge....................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Outer Banks Storms, 1985–2004 ..................................................................................................................................................... 23

Hurricanes on the Outer Banks...................................................................................................................................................... 24

Northeast Storms.............................................................................................................................................................................. 35

Sea-Level Change...................................................................................................................................................................................... 39

Dominant Sedimentary Processes .................................................................................................................................................................. 40

Longshore Sediment Transport ............................................................................................................................................................... 40

Inlet Dynamics............................................................................................................................................................................................ 41

Overwash .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 43

Wind Transport........................................................................................................................................................................................... 46

Geological History of Barrier Island Formation ...................................................................................................................................................... 50

Beach Configuration and Beach Erosion ................................................................................................................................................................ 54

Shoreline Configuration..................................................................................................................................................................................... 54

Shoreline Erosion and Deposition.................................................................................................................................................................... 57
viii 

Measurement of Coastal Change .................................................................................................................................................................... 58

Management of Erosional Coasts.................................................................................................................................................................... 60

Barrier Island Life ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 62

Life Zones on the Outer Banks ......................................................................................................................................................................... 68

Native Vegetation ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 73

Endangered and Threatened Species ............................................................................................................................................................ 75

Part II: Human History and Modern Development of the Outer Banks.......................................................................77

History ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 77

Aboriginal People................................................................................................................................................................................................ 77

European Settlement.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 78

Industrial Beginnings ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 80

Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations............................................................................................................................................................... 80

Island Engineering and the Beginning of Tourism......................................................................................................................................... 88

After the Civil War............................................................................................................................................................................................... 89

Aviation History ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 90

Development of Modern Tourism..................................................................................................................................................................... 91

National Seashores............................................................................................................................................................................................ 92

Shipwrecks .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 94

Shoreline Erosion and the Lost Colony ........................................................................................................................................................... 98

Engineering the Outer Banks................................................................................................................................................................................... 102

North Carolina Coastal Regulations .............................................................................................................................................................. 104

Economic Considerations of Coastal Engineering ...................................................................................................................................... 105

Engineering Projects on the Outer Banks .................................................................................................................................................... 106

Dune Stabilization Program ................................................................................................................................................................... 106

North Carolina Highway 12 .................................................................................................................................................................... 110

Oregon Inlet .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 112

Engineering on Cape Lookout National Seashore ............................................................................................................................. 120

Moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse ................................................................................................................................................ 123

Land Management Considerations......................................................................................................................................................................... 126

Recent Trends in Land Use.............................................................................................................................................................................. 126

Freshwater......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 131

Opportunities for Future Research ......................................................................................................................................................................... 133

References.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 134

Glossary....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 142

Additional Photograph Credits ................................................................................................................................................................................ 148
 ix

Map Poster

(In pocket) The Outer Banks of North Carolina 

Figures

1. Map of Outer Banks of North Carolina......................................................................................................................................................3

2. Photograph of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1981 .....................................................................................................................................5

3. Diagram of cross-sectional profile of a beach ......................................................................................................................................11

4. Map of modern inlets of North Carolina’s Outer Banks .......................................................................................................................12

5. Photograph of washover fans on northeast Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, after Hurricane Isabel, 2003 ............................13

6. Photograph of dunes at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 1975 ............................................................................................................15

7. Photograph of sand layers in a dune.......................................................................................................................................................16

8. Diagram of the four primary methods of sediment transport on barrier islands .............................................................................17

9. Photograph of downed trees, Buxton, North Carolina.........................................................................................................................17

10. Diagram of factors affecting water level................................................................................................................................................19

11. Diagram of representative tidal curve for Hampton Roads, Virginia .................................................................................................20

12. Diagram of factors and time scales that combine to create observed sea level ............................................................................21

13. Photograph of storm waves cutting into a beach, March 1989 ..........................................................................................................22

14. Diagram of storminess by month at Duck, North Carolina ..................................................................................................................23

15. Aerial view of hurricane clouds superposed on map of eastern United States ..............................................................................25

16. Diagram of 20th century trends in hurricane-caused deaths and property damage......................................................................26

17. Map of path of Hurricane Dennis, 1999...................................................................................................................................................30

18. Photograph of damage from Hurricane Dennis at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1999......................................................................30

19. Photograph of damage from Hurricane Isabel at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 2003 .......................................................................31

20. Photograph of Hatteras Village and north breach caused by Hurricane Isabel, September 2003...............................................31

21. Photograph of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews working to close breach (inlet) north of Hatteras Village, 2003 .............32

22. Photograph of inlet cut by Hurricane Isabel and closed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2003 ................................................33

23. Photographs of Jennette’s fishing pier, Nag’s Head, before and after Hurricane Isabel, 2003.....................................................33

24. Photographs of damage caused by Hurricane Isabel at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 2003...........................................................35

25. Photograph of collapsed cottage, South Nags Head, 1987 .................................................................................................................36

26. Photograph of damage caused by Ash Wednesday storm, March 1962 ..........................................................................................38

27. Map of approximate United States Atlantic coast and Bahamas shorelines 15,000 years ago....................................................39

28. Aerial photograph and graphs of inlet features and associated sedimentation processes..........................................................42

29. Map of inlets of the Outer Banks of North Carolina............................................................................................................................. 44

30. Photographs of damage near Cape Hatteras caused by storm surge, 1973 ................................................................................... 45
x 

31. Photograph of maritime forest, Nags Head woods.............................................................................................................................. 47

32. Photograph of Jockey’s Ridge, near Nags Head, North Carolina ..................................................................................................... 48

33. Lidar image of Jockey’s Ridge, near Nags Head, North Carolina ..................................................................................................... 49

34. Diagram of relation between Holocene marine transgression and evolution of a barrier island................................................ 50

35. Diagram of evolution of North Carolina barrier islands ...................................................................................................................... 52

36. Diagram of current and relict dune ridges ............................................................................................................................................ 53

37. Aerial photograph of large crescentic landforms................................................................................................................................ 55

38. Photographs of small crescentic landforms ......................................................................................................................................... 56

39. Photograph of pattern of storm surge overwash, Hatteras Island, 1962.......................................................................................... 56

40. Photograph of remnants of forest stands exposed on ocean-facing beaches............................................................................... 59

41. Map of current shoreline and shoreline at four times in the past..................................................................................................... 60

42. Map of shoreline change available from North Carolina Division of Coastal Management ........................................................ 61

43. Photograph of low-lying sea rocket (Cakile edentula)........................................................................................................................ 62

44. Photograph of salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) .............................................................................................................. 63

45. Diagrams of ideal profiles of a natural and a stabilized barrier island............................................................................................. 68

46. Photograph of washover fans on a barrier island in its natural state, Shackleford Banks .......................................................... 69

47. Photograph of live oak on Shackleford Banks, 2002............................................................................................................................ 70

48. Photograph of view from the top of Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1901 ..................................................................... 73

49. Photograph of federally listed threatened plant seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus)..................................................... 74

50. Photograph of piping plover with chicks ............................................................................................................................................... 75

51. Engraving of “A cheiff Lorde of Roanoac” ............................................................................................................................................ 77

52. Map of the Outer Banks during the colonial period............................................................................................................................. 79

53. Architectural drawing of Bodie Island Lighthouse, 1871 .................................................................................................................... 81

54. Photograph of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in its original location...................................................................................................... 82

55. Photograph of Cape Lookout Lighthouse, 2002..................................................................................................................................... 83

56. Photograph of Diamond Shoals Lightship ............................................................................................................................................. 84

57. Photographs of original Roanoke Marshes screw-pile lighthouse and current reproduction at the 

Roanoke Island Maritime Museum......................................................................................................................................................... 85

58. Photograph of U.S. Life Saving Station, Kill Devil Hills, 1902.............................................................................................................. 86

59. Photographs of original Beebe/McLellan surfboat at Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site................................. 87

60. Drawing of first dredge used to maintain inlets on the Outer Banks................................................................................................ 88

61. Photograph of Nags Head Hotel, 1898 ................................................................................................................................................... 89

62. Photograph of Wright glider, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 1902 ......................................................................................................... 90

63. Photograph of Billy Mitchell Airfield, Hatteras, North Carolina......................................................................................................... 90

64. Photograph of an original home in Virginia Dare Shores subdivision, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, 2008...............................91

65. Map of national seashores on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.............................................................................................................93
 xi

66. Photograph of beached vessel Antonin Dvorak, 1959..........................................................................................................................94

67. Photograph of USS Monitor in the James River, Virginia, 1862 ..........................................................................................................95

68. Photograph of USS Monitor on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.....................................................................................................96

69. Map of shipwreck appearing to be Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge ......................................................................97

70. Map of location of historical Fort Raleigh, Roanoke Island.................................................................................................................99

71. Diagrams of northern Roanoke Island showing historical shoreline positions and amount of shoreline erosion ..................100

72. Aerial photograph of northern Roanoke Island, 1994 .........................................................................................................................101

73. Photograph of rock revetment, northern end of Roanoke Island, 2003 ...........................................................................................101

74. Photograph of seawall, Galveston, Texas ............................................................................................................................................103

75. Photograph of beach nourishment at Kure Beach, North Carolina.................................................................................................103

76. Photograph of workers planting grass behind sand fences, Cape Hatteras, late 1930s..............................................................106

77. Photographs of Bodie Island Lighthouse,1955 and 2001....................................................................................................................107

78. Photograph of stabilized and narrowed beach, Kitty Hawk–Kill Devil Hills area, 2001 ................................................................108

79. Photograph of South Nags Head home in the active surf zone, 2003..............................................................................................109

80. Photograph of North Carolina Highway 12 encroached upon by eroding beach..........................................................................111

81. Photograph of old roadbed and bridges created for “New Inlet,” formed on Pea Island during the 1930s.............................111

82. Aerial photograph of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, 2001...................................................................................................................112

83. Photograph of Oregon Inlet and Bonner Bridge, 2005........................................................................................................................113

84. Photograph series of the closing of Hattteras Beach following Hurricane Isabel, September 2003.........................................114

85. Photograph of terminal groin, northern end of Hatteras Island at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, 2005 ........................117

86. Photograph of sand dredged from Oregon Inlet onto the beach at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge ................................118

87. Photograph of sidecasting dredge, Oregon Inlet, 2005 ......................................................................................................................118

88. Map of proposed (and rejected) plan to construct jetties on both sides of Oregon Inlet............................................................119

89. Map and photographs of evolution of Cape Lookout after construction of a jetty in 1915...........................................................121

90. Photographs of reopening of historic New Drum Inlet on Core Banks, 1971 .................................................................................122

91. Photograph of erosion after a channel shift encroaches upon Cape Lookout Lighthouse and

keeper’s quarters, 2002............................................................................................................................................................................122

92. Photographs of transport of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse about one-quarter mile farther inland, 1999.......................................123

93. Photographs of original and current location of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, 1999........................................................................124

94. Photograph of moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse........................................................................................................................125

95. Photographs of land use near the Wright Memorial, 1940s and 2001 .............................................................................................128

96. Photographs of land use at Whalebone Junction, northern boundary of Cape Hatteras National Seashore,

1958 and 2002.............................................................................................................................................................................................130

97. Photograph of development encroaching on a marsh on Roanoke Island.....................................................................................131

98. Diagram of cross section of barrier island aquifer.............................................................................................................................132
xii 

Tables

1. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale...............................................................................................................................................................24

2. Hurricanes that made landfall on North Carolina’s Outer Banks (direct hit), 1851–2004................................................................27

3. Hurricanes that affected but did not make landfall on North Carolina’s Outer Banks (indirect hit), 1878–2004.........................28

4. Historical hurricanes affecting the Outer Banks of North Carolina, 1586–1846...............................................................................29

5. Dolan-Davis Intensity Scale......................................................................................................................................................................37

Conversion Factors

SI to Inch/Pound 

Multiply By To obtain

Length

millimeter (mm) 0.03937 inch (in.)

centimeter (cm) 0.3937 inch (in.)

meter (m) 3.281 foot (ft) 

meter (m) 1.094 yard (yd)

kilometer (km) 0.6214 mile (mi)

kilometer (km) 0.5400 mile, nautical (knot) 

Volume

cubic meter (m3

) 1.308 cubic yard (yd3) 

Flow rate

meter per year (m/yr) 3.281 foot per year (ft/yr) 

kilometer per hour (km/h) 0.6214 mile per hour (mph)

Temperature in degrees Celsius (°C) may be converted to degrees Fahrenheit (°F) as follows:

°F=(1.8×°C)+32

Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) may be converted to degrees Celsius (°C) as follows:

°C=(°F − 32)/1.8

Vertical coordinates are referenced to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88).

Elevation, as used in this report, refers to distance above the vertical datum.
 xiii

Abbreviations Used in This Report 

cm centimeter

ft foot

ft/yr feet per year

in. inch

km kilometer

km/h kilometers per hour

knot nautical miles per hour

lidar light detection and ranging m meter m3 cubic meter

m/yr meters per year

mi mile

mph miles per hour

yd

3

 cubic yard

GPS Geographic Positioning System

The Outer Banks of North Carolina 

By Robert Dolan,1 Harry Lins,2 and Jodi Jones Smith1

Abstract

The Outer Banks of North Carolina are excellent examples of the nearly 300 barrier islands that rim the Atlantic and Gulf 

coasts of the United States. These low, sandy islands are among the most dynamic natural landscapes occupied by man. The physical 

interface between land and sea is in constant motion. Each variation in sea level, waves, currents, and sediment supply alters the 

land-sea interface. Beach sands move offshore, onshore, and along the shore in the direction of the prevailing longshore currents. In 

this way, sandy coasts continuously adjust to different tide, wave, and current conditions. The movement of sand by waves and 

currents reshapes the islands along the coast, and rising sea level causes the islands to migrate landward. 

Despite such changes, barrier islands are of considerable environmental importance. The Outer Banks are home to diverse 

natural ecosystems that are adapted to the coastal environment. These islands can be harsh places for plants and animals. Their 

sandy soil is nutrient poor; hurricanes and northeast storms cause high winds, flooding, and sediment overwash; plants must 

tolerate salt spray and rapidly draining soils; and island resources limit terrestrial animals in both size and number. It is not surprising, 

therefore, that native species tend to be robust enough to endure these conditions. Many plants are specifically adapted to withstand salt 

spray and periodic saltwater flooding, while many are also succulent and can tolerate the islands’ well-drained sandy soil. The 

principal forms of animal life include mammals, reptiles, and birds—the latter by far the most abundant. The Outer Banks provide 

an important stopover for birds on the Atlantic flyway, and many species inhabit the islands year round. In addition, Outer Banks 

beaches provide an important nesting habitat for five endangered or threatened sea turtle species.

European explorers discovered North Carolina’s barrier islands in the 16th century, although the islands were not permanently 

settled until the middle 17th century. Prior to the mid-18th century, a few wealthy businessmen controlled most of the land on 

the Outer Banks. By the end of the Revolutionary War, however, this changed as the larger tracts of land were subdivided into small 

plots. By the early 19th century, shipbuilding and lumber industries were among the most successful, until forest resources were 

depleted. Eventually commercial fishing became more prominent, and it expanded considerably after the Civil War. By the time 

of the Great Depression, little industry existed on the Outer Banks. In response to the effects of a severe hurricane in 1933, the 

National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps proposed a massive sand-fixation program to stabilize the moving 

sand because storm waves could sweep across the entire width of some sections of the islands from ocean to sound. Between 

1933 and 1940, workers in this program constructed more than 900 kilometers (600 miles) of sand fencing on 185 kilometers (115 miles) 

of beach. To further stabilize the dunes, they also planted 13 million square meters (140 million square feet) of grass and 

2.5 million seedlings, trees, and shrubs.

1

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

2

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA
2 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

In Nature’s infinite 

book of secrecy

A little I can read

—William Shakespeare (1606–1607), 

Antony and Cleopatra

In 1937, Congress authorized the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which was completed in 1953. This seashore encompasses 

most of the Outer Banks between Nags Head and Ocracoke Inlet, except for several local villages and the Pea Island National 

Wildlife Refuge. The two primary reasons for its establishment were to preserve one of the world’s best examples of a barrier 

island environment, and to minimize the impact of erosion that was becoming a serious problem. In 1966, Congress authorized the 

Cape Lookout National Seashore to ensure that Core and Shackleford Banks would not undergo major development and could be 

preserved in their natural state.

The rate of population growth along the Outer Banks in recent decades has been among the highest in North Carolina. 

Between 1990 and 2010, the permanent population grew from approximately 48,000 to nearly 58,000, an increase of 21 percent. 

More important, however, has been the growth in vacationers. In 1980, prior to a boom in vacation-home development, roughly 

100,000 to 150,000 people visited the Outer Banks each week during the summer. In 2008, this number had grown to more than a 

quarter of a million visitors during a typical week. Municipalities now need to provide services to a population as much as six times 

as large as their permanent resident population.

Although human activities have dominated the landscape changes observed on the Outer Banks for the past century or two, 

these changes must be understood in the context of the prevailing atmospheric, oceanic, and geologic processes that have governed 

the form and function of these islands for thousands of years. It is these natural processes that imbue the Outer Banks with their 

unique and dichotomous qualities of tranquility and tumult. In the presence of human occupation, it is these processes that make the 

islands one of the highest natural-hazard risk zones along the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

Introduction

The Outer Banks are a long arc of low sandy islands off the coast of North Carolina. The islands are prime examples of 

the 300 barrier islands rimming the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, formed where the relatively flat Atlantic and Gulf 

coastal plains intersect a wide submarine continental shelf. Barrier islands form between the open ocean and mainland coast and 

are generally less than 5 kilometers (km) (3 miles (mi)) wide. Sand dunes are the highest topographic feature of these long, narrow 

islands, although they usually rise only 3 to 6 meters (m) (10 to 20 feet (ft)) above sea level. These low, sandy islands are among 

the most dynamic natural landscapes that people inhabit.

The Virginia–North Carolina border is the northern boundary of the Outer Banks, but experts differ on the southern terminus. 

Geologically distinct northern and southern provinces of Outer Banks islands lie offshore of the North Carolina coast. Islands 

and mainland converge at Cape Lookout (map poster and fig. 1), causing some geologists to define Cape Lookout as the southern 

terminus (S.R. Riggs, East Carolina University, personal commun., 2005). Other geologists use Bogue Inlet (slightly west of the 

map area of fig. 1) as the southern terminus, because it marks the end of Cape Lookout’s lower “barrier limb” (Moslow and Heron, 

1994). The State of North Carolina separates its coast into commercial areas, and its maps show the Outer Banks abutting the 

“Crystal Coast” along Core Banks on Cape Lookout National Seashore (North Carolina Department of Commerce, 2008). In this 

report, we use Beaufort Inlet (map poster), west of Shackleford Banks, which is “the south and west boundary of the area most 

widely thought of as the Outer Banks” (Stick, 1958). Thus, the Outer Banks extends a total distance of 345 km (215 mi).

The dynamic nature of beaches and dunes is part of the aesthetic and recreational appeal of Atlantic Coast barrier islands. 

Processes affecting the islands span time scales from hours to decades, and beaches vary during each 24-hour tidal cycle. Periodic 

storm surges, shoreline recession in response to long-term rise in sea level, shifts in storm tracks, and island-wide modifications 

associated with human activities all contribute to these changes. Storms may damage or destroy private landholdings and disrupt 

communication and transportation. Despite these problems, and with a few exceptions, development has proceeded as if barrier 

islands are stable or can be engineered to remain stable.
Introduction 3

Figure 1. The Outer Banks of North Carolina.

VIRGINIA/

NORTH CAROLINA

BOUNDARY

Kitty Hawk

Oregon

Inlet

Cape

Hatteras

Ocracoke Island

Ocracoke Inlet

Cape Lookout

Beaufort

Inlet

Pamlico Sound

Albemarle Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

0

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

10 20 MILES

34°30’

35°30’

36°00’

36°30’

35°00’

76°30’ 75°30’
4 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

The Outer Banks, particularly the ocean side, has always been a hazardous place 

to live. Early inhabitants recognized this fact and settled on the more stable parts of 

the islands well inland from the ocean. During the 20th century, the pattern of land use 

changed and buildings were constructed much closer to the ocean-side shoreline. Since 

the 1960s, an increase in development on the islands has exacerbated the situation. The 

year-round population increased from approximately 3,000 in 1960 to 35,000 in 2008; 

during the summer months, the total population may exceed 3 million. Three segments 

of the islands have attracted the majority of high-density growth: from south to north, 

Hatteras Village and Buxton; Roanoke Island, including the town of Manteo; and the 

strip of development extending from Nags Head to Duck and ending at Corolla.

Although some people settled some of the Atlantic and Gulf coast barrier islands 

as early as the colonial period and used others as sources of building materials for 

coastal defense sites during World War II, changing economic and social conditions 

following the war made the islands more desirable for development. However, time 

has not changed the natural processes and hazards associated with developing barrier 

islands. It is just as risky today as it was a century ago to build a house on shifting 

sand. The danger from hurricanes and severe northeast storms is just as great and, if 

one considers the increasing population density on some of the islands, the potential 

for disaster is even greater. Clearly, the desire to be near the water’s edge has led 

growing numbers of people to disregard the greatly increased risk to life and property 

associated with inhabiting low-lying islands (fig. 2).

All barrier islands result from the interaction of sand and physical processes, a surplus 

of sand supplied to the coast, and waves large enough (generated by winds strong enough) 

to move that sand. Changes in any of these factors can alter the overall relationship. 

When undeveloped, barrier islands adapt to such changes through a process known as 

dynamic equilibrium. However, adding pavement and buildings to the islands hampers 

this natural adjustment, and changes in various natural physical processes can lead to 

abnormal adjustments that may destroy highways, homes, and businesses. 

Figure 2 (facing page). Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, November 1981. 

Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Introduction 5
6 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

The constant movement of sand by waves and currents constantly reshapes the islands along the coast, creating instability, 

and rising sea level causes the islands to migrate landward (Dolan, Hayden, and others, 1977). Despite such positional instability, 

however, barrier islands are of great environmental importance. The estuaries and sounds behind them are among the richest and 

most biologically productive ecosystems known: they provide nurseries, shelter, and food for many fish, shellfish, and wildlife 

species (Paerl and others, 2001).

The Federal Government has preserved some barrier islands in an undeveloped state. Ten of the United States’ most scenic 

undisturbed islands or island groups have been set aside by the National Park Service as national seashores: they are (from north 

to south on the East Coast) Cape Cod, Fire Island, Assateague Island, Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, Cumberland Island, Canaveral, 

Gulf Islands, and Padre Island, and (in California) Point Reyes. Other coastal areas are preserved as national wildlife refuges. Many 

coastal states have at least one barrier island under such Federal protection. Along the Outer Banks, nearly two thirds of the total 

land area is preserved as national and state parks, seashores, and monuments. These preservation decisions ensure that future 

generations will have a natural coastal environment both to enjoy and to study.

 Understanding the natural dynamics of barrier islands is key to recognizing and estimating both the short- and long-term 

hazards of living on them. This report summarizes how the barrier islands are formed, how they have changed, and why they will 

continue to change in spite of efforts to alter the natural processes that shape them. The Outer Banks of North Carolina are used as 

an example, but the principles outlined here are applicable to all barrier islands along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
Agents of Change in the Outer Banks 7

Agents of Change in the Outer Banks

Barrier islands, such as the Outer Banks of North Carolina, are the destination of choice for millions of vacationers each 

year seeking tranquility in sun, surf, and sand. For many, the allure of these islands is tied to the calming and restorative properties 

of balmy breezes and the rhythmic sound of waves breaking along the shore. They seem so stable, so enduring. Yet, to geologists, 

barrier islands are among the least stable and shortest lived of all landforms. 

The story of the Outer Banks is one of continuous and inexorable change; it is a saga of sand shifting over millennia and 

centuries in response to the forces of nature and, more recently, to the activities of people. Indeed, the dynamic nature of the Outer 

Banks provides the subtext for the material contained in this book. Although many factors contribute to changes on barrier islands, 

three in particular play a critical role: sea-level change, storms, and human habitation. It is useful, therefore, to introduce these three 

issues before proceeding into the body of the book.

About 15,000 years ago, the last of the Pleistocene glacial stages was nearing its end. At that time, sea level was approximately 

110 m (360 ft) lower than today. Notably, the Outer Banks did not exist at that time and the shoreline of North Carolina was 80 

to 120 k (50–75 mi) seaward of its present location. As climate began to warm during the transition from glacial to interglacial 

conditions, ice sheets and glaciers melted and, by about 8,000 years ago, sea level had risen rapidly to a position about 5 m (16 ft) 

lower than today. The rate of sea-level rise then slowed markedly and has continued at a relatively steady rate to its position today. 

It was this change from rapid to slow sea-level rise, coupled with a surplus of beach sand that had been continuously moving with 

the migrating shoreline as sea level rose, that enabled the Outer Banks to begin forming. Thus, the importance of sea-level rise on 

barrier islands is realized over very long periods of time, centuries to millennia.

During shorter time scales, such as days, weeks, and seasons, storms are the dominant agent of change along the Outer Banks. 

Coastal storms, whether tropical or extratropical, and the waves that they produce, move enormous amounts of sand offshore, 

alongshore, and across the shore as overwash. In just a couple of days, a hurricane or a winter season northeast storm (nor’easter) 

can cut an inlet through a narrow strip of island or erode enough sand to undermine a beachfront house. The typical northeast storm 

usually removes sand from the beach and deposits it temporarily onto an underwater bar close to shore. As fair weather and calm 

seas return during the ensuing weeks, that sand gets redeposited back onto the beach. In some years, however, storms are frequent 

enough that the sand does not return to the beach between storms. In such instances, sand may be transported far enough offshore 

during a winter season that it never returns to the beach, resulting in permanent beach erosion.

In between the long-term influence of sea-level change and the short-period effects (years to decades) of storms, human activities 

play a major role in altering the Outer Banks. The appearance of the islands as seen by visitors today differs remarkably from the 

islands that the Wright Brothers saw when they tested their aircraft designs at Kill Devil Hills more than a century ago. Then, the 

Outer Banks were barren isles with few people or permanent structures. Now, it is difficult to find any expanses of undeveloped or 

unaltered land outside the national parks and national seashores. Indeed, it would be difficult today for the Wright Brothers to find 

an appropriate location in which to duplicate their pioneering efforts. And these changes affect not only our visual impression of the 

landscape, but also how natural processes such as sand transport and inlet formation take place. Roads, houses, businesses, shopping 

centers, water treatment facilities, and golf courses, as well as dozens of other indicators of human habitation, exert a major influence 

on the manner in which the Outer Banks respond to natural forces acting in both long and short terms. That influence in important 

ways also tends to reduce the islands’ natural ability to adjust to future events. 
8 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Barrier islands, when undisturbed, exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium. They get breached and overwashed, and they 

migrate in response to the high-energy processes of the atmosphere and ocean as sand moves unimpeded from the beach to the 

sound. They change, and the indigenous flora and fauna adapt to those changes. When people construct on barrier islands, however, 

dynamic equilibrium is disrupted because people, unlike flora and fauna, typically attempt to return the islands (that is, 

re-engineer them) to their prestorm conditions rather than by adjusting to the new conditions. They re-engineer, for instance, by 

returning sand deposited on roads to the beach and by repairing damaged buildings and roads. In some instances, new protective 

structures are erected to prevent damage from future storms. These efforts are an attempt to protect valuable real estate investments, 

to ensure that financial and recreational benefits continue to accrue. It is an understandable response, but it is one that conflicts with 

the intrinsic instability of barrier islands. During decades to centuries, it may be that the financial cost of attempting to keep these 

islands in an apparently stable condition becomes unjustifiable. 
Agents of Change in the Outer Banks 9

Indeed, we may ultimately recognize the wisdom of Francis Bacon who in 1620 made the following two observations: 

First, Man, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as 

he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature. Beyond this he neither knows anything nor can 

do anything. Second, and more succinctly, Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.

Barrier Island Landforms: An Introduction to Geographic Features of the Outer Banks 11

Part I:

Barrier Island Landforms: 

An Introduction to Geographic Features of the Outer Banks

The Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains are relatively flat and slope gently seaward to a wide submarine continental shelf. Wind, 

waves, and storms that combine with abundant sediment sometimes create barrier islands at the dynamic interface of land, water, 

and atmosphere. Composed almost entirely of sand, barrier islands are among Earth’s most active landforms partly because their 

physical form (their morphology) responds to countless variations in sea level, wave action, storm surge, and sediment supply. 

Because the same geologic conditions create all barrier islands, most share common geographic features, such as beaches, inlets, 

storm washover deposits, sounds, and sand dunes.

Barrier islands differ in geometry, but they are usually 3 to 30 km (2 to 20 mi) offshore and about 1.5 to 4.5 km wide (1 to 3 mi) 

wide. Sand dunes, which are usually the islands’ tallest topographic feature, are only 3 to 6 m (10 to 20 ft) high. Jockey’s Ridge 

dune near Nags Head, NC, the tallest dune system on the East Coast of the United States, has a maximum height of 24 to 30 m 

(80 to 100 ft).

Beaches

Beaches are loose deposits of sediment that accumulate along the boundary of large bodies of water. Waves, and the currents 

they produce when they reach the shallow water of the coast, combine with tides and storm surges to create beaches. Processes 

creating a beach begin offshore with waves moving landward. Where water is about 10 m (30 ft) deep, waves approaching the 

seaward face of the Outer Banks begin to feel bottom; as they move landward into shallower water they stir up sand and grow 

higher, and near the shore the waves break and drop their sand. The beach itself extends landward from 

the point of mean low water to either the beginning of permanent vegetation 

or to the next distinct geographic feature, such as a dune (fig. 3), 

and it is of two parts called the foreshore and 

the backshore. The tidal range, slope of 

the land, wave conditions, and volume 

of available sand combine to help 

determine how wide a beach will be. 

The beach’s natural sandy border 

helps to protect the main portion of 

the island from storms, just as the 

barrier island itself helps to protect 

the mainland from these same storms. 

Natural History of the Outer Banks

. . . these coastal forms 

merge and blend in a 

shifting, kaleidoscopic 

pattern in which there is 

no finality, no ultimate and 

fixed reality— earth becoming 

as fluid as the sea itself.

—Rachel Carson (1955), 

The Edge of the Sea

Figure 3. Cross-sectional profile of a beach (after Davis, 1994).

Surf zone

Mean low water

Longshore bar

Longshore bar

Berm

Primary 

(barrier) 

dune

Trough

(Extends to inner portion of the 

Nearshore

Continental Shelf)

Foreshore

Backshore

Swash

zone
12 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Inlets

An inlet is a break or opening in the barrier island that allows 

seawater to flow from the ocean side into the sound between the 

mainland and the barrier island. Although they are called “inlets,” 

from the standpoint of their actual function, inlets could just as well 

be called “outlets.” In addition to providing a return path for ocean 

water that floods through inlets during storms and high lunar tides, 

they also accommodate all freshwater that flows from rivers on the 

mainland into the sounds and then release it into the ocean. Physical 

factors such as tidal range, distance from the primary sediment source, 

and the geology underlying the island control the number of inlets. 

In the Outer Banks’ wave-dominated environments, longshore currents 

cause the inlets to migrate in the direction of drift relatively rapidly 

(Moslow and Heron, 1994). 

In the 208 km (129 mi) between the Virginia–North Carolina 

border and the southern tip of Hatteras Island, Oregon Inlet is the 

only “outlet” interrupting the islands. In the southern 124 km (77 mi) 

from Hatteras Island to Shackleford Banks, the number of inlets 

increases to six—Hatteras, Ocracoke, Old Drum, New Drum, 

Barden, and Beaufort (fig. 4).

Washover Deposits

Storms and high waves advancing inland beyond the active 

beach zone may generate overwash deposits when wave runup 

destroys the primary dune and deposits sediment in areas normally 

associated with wind-blown deposits. The water and sediment mixture 

that penetrates inland is called overwash, and the resultant deposit 

is known as a washover fan (fig. 5). Major or repeated overwash 

events produce larger depositional areas known as washover flats.

Figure 4. Modern inlets of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

VIRGINIA/

NORTH CAROLINA

BOUNDARY

Kitty Hawk

Cape

Hatteras

Ocracoke Island

Cape Lookout

Beaufort

Inlet

Pamlico Sound

Albemarle Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Oregon

Inlet

Barden Inlet

Hatteras Inlet

New Drum Inlet

Old Drum Inlet

Ocracoke Inlet

NORTH CAROLINA

0

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

10 20 MILES

34°30’

35°30’

36°00’

36°30’

35°00’

76°30’ 75°30’
Barrier Island Landforms: An Introduction to Geographic Features of the Outer Banks 13

Figure 5. Washover fans on northeast Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, September 24, 2003, after Hurricane Isabel. Earthmoving 

equipment in the upper right corner of the photograph provides a scale. Photograph courtesy of Michael Halminski.

Sounds

Currituck, Albemarle, Pamlico, Core, and Back Sounds separate the Outer Banks from the mainland, and Roanoke and Croatan 

Sounds border Roanoke Island (see map poster). “Sound” is a rather general geographic term. It may refer to a relatively long 

arm of water that provides a channel between the islands and the mainland or between two larger bodies of water. Outer Banks 

sounds can be divided into back barrier bays and estuaries. A back barrier bay is a narrow, elongate body of water that parallels the 

coast (Moslow and Heron, 1994); it does not receive direct inflow from a large river. An estuary is a partly enclosed basin in 

which freshwater from the widening mouth of a river mixes with ocean water. Salinity in an estuary increases 

away from the freshwater source. Outer Banks islands protect the sounds from ocean waves and storms. 

In this calmer environment, submerged aquatic vegetation grows along the bottom and provides an important 

habitat for many marine species. Pamlico Sound (map poster and fig. 1) is a major fish and shellfish nursery 

on the Atlantic seaboard (Paerl and others, 2001) and is the second-largest estuarine ecosystem in the United States 

(Chesapeake Bay, bordered by Maryland and Virginia to the north, is the largest).

Ghost crab

(Ocypode quadrata)

Knobbed whelk shell

(Busycon carica)

Atlantic surf

clam shell

(Spisula solidissima)

Eastern oyster

(Crassostrea

virginica)
14 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Dunes

Sandy hills—dunes—of various sizes characterize Outer Banks’ topography landward of the beach (fig. 6). Strong prevailing 

easterly winds transport most dune sand to the west across the beach and deposit it on the island’s interior, either in washover flats 

or in vegetated areas. Here, plants or other structures that interrupt the wind may stabilize the sand, or wind may redistribute it. 

Large dunes sometimes form in areas with wide, active beaches and strong prevailing winds. From the 1930s to the 1970s, Federal 

programs created most of the high beach foredunes (also called barrier or primary dunes) along much of the northern Outer Banks’

Atlantic side in an effort to stabilize the islands. 

Capes and Shoals

The distinctive shape of Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout create the Outer Banks’ trademark appearance. Capes are large 

cuspate landforms that project into the ocean and break or change the larger trend of the coastline.

How did the capes form? Scientists attempting to answer this question have presented several explanations based on various

observations. Because the Outer Banks capes appear to be related to smaller, sinuous coastal landforms, the capes may reflect 

“long-term trends in coastal currents” and “short-term variation in the state of the sea” (Dolan and Ferm, 1968). Underlying 

erosion-resistant rock may have helped to anchor the cape and the overall configuration of the cape island (Blackwelder and others, 

1982). More recently, it was proposed that the combination of shoreline orientation and the direction of incoming waves could 

create shoreline instabilities that developed into the North Carolina capes (Ashton and others, 2001).

Both Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout (map poster) are associated with very large, well-developed underwater shoals. Diamond 

Shoals at Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout Shoals at Cape Lookout are many kilometers long and are oriented nearly perpendicular 

to the adjacent shoreline. The shoals continually shift in response to ocean dynamics and create a substantial navigation hazard.
Barrier Island Landforms: An Introduction to Geographic Features of the Outer Banks 15

Figure 6. Dunes at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 1975. Photograph by Robert Dolan.
16 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks

The physical interface between land and sea is in constant motion. On sandy coasts, each variation in sea level, waves, currents,

and sediment supply alters the interface. Beach sands move offshore, onshore, and in the direction of prevailing longshore currents. 

In this way, sandy coasts constantly adjust to different tide, wave, and current conditions. Periodic phases of erosion and deposition 

are superimposed on a trend of rising sea level that began more than 10,000 years ago as Ice Age glaciers began melting. This long-term

rise submerges the beach, causes shoreline recession, and forces the barrier islands landward. A trench cut through a dune (fig. 7) 

shows that the Outer Banks are an assemblage of sedimentary layers, each made up of different-sized particles that indicate their 

source and the processes that moved them. These deposits consist primarily of medium-sized quartz sand (about 1⁄3 millimeter diameter)

and a smaller percentage of heavy mineral grains, such as garnet and amphibole, as well as gravels and shell fragments. Material 

composing the island is carried and deposited, layer upon layer, primarily by storm overwash or by currents flowing through inlets. 

Embedded within the layers of beach material are units of well-sorted finer sands and silts transported by wind. An island’s 

configuration reflects the interaction of onshore deposits and longshore sand transport.

To me, the sea is a 

continual miracle, 

The fishes that swim—

the rocks—the motion 

of the waves—the ships 

with men in them, 

What stranger miracles 

are there?

—Walt Whitman (1856), Miracles

Figure 7. Each sand grain tells a 

story. Barrier islands are composed of 

sedimentary layers; each layer reflects 

the hydraulic processes that formed it. 

Photograph by Robert Dolan.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 17

Complex, interrelated processes shape and reshape the 

sand deposits of the Outer Banks. Three factors control these 

changes: the amount and attributes of sediment, the magnitude 

of natural processes, and the stability of sea level. 

To summarize, the physical processes acting upon the 

islands can be placed into two categories:

• Oceanic and atmospheric forces—wind, waves, tides, 

storms, and sea-level rise

• Sedimentary processes—principally longshore 

sediment transport, inlet dynamics, overwash, and 

wind distribution of sediment.

Oceanic and atmospheric forces are the basic forces acting 

upon the islands. These basic forces combine to move sediment. 

The dominant sedimentary processes on the Outer Banks are 

longshore sediment transport, inlet dynamics, overwash, and 

wind (aeolian) distribution (fig. 8). These processes move sand 

along and across the islands.

Oceanic and Atmospheric Forces

Wind

Oceanic and atmospheric forces are the driving variables 

of the Outer Banks. Differential heating of the atmosphere 

creates differences in air pressure above the world’s oceans and 

causes the atmosphere to move back and forth like water in a 

basin. Combined with Earth’s rotation and uneven distribution 

of land and water, a complex wind system develops that is 

constantly striving for atmospheric equilibrium. Part of this 

energy is transferred to the ocean’s surface, creating waves.

Similarly, uneven heating of land and water creates local 

offshore and onshore winds (land breezes and sea breezes). 

The flat barrier-island topography and generally low vegetation 

provide little to break winds that steadily blow in from the 

ocean. For this reason, barrier islands are especially susceptible 

to destructive storm winds (fig. 9).

Figure 9. Wind from Hurricane Emily snapped these trees in Buxton, North Carolina, on September 1, 1993. 

Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

OCEAN

Sound

Longshore transport

Inlet dynamics

Overwash

Aeolian distribution

Figure 8. The four primary methods of sediment transport on 

barrier islands.
18 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Waves

Ocean waves are wind-driven, undulating forms that move across the ocean surface. As wind moves across the 

surface of the ocean, it transfers energy to the water surface through friction. That friction generates waves; waves move 

downwind through the ocean and, when the waves eventually break, they transfer their energy to the shore. 

Other kinds of energy-transfer waves also exist. Tides are a type of long-wavelength, long-period wave induced by 

gravity. Tsunamis are waves caused by a transfer of energy through tectonic movement of the Earth’s crust. On a smaller 

scale, a wake forms by transfer of energy from a moving boat to the water. 

We refer to the Outer Banks as wave-dominated microtidal barrier islands because waves, rather than tides, do most 

of the work that shapes the islands. (“Microtidal” refers to tides that rise and fall less than 2 m (6 ft)). Microtidal islands 

are long and narrow and have few inlets. If the Outer Banks’ tidal range were greater than 2 m (6 ft), tidal effects would 

dominate the configuration of the islands and create more permanent inlets and wider islands. 

The size and speed of waves depend on three factors, all related to wind: its speed, its duration (how long it has been 

blowing), and its fetch (how far it has blown in one direction). The larger any of these factors, the higher the waves that 

will be produced.

As these wind processes create and enlarge waves, other factors work to limit wave size. The steepness of a wave is 

limited regardless of wind velocity. When the ratio of wave height to wavelength reaches 1:7, the wave cannot maintain 

its form and it collapses. Water depth also limits wave height. As the rolling motion of waves approaches the shore, the 

increasingly shallow bottom causes the waves to slow and to compress each other, making them steeper and reducing 

their wavelength. A deep-water wave moves in water deep enough so that it does not “feel” the bottom. For this condition 

to exist, generally the water depth is equal to or greater than half the wavelength. The wave collapses or breaks when the 

water depth near the shore approximately equals the wave height (Komar, 1998).

Island morphology may change markedly under different wave conditions. Normal fair-weather conditions generate

relatively stable atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Sediment movement by waves and currents is also stable, and 

changes to beaches and barrier islands are modest. Storms, however, disrupt any preexisting equilibrium. Storm winds 

increase wave height. Because wave energy is proportional to the square of the wave height, wave energy increases 

exponentially as wave height increases. When waves reach shore, this energy is expended in reshaping of the island. 

The Outer Banks’ shoreline configuration, combined with a narrow continental shelf, gives rise to a wave-energy regime 

higher than that of any other barrier shoreline on the East Coast of the United States (Moslow and Heron, 1994). 
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 19

Tides

The ocean’s water level constantly changes. Tides, storm 

waves, storm surges, and long-term sea-level fluctuations all 

contribute to variations in water level (fig. 10). Astronomical tides 

are long-wavelength, long-period waves caused by the gravitational 

pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth’s oceans. Astronomical tides 

along the Outer Banks rise twice daily, 12 hours and 25 minutes 

apart, with an average range of about 1 m (3.3 ft) (fig. 11).

Tides alone have little effect on sediment transport. When 

storm surge and high waves are superimposed, however, the daily 

elevation and depression of the water level can transport large 

volumes of sediment (fig. 12). In addition, tides cause the ocean’s 

wave action to migrate up and down the beach face, exposing more 

of the beach to direct wave action and adding complexity to 

geomorphic processes. 

The Sun, Moon, and Earth align in a straight line once every 

14 days, combining their gravitational pull and producing a spring 

tide (“spring” here refers to the rising or welling of water, rather 

than the season). During a spring tide, high tides are approximately 

20 percent higher than usual and low tides are lower than at any 

other point during a normal cycle. Higher tides mean deeper water 

that allows larger, more energetic waves to reach the coast. 

Conversely, when the Sun, Moon, and Earth align to form a 

90-degree angle, some of their gravitational effects cancel. This 

configuration produces a neap tide that has the smallest tidal range 

in a normal tidal cycle. Two spring tides and two neap tides occur 

in every 28-day cycle of the Moon. The average elevation of the 

water surface of spring and neap tides differs by about 20 percent.

Daily effects

Lunar and solar tides

Seiche

Storm surges

Wind waves

Yearly effects

Atmospheric pressure

Currents

River discharge

Salinity

Temperature

Wind

Centennial to Millennial effects

Eustatic

Climatologic

Glacial

Oceanographic

Tectonic

Ocean water levels

Cumulative effect

Figure 10. Factors affecting ocean water level, and the time scales at which they operate.
20 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 11. Representative tidal curve for Hampton Roads, Virginia. The tide is semidiurnal and varies conspicuously following changes in the Moon’s phase. Tidal range for the 

Outer Banks is 0.6 to 1.2 meters (2 to 4 feet). 

Tidal wave height, in feet

0

1

2

3

Day in tidal cycle

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Neap tide Spring tide

Moon at apogee Last quarter moon New moon
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 21

In addition to the alignment of Sun, Earth, and Moon, the 

Moon’s elliptical path around the Earth also affects the tides. Once 

every 28 days, the Moon is at its closest point to Earth (perigee), 

and also once monthly the Moon is at its farthest point from Earth 

(apogee). Three or four times a year, the spring tide coincides with 

the Moon’s perigee, resulting in a higher-than-average perigean 

spring tide. 

A perigean spring tide that coincides with a storm increases 

the destructive effects of storm surge in two important ways. First, 

the tide’s higher water level increases the reach of the storm surge. 

Second, horizontal water currents flow faster than usual during a 

perigean spring tide. These faster currents are easily entrained by 

storm winds (Wood, 1986). Storm-wind friction against the water 

surface during a perigean spring tide is especially effective in raising 

the tide level and thereby flooding the coast and low-lying regions. 

Many catastrophic storms, such as the Ash Wednesday northeast 

storm of March 1962, occurred during perigean spring tides.

Figure 12. Many factors, throughout a range of time scales, combine to create the observed sea level.

Combined effects of

Results in observed 

water level

Water level increases

Time

Wind waves

Tides

Spring and neap tides

Storm surge

Global sea level

22 peaks = 11 days
22 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Storms

Processes that build and erode barrier islands span time scales from hours to decades to millennia, and each process has 

its own effect. The unusually high winds and water levels associated with storms intensify the inshore processes previously 

described, and they can reshape an island and damage constructed infrastructure much more quickly than fair-weather 

conditions would. The higher a wave and the longer a storm lasts, the greater the reshaping. Moreover, flooding from storms 

can cause atypically high runoff of freshwater and harmful chemicals into the sounds that, in turn, alters the habitat of flora 

and fauna that live there (Paerl and others, 2001). 

Thus, storm winds and waves reconfigure the islands to reflect a storm’s energy (fig. 13). Although it is well established 

that coastal storms produce change on decadal scales and smaller, it is less well understood how storms contribute to persistent 

changes on the barrier islands. After a storm abates, normal fair-weather waves begin reshaping the island again, and most 

beaches eventually regain most of their before-the-storm configuration.

Storm Surge

A storm surge is the difference between the predicted tide and the higher observed water level. It results from strong 

onshore winds or from reduced atmospheric pressure. Storm surge can multiply the intensity of changes that storm waves produce 

because, in effect, it raises the ocean’s water level and moves it inland. The encroaching ocean reaches areas normally protected 

from wave action and can transform them quickly. If the storm surge completely submerges higher sections 

of beach, then waves mobilize and transport sediment more easily. After the storm passes, excess water on land 

returns to the sea (as a “surge ebb”). The surge ebb can move beach sand and storm debris offshore, modify 

the shape of existing inlets, and cut new inlets. Researchers investigate the details of storm surges to try 

to discern storminess trends during the past century. 

Figure 13. Storm waves cutting into 

Outer Banks beach, reconfiguring it to 

reflect the higher energy conditions, 

March 1989. Photograph by Sarah 

Spink Downing.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 23

Outer Banks Storms, 1985–2004 

Waves classified as storm waves on the Outer Banks meet two 

criteria: they are at least 1.5 m (5 ft) high, and they travel in water 

deep enough that interaction with the ocean bottom does not alter 

their shape (Dolan and Davis, 1992). Because directly measured 

wave details are not always available, analysts determine deep-water 

wave heights after the fact by using other data. On the Outer Banks, 

tropical cyclones and extratropical northeast storms are the two 

types of storms that usually create waves large enough to be classified 

as storm waves. (Both types of storm originate over the ocean east 

of the East Coast, cover a large area, have a low-pressure center, 

and produce intense rain.) 

Since 1985, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research 

Facility in Duck, NC, has collected data on waves in water 

18 m (59 ft) deep. Such waves constitute shallow transitional 

waves, rather than the deep-water waves analyzed by previous studies. 

If the 1.5 m (5 ft) wave-height criterion is applied to water of this 

depth, then data from 1985 to 2004 indicate an average of 60.3 storms 

per year at Duck. Of these, about 13 percent are tropical storms and 

the remaining 87 percent are mostly northeast storms. The analysis 

also shows that October and February are the stormiest months, 

when storms are present about 24 percent and 25 percent of the 

time, respectively (fig. 14). June and July are the mildest months, 

when storms occur 5 percent and 2 percent of the time, respectively. 

Sorting the storms in this data set by significant wave height 

(Hmo ) makes it possible to estimate return periods, a measure of how 

often waves of a specific height can be expected. A static return 

period is based solely on previous occurrences of Hmo. Dynamic 

return periods can be created by using climate models, which 

incorporate factors such as climatic variations, known forecasting 

errors, and the geologic record to model more accurately the probable 

occurrence of natural phenomena in a specific location.

Figure 14. Monthly storminess at Duck, North Carolina, interpreted from wave height and duration 

data in water 18 meters (59 feet) deep.

Storm hours per month, in percent

Month

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Jan

Feb

Mar

April

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec
24 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Hurricanes on the Outer Banks

In the Northern Hemisphere, tropical cyclones originate over water typically between 10° and 20° of latitude, where the water temperature is at least 26.5°C (80°F) 

and the air near the surface has a counterclockwise (that is, cyclonic) spin throughout a wide area (fig. 15). As warm moist air in the region rises, it cools and condenses 

into clouds. Surrounding air near the ocean surface rushes in to fill the area left vacant by the rising air and, gradually, a vertical circulation begins: air converges at the

surface and diverges aloft. If certain conditions remain in place (for example, very warm sea-surface temperatures and low wind shear aloft), the system will grow into a 

tropical storm (Pielke and Pielke, 1997).

Meteorologists classify these storms by using numerous physical characteristics, such as atmospheric pressure or rainfall. However, the standard criterion is sustained wind 

speed, which is the average wind speed for a one-minute period measured approximately 10 m (33 ft) above the surface. When sustained winds in a well-defined tropical 

cyclone reach 74 miles per hour (mph) (119 kilometers per hour (km/h) or 64 knots (nautical miles per hour)) the storm is classified as a Category 1 hurricane on the 

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (table 1; Simpson, 1974).

In addition to high winds, hurricanes generate large waves, torrential rain, and severe thunderstorms. Although improved weather forecasting and mass communication 

have sharply decreased deaths caused by hurricanes, catastrophic loss of life remains a risk in coastal areas, as demonstrated by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Like other 

vulnerable communities, those on the Outer Banks formulate, maintain, and execute proper preparedness plans to reduce this possibility (Jarrell and others, 2001). Although 

mortality associated with hurricanes in the United States has decreased in recent decades, property damage has increased (fig. 16) as development has continued in coastal 

areas (Blake and others, 2011).

The National Hurricane Center in Miami, FL, manages the most complete set of data about tropical storms recorded since 1851. These data include tracks showing 

where each storm traveled and best estimates of wind speeds and barometric pressure in 6-hour increments. A detailed report on tropical cyclones since 1958 is also available. 

The State Climate Office of North Carolina maintains information about hurricanes and tropical storms that have struck North Carolina in both modern and historic times. 

Between 1851 and 2004, 18 hurricanes made landfall on the Outer Banks (table 2) (“landfall” is here defined as the point at which at least half the hurricane’s eyewall 

crosses land). Ten additional storms did not make landfall but generated sustained hurricane-force winds or gusts on the islands (table 3). Information from tables 2 and 3 

indicates that the probability of hurricane winds on the Outer Banks in any given year is around 18 percent. Historically, a hurricane with wind speeds similar to those of 

Hurricane Isabel in 2003, a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, will strike the Outer Banks an average of once each 14 years. A severe hurricane of Category 4 or 5 is 

unusual: it has been recorded only once in the 154-year record. 

Scientific reports about storms before 1851 are rare. Most information from this period is anecdotal and is based on eyewitness accounts—such as the information about 

historical hurricanes on the islands from the time of Sir Francis Drake’s settlements (beginning in 1585) through 1846 (table 4). In addition, the following two sections 

review two noteworthy and more recent hurricanes, Dennis and Isabel.

Category Central pressure 

(millibars)

Sustained winds

(miles per hour)

Storm surge

(feet) Property damage

1 >980 74–95 4–5 Minimal.

2 965–979 96–110 6–8 Moderate.

3 945–964 111–129 9–12 Extensive.

4 920–944 130–156 13–18 Extreme.

5 <920 _>157 >18 Catastrophic.

Table 1. The original Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (Simpson, 1974) has been widely used to categorize hurricane intensity. In 2012, the 

National Hurricane Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began categorizing hurricanes on the basis of 

sustained wind speed alone (Schott and others, 2012).

[>, greater than; <, less than]
Figure 15. Hurricane clouds superposed 

on map of eastern United States. Image 

courtesy of the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration (NASA).

Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 25
26 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 16. Deaths caused by hurricanes in the United States decreased during the 20th century, while damages to property increased (data from Jarrell and others, 2001).

Number of deaths

Property Damages, in tens of millions of dollars

1900

1904

1908

1912

1916

1920

1924

1928

1932

1936

1940

1944

1948

1952

1956

1960

1964

1968

1972

1976

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

Year

1,000

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

Galveston Hurricane

approximately 8,000 deaths

1928 Florida Hurricane

2,500 deaths

1,225 deaths

Hurricanes Katrina, Ivan, and Rita

$141+billion in property damage

Hurricane Andrew

approximately $35 billion

in property damage

Other hurricanes

$53+billion in property damage

EXPLANATION

Deaths

Property damages
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 27

Table 2. Hurricanes that made landfall (direct hit) on North Carolina’s Outer Banks,1851–2004. 

[Listed in descending order of wind speed; wind speed and landfall location approximate. mph, miles per hour; Category, hurricane category on Saffir-Simpson 

Hurricane Scale]

Wind 

speed 

(mph)

Name

Landfall

Notes

Year Date Location

Category 4 hurricane

132 San Ciraco 

hurricane

1899 Aug. 16 Hatteras After severe damage, residents of Diamond City on Shackleford Banks 

abandoned the community.

Category 3 hurricane

115 None known 1904 Nov. 13 Hatteras Four crew members drowned when New Inlet Lifesaving Station swept away.

115 Storm of ‘33 1933 Sept. 16 Ocracoke Drum Inlet opened as Core Banks overwashed from sound to ocean.

Category 2 hurricane

109 Great 

hurricane 

of 1879

1879 Aug. 18 Near 

Virginia 

border

Initial North Carolina landfall near Morehead City as a Category 3 storm; 

significant effect on the Outer Banks.

106 Donna 1960 Sept. 12 Duck Initial landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm.

104 None known 1857 Sept. 13 Hatteras Estimated 425 lives lost when S.S. Central America sank 200 miles off 

Carolina coast.

104 Barbara 1953 Aug. 13 Okracoke National Hurricane Center began assigning women’s names to hurricanes 

in 1953.

104 Gloria 1985 Sept. 26 Hatteras Receding lunar tide combined with rapid storm movement reduced damage.

104 Isabel 2003 Sept. 18 Drum Inlet Generated record highest waves at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field 

Research Facility and widespread property damage.

98 Carol 1954 Aug. 31 Hatteras Strongest storm winds were east of the Outer Banks, reducing island damage.

98 None known 1933 Aug. 23 Hatteras First of two destructive storms to hit the Outer Banks within one month.

Category 1 hurricane

81 None known 1885 Aug. 26 Rodanthe Initial landfall near southern South Carolina as a Category 3 storm.

81 None known 1908 July 31 Oregon Inlet Initial landfall near Morehead as a Category 2 storm.

81 None known 1913 Sept. 3 Hatteras Extensive flooding when storm pushed Pamlico sound’s waters inland.

81 Connie 1955 Aug. 12 Core Banks First of three hurricanes to hit North Carolina in a 6-week period.

81 Bonnie 1998 Aug. 28 Kill Devil 

Hill

Initial landfall near Cape Fear as a Category 3 storm.

75 Charley 1986 Sept. 18 Carova 

Beach

Initial landfall south of the Outer Banks, then moved through Pamlico Sound 

across the northern Outer Banks as a minimal Category 1 storm.

75 None known 1901 July 11 Hatteras Highest winds reported at Hatteras; no reports of damage.
28 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Table 3. Hurricanes that affected but did not make landfall (indirect hit) on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, 1878–2004. 

[Listed in descending order of wind speed; wind speed is approximate wind speed at closest approach to land. mph, miles per hour; Category, hurricane category on 

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale]

Wind 

speed 

(mph)

Name Year Approximate location Notes

Category 3 hurricane

124 None known — 30 miles east of Hatteras A Category 3 storm offshore; borderline hurricane winds on 

Hatteras.

120 Helene 1958 15 miles seaward of 

Cape Lookout

Produced hurricane winds on the Outer Banks, but no extensive 

damage.

115 Bob 1991 30 miles east of Cape Hatteras Caused significant damage in the northeastern United States.

115 Emily 1993 20 miles seaward of 

Cape Hatteras

Produced hurricane winds on the Outer Banks.

101 Dennis 2005 About 70 miles southeast of 

Cape Lookout

Made landfall on Sept. 4 at Core Banks as a tropical storm, although 

it also had characteristics of a nontropical storm.

Category 2 hurricane

104 None known — 15 miles east of Avon Extensive beach erosion and flooding; drinking water in Hatteras 

contaminated. Five-minute sustained wind speeds of 80 miles

per hour at Hatteras.

101 Great 

Atlantic 

Hurricane 

of 1944

1944 Just east of Cape Hatteras Sand walls built by Civilian Conservation Corps in Avon acted as 

dikes, holding floodwater in the island interior.

98 Alex 2010 10 miles east of Cape Hatteras Caused one death on the Outer Banks.

Category 1 hurricane

90 Ione 1955 Salter Path, North Carolina Also crossed Outer Banks near Duck as a tropical storm when 

returning to sea.

81 Gladys 1966 Near Cape Hatteras Produced hurricane gusts near Hatteras.

75 Ginger 1971 10 miles south of 

Cape Lookout

Tied with San Ciraco (1899) (see table 2) as longest-lasting 

hurricane.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 29

Year Date Approximate location Notes

1586 June 13 Roanoke Island Sir Francis Drake’s fleet scattered; Drake brings unhappy 

Roanoke Islanders home.

1587 August Roanoke Island Sir Francis Drake’s ship forced to cut anchor near Roanoke Island and 

put out to sea for 6 days.

1591 August Roanoke Island Severe storm with high wind.

1667 Sept. 6 North Outer Banks Believed to have passed through the Outer Banks on its way to 

southern Virginia.

1669 Aug. 18 Northern Outer Banks None.

1670 Aug. 6 Northern Outer Banks None.

1749 Oct. 18–19 Unknown Nine ships reported lost at Ocracoke.

1785 Sept. 23–24 Ocracoke Many cattle apparently drowned.

1788 July 23–24 Near Cape Hatteras Many sailing vessels demasted, driven ashore, or destroyed.

1795 Aug. 2 Hatteras/Ocracoke Eighteen Spanish fleet vessels driven into Cape Hatteras shoals.

1806 Sept. 28 Coastal North Carolina A large number of ships wrecked at Ocracoke Inlet.

1821 Sept. 2 Cape Lookout Long Island Hurricane struck west of Ocracoke near mouth of 

Pamlico Sound.

1825 June 3–4 Coastal North Carolina More than 20 vessels driven ashore at Ocracoke.

1827 Aug. 24 Hatteras Diamond Shoals light ship swept off anchor.

1830 Aug. 2 Between Capes Hatteras and 

Lookout

Wind records for this storm do not provide conclusive information.

1837 October Outer Banks Racer’s Storm made initial landfall on Yucatan Peninsula. At least three 

ships and 90 lives lost near the Outer Banks.

1839 Aug. 28–30 Offshore of Cape Hatteras Twelve vessels damaged at Ocracoke.

1842 July 12 Portsmouth Believed to be one of the most severe storms in Outer Banks history. 

Homes swept away and livestock drowned.

1842 Aug. 24 Ocracoke Three ships (Congress, Pioneer, and Kilgore) lost off the Outer Banks.

1846 Sept. 7 Hatteras Slow-moving storm created Oregon and Hatteras Inlets.

Table 4. Historical hurricanes that affected North Carolina’s Outer Banks, 1586–1846. 
30 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Hurricane Dennis: August 1999.—Hurricanes tend to pass through an area relatively quickly 

and, therefore, the relatively short duration of high winds limits wave size. In August 1999, 

Hurricane Dennis was an exception to this rule when it followed an erratic course off the North 

Carolina coast (fig. 17) and generated disproportionately large waves for its size.

Dennis began as an unusual asymmetric tropical storm with a wide, loose eye. As it tracked 

northeast off the North Carolina coast, Dennis weakened after merging with a cold front, and it 

began to take on characteristics of both a tropical cyclone and a subtropical or extratropical cyclone 

(Beven, 2000). It moved in a zigzag pattern off the North Carolina coast from August 30 until 

September 4, 1999 and finally made landfall near Cape Lookout as a tropical storm on September 5.

Because Dennis had characteristics of both a northeast storm and a hurricane, effects of the 

storm were surprisingly intense. Significant wave height reached more than 7 m (23 ft) (measured 

at the Field Research Facility Waverider buoy in 18 m (59 ft) water depth); those waves caused 

extensive island flooding (figs. 18, 19). Although Dennis was not a hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson 

scale at landfall, it ranked as a class 4 storm on the Dolan-Davis scale for northeast storms (see the 

later section Northeast Storms). 

Figure 18 (above). Exhibiting characteristics typical of both tropical 

and extratropical storms, Hurricane Dennis caused high waves and 

flooding on the Outer Banks in August and September 1999. Kitty Hawk 

appears in this photograph. Photograph by Carl Miller, courtesy of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Figure 17 (right). Path of Hurricane Dennis (white line) as it approached 

and made landfall on the coast of North Carolina in 1999. Background 

image courtesy of the State Climate Office of North Carolina.

Dennis combines with a cold front,

and develops an erratic track 

offshore of the Outer Banks.

Dennis crosses near 

Cape Lookout as a 

tropical storm on 

September 4, 1999.

Dennis approaches the 

North Carolina coast on 

August 30, 1999.

NORTH CAROLINA

Cape Hatteras

ATLANTIC OCEAN

1

2

3

0

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

25 50 75 100 MILES

36°

35°

33°

34°

78° 77° 76° 75° 74° 73° 72°
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 31

Hurricane Isabel: September 18, 2003.— On September 11, 2003, Hurricane Isabel tracked westward in the central Atlantic 

as an intense Category 5 hurricane. One week later, on September 18, when Isabel made landfall near Drum Inlet on Core Banks, 

its intensity had decreased to Category 2. Even so, State and Federal governments approved $155.2 million in assistance to meet 

North Carolina damage claims (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2003), and the National Hurricane Center estimated 

actual property damage at about $340 million (fig. 19).

Isabel cut two inlets through Hatteras Island, one each north and south of Hatteras Village. The north breach destroyed a 

section of North Carolina Highway 12, thus isolating Hatteras Village’s 300 residents (fig. 20). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

sealed the breach 44 days after it opened with sand dredged from the federally maintained ferry channel between Hatteras and 

Ocracoke Islands (figs. 21, 22) (Wutkowski, 2004). Final cost estimates for closing the breach, excluding road and utilities 

reconstruction, were $6.5 million.

 In addition to breaching Hatteras Island, Hurricane Isabel destroyed several oceanfront houses and Jennette’s fishing 

pier in Nags Head (fig. 23), caused extensive road damage, and left standing water in the interior of the island (fig. 24). On 

September 18, 2003, Isabel generated a 12.1 m (39.7 ft) wave, the largest recorded at the Field Research Facility in Duck, NC, 

since it began operation in 1977.

Figure 20. Hatteras Village and the 

north breach caused by Hurricane 

Isabel in September 2003. Photograph 

by Michael Halminski. 

Figure 19. Damage from Hurricane Isabel at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on September 19, 2003. Photograph by William Birkemeier, 

courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
32 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 21. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews worked around the clock at Hatteras Village to close the inlet opened by Hurricane Isabel. The cost of closing the inlet, excluding road 

and utilities reconstruction, was $6.5 million. Photograph by Michael Halminski, October 20, 2003.

Pamlico Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 33

Figure 22. The inlet cut by Hurricane Isabel remained sealed, as shown in this photograph taken in April 

2007. Fresh sand in flood tidal delta created valuable new habitat. Photograph by J.J. Smith.

Figure 23. Jennette’s fishing pier in Nags Head, North Carolina, before 

(A) and after (B ) Hurricane Isabel (both photographs from September 

2003). A, photograph by Robert Dolan; B, photograph by Andrew S. 

Coburn, courtesy of the Duke University Program for the Study of 

Developed Shorelines.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Pamlico Sound

A

B
34 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

A

B
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 35

Figure 24 (page 34 and 35).

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, September 

2003. A, Maintained dune line between 

house and road. Two days before 

Hurricane Isabel made landfall, 

storm waves encroached on the 

house pilings. Following the storm, 

the house (B) survived the storm, 

although the road immediately behind 

it (C) did not. A, photograph by Robert 

Dolan; B, photograph courtesy of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; 

C, photograph courtesy of Duke 

University Program for the Study of 

Developed Shoreline.

Northeast Storms

Extratropical northeast storms, (northeasters or “nor’easters”), are less studied and less well understood than hurricanes, but they cause greater changes on the barrier 

islands because they are much broader in extent, more frequent, and have longer durations (Dolan and Davis, 1992). Unlike hurricanes, which form over the warm tropical 

waters of the Caribbean and North Atlantic, northeast storms develop in the midlatitudes along weather fronts that separate cold, dry polar air from warm, moist tropical air. 

Their name comes from the northeasterly winds that predominate as they move along the Middle Atlantic coast.

Whereas consequences of a hurricane can be felt well inland, for the most part the effects of northeast storm are limited to coastal areas. The likelihood of a hurricane 

strike at a specific place and time is relatively small, and hurricanes generally move through an area in a matter of hours. A persistent northeast storm, however, may batter 

coastal areas for several days, causing the coastline to respond and adjust to the storm’s conditions (fig. 25). Northeast storms affect the coast of North Carolina each year 

with durations that range from a few hours to several days. A storm in October 1994 lasted for nearly 10 days—the longest duration of any storm (persistent waves higher 

than 1.5 m) between 1985 and 2004.

Like all storms, northeast storms arise in areas where the atmosphere is unstable and, by forming, they reduce or eliminate these instabilities. Northeast storms also 

require support from the jet stream to form and, therefore, their prevalence is closely related to seasonal changes in the jet stream’s position and strength. The primary 

northeast-storm season is October through April.

C
36 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

The Dolan-Davis Intensity Scale for Northeast Storms.— Understanding the influence of northeast storm characteristics on 

waves is critical to determining the effect of an individual storm on a shoreline. The Dolan-Davis Intensity Scale classifies northeast 

storms by multiplying the square of the significant wave height by the storm’s duration (table 5). The result is a “power index” 

ranking from class 1 (weak) to class 5 (extreme). By using this scale, in conjunction with the record of wave duration and intensity 

on the Outer Banks from 1985 to 2004, it is possible to predict the recurrence, or return, interval of northeast storms of specific 

magnitude. Doing so indicates that a class 4 northeast storm can be expected about once every 10 years on the Outer Banks. This 

assessment depends on relative stability in climate throughout the return period. If the world climate changes markedly, then the 

return period could change as well.

Figure 25. The Nags Head Chief of 

Police inspects collapsed remains of 

a cottage in South Nags Head after a 

northeast storm produced high waves 

for three days in April 1987. Photograph 

by Drew C. Wilson, courtesy of the 

Outer Banks History Center, Manteo, 

North Carolina.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 37

The Ash Wednesday Storm.—General awareness of the potential force associated with northeast storms increased after the 

Ash Wednesday storm of March 5 to 8, 1962. This storm affected 1,000 km (622 mi) of the Atlantic Coast, caused $300 million 

in damage (1962 dollars), and generated open-ocean wave heights in excess of 10 m (33 ft). The center of the storm remained 

nearly stationary off the Mid-Atlantic coast for 3 days while an area of high pressure (anticyclone) over southeastern Canada 

blocked its northward progress. The Ash Wednesday storm was particularly devastating on the Outer Banks. Because it coincided 

with the highest monthly tides, increased storm surge and high waves extensively damaged infrastructure (fig. 26). However, it 

became clear after the storm that, even though undeveloped barrier islands change configuration in response to extreme storm 

conditions, they subsequently readjust in response to normal conditions (Dolan and others, 1973).

Halloween Nor’easter of 1991—The “Perfect Storm.”— A storm defying conventional characterization pounded the Outer 

Banks for 5 days beginning on October 27, 1991. Like Hurricane Dennis in 1999, the Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve northeast storm 

resulted from the interaction of both tropical and midlatitude systems. The bestselling book The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger was 

based on this event. 

Three separate weather systems combined to create the Halloween storm: a cold front moving southward from Canada, 

Hurricane Grace located in the central Atlantic Ocean, and an extratropical low-pressure system generated in the central United States 

on October 26, 1991 (Dolan and Davis, 1992). The Canadian front moved southward, changing the path of Hurricane Grace, while 

the extratropical low tracked northeast toward the other two systems. When the extratropical low-pressure system encountered the 

moisture and strength of Hurricane Grace, it intensified substantially and stalled. It eventually absorbed Grace and began tracking 

westward toward the New England coast. 

When combined, the three weather systems produced almost 1,680 km (1,044 mi; 1,200 knots) of continuous fetch from 

Newfoundland to Florida that persisted for days. Storm surges ranged from 1.5 m (5 ft) in Massachusetts, where storm effects were 

worst, to 0.6 m (2 ft) on the Outer Banks. The storm caused $2.2 million in damages to North Carolina, and 76 buildings were 

condemned in Dare County (which includes the Outer Banks) alone. 

Its exceptionally long fetch was one reason the Halloween storm generated the largest maximum wave heights of any northeast 

storm between 1942 and 2004. Field Research Facility instruments at Duck, NC, measured a significant wave height of 5.9 m (19.3 ft) 

in 18 m (59 ft) water depth. An estimated deep-water wave height of 10.7 m (35 ft), calculated after the storm, is the highest of any 

poststorm estimated wave height on record (Dolan and Davis, 1992).

Another large storm battered the Outer Banks just a few days later on November 8, 1991 and generated waves 4.9 m (16 ft) 

high. Structures already weakened in the Halloween storm were additionally damaged as a result.

Table 5. Dolan-Davis Intensity Scale for Atlantic Coast northeast storms.

Class Beach erosion Dune erosion Overwash Property damage

1 Minor None None None.

2 Moderate Minor None None.

3 Extending across beach Significant None Moderate.

4 Severe with recession Severe or localized destruction On low-profile beaches Loss of structures at community 

scale.

5 Extreme Dunes destroyed over

 extensive areas

Massive, in sheets and 

channels

Extensive regional losses in 

millions of dollars.
38 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 26. The Ash Wednesday Storm, March 1962, was one of the most powerful northeast storms on the Outer Banks. Photograph 

courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center, Manteo, North Carolina.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 39

Sea-Level Change 

Sea level varies markedly at millennial time scales. Since the last glacial maximum, about 20,000 years ago, sea level has risen nearly 120 m (400 ft) as air temperatures 

warmed and glaciers and ice sheets melted. Notably, such large changes in glacial extent and in sea level appear to be a common thread in Earth history. Glaciers have 

advanced and retreated many times during the last billion years, and each change caused an associated fall or rise in sea level. More than 20 glacial advance-retreat cycles 

and sea level fall-rise cycles are recorded during the Pleistocene—the past 2 million years—alone (Menzies, 2002). From a geological perspective, the current climate 

represents a relatively short warm period of rising sea level between much longer glacial advances associated with falling sea levels.

In recent years, highly publicized concerns about human-induced climate warming have generated public interest in sea-level rise. Observations indicate that global sea 

level rose about 17 centimeters (cm) (6.7 inches (in.)) during the 20th century, an average rate of 1.7±0.5 millimeters per year (Bindoff and others, 2007). Estimates of what 

may happen in the future vary considerably. 

Regardless of the accuracy of projections of the future rate of change, sea level has been rising slowly for thousands of years. Even without human-induced climate 

change, governments around the world will inevitably have to adapt to ocean encroachment on low-lying coastal cities and island communities. Because the slope and elevation 

of the land on the Outer Banks are generally low, a small vertical change in sea level can translate into a relatively large horizontal change in the location of the coastline.

In their natural state, the sandy islands move and adapt to many changes in the physical environment. During the cooler glacial periods, when water was withdrawn from 

the seas and stored as glacial ice, the shorelines moved seaward (fig. 27). As the coastline is engineered or “hardened,” the islands’ ability to respond to such environmental 

changes diminishes.

Figure 27. Approximate location of Atlantic coastlines of the United 

States and the Bahamas (seaward edge of darker blue shading) 

15,000 years ago, when sea level was approximately 100 meters 

(330 feet) lower than it is today.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Islands of the Bahamas

UNITED STATES
40 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Dominant Sedimentary Processes

Sediment on the Outer Banks moves primarily in four ways: longshore transport, inlet dynamics, overwash, and eolian 

transport. These four methods transport sediment along the beach in the nearshore area by moving sediment through breaks in 

the island and by carrying sand across the island through wind and wave action. Each of these processes is discussed below.

Longshore Sediment Transport

Longshore sediment transport moves sediment along the coast in response to waves that approach the shore at an angle 

and then break. These waves move water and sediment shoreward at an angle to the shoreline, and then wave backwash rushes 

directly back into the ocean (perpendicular to the shoreline), generating a net motion in the direction of the wave angle. The 

longshore current can carry tons of sediment, suspended sea creatures (such as jellyfish), and other objects along the coast. 

Littoral drift is the movement of sediment and other objects by longshore currents. Although longshore currents change 

direction periodically, they usually have a net flow in one direction in any given location. Along the Outer Banks, sediment 

drifts southward toward Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 41

Inlet Dynamics

Inlet dynamics, the complex interactions at inlets, are one of the two main processes that transport sediment across the 

barrier-island shore. Sediment is transported principally by flowing through existing inlets or through newly formed ones.

When high waves and intense storms cut through a barrier island, they create an inlet and transport large amounts of saltwater 

and sediment landward across the island (Moslow and Heron, 1979). Once an inlet opens, water and sediment carried by storms and 

littoral drift begin flowing through. Most Outer Banks inlets are temporary; in a few years or decades they clog with sand transported 

by longshore currents. Sometimes, however, water flowing in and out is forceful enough to keep the inlet open.

Inlets may form from the ocean side to the bay or, conversely, from the bay side to the ocean. Both cases result from storm-induced 

high wave energy and water levels. If the inlet initiates on the ocean side, storm surges and high waves drive seawater across the 

island and into the bay. Storm-pushed seawater flows across the island into areas of progressively lower topography, and channels 

form and may erode to depths that permit water flow in both directions. Inlets that form from the bay side provide return capacity 

for excess water in the bay. Storm surge and overwash may raise water level on the bay so high that existing inlets do not provide 

enough return capacity during ebb tides. Then, the excess bay water may find a path of least resistance across the island and form 

an “outlet.”

Once an inlet is established, it becomes one of the most important features shaping the island because it interrupts littoral 

drift (Bodge, 1993). The landward transfer of sediment through inlets may account for as much as half of sand lost from the 

littoral drift system (Pierce, 1969). The energy in waves and tides pushing sediment through the inlet from the ocean side is greater 

than the energy in ebb tides pushing back out from the bay side. Much of the sand lost from the ocean side accumulates underwater 

on the sound side of an inlet and forms a flood tidal delta (fig. 28). 

Sedimentary deposits filling closed inlets compose as much as 25 percent of the barrier island, a percentage that varies with 

the number and duration of inlets on a particular island. Inlet fill material may make up 14 to 16 percent of the most recent, or 

Holocene, sediments on Core Banks (Moslow and Heron, 1979). Inlets also affect the island’s ecology (Godfrey, 1970). Along with 

sediment, water flowing through the inlet carries organisms that colonize the emerging flood tidal delta with marsh grasses once the 

inlet closes.

Human cultural history on the Outer Banks is also linked to inlets (Dunbar, 1958). More than 30 inlets have opened and closed 

since the first settlers arrived more than 400 years ago (fig. 29). During the past 125 years only Ocracoke, Hatteras, and Oregon 

inlets remained open to serve as waterways leading to the bays and sounds; two of these, Hatteras and Oregon, formed during the 

same storm in 1846. Because local populations depend on inlets, they are commonly dredged to maintain navigation channels 

between the sound and the ocean.
42 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 28 (page 42 and 43). Elements of inlets and associated sedimentation processes: A, features of Swash 

Inlet (Core Banks, North Carolina) in 1941. Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service; B, simplified 

drawing of present-day inlet features; C, simplified drawing of relict inlet features (both drawings after Fisher, 

1962); D, relict inlet features on the Outer Banks. Photograph by Kevin Adams.

Sound

A

Flood tidal delta

Channel Distributary

Ebb tidal delta Direction of drift

Inlet

Shoal

OCEAN

B. Present-day inlet features C. Relict inlet features

Lagoon

Flood tidal delta Lagoon

Flood tidal

delta shoal

Relict flood tidal

delta channel

Interruption of

relict beach ridges

Inlet pond

Relict inlet ridge

Relict 

distributary

Relict flood tidal

Flood tidal delta shoal

delta channel

Ebb tidal delta

Inlet ridge

Relict beach

ridges

Direction of drift

Inlet

Distributary

OCEAN OCEAN
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 43

Overwash

Less intense hurricane or northeast-storm waves can be the agent of the second main process, overwash, that moves sand 

across the island. During a storm, a barrier island’s sandy beach changes shape in response to the high wind and waves, and the 

beach face flattens as it dissipates increased wave energy. Wave runup may extend beyond (inland of) the first dunes into areas that 

normally receive wind-blown deposits. The water and sediment penetration is called overwash, and the resultant deposits are known 

as a washover fan (fig. 30). Very large or repeated overwash events may result in a larger deposit area, known as a washover flat.

Washover sediments may initially kill the underlying plant life now blanketed with sand, but the vegetation of the back barrier 

is resilient. Marsh grasses will sprout through overwash fans in a matter of weeks or months, and they may grow from plant fragments 

“dispersed in the storm surge-leveled sand” (Snyder and Boss, 2002). A particularly thick layer that covers and destroys the existing 

plant life usually is recolonized in less than a year (Davis, 1997). Overwash may limit ecological succession, because woody plants 

are not tolerant of frequent seawater flooding or sand burial.

D

Sound

Ocean beach

Relict flood tidal delta

Relict distributary

Relict beach ridge

Relict channel

Relict shoal
44 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 29. Inlets of the Outer Banks of 

North Carolina. Blue type, relic (historical) 

inlets; red type, current inlets. Some inlets 

opened and closed more than once during 

the indicated time periods (after Stick, 1959; 

Fisher, 1962).

Pamlico Sound

Albemarle Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

New Currituck, 1700 to 1800

Mucketo, pre-1585 to 1700

Trinity Harbor, pre-1585 to 1650

Caffey’s, 1720 to1810

Roanoke, pre-1585 to 1810

Gunt, pre1585 to 1800

New, pre-1585 to 1800

Loggerhead, mid 1600s and 1800 to 1900

Chickinacommock, 1650 to 1700

New, 1962

Chacandepeco, pre-1585 to 1690

Oregon, 1846 to present

Isabel, 2003

Wells, late 1800s

Old Hatteras, pre-1595 to 1750

Cedar, 1710 to 1830

Hatteras, 1849 to present

Ocracoke, pre-1585 to present

Old Drum (1), early 1800s to present

New Drum, pre-1585 to present (artifically reopened in 1971)

Beaufort,

1760 to present

Whalebone, late 1800s to 1930s

Swash, pre-1585 to 1750, 1920-1967

Sands Island, 1920-1960s

South Core (1), pre-1585 to 1700

Old Drum (2), 1700-1780

South Core (2), pre-1585 to 1710

Barden, 1760 to present

Ocracoke Island

NORTH CAROLINA

0

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

10 20 MILES

Kitty Hawk

Cape Hatteras

Cape

Lookout

34°30’

35°30’

36°00’

36°30’

35°00’

76°30’ 75°30’
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 45

Figure 30. Storm surge near Cape 

Hatteras in 1973. A, Overwash breached 

the barrier dune and flooded buildings 

behind it. B, The same location one year 

later, showing a washover fan produced 

by sediment carried in with floodwaters 

and indentation of the shoreline, 

characteristic features at overwash 

sites. Photographs by Robert Dolan.

A

B
46 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Wind Transport

Wind (eolian) transport redistributes sediment. Inland of the beach, all natural Mid-Atlantic coast barrier islands have dunes 

of various sizes created by wind-blown sand. Wind of about 25 to 30 km/h (15 to 20 mph) or faster can pick up and carry fine sand 

and deposit it anywhere on the island. As with waves, stronger winds can carry both more and larger sand grains. Large dunes may 

form in areas with wide, active beaches and powerful prevailing winds.

The largest and oldest dunes on the Outer Banks are 3,000 to 4,000 years old (Fisher, 1962; Mallinson and others, 2008). As the 

islands formed, alternating periods of erosion and accretion resulted in the development of large fields of parallel dune ridges separated by 

depressions or swales. Vegetation invaded the dunes; the root structure held the sand in place while decaying plant matter covered 

the surface. Eventually, wind could no longer mobilize the sand, and maritime forests of oak and pine grew on the dune ridges. 

Nags Head Woods, Colington Island, and Buxton contain examples of dune ridges covered by maritime forests (fig. 31).

When maritime dunes are breached or destroyed, the sand can again be redistributed by wind, perhaps in new and differently shaped 

dune fields. Jockey’s Ridge in Nags Head (figs. 32, 33) is a dune field created by sand redistributed from formerly stabilized ridges 

(Dolan and Runyan, 2001). Formed approximately 1,000 years ago, Jockey’s Ridge is the largest active dune field on the Atlantic Coast.

Because of the beauty and unique features of Jockey’s Ridge, in 1975 the State of North Carolina created a state park around it. 

By 1998, the park was hosting 900,000 tourists each year. Managing the large and dynamic dunes has been challenging. The elevation 

of the highest dune decreased from 42 m (138 ft) in 1953 to 22 m (72 ft) in 2004, and the dune’s slow migration to the southeast 

encroaches on nearby homeowners. In 1994, approximately 13,700 cubic meters (m3) (15,000 cubic yards (yd3) was removed and 

relocated from the park’s southern boundary to its northern boundary. In 2003, “almost ten times more sand, 125,000 m3 (164,000 yd3) 

was removed and placed on the northwestern side of the dune field to serve as a sand source area” (Mitasova and others, 2005).

The high frontal dunes evident today along much of the northern Outer Banks are not the result of wind transport. They are 

primarily the result of man’s earlier efforts to restrict sand movement along the islands (Dolan, Godfrey, and Odum, 1973). For more 

information about these dunes, see the section Engineering the Outer Banks in Part II of this report.
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 47

Low marsh cordgrass

(Spartina alterniflora)

Glasswort

(Salicornia spp.)

Figure 31. Maritime forest, Nags Head woods. Photograph 

courtesy of The Nature Conservancy.
48 The Outer Banks of North Carolina
Barrier Island Dynamics: Forces Shaping the Outer Banks 49

Figure 32 (facing page). The highest dune on the United States 

Atlantic Coast is Jockey’s Ridge (Jockey’s Ridge State Park, 

Nags Head, North Carolina). Photograph by Kevin Adams.

Figure 33. Image of Jockey’s Ridge 

based on 1999 lidar (light detection and 

ranging). Data produced by the U.S. 

Geological Survey, National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration, 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (base image courtesy 

of Helena Mitasova).

Sound

NC HIGHWAY 158

OCEAN
50 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Geological History of Barrier Island Formation

For many years Earth scientists have debated the processes responsible for forming barrier islands. Generally, the Outer Banks 

are believed to have formed from spit growth combined with beach emergence. Changes on sedimentary coasts are related directly 

to the geological origin of barrier islands, such as the amount and attributes of sediment, the magnitude of natural processes, and 

the stability of sea level.

The origin of the Atlantic Coast barrier islands is closely linked with the Wisconsin glacial episode in the Northern Hemisphere 

that began about 110,000 years ago. The great continental glaciers that formed in central Canada and northern Europe accumulated 

relatively rapidly, and they ultimately built glacial ice that covered most of present Canada and Western Europe. Water originating 

primarily from the ocean basins produced these great ice masses, and as a result global sea level fell by about 120 m (400 ft). At 

that time, the North Carolina shoreline was on the continental shelf 80 to 120 km (50 to 75 mi) seaward of its present position 

(fig. 27) (Emery, 1968).

Beginning 14,000 to 18,000 years ago, changes in the planetary heat budget triggered melting of Northern Hemisphere glaciers, 

and by 4,000 years ago sea level off North Carolina was close to its present position (Horton and others, 2009). The change from 

glacial to interglacial conditions marked the transition from the Pleistocene Epoch to the current Holocene Epoch and initiated the 

Holocene marine transgression (fig. 34). During this transgression, rising sea level advanced landward and drowned areas of the 

continental shelf that had been exposed during the Pleistocene.

. . . I am strongly induced 

to believe that, as in music, 

the person who understands 

every note will, if he also 

possesses the proper taste, 

more thoroughly enjoy the 

whole, so he who examines 

each part of a fine view, may 

also comprehend the full and 

combined effect.

—Charles Darwin (1831-1836), 1947, 

The Voyage of the Beagle 

Figure 34. The Holocene marine transgression and barrier island evolution (after Hoyt, 1967). (Symbols courtesy of the Integration and 

Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Forested slope

Shelf

OCEAN

OCEAN Lagoon

Lagoon Beach

ridge

Barrier

island

Migrating barrier island

Rise

Original

sea level Barrier moves landward

as sea level rises

80 km

A. 20,000 years ago, sea level was 120 m (400 ft) 

below its present level and 80 km (50 mi) seaward

of its present position. Wind waves formed beach

ridges (dunes) along the shelf. 

B. Sea level rises and breaks through the dune 

ridge, flooding the low area behind the dune to 

form a lagoon or sound. The former dune line is 

now isolated as an island. 

C. The island arrives at its present position in 

response to continued sea level rise. The island 

may contine moving landward if the slope behind 

it is low and sea level rise does not accelerate 

significantly.

120 m
Geological History of Barrier Island Formation 51

The barrier islands now rimming the Atlantic and Gulf coasts formed during the Holocene marine transgression. Three specific 

conditions allowed the islands to form (Dolan, 1996): 

• A pause in the rapid rise of sea level 

• Surplus sand that could be transported by waves, winds, and currents 

• Storms that transported and deposited sand at higher elevations than were possible by normal tide ranges. As sea level 

slowly rose and the shoreline moved across the continental shelf, large masses of beach sand were moved with the migrating 

shore zone (Emery, 1968; Duane and others, 1972; Field and Duane, 1976). In addition, waves reworked sediment deposited 

as deltas within the coastal river systems, which then moved that reworked sediment along the shore. As time passed, the 

complex, elongated landscape of the Outer Banks evolved (fig. 35).

After sea-level rise slowed about 8,000 years ago, waves, currents, and winds reworked the sand to form the beaches and 

barrier islands that stretch from New England to Texas. The beaches continued to build seaward as long as the inshore system 

contained surplus sediment. Some parts of the Outer Banks may have been wider at that time, perhaps by 1.6 km (1 mi) or more. 

In narrow areas, inlets breached the islands and later filled in. Long spits connected the wider and more stable sections, such as the 

land areas near Cape Hatteras, Southern Shores, Colington, Nags Head Woods, Avon, Frisco, and Ocracoke, where sequences of 

beach ridges developed (fig. 36). In this way, long chains of Holocene barrier islands evolved.

Overwash and inlet processes (described previously) are also the primary agents of landward movement on the islands. During

severe storms, high water and waves overtop the seaward dunes. As the sediment-laden water spills across the beach and flows 

toward the bays, a layer of sediment is removed from the beach and added to the island’s interior. Overwash is more common along 

the low, narrow, microtidal Outer Banks than on some islands with larger dunes or cliffs of glacial till (Godfrey, 1976). The overwash 

process transforms the shape and position of the island but conserves much of the sediment mass.
52 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

ATLANTIC OCEAN ATLANTIC OCEAN

A. about 9000 cal yr B.P.

C. about 2500 cal yr B.P. D. about 1100 cal yr B.P.

B. about 4000 cal yr B.P.

Pamlico Creek

Pamlico Creek Estuary

Ocracoke Inlet

Hatteras Flats 

interstream divide

Tar River Estuary

Neuse River

Estuary

Pamlico Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Pamlico Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Pamlico Sound

Ocracoke Island

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

0 10 20 MILES

35°30’ 35°30’

35°30’ 35°30’

75°00’ 75°30’

75°00’ 75°30’

75°00’ 75°30’

75°00’ 75°30’
Geological History of Barrier Island Formation 53

Figure 36. A, Approximate distribution

 of high dune ridges of early Holocene 

age. B, Complex pattern of dune ridges 

at Cape Hatteras. (After work by Fisher, 

1962.) (Symbols courtesy of the Integration 

and Application Network, University 

of Maryland Center for Environmental 

Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Figure 35 (facing page). Paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the southern Pamlico Basin at four times during the Holocene. 

A, About 9000 calendar years before the present (cal yr B.P.), sea-level rise flooded fluvial paleovalleys and produced narrow estuaries. 

The Hatteras Flats interstream divide separated Pamlico Creek from the Atlantic Ocean. B, About 4000 cal yr B.P., destruction of an 

extensive section of barrier islands allowed normal-salinity waters, derived from northward migrating Gulf Stream eddies, to be carried 

into the southern Pamlico Basin in response to wind forcing. C, By about 2500 cal yr B.P., barrier islands have formed again, and almost 

the entire Pamlico Sound had estuarine conditions. D, About 1100 cal yr B.P., destruction of barrier islands along the southern Outer 

Banks resulted in a shallow, submarine sand shoal over which normal marine waters were carried. The Cape Hatteras region contained 

several inlets with large floodtide deltas. (McDowell and others, 2009; D modified from Culver and others, 2007). (Entire figure modified 

from Grand Pre and others, 2011, and used with permission.)

Buxton

Frisco

Relict dunes

Relict dunes

Active dune field

Active dunes

B

Pamlico Sound

Pamlico Sound

Albemarle Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Ocracoke Inlet

Kitty Hawk

Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras

(Map is not to scale)

NORTH

CAROLINA

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

A

0

0 10 KILOMETERS

10 MILES

35°30’

75°30’
54 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Beach Configuration and Beach Erosion

Shoreline Configuration

Even a cursory inspection of high-altitude aerial photographs of the Atlantic Coast reveals an interesting crescentic pattern on 

the seaward-facing barrier island beaches (fig. 37). More than a natural curiosity, these landforms are products of complex interactions 

between waves, inshore currents, tides, and storm surge. Shore-zone processes naturally configure the wave-dominated sedimentary 

coastlines of the Outer Banks into repeating crescentic patterns, rather than straight forms. The larger-wavelength forms (more than 

10 km (6.2 mi)) are less apparent during a stroll along the beach because their curvature is gentler and their relative amplitude is, 

therefore, smaller. In long sections of the coast, the absolute amplitude of a stretch of curved coastline is proportionately greater 

than the amplitude of smaller crescentic features (a more-detailed discussion follows). 

The broad arcs of the North Carolina coast (the Carolina capes) compose the largest crescentic landforms, spanning 

150 km (93 mi) or more. Smaller forms have developed within them, such as beach cusps (25 to 100 m (82 to 328 ft) long), giant 

beach cusps (100 to 500 m (328 to 1,640 ft) long), and some larger forms 1.5 km (0.9 mi) or more long (Dolan, Hayden, and 

Vincent, 1974). Inshore bars and troughs also assume crescentic and periodic configurations in response to sea states, tides, inshore 

currents, and changes in sea level (Sonu, 1973). Smaller forms appear, disappear, and migrate along the shoreline, whereas large 

ones establish the spatial distribution of shoreline erosion and storm overwash (fig. 38) (Dolan, 1971).

Similarly, analysis of overwash patterns and 40-year averages of shoreline positions suggests that periodicities also exist for 

long-term average shoreline erosion and the penetration of storm surge during a single storm. These patterns indicate the sites of 

erosion and storm damage. Although overwash and washover deposits were noted all along the Outer Banks following the Ash 

Wednesday storm of 1962, the distance that sand penetrated inland differed markedly from place to place (fig. 39).

Some 1950s homes on the Outer Banks have weathered hundreds of storms, including the great Ash Wednesday northeast 

storm. Other houses nearby have long since disappeared in response to beach erosion. The vulnerability of some places along 

the coast is not simply a matter of chance, but rather a function of location that the crescentic landform patterns influence. These 

patterns are common on sandy beach deposits, not unlike the wave-like deposits of wind-blown sand found on and around fields of 

dune sand. Research carried out along the Outer Banks suggests that at many scales, shore-zone processes and shore-zone landforms 

assume systematic patterns along and across the coast (Dolan and others, 1979a).

Age by age, the sea here gives 

battle to the land; age by age, 

the earth struggles for her own, 

calling to her defense her 

energies and her creations, 

bidding her plants steal down 

upon the beach, and holding 

the frontier sands in a net 

of grass and roots which the 

storms wash free.

—Henry Beston, 1928, The Outermost 

House: A Year of Life on the Great 

Beach of Cape Cod
Beach Configuration and Beach Erosion 55

Figure 37. Large crescentic landforms of the Outer Banks. Satellite image of 

December 26, 1999, courtesy of the SeaWiFS Project, National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE, 

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Chesapeake Bay

Cape

Hatteras

Cape

Lookout

Cape

Fear

NORTH CAROLINA

0

0 50 100 KILOMETERS

25 50 75 100 MILES

38°

37°

36°

35°

34°

33°

78° 77° 76° 75° 74°

N
56 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 38 (left). Small crescentic landforms, which 

here appear as seaward-pointing tongues of sand, are 

low lobate hills; they originate, migrate, and dissipate 

along Outer Banks beaches. A, Pea Island National 

Wildlife Refuge, looking north. Photograph by Robert 

Dolan, September 2003. B, Cape Hatteras, looking 

south. Photograph by J.J. Smith, April 1996.

Figure 39 (above). Overwash 

(storm surge penetration) appears 

as bright white areas along 

Hatteras Island, 1962. Photograph 

courtesy of the U.S. Army.

A

B

ATLANTIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Cape Hatteras Point
Beach Configuration and Beach Erosion 57

Shoreline Erosion and Deposition

Erosion dominates most of the developed coasts of the United States. Shoreline-change data show that land losses exceed gains along 75 percent of the Atlantic Coast, 

85 percent of the Gulf Coast, and 50 percent of the Pacific Coast (Dolan, Hayden, and Lins, 1980). Stratigraphic studies indicate that most Mid-Atlantic barrier islands are 

moving landward—which means that erosion dominates most of the coastlines in this region, too. Peat deposits, tree stumps, and remnants of forest stands, which generally 

form on the sound side of barrier islands, can be found on open ocean beaches (fig. 40) (Kraft and others, 1973; Dillon and Oldale, 1978; Field and others, 1979). This trend 

in erosion is attributed to a rise in sea level, a reduction in the supply of river sediment to the coast, human alteration of inshore processes, and changes in the frequency and 

magnitude of storms. 

Although most of the Outer Banks are migrating landward (they are “transgressive”), about 20 percent of the islands are building into the ocean (prograding seaward) 

because of their specific geomorphic characteristics. In these areas, a definitive set of shore-parallel beach ridges can be seen where the beach builds outward, and these 

islands, such as at Cape Hatteras, are consequently wider than usual (Moslow and Heron, 1994) (fig. 36). Of the two general storm types that affect the Atlantic Coast of the 

United States, tropical hurricanes and extratropical northeast storms, hurricanes can be the more intense. Wave heights generated by hurricanes typically range from 

5 to 10 m (16 to 33 ft), and powerful hurricanes can produce storm tides up to 5 m (16 ft). The two most likely landfall zones for hurricanes along the Atlantic Coast are 

south Florida and Cape Hatteras. Landfalls of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes on the Outer Banks are rare and average only about one per century
58 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

On the other hand, northeast storms cause most of the stormy weather, high waves, and storm surges leading to coastal 

erosion and property damage along the North Carolina coast. Northeast storms are more frequent, have longer durations, and 

strike much larger areas along the coast. Wave heights produced by northeast storms usually range from 2 to 5 m (6 to 16 ft), 

and although storm tides during northeast storms are generally lower, they can still exceed 2 m (6 ft). According to the 60-year 

record of northeast storms at Cape Hatteras, seven great storms were powerful enough to make prominent changes to the 

barrier island and beach landscapes. Two of these, the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 and the Halloween storm of 1991, are 

designated “super nor’easters” in that they produced wave heights and storm tides equal to those of most hurricanes and left 

permanent scars on the barrier-island landscapes.

Any variation in water level or wave condition changes the position of the shoreline—the interface between land and 

water. Because winters along the Middle Atlantic coast are stormier than summers, the position of shoreline changes seasonally. 

The rise in sea level during past centuries has also contributed to the displacement of the shorelines landward. Despite the 

obvious nature of these relations, definitive prediction of the rate or magnitude of these displacements remains elusive. 

Coastal scientists and engineers have turned to empirical approaches by assembling datasets of historical shoreline positions 

and treating them as a time series.

Measurement of Coastal Change

Scientists analyze data about shoreline position in order to predict the rates at which shorelines will change. These data 

are obtained from various sources and have various degrees of accuracy. Sources include instrumented ground-level surveys, 

shoreline maps, navigation charts, aerial photography, and global positioning system (GPS), and light detection and ranging 

(lidar) data. 

Instrumented surveys, or direct measurements, provide data of the highest accuracy and reliability, but detailed historical 

comparisons are lacking for most coastal areas. Because less than 5 percent of the United States’ coastline has been surveyed 

more than once, direct ground-level measurements are available only for a few scattered locations. Similarly, both GPS and 

lidar data have only recently become available. In contrast, maps, charts, and aerial photographs produced and distributed by 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are available for most coastal locations and commonly date from the 

middle 1800s. Thus by using various sources of information, a shoreline’s position through time can be compiled into a single 

dataset. This dataset can then be used to produce a shoreline-change map that can in turn become the basis for new observations, 

measurements, and predictions about shoreline responses through time (fig. 41) (Shepard and Wanless, 1971; Dolan, Hayden, 

and others, 1979b; Miller and others, 2005; Morton and Miller, 2005).

The Outer Banks has an especially rich archive of mapping-quality aerial photography. The North Carolina coast was 

first photographed with mapping-quality aerial cameras after a severe hurricane in 1932 (Birkemeier and others, 1984). Since 

then, most of the barrier islands, capes, and inlets have been the object of numerous photographic flights. Areas at high risk 

from erosion or storm surge, such as the original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse site, have been photographed with mapping-quality 

cameras as many as 20 times during the past 50 years.
Beach Configuration and Beach Erosion 59

Figure 40. Remnants of a forest stand. As barrier islands migrate landward, such remnants may be exposed on ocean-facing beaches such as this one north of Rodanthe, North Carolina. 

Photograph by Michael Halminski, autumn 1975.
60 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Management of Erosional Coasts

Coastal zone managers have made considerable progress instituting more stringent building standards 

in high-risk erosion areas. Structures are now elevated on pilings above most storm surge heights, and 

improved construction methods are leading to buildings that can withstand hurricane-force winds. However, 

there are few solutions for the long-term loss of coastal lands caused by erosion. Setback zones, enhanced 

structures, and beach nourishment can provide temporary solutions, but as sea level continues to rise, line 

after line of oceanfront development will in the long term be subjected to increasing risks. Some States, 

including North Carolina, have undertaken systematic statewide shoreline-change surveys in response to 

coastal-setback legislation. North Carolina maintains high-quality, reliable, shoreline-erosion data that 

are continually analyzed and updated. 

With few exceptions, Outer Banks beaches are eroding 0.6 to 0.9 meter per year (m/yr) (2 to 3 feet 

per year (ft/yr)). Rapid construction outside public parks and wildlife refuges, coupled with sea-level rise, 

inevitably led to property damage and loss and then to public demand for coastal management programs 

directed by State and local governments. Consequently, after several severe storms in the 1960s and 1970s 

that extensively damaged buildings and infrastructure, North Carolina legislators established the Division of 

Coastal Management. This State agency focuses exclusively on the management of the State’s beaches, 

barrier islands, inlets, bays, and sounds.

To establish consistent regulatory control of coastal development in high-risk areas, one of the agency’s 

initial steps was to analyze statewide aerial photographs to document historical trends in rates of shoreline 

change. These data on shoreline erosion rates, updated every 5 years, are used to determine setback positions 

statewide. (The Division of Coastal Management also provides other useful information about the hazards 

of coastal living; it is available at http://www.nccoastalmanagement.net).

The North Carolina erosion setback line, landward of which construction may be considered, is 

measured landward from the first line of vegetation. Setbacks increase with the size of a building; they 

are determined by multiplying the average annual erosion rate by at least 30. The minimum setback 

along the Outer Banks is 18.2 m (60 ft) (fig. 42). 

Figure 41. Shorelines change through time. This change 

is evident when position data from old maps and charts are 

compared. Construction of the original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse 

was completed in 1804; note its position relative to the 1852 

coastline (adapted from Fisher, 1967). (Symbols courtesy of the 

Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center 

for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Original

Cape Hatteras

Lighthouse

U.S. NAVAL STATION

1965 1962 1917 1872 1852

0 5,000 FEET

0 0.5 1 KILOMETER

35°15’

75°31’15’’

N
Beach Configuration and Beach Erosion 61

Figure 42. An example of shoreline 

change maps available from the 

North Carolina Division of Coastal 

Management (DCM) (http://www.

nccoastalmanagement.net. Accessed 

January 7, 2013).
62 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Barrier Island Life

The Outer Banks barrier islands are home to diverse natural ecosystems adapted to the coastal environment. This section introduces 

the life zones found in a standard cross section of the Outer Banks, and it illustrates some common plants and animals inhabiting 

the islands. Although humans are also part of the barrier island environment, this section focuses on native flora and fauna. 

Coastal barrier islands are harsh places for plants and animals: their sandy soil is nutrient poor; coastal hurricanes and northeast 

storms cause high winds, flooding, and sediment overwash; plants must tolerate salt spray, wind, and rapidly draining soil; island 

resources limit terrestrial animals in both size and number. Species robust enough benefit, however. Some plants are specifically 

adapted to undergo both salt spray and periodic saltwater flooding. Many plants are also succulent, an adaptation to the islands’ 

well-drained sandy soil. At the seaward edge, low-lying sea rocket (Cakile edentula) can be found forward of the primary dune 

(fig. 43) whereas salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) rings the lower-energy sound side (fig. 44). The Outer Banks provide 

an important stopover for birds on the Atlantic flyway, and many species inhabit the islands year round.

Figure 43. Low-lying sea rocket (Cakile edentula), which can grow seaward of the primary dune line, is often the most seaward terrestrial 

plant. Photograph by J.J. Smith, March 2002.

Life is a dance, 

a very elaborate and 

complex dance . . .

—C. Singer, 1959, A Short History of 

Scientific Ideas to 1900

Sea rocket

(Cakile edentula)
Barrier Island Life 63

Figure 44. Salt marsh cordgrass 

(Spartina alterniflora) fringes the 

lower-energy sound side of Hatteras 

Island. Photograph by J.J. Smith, 

March 2002.
64 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Mourning dove

(Zenaida macroura)

Black skimmer

(Rynchops niger)

Northern cardinal

(Cardinalis cardinalis)

European starling

(Sturnus vulgaris)

Red-winged blackbird

(Agelaius phoeniceus)

Boat-tailed grackle

(Quiscalus major)

Gray catbird

(Dumetella carolinensis)
Barrier Island Life 65

For the purposes of this report, plant life on the Outer Banks can be considered in three general groups: dune, berm, and grassland 

vascular plants; woody shrubs and maritime forest plants; and salt marsh plants. The vascular plant community from Ocracoke 

Island to the Virginia border contains 741 species. Of these, 79 percent are native to the region and about 2 percent are endangered 

or rare (Stalter and Lamoot, 1997). Only 18 percent of the species are woody. (The islands are also home to freshwater marshes, but 

they are much less common and are not discussed here.) 
66 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Principal animal life consists of mammals, reptiles, and birds. Of these three, bird life is by far the most abundant. 

Abundant shorebirds include sanderling (Calidris alba or Erolia alba), red knot (Calidris canutus), and willet 

(Tringa semipalmata) (Dinsmore and others, 1998). (Insects, although prolific, are not discussed here.) 

Carolina wren

(Thryothorus ludovicianus)

Common tern

(Sterna hirundo)

Eastern meadowlark

(Sturnella magna)

Red knot

(Calidris canutus)

Fish crow

(Corvus ossifragus)

Northern mockingbird

(Mimus polyglottos)

Rufous-sided towhee

(Pipilo maculatus)

Brown pelican

(Pelecanus occidentalis)

Willet

(Tringa semipalmata)

Sanderling

(Calidris alba)
Barrier Island Life 67

Cottontail rabbit

(Sylvilagus floridanus)

Six-lined racerunner

(Cnemidophorus sexlineata)

White-footed mouse

(Peromyscus leucopus)

White-tailed deer

(Odocoileus virginianus)

Racoon

(Procyon lotor)

Yellow-bellied slider

(Trachemys scripta)
68 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Life Zones on the Outer Banks

Living species, especially plants, commonly inhabit a particular section of the island that has specific physical and ecological characteristics, sometimes called life zones. 

Life zones on the Outer Banks depend in part on whether the island is undisturbed or whether it has been physically stabilized (fig. 45). A typical undisturbed profile is common 

in areas such as Core Banks. Life zones of stabilized islands are common in areas such as Hatteras and Bodie. The natural geomorphology of these islands has been altered in 

several ways, most notably by the construction of a protective seaward dune system designed to halt, or at least slow, movement of the islands and protect the interior from storms.

Figure 45. Idealized profiles of a natural (A) and a stabilized (B ) barrier island (after Dolan, 1973). (Symbols courtesy of the Integration and Application Network, University of 

Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

A. Natural barrier island

B. Stabilized barrier island

OCEAN Sound

OCEAN Sound

Beach berm

Beach berm

Washover terraces

Open grassland

Closed grassland and

High salt marsh

Low salt marsh

 scattered shrubs

Low primary dune

Washover and salt flats

Shrub thicket

Roads, utilities, 

Old washover terraces

 and buildings

Erosion scarp

Heavy dune grass

High salt marsh

Low salt marsh

 and shrubs

Closed grassland

 and shrub thicket

Artificial primary

 (barrier) dune
Barrier Island Life 69

The principal life zones include beach and berm, maritime grasslands, woodlands, fresh marshes, and salt marshes (Godfrey 

and Godfrey, 1976). The beach on both stabilized and natural islands supports little vegetation and is characterized by a sand apron 

sloping into the ocean. This area is exposed to tides, storms, and salt water. On a natural island, storm waves and tides carry sand 

and shells upslope from the beach face to a relatively broad berm that slopes gently toward the interior of the island (Godfrey, 1972a). 

In contrast, a stabilized barrier beach often has a higher artificial dune marking the beginning of the primary dune system. The 

primary dunes are typically covered with a variety of grasses.

On a natural barrier island, the berm zone is about 100 to 200 m (325 to 650 ft) wide, depending on the magnitude and 

frequency of storms. This wide, bare berm serves as a buffer zone that can dissipate wave energy of a moderate storm. Small dunes 

may form on the berm between storms. Behind the wide berm is a zone of low, irregular dunes broken by washover fans (fig. 46). Storm 

tides carry sand into the interior of the island through the depressions between dunes. The dunes form as sand accumulates around 

grasses, such as cordgrass (Spartina patens), sea oats (Uniola paniculata), and American beach grass (Ammophilia breviligulata). 

The grasses grow upward as the dunes increase in height (Godfrey, 1972b). Behind the dunes at Core Banks, storms have left a series 

of flat washover terraces (Godfrey, 1970). The highest terraces are overwashed most frequently, and plant distribution depends on 

the elevation of each terrace above sea level.

Atlantic calico scallop shell

(Argopecten gibbus)

Coquina clam shell

(Donax variabilis)

Figure 46. Washover fans on Shackleford Banks (looking south), a barrier island in its natural state. Note the wide berm and extensive 

overwash fans and flats as compared with the stabilized island shown in figure 5. Photograph by J.J. Smith, June 2002.
70 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Island stabilization has a substantial effect on vegetation, primarily because the stabilized dune line, as high as 10 m (33 ft) 

in places, commonly prevents overwash and salt spray from reaching the interior of the island. Protected from these natural effects, 

plants survive closer to the active beach than they normally would. This protection alters the vegetation sequence and allows 

vegetation to grow more densely on the interior of the island. Inland of the primary dune system on a stabilized island, the dunes 

transition to a broader and smoother sand flat that may support woody shrubs. Under certain conditions, a maritime forest may exist 

behind the shrubs and grasslands. Finally, the back of the barrier island is bordered by a gently sloping salt marsh that faces the sound.

In the past, spit formation, beach progradation, and inlet closure left a series of relic dune systems scattered along the 

Outer Banks. Pine- and oak-dominated woodlands may develop where these dunes are far enough back from the sea to be consistently 

protected from salt spray (fig. 47) (Oosting and Billings, 1942; Oosting, 1945). Maritime forests on the Outer Banks are found on 

Shackleford Banks and in scattered form on Core Banks, Ocracoke Village, Buxton, Avon, and Nags Head. These forests probably 

were never continuous.

Live oak

(Quercus virginiana)

Figure 47. Live oak on Shackleford 

Banks. Photograph by Kevin Adams, 

November 2002.
Salt meadow cordgrass

(Spartina patens)

American beach grass

(Ammophilia 

breviligulata)

Sea oats

(Uniola paniculata)

Barrier Island Life 71
72 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Salt marshes border most of the Outer Banks on the sound side. At the marsh’s landward edge, the ground may be flooded only 

at the highest tide. As it slopes into the sound, the marsh is more and more frequently inundated; the marsh ends at the normal 

low tide zone.

Salt marshes on the sound side of Core Banks take one of two basic patterns. The first is typically a band of marsh grass, 

30 to 50 m (100 to 160 ft) wide, paralleling the dune and grassland zones between the spring high tide mark and normal low tide. 

Salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) dominates the lowest reaches of the marsh. This band of marsh develops on washover 

terraces within reach of the tides. Currently, washover deposits that fill part of the sound support the richest stands of marsh grasses.

The second salt marsh pattern is found on numerous small islets directly behind the main barrier island. There, grasses 

develop on old tidal deltas left by former inlets (Fisher, 1962). Occasionally, overwash sediment fills in the sound and joins the 

marsh islets to the main barrier island. The islets have the same life zones as the fringing marshes, except that black needle rush 

(Juncus roemerianus) may replace the cordgrasses in areas not regularly flooded by tides.

Black needle rush

(Juncus roemerianus)
Barrier Island Life 73

Native Vegetation 

Some uncertainty exists about the extent of vegetation on the islands before the arrival of the first English settlers. The earliest 

reliable accounts that describe conditions when European explorers arrived date from the late 18th century. By then, Europeans 

had inhabited the islands for at least 100 years and had introduced large numbers of cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs (Dunbar, 1958). 

Although extensive vegetation may have covered the islands originally, grazing and woodcutting by early settlers partially stripped 

the islands of their grasses and trees and created an unnatural, desolate condition (Cobb, 1903). At Portsmouth, on the northern 

tip of Core Banks, a single resident reported that he “Sheared 700 head of Sheep—had between two hundred fifty and three 

thousand head of cattle and near as many horses” (Dunbar, 1958). The Outer Banks may recover from overgrazing more quickly 

than once thought, however. Following the removal of grazing animals from Portsmouth, vegetation reestablished itself without 

human intervention, and a system of dunes with an orderly succession of vegetation developed rapidly (Burk and others, 1981).

On the other hand, although humans and domestic animals undoubtedly depleted Outer Banks vegetation, several investigators 

have observed that vegetation on the islands was naturally rather sparse (fig. 48). Regular episodes of overwash and flood tides 

preclude the establishment of permanent forests, except at a few high dune areas such as Buxton and Nags Head Woods.

Figure 48. View from the top of 

Kill Devil Hill, Kitty Hawk, North 

Carolina, 1901. Courtesy of the Library 

of Congress, Prints and Photographs 

Division, LC-DIG-ppprs-00578; photograph 

by Wilbur or Orville Wright. 
74 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 49. Seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus), a federally listed threatened plant, is found on Cape Lookout National Seashore. 

Photograph by Bill Adams, courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Figure 50 (facing page). Piping plover with chicks. Photograph 

by Alice van Zoeren, courtesy of the National Park Service.
Barrier Island Life 75

Endangered and Threatened Species

The federally listed threatened plant seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) (fig. 49) colonizes parts of Cape Lookout

 National Seashore, primarily on sand flats, and on lower foredunes and upper strands of stable beaches. Amaranth is the only 

known endangered or threatened plant on the Outer Banks.

Outer Banks beaches provide an important nesting habitat for five endangered or threatened sea turtle species: leatherback 

(Dermochelys coriacea), green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), and Kemp’s 

ridley (Lepidochelys kempii). On Cape Hatteras National Seashore during the 2007 nesting season (April through August), these 

species constructed 82 nest sites and 6,075 hatchlings emerged. 

The endangered roseate tern (Sterna dougallii) is an occasional visitor to the islands, especially near Cape Hatteras. The 

threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus) (fig. 50) nests along the beach dunes in late March or early April. Recreational and 

commercial development, along with dune stabilization, has reduced its nesting habitat, and fewer than 2,000 nesting pairs of 

piping plover are believed to exist.

History 77

Part II: 

History

Aboriginal People

Humans began inhabiting the North Carolina area at least 12,000 years ago, but little is known about those who may have 

eventually made their homes on the Outer Banks. No formal record exists of those early people. Wave action and wind commonly 

disturb or destroy archeological evidence used to discern the lives of early people, and few clues are left behind. Landward movement 

of the islands destroys or submerges potential archeological information. In addition, the lack of evidence may relate directly to 

lack of archeological research in this area (David Phelps, East Carolina University, oral commun., 2007)—the Coastal Plain is probably 

the least understood of the archeological physiographic regions in North Carolina.

With the establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the National Park Service began to investigate the origins of 

human settlement in this area. Although the date of the first human settlement on the Outer Banks has not been determined, the 

natives who met the first European settlers in the late 1580s “had lived in the 

same general territory since AD 800” (Price and others, 2008). 

Two permanent tribes are thought to have inhabited the Outer Banks at the 

time of English settlement: the Roanoac tribe on Roanoke Island, and the Croatoan 

on Hatteras Island near present-day Buxton. Colington Island appears to have 

been a summer home to native tribes. Outer Banks natives were geographically 

isolated and thought to have been less developed culturally (Haag, 1956) than the 

Algonkians who occupied other areas of the eastern United States.

Written accounts by English explorers offer some insight into the native 

population. Native peoples were of medium stature, lived in small villages of 

perhaps 8 to 30 homes, and were ruled by a chief whose role may have been 

passed on through the mother’s lineage (fig. 51). The chief and nobles were the 

political and religious center of the groups. Agriculture, hunting, and fishing were 

sources of subsistence, and shellfish was the staple food (Haag, 1956).

By AD 1650, the coastal population of native Algonkian had markedly 

declined, probably as a result of disease and the establishment of European 

colonies (Price and others, 2008). As noted by Haag (1956), the native “Coastal 

Carolinians disappeared quite as suddenly and dramatically as the Lost Colony.”

And see the children sport 

upon the shore,

And hear the mighty waters 

rolling evermore.

—William Wordsworth, 1807, Ode: 

Intimations of Immortality from 

Recollections of Early Childhood 

Figure 51. John White included this portrayal of “A cheiff Lorde of Roanoac” in 

his illustrations of the Walter Raleigh explorations (from Hariot, 1588). Engraving 

by Theodor de Bry. Electronic image courtesy of EagleRidge Technologies at 

http://www.roanetnhistory.org/hariot-debry-virginia.php?loc=Hariot-DeBry-BriefeTrue-Report-Virginia&lang=us&pgid=44

Human History and Modern Development

of the Outer Banks
78 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

European Settlement 

European explorers discovered the North Carolina barrier islands in the 16th century but did not 

permanently settle them until the middle 17th century. English explorers first attempted to colonize North 

America on the northern end of Roanoke Island. The most well-known venture was the “Lost Colony” in 

1587, but other settlers made several related and failed attempts to establish a community in this location.

Walter Raleigh spearheaded efforts to colonize the North Carolina area after his own 16th century exploration 

near the Outer Banks. He organized and partially financed Sir Richard Grenville’s 1585 expedition 

that established the first known English community on the northern end of Roanoke Island. In July of 

the following year Grenville returned to the colony with additional supplies from England but found no 

one remaining in the settlement. As it turned out, a fleet under the command of Sir Francis Drake had 

visited the settlement unexpectedly in June of 1586 and the settlers, whose supplies had run critically low 

and who did not know the status of the resupply voyage, had returned to England on Drake’s ships.

In 1587, Raleigh made the first serious attempt at long-term colonization. A group of men, women, 

and children led by John White arrived on Roanoke Island and, once again, no one from Grenville’s party 

was recovered. White’s company renamed the settlement the “Cittie of Ralegh.” In the summer of 1587, 

White’s granddaughter, Virginia Dare, became the first child born in the colonial United States to English 

parents. John White returned to England on August 27, 1587. He arrived to find England on the verge of 

war with Spain, and thus he had difficulty finding suitable ships for the colony’s relief.

When White returned to Roanoke Island in the summer of 1590, the settlers 

had vanished and the houses had been dismantled. A crude fort-like settlement 

remained behind, with the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree or post. White 

assumed this meant the settlers had joined the friendly Croatoan Indian tribe, 

though he found none of them. During White’s absence, the tidewater area of 

North Carolina had suffered an intense drought (Stahle and others, 1998). By 

using an 800-year tree-ring chronology from bald cypress, Stahle and others (1998) 

documented a drought from 1587 to 1589 that was the most extreme drought of the 

entire 800-year period. They speculated that it was likely a factor in the fate of the 

Lost Colony, which remains a mystery. (For more information about the Lost Colony, see 

a subsequent section, Shoreline Erosion and the Lost Colony.)
History 79

Figure 52. The Outer Banks of North Carolina during the 

colonial period (after Stick, 1958).

The first permanent settlement on the Outer Banks 

was founded in 1663 on present-day Colington Island 

(fig. 52), where English colonists settled within dune 

fields on the sound side of the island. The dunes provided 

timber, fuel, freshwater, and protection from strong winds 

and storm tides. Selling oil extracted from whales that 

washed up on shore was the most profitable occupation, 

but the availability of extensive unfenced grazing land 

soon led to a livestock industry (Stick, 1958).

Before 1700, most settlements were located between 

Roanoke and Currituck Inlets. As Roanoke Inlet began 

to shoal and eventually close, however, maritime traffic 

diverted 120 km (75 mi) south to Ocracoke Inlet. By 1750, 

hundreds of ships used Ocracoke Inlet as a trade route. The 

town of Portsmouth, south of Ocracoke Inlet, grew rapidly 

as a transshipment point for goods bound for the Carolina 

colony’s interior (fig. 52).

Roanoke Inlet

Chickinacommock Inlet

Beaufort

Inlet

Old Drum Inlet

Ocracoke Inlet

Old Hatteras Inlet

Shackleford

Banks

Core Banks

Portsmouth

Ocracoke Island Cape Hatteras Banks

Kinnakeet Banks

Chicamacomico Banks

Bodie Island Roanoke

Island

Cittie of Ralegh

Powell Point

Colington

Kitty Hawk

Jean Guite Creek

Currituck Banks or North Banks

New Currituck Inlet

Pamlico Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

NORTH CAROLINA

0

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

34°30’ 10 20 MILES

35°30’

36°00’

36°30’

35°00’

76°30’ 75°30’
80 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Industrial Beginnings

A few wealthy businessmen controlled most land on the Outer Banks in the 1700s. However, by the end of the Revolutionary 

War, many of the largest holdings had been subdivided into small plots, and new construction began. Shipbuilding and lumber 

industries were among the most successful trades in the early 1800s (Stick, 1958), and live oak, pine, and cedar forests were rapidly 

depleted. Livestock grazed on the open dunes. American independence created a new sense of nationalism, increased the desire of 

local settlers (“Bankers”) to acquire land titles, and gave impetus to improving transportation routes and constructing lighthouses 

to make ocean travel safer.

Surprisingly, commercial fishing was not a primary source of income for most early residents of the Outer Banks, even though 

data from 1850 indicate that many locals considered themselves boatmen and mariners, pilots, or seamen (Stick, 1958). Between 

the Civil War and World War II the commercial fishing industry expanded, though the difficulty in delivering fresh seafood to 

commercial markets limited its development. Area fishing industries concentrated on species they could preserve with salt or 

smoke, or from which oil could be extracted. Another hallmark of Outer Banks fishing was that it was generally conducted from 

the shore, or from boats weighing less than 5 net tons (Stick, 1958).

Shipping lanes off the North Carolina coast are among the most treacherous on Earth. The northward-flowing Gulf Stream in 

combination with the southward-flowing littoral drift, which is closer to the shoreline of the northern Outer Banks, increased the 

speed of sailing vessels traveling north and south along the Outer Banks, but they also obliged ships to navigate dangerously close 

to shore (Roush, 1968). Before the construction of lighthouses, hundreds of vessels were lost during storms when they were driven 

onto the shoals or the coast. The area around Cape Hatteras known as Diamond Shoals came to be known as the “Graveyard of the 

Atlantic.” (Shipwrecks on the Outer Banks are discussed at greater length in a subsequent section, Shipwrecks.) 

Lighthouses and Lifesaving Stations

Responding to the demand for navigational aid and to 

prevent shipwrecks and loss of life, the Federal government 

built lighthouses and lifesaving stations on the Outer Banks. 

By 1883, five coastal lighthouses and 25 “life saving” stations 

lined the Outer Banks coastline (Stick, 1958). The five coastal 

lighthouses are, from north to south, Currituck Beach, Bodie 

Island (fig. 53), Cape Hatteras (fig. 54), Ocracoke, and Cape 

Lookout (fig. 55). Mariners can visually identify all five by 

their unique color or pattern. The first was built at Ocracoke 

inlet on Shell Castle island beginning in 1794. However, 

Ocracoke inlet migrated more than a mile in the succeeding 

30 years, rendering the lighthouse obsolete even before 

lightning destroyed it in 1818. The U.S. Lighthouse Establishment 

completed the standing Ocracoke Lighthouse in 1823. Construction 

of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse concluded in 1875. During the 

years between 1794 and 1875, the three other coastal lighthouses 

were erected. All five were automated between 1936 and 1955 

and are still operational.

Loblolly pine

(Pinus taeda)

Eastern red cedar

(Juniperus virginiana)
History 81

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Figure 53 (left). Architectural drawing of the Bodie Island Lighthouse, 1871. Courtesy of the U.S. National 

Archives and Records Administration, Mid-Atlantic Region, Philadelphia.
Figure 54. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in its original location. 

Photograph by Clifton Adams, courtesy of the National Geographic 

Society, 1933. 

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

82 The Outer Banks of North Carolina
History 83

Figure 55. Cape Lookout Lighthouse. Photograph by J.J. Smith, 

June 2002. 

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

History 83
84 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

In addition to the better-known lighthouses on the islands, 

the Federal government also deployed ships fitted with lights as 

navigational aids (lightships) and fabricated smaller lighthouses 

mounted on piles screwed into the shallow bottom (screw-pile 

lighthouses) in the sounds. Lightship stations in Pamlico 

Sound included the Harbor Island, Long Shoal, Nine Foot 

Shoal, Royal Shoal, and Brant Island Shoal. A permanent 

tower replaced the Diamond Shoals Lightship in 1966 (fig. 56), 

marking Diamond Shoals in the Atlantic Ocean. This tower was 

heavily damaged by Hurricane Fran in 1996 and was deactivated 

in 2001. The light was subsequently removed, although the 

tower still stands.

Screw-pile lighthouses, more modest in appearance 

than their tall cousins, identified hazardous estuarine sites. 

Roanoke Marshes and Croatan Shoal (fig. 57) Lighthouses 

marked channels in Croatan Sound. Their final towers were 

lit in 1877 and 1887 respectively. A replica of the Roanoke 

Marshes Lighthouse now stands in the town of Manteo 

(fig. 57 background photograph).

Figure 56 (left). Diamond Shoals Lightship, which was intermittently 

stationed about 24 kilometers (15 miles) from the Cape Hatteras 

Lighthouse between 1824 and 1966. A permanent tower replaced it 

in 1966. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard. 

Figure 57 (facing page). Roanoke Marshes screw-pile lighthouse. 

Inset photograph, Original lighthouse built in 1877 on Croatan 

Sound; Background photograph, Current reproduction at the 

Roanoke Island Maritime Museum. Inset photograph, courtesy of 

the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 26-LG-22-76; 

Background photograph, courtesy of the Town of Manteo.

86 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Lifesaving stations (fig. 58) first appeared on the Outer 

Banks in 1874 when the U.S. Life-Saving Service expanded its 

duties to include North Carolina. The first seven stations were 

built by December of that year (Stick, 1958) and were manned 

by a keeper and six surfmen whose job was to aid imperiled 

persons on the water. The first operational station, in present day 

Rodanthe, was Chicamacomico (an Algonquian word meaning 

“land of shifting sand”).

To rescue mariners, the U.S. Life-Saving Service used 

either a surfboat (fig. 59) or a line reaching from the beach to 

the stranded vessel. Both methods required courage and skill, 

and many surfmen lost their lives during rescues. Crews were 

experts on weather and surf conditions because of their long 

residence and service in a single area.

The U.S. Life-Saving Service existed from 1848 until 

1915, when the Federal government merged it and the U.S. 

Revenue Cutter Service, creating the U.S. Coast Guard. Today, 

the Coast Guard, as part of the Department of Homeland 

Security, protects those imperiled on Outer Banks waters. 

Three boat stations, two full-time and one seasonal, are located 

at Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Inlet, and Ocracoke Island.

Figure 58 (left). U.S. Life Saving Station in Kill Devil Hills, 1902. 

Photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Figure 59 (facing page). Original Beebe-McLellan surfboat 

located at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site, 

Rodanthe, North Carolina (inset photograph). Crew members 

used this double-ended, self-bailing, self-righting boat with six 

oar positions in the rescue of 42 British merchant seamen from 

the vessel Mirlo in 1918 (Photograph by J.J. Smith); Oregon 

Inlet Life-Saving Station (backgound photograph). Photograph 

courtesy of William Birkemeier.
History 87
88 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Island Engineering and the Beginning of Tourism 

When Roanoke Inlet closed in 1811, people became concerned that Ocracoke Inlet might also close. As a result, Federal 

government engineers first attempted to alter natural processes along the Outer Banks in the 1830s by using a special dredging 

machine to deepen and widen the shipping channel. The dredge was about 20 m (65 ft) long and was propelled by steam-driven 

paddle wheels (fig. 60). Buckets mounted to a conveyor belt that ran through a shaft in the vessel’s hull scooped sand from the 

channel bottom onto scows that then dumped the sand onto nearby shoals. Work continued until 1835, when engineers concluded 

that Ocracoke’s main channel filled as fast as they could dredge it (Stick, 1958).

In 1828, Currituck Inlet closed and Ocracoke became the only navigable inlet north of Cape Lookout. In 1846, a storm breached 

the Outer Banks in two places, forming Oregon and Hatteras Inlets. Within 20 years, shipping through Ocracoke Inlet and thus 

industry in the town of Portsmouth decreased substantially, and Hatteras Inlet surpassed Ocracoke as the most-traveled inlet on the 

North Carolina coast.

Vacationers were first reported on these barrier islands as early as 1750 (Stick, 1958). In 1838 the first hotel was constructed 

at Nags Head with accommodations for 200 guests. Like the first colonists, summer residents were aware of potential erosion and 

storm tide hazards, and the hotel and many cottages were built on the sound side. Nags Head became known as a favorite “watering 

place” where wealthy mainland North Carolinians could escape the heat and fevers of malaria rampant at that time (Stick, 1958).

Figure 60. Image of the original drawing of the first dredge used to 

maintain inlets on the Outer Banks. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. 

National Archives and Records Administration.
History 89

Figure 61. Nags Head Hotel in 1898. Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service.

After the Civil War

After the Civil War, the Outer Banks changed in three important ways. First, shipping traffic continued to withdraw from 

Ocracoke Inlet (following the opening of Oregon and Hatteras Inlets in 1846). Portsmouth declined from its 1860 population of 685 

to 17 in 1956. In 1971 the last permanent residents departed Portsmouth, and in 1976 it became part of Cape Lookout National 

Seashore. Second, to accommodate summer residents returning after the war, a new hotel was built at Nags Head (fig. 61). The 

original Nags Head Hotel had been burned to keep Union forces from using it as a base of operations. Third, some summer residents 

began building cottages on the ocean side of the island. This departure from the traditional practice of building on the more protected 

sound side placed more houses at risk of direct impact by storm waves.
90 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Aviation History

Important aviation advances took place on the islands, such as the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight (1903) and General Billy 

Mitchell’s bombing exercises in the early 1920s that led to the development of the U.S. Air Force. The better-known and more 

historically important achievement was Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first flight at Kitty Hawk. Their 12-second flight marked the 

first time a manned, heavier-than-air machine left the ground by its own power, moved forward under control without losing speed, 

and landed on a point as high as that from which it started. The site of their experiments is now incorporated into the Wright Brothers 

National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. The first flight took place on the Outer Banks specifically because of its geography and climate. The 

brothers sought “an isolated location that had a steady wind with rolling hills and long flat beaches for launching, flying and landing” 

gliders (Price, 2008) (fig. 62).

Army General Billy Mitchell used the waters near the Outer Banks in 1923 for an early demonstration of strategic air power. 

Martin bombers effectively targeted and sank two derelict battleships about 32 km (20 mi) from Cape Hatteras. Mitchell himself 

took off from a temporary airfield near Hatteras Village that locals had quickly constructed to support his mission. Today, the North 

Carolina Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the National Park Service, operates the Billy Mitchell Airport at that 

location (fig. 63). Personal controversies, including General Mitchell’s court-martial for insubordination, may have delayed the 

adoption of his theories on air power by the United States military during his lifetime. However, the Second World War soon 

vindicated his ideas. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1946.

Figure 63 (inset photograph). Billy Mitchell Airfield at Hatteras, 

North Carolina. Photograph by J.J. Smith, August 2008. 

Figure 62 (below). The Wright glider 

making an in-flight turn at Kitty Hawk, 

North Carolina, 1902. Photograph 

from U.S. Army Air Service, Aerial 

Photograph Section No. 3, Bolling Field, 

Washington, D.C., courtesy of Maxwell 

Air Force Base. 
History 91

Development of Modern Tourism

At the time of the Great Depression, little industry existed on the Outer Banks. The cattle strain had not been improved and shipping traffic consisted mainly of small 

private boats, but improved navigation aids did decrease the number of shipwrecks (Stick 1958). Construction of bridges and paved roads in the 1920s and 1930s markedly 

increased the number of summer visitors. A paved road had been constructed near the shoreline and, unlike previous tourists, seasonal occupants now preferred staying on 

the ocean side of the islands. Because land values were low and household utilities minimal, residents had little concern with dangers of building close to the beach. During 

periods of severe erosion, homeowners could move their cottages back to safer positions. The Carolina Development Company began marketing and building properties at 

Virginia Dare Shores in what is now Kill Devil Hills (fig. 64). These properties, the Outer Banks’ first coastal housing development, were just an overnight trip by steamer 

from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. 

In 1933, after one of the most severe hurricanes on record, the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps proposed a massive sand-fixation program 

to stabilize the moving sand (Croft, 1934), because storm waters could sweep across some parts of the island from ocean to sound. Between 1933 and 1940, workers in this 

program constructed more than 900 km (600 mi) of sand fencing on 185 km (115 mi) of beach. To stabilize the dunes further, they also planted 13 million square meters

(140 million square feet) of grass and 2.5 million seedlings, trees, and shrubs (Dunbar, 1958). In 1935, free-ranging livestock was prohibited from Currituck to Hatteras Inlet, 

and in 1937 the National Park Service proposed establishment of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Roush, 1968). (The dune stabilization program is described in a subsequent 

section, Engineering Projects on the Outer Banks.) 

Figure 64. This house, at the 

corner of East Walker Street and 

Virginia Dare Trail in Kill Devil 

Hills, North Carolina, is one of the 

few remaining original homes 

from the Virginia Dare Shores 

subdivision. Photograph by J.J. 

Smith, August 2008. 
92 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

National Seashores

Authorized by Congress in 1937 and completed in 1953, the 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore (30,000 acres) encompasses 

most of the Outer Banks between Nags Head and Ocracoke Inlet 

(fig. 65). The national seashore excludes some areas, among them 

Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and several local villages. 

National Park Service ownership prevented construction south 

of Nags Head except in exempted villages. Headquartered at 

Manteo, the Park Service also holds jurisdiction of the Wright 

Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills and the Fort 

Raleigh National Historical Site on Roanoke Island.

Two primary factors prompted establishment of the first 

national seashore. First, these lands were among the world’s best 

examples of barrier island environments, of high quality and 

rich diversity. Second, erosion was becoming a serious problem 

amid growing concern that the islands would soon disappear. 

Although the shoreline retreated to within about 45 m (150 ft) 

of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and coastal development was 

rapidly continuing, a proposal to place the property under Federal 

control generated considerable disagreement. In 1952, Paul 

Mellon and his sister Ailsa donated $800,000 to purchase the 

land. This purchase, combined with the State of North Carolina’s 

matching gift and the efforts of key individuals, was instrumental 

in the national seashore’s creation (Stick, 1958).

Cape Hatteras National Seashore is distinct from a national 

park because it was established with the intent to both preserve 

the barrier islands and facilitate their recreational use (Binkley, 

2007). In addition, during the Great Depression, President 

Franklin Roosevelt’s administration was able to concentrate 

work-relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration 

and the Civilian Conservation Corps on Federal property. 

Congress authorized Cape Lookout National Seashore in 

1966 before Core and Shackleford Banks underwent major 

development. Even though the national seashore was not 

officially transferred to the National Park Service until 1976, this 

authorization prevented many problems that occurred north of 

Cape Hatteras. The boundaries of the park extend 93 km 

(58 mi) from Ocracoke Inlet to Beaufort Inlet and contain 

Portsmouth Island, Core Banks, and Shackleford Banks 

(24,500 acres). Cape Lookout National Seashore has no roads 

or bridges and remains, for the most part, in its natural state.
History 93

Figure 65. National seashores and national wildlife refuge on North 

Carolina’s Outer Banks. 

0

0 10 20 KILOMETERS

10 20 MILES

Albemarle Sound

CAPE LOOKOUT

NATIONAL SEASHORE

CAPE HATTERAS

NATIONAL

SEASHORE

PEA ISLAND

NATIONAL

WILDLIFE

REFUGE

Pamlico Sound

ATLANTIC OCEAN

NORTH CAROLINA

34°30’

35°30’

36°00’

36°30’

35°00’

76°30’ 75°30’
94 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Shipwrecks

Shipwrecks figure prominently in the history and culture of the Outer Banks, and its shifting underwater landscape has earned 

the nickname “Graveyard of the Atlantic” because so many vessels sank in these waters (fig. 66). Before modern communication, 

surveying and navigation, shipwrecks were more common and difficult to inventory. The low, flat Outer Banks are difficult to 

see and are remote. Lacking the maneuverability of modern ships, sailing vessels were more susceptible to running aground on 

submerged shoals or succumbing to convoluted wind and weather. The National Park Service provides locations and descriptions 

of some wrecks that may be visible to visitors—the Laura Barnes, Lois Joyce, Oriental, and G.A. Kohler.

The warm Gulf Stream and cold Labrador currents merge at Cape Hatteras at the treacherous Diamond Shoals. In addition, mariners 

navigate the Cape Lookout shoals, which extend a shallow finger hundreds of meters offshore. By the middle of the 20th century, 

more than 600 vessels had been lost off the coast of North Carolina from the Virginia border to Cape Fear (south of map area, near 

Wilmington, NC) (Stick, 1952). Between 2002 and 2005, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean 

Exploration Program and East Carolina University conducted the Ocracoke Shipwreck Survey to identify and document these 

lost cultural resources. The survey combined historical research with remote sensing to inventory and position wreck sites. As a 

result, more than 2,000 wrecks were documented between Capes Hatteras and Lookout (Runyan, 2006).

Some wreck survivors helped to populate the Outer Banks by remaining on the islands to raise families. Lost cargo provided an 

income for island inhabitants and salvaged timber from wrecks supplied building material. In addition, the isolated sounds behind 

the islands provided refuge for pirates such as Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonny, and Calico Jack Rackam (Stick, 1952).

Figure 66. The vessel Antonin Dvorak 

the day after it drifted ashore in March 

1959. Photograph courtesy of the 

National Park Service, Superintendent’s 

Monthly Narrative Report for Cape 

Hatteras National Seashore, March 

1959, Cape Hatteras (CAHA) archives.
History 95

Figure 67. USS Monitor with four officers on deck and two crewmembers on the turret. The 

photograph was taken from the ship’s starboard side, looking forward, in the James River, 

Virginia, on July 9, 1862, four months after its famous battle with the ironclad CSS Virginia 

(formerly USS Merrimac). Dents in the turret are from Confederate gun hits. Photograph 

courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical Center, photograph NH 61923.

Documenting Shipwrecks.—Determining the number of ships wrecked on the Outer Banks is difficult, especially for wrecks 

before modern times. Previously, shipwreck documentation relied heavily on witnesses, word of mouth, and historical documents. 

However, modern equipment indicates that the number of wrecks is far greater than previously imagined. David Stick’s book 

Graveyard of the Atlantic (1952) was one of the first definitive historical works on the subject of Outer Banks shipwrecks. The 

more recent Ocracoke Shipwreck Survey documented wrecks in a zone extending for 3 mi on each side of the Outer Banks islands 

between Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras. An additional zone with a 16-km (10-mi) radius around the Ocracoke Lighthouse was 

also inventoried (Runyan, 2006). Traditional historical research, as well as field magnetometer, side-scan sonar, and global positioning 

system equipment were used in the Ocracoke survey to document the more than 2,000 wrecks.

Historically Important Shipwrecks.—Several ships that wrecked off the Outer Banks are historically important, such as 

the USS Monitor, one of the first ironclad steam warships (fig. 67). The Monitor is also known for its meeting at the Battle of 

Hampton Roads (Virginia) with the ironclad Confederate ship the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimac) on March 9, 1862. 

Although neither ship won a decisive victory, the confrontation ended the preeminant position of wooden-hulled sailing warships 

(U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2007).

The Monitor sank during a storm on New Year’s Eve 1862, about 26 km (16 mi) southwest of Cape Hatteras in 72 m (235 ft) 

of water. Four officers and 16 crewmembers died. A crew working on a Duke University research vessel discovered the Monitor in 

1973 (fig. 68). The site became the United States’ first National Marine Sanctuary in 1975.
96 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 68. USS Monitor on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, at the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary southwest of Cape Hatteras. The Monitor’s turret, which here supports the 

wreck, was raised in 2002 and is being conserved at the Mariner’s Museum in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Image compiled from video stills by Jeff Johnston, courtesy of the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

Figure 69 (facing page). “Shipwreck site” appears to be location 

of Queen Anne’s Revenge, flagship of the pirate Blackbeard. 

Courtesy of North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources 

Office of Archives and History, 2013; http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/. 

In 1996, artifacts of what appear to be the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge were found near Beaufort Inlet, 

NC, nearly 300 years after running aground on the ebb-tide delta’s terminal lobe (fig. 69) (Wells and others, 2001). Discovery of the 

ship generated great public interest, and research efforts continuing in 2010 combined governmental, private, and commercial entities

under the management of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. 

Blackbeard, whose birth name is thought to be Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, was one of colonial America’s best-known 

seafaring criminals. He participated in the capture of more than 50 vessels, including the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which was 

formerly a French slave ship. Blackbeard is suspected of running the ship aground purposefully to break up his pirate company; 

after selecting some crewmembers and taking valuables, he marooned the remaining crew. He was killed in a battle with the British 

Navy 5 months later at Ocracoke Inlet.

Why was such a ship not discovered earlier in the shallow and well-travelled location near the shore? The shifting sands of the 

barrier islands are thought to be responsible, because the ship may have been covered for 225 of its 282 years before discovery. Sands 

buried and exposed the Queen Anne’s Revenge during alternating intervals of about 50 years (Wells and others, 2001). In addition, the 

Beaufort Inlet channel has changed orientation nine times during the submergence period, further reducing chances of discovery.
History 97

NORTH CAROLINA

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Bogue Banks

Morehead City

Beaufort

Shackleford Banks

Beaufort Inlet Channel

Shipwreck site

0 0.5 1 MILE

0 0.5 1 KILOMETER

76°41’

34°42’30”
98 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Shoreline Erosion and the Lost Colony 

English explorers first attempted to colonize North America 

on the northern end of Roanoke Island. The best-known venture 

was Sir Walter Raleigh’s “Lost Colony” in 1587, but other 

settlers made several related and failed attempts to establish a 

community in this location. (For more information, see a previous 

section, European Settlement.) Although the location of a fort 

(Fort Raleigh) on Roanoke Island, dating from the time of John 

White’s colony, has been verified and is well documented (fig. 70), 

neither research nor archaeological fieldwork has established 

the settlement’s location. Early records imply that the settlement 

was almost certainly near the fort and close to the shore of 

Roanoke Island. Because of storms and the rise in sea level 

during the 400 years since colonization, this northern exposure 

of Roanoke Island has continued to erode, and it is possible that 

any archeological remains are now under water. 

Geologically, Roanoke Island is part of the Pamlico terrace 

of the Pleistocene Epoch about 1.8 million to 12 thousand years 

ago (U.S Geological Survey Geologic Names Committee, 2006) 

and may have once been a low divide situated between two rivers. 

The southern end of the island lies only slightly above sea level, 

and the northern end has a well-developed, 0.8 to 0.9 m-high 

(2.5 to 3.0 ft) bluff capped by a Pleistocene soil horizon that 

rests on the terrace surface and by overlying postglacial dune 

sands. Separating the Pleistocene soil from the postglacial layers 

is a thin blanket of charcoal, the remnant of a forest fire that swept 

the northern end of the island at some unknown earlier date. 

The Roanoke Island shoreline has shifted considerably 

since colonization. Trends in shoreline migration along 

northern Roanoke Island were established for the interval 

1851 to 1970 (Dolan and others, 1981) (fig. 71), and this 

information was updated through 1998 in the vicinity of the 

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (Riggs and Ames, 2003) 

(fig. 72). Although charts and maps of Roanoke Island date 

from the 1500s, the earliest ones are too small in scale or too 

inaccurate to be of use. Later shoreline positions were established 

by using maps and charts dating from the middle 1800s and 

those prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 

Coast and Geodetic Survey (fig. 71). More recent trends 

were determined by using aerial photographs coupled with 

field measurements. 
History 99

Figure 70. Location of the historical Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island. (Symbols courtesy of the Integration and Application Network, 

University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Kitty Hawk

Fort Raleigh

Manteo

Cape

Hatteras

ATLANTIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Roanoke Island

Former Roanoke Inlet

Oregon Inlet

Roanoke Sound

NORTH

CAROLINA

A B

0

0 10 KILOMETERS

10 MILES

75°45’ 75°30’

36°15’

36°00’

35°45’

35°30’
100 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 71. A, Historical shoreline positions of northern Roanoke 

Island. B, Erosion (in meters) for selected locations (modified 

from Dolan and others, 1981). (Symbols courtesy of the Integration 

and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for 

Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Figure 72 (inset figure, facing page). Northern Roanoke Island, 

1994. The prominent spit depicted in figure 71 is gone (modified 

from Riggs and Ames, 2003).

Figure 73 (facing page). Rock revetment installed on the northern 

end of Roanoke Island to control erosion. Hardened structures 

such as these impede the transport of sediment to downdrift 

locations. Photograph by Robert Dolan, September 2003.

The measured (1851, 1903, and 1970) and estimated (1586) shoreline positions (fig. 71) indicate 

that all areas in the northern part of Roanoke Island show various amounts of shoreline erosion in the 

119 years from 1851 to 1970. In an effort to slow or stop the loss of sand, the National Park Service 

constructed several structures along the shoreline including a rock revetment in 1980 (fig. 73), wooden 

bulkheads (wood structures built on the shoreline to hold sediment in place), groins (structures extending into 

water perpendicular to the shore designed to trap sediment in the longshore drift), and breakwaters (structures 

built slightly offshore but parallel to the shore designed to attenuate wave action). By 2003, about 75 percent 

of the northern shore of Roanoke Island was armored against shoreline erosion (Rigs and Ames, 2003). 

Although these structures did reduce erosion in their immediate vicinity, erosion accelerated in adjacent 

areas not protected by such structures. The National Park Service continues to explore solutions as this 

island shoreline retreats in response to storms, waves, and the long-term rise in sea level.

The north shore of Roanoke Island receded approximately 280 m (928 ft) between 1851 and 1970, 

and the shoreline lost a prominent feature (figs. 71 and 72). The spit northeast of Fort Raleigh called 

Etheridge Point eroded completely away. Erosion protection structures such as a groin field (fig. 71B) 

built in recent years trapped much of the sediment that previously had supplied the spit, leading to rapid 

destabilization, dispersal, and eastward migration of the spit remnants (Riggs and Ames, 2003).

Land areas facing large fetches, which produce destructive storm waves and surges, as well as those 

facing strong winds, may have erosion rates higher than those of more protected areas. Roanoke Island 

has large fetches to the north, and thus the northern part of the island is subject to destructive storm 

waves and surges from northeast storms as well as from strong northwest winds. This combination of 

wind and waves makes the island doubly vulnerable and explains the high degree of erosion on its 

northern end.

If the calculated erosion trend during the past 150 years for northern Roanoke Island (fig. 71) is 

consistent with the general trend since the “Cittie of Ralegh” was established more than 400 years ago, 

it is not surprising that evidence of the settlement’s site remains undiscovered. If the rates are compatible, 

the present coast from Northwest Point to Old U.S. Highway 64 has probably receded more than 

610 m (2,000 ft). The northeast shoreline (excluding Etheridge Point) from Old U.S. Highway 64 to 

Airport Road receded an average of about 396 m (1,300 ft). Thus, the shoreline along the entire length 

of northern Roanoke Island—in the very area that archeologists believe was the most likely settlement 

location—would have receded more than 400 m (1,320 ft). Whether the erosion of the shoreline during 

the first 276 years after settlement equals that of the shorter and more-recent study period is, of course, 

speculative, but no evidence suggests a substantial change in physical processes during this period. 

A

B

Etheridge

Point

Fort Raleigh

Northwest

Point

Groin field

–189

–144

–189 –262 –85 –101 –128

OLD U.S. 64

AIRPORT ROAD

Otis Cove

1586 (estimated)

1851

1903

1965

Fort Raleigh

Roanoke Island

Roanoke Island

0 2,000 4,000 FEET

0 0.5 1 KILOMETER

75°42’30”

35°56’
History 101

Riggs and Ames

 study location

Previous spit

location

Roanoke Sound
102 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Engineering the Outer Banks

The buildings and infrastructure close to the shoreline on developed barrier islands attribute a permanency to the landscape 

that does not exist. People investing in barrier island development want their investments protected from the storm surge and 

overwash inherent to the islands. Unfortunately, interfering with the sediment transport system profoundly changes other geological 

and ecological processes. Most coastal engineering structures are designed to restrict sediment transport or to trap sand in a location 

to mitigate erosion. However, because the barrier islands comprise an entire coastal system, structures that trap sand in one area 

usually deprive an adjacent area. As previously noted, barrier islands recede when the amount of sand carried away from the system 

exceeds the amount carried in; the greater the deficit, the greater the erosional recession.

“Hard” shoreline protection structures that change natural sand flow generally fall into two categories: structures that inhibit 

or repulse wave energy, such as seawalls (fig. 74), bulkheads, and revetments or structures that inhibit sand transport, such as jetties 

and groins. In addition, as a secondary effect, roads, parking lots, and campgrounds also alter sediment flow, freshwater runoff, 

plant communities, and animal habitat.

“Soft” mitigation is generally considered more environmentally friendly than “hard” engineering. Beach nourishment 

(mechanically placing additional sand on a beach) has gained favor in recent years, although it is temporary and expensive and 

produces its own ecological problems. These problems include disturbing the indigenous biota occupying beach habitats and 

disrupting the nesting, nursing, and breeding habitats of species that inhabit the beach zone. Creating sand dunes by trapping 

windblown sand with fences is another soft engineering response, but such trapped sand alters overwash patterns, changes 

vegetation communities, and interferes with the landward migration of the islands.

In the United States, beach nourishment has become the preferred way to reduce coastal erosion (fig. 75). The lifespan of 

nourished beaches is highly variable and may depend on a number of factors, such as storm frequency and intensity, quality of the 

sand used, and the volume of sand used per unit length of beach (Weggel, 1995). Along the Middle Atlantic coast, sediment finer 

than 0.1 mm (0.04 in.) is commonly transported offshore or through inlets and into the bays and sounds behind barrier islands. This 

sediment movement can lead to secondary environmental problems, such as increased turbidity and alteration of beach and inshore 

substrates required by intertidal fauna. How beach nourishment and resultant disturbance of the subtidal zone affects subtidal 

organisms is not well understood (Nordstrom, 2005).

Beach nourishment is not a practical solution for an individual property owner or even a group of small-property owners 

with an erosion problem because these projects usually involve miles of oceanfront beach and the importation of millions of cubic 

meters of sand. Consequently, beach nourishment is very expensive and requires widespread political and community support. In 

most cases, the Federal government becomes directly involved through the expert knowledge, planning, and permitting 

responsibilities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Sun-girt City, thou hast been

Ocean’s child, and then 

his queen; 

Now is come a darker day, 

And thou soon must be 

his prey

—Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818, Lines 

written among the Euganean Hills
Engineering the Outer Banks 103

Figure 75. Pipeline apparatus and 

related equipment associated with a 

beach nourishment project at Kure 

Beach, North Carolina. Longshore drift 

is to the south (bottom of photograph.) 

The kink in the shoreline marks the 

difference between shorelines before 

(upper left) and after (lower right) 

beach nourishment. Photograph by 

Bud Davis, courtesy of the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers.

Figure 74. North Carolina coastal regulations prohibit hardened 

coastal engineering structures such as this seawall in Galveston, 

Texas (Morton, 2004).
104 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

North Carolina Coastal Regulations 

The North Carolina Environmental Policy Act of 1971 provided decisionmakers with a way to “consider environmental 

aspects and consequences of a proposed development” (North Carolina Environmental Policy Act, 2005). This act also declared 

that North Carolina’s continuing policy would be to “conserve and protect its natural resources and to create and maintain 

conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony” (North Carolina Environmental Policy Act of 1971, 

1971). Satisfying these goals has become more complex since 1971 as population and development pressures increased.

In 1974, recognizing that coastal areas of the State were among its most valuable resources, the North Carolina legislature 

passed the Coastal Area Management Act. Among other items, this management act established North Carolina’s Coastal Resource 

Commission in order to do the following:

1. Provide a management system capable of preserving and managing the natural ecological conditions of the estuarine system, 

the barrier dune system, and the beaches, so as to safeguard and perpetuate their natural productivity and their biological, 

economic, and esthetic values;

2. Insure that the development or preservation of the land and water resources of the coastal area proceeds in a manner consistent 

with the capability of the land and water for development, use, or preservation based on ecological considerations (Coastal 

Area Management Act, 1974). 

In part because of this management act, North Carolina now has some of the most restrictive coastal development regulations 

in the Nation. The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources prohibits many of the shoreline engineering 

structures found in other coastal areas of the United States. It does not allow “permanent stabilization of the ocean shoreline, 

because structures such as bulkheads, seawalls, jetties, and groins interrupt natural sand migration patterns and can increase erosion 

at nearby properties” (CAMA Handbook, 2003). Further, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management permits only two 

responses to shoreline erosion that presents a hazard to structures: removing buildings to a safer location, or replenishing the 

beach’s supply of sand, and it advises property owners to place new buildings as far back from the beach as possible.

Most coastal projects governed by the Coastal Area Management Act are exempt from review under the North Carolina Environmental 

Policy Act of 1971. However, major coastal projects such as beach nourishment, dredging new navigation channels, and excavation of 

aquatic areas for beach nourishment, as well as any project requiring public funding, are governed by the Coastal Area Management Act 

and are also subject to review under the Environmental Policy Act (North Carolina Environmental Policy Act, 2005).
Engineering the Outer Banks 105

Economic Considerations of Coastal Engineering

The question of who pays for and who benefits from coastal engineering projects has no simple answer. Financing for these 

programs is hotly debated because most large coastal engineering projects are very costly and require public funds. Some taxpayers 

question whether the expenditure of public funds for beach nourishment and other coastal engineering projects is fair, because only 

a limited number of people (primarily those who own or have easy access to the oceanfront) will enjoy the benefits. Others argue 

that benefits from coastal engineering projects are offset by the ecological damage they cause. The valuation of benefits and liabilities 

of coastal engineering activities is rarely straightforward.

Increased property values and increased public revenue through property taxes are among the more visible outcomes of 

shoreline protection. Property values and community revenues generally increase after beach nourishment projects. Of course, 

the direct economic effects on the community served are only part of the story. Perception among domestic and foreign tourists that 

United States’ beaches are worth visiting is an important reason why travel and tourism is America’s leading industry (Houston, 

2002). The United States lacks a national agency to manage tourism, and the tourism industry is fragmented among many small 

business owners. As a result, “the importance of travel and tourism to the national economy has not been communicated to the 

American people” (Houston, 2002).

On the other hand, because “beach width is a nonmarket good, the actual value of a wider beach is difficult to measure” 

(Pompe and Rinehart, 1999). There is no standard metric for assessing the economic value of natural areas and parklands beyond 

measuring the direct revenue they generate and counting the number of visitors. Moreover, coastal engineering structures disturb 

and degrade ecosystems and preserves. Ecological economists have attempted to determine a way to place a value on services 

provided by ecosystems beyond generation of community income. Establishing such measures has, however, proven difficult. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is commonly at the forefront of exchanges involving coastal engineering, because the 

Corps is responsible for maintaining and improving the Nation’s navigable waterways and protecting coastlines from damage by 

hurricanes or other storms. As such, it also has primary responsibility for large beach nourishment programs in the United States, 

as well as for the maintenance of navigation channels such as the navigable inlets of the Outer Banks. 
106 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Engineering Projects on the Outer Banks

Dune Stabilization Program 

Severe storms and overwash along the Outer Banks precluded permanent roads until the 1930s, 

when work began on a protective dune system between the proposed road and the beach. In 1936, the 

Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration, under the direction of the 

National Park Service, began constructing 167 km (104 mi) of sand fencing and planting nearly 

400 hectares (980 acres) with grasses (fig. 76) such as American beach grass (Ammophilia breviligulata). 

The project’s purpose was to “arrest and prevent sand erosion by wind and wave action along more than 

100 miles of beach in the proposed Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina” (Unrau and 

Williss, 1983). At the time, however, the land managers and planners did not have a comprehensive 

understanding of the intensity and magnitude of the sand transport processes they were attempting to 

control. Consequently, though the program reduced overwash frequency, it did not stop erosion 

(Behn and Clark, 1979).

Figure 76 (left). During the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps 

and Works Progress Administration erected fences on the broad 

beaches of Hatteras Island to trap wind-blown sands, modifying 

the island to form its characteristic barrier-dune system. This 

photograph, taken in the late 1930s from the Cape Hatteras 

Lighthouse, shows workers planting grass behind sand fences. 

Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service. 
Engineering the Outer Banks 107

Figure 77. Bodie Island Lighthouse in 1955 (A) and 2001 (B). B, 

Note narrower beach and more mature vegetation. A, Carolina 

Motor Club “Trip of the Week” cover photograph, July 19, 1955, 

from the National Park Service, courtesy of the National Archives 

and Records Administration; B, photograph by Bill Berkemeier, 

courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The island stabilization project resulted in a continuous barrier dune along the Outer Banks islands 

of Hatteras, Pea, and Bodie. The sand fences placed just inland from the beach face inhibited airflow, 

decreased wind energy, and caused sand deposits to accumulate at the fence. Sand build-up eventually 

covered the fences and formed a high dune. Most of these fences were constructed in the region between 

the original low beach dunes close to the shoreline and 30 to 91 m (100 to 300 ft) behind the foredune 

(fig. 45). The sand that collected around the fences was stabilized further with approximately 2.4 million 

trees and shrubs. In the 1960s, the National Park Service introduced more vegetation and fertilized the 

stabilized beach barrier dunes. The artificial dunes grew as high as about 10.5 m (35 ft). Steep backslopes 

developed because sand could not easily migrate over these tall dunes.

The dune stabilization program greatly altered the ecology and geology of the affected areas. In the 

40 years following dune construction, the beach profile narrowed and steepened because wave energy 

from storms could not dissipate across the islands. In addition, the dunes impeded overwash and salt 

spray, and the vegetative succession changed from open berm grassland communities to shrub thickets 

between south Nags Head and the southern tip of Ocracoke Island. This process changed the natural 

low-profile life zones of the islands into an altered, stabilized community (see fig. 47). In the stabilized 

system, shrub communities migrate seaward from their natural positions nearer the sound and can form 

impenetrable thickets 3 to 5 m (10 to 15 ft) high. Before dune stabilization, for example, only a few shrubs 

grew in the drifting sand around Bodie Island Lighthouse near Oregon Inlet. After dune stabilization, 

more and more woody shrubs moved into this area (fig. 77).

Both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service have checked the spread of 

shrubs with controlled fires. Shrubs and other species flourishing in the protection of the artificial barrier 

dunes are not well adapted to flooding, burial from overwash, or salt spray. After a washover on a natural 

barrier island, indigenous plants can renew themselves within one growing season.

A

B
108 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Another striking difference between natural and stabilized barrier islands is beach width (fig. 78). The unaltered island beaches 

are about 120 to 200 m (400 to 650 ft) wide and average about 150 m (500 ft) wide. Many stretches of Hatteras Island beach are 

now less than 30 m (100 ft) wide.

Interference with overwash processes and inlet dynamics also decreases the islands’ ability to create new marshlands. Before 

stabilization, new marsh areas developed when grasses colonized the sand deposited in the sounds by temporary inlets and overwash 

processes. Although marshes can grow vertically on accumulated organic material, they cannot expand laterally into the sound once 

the supply of washover sand is cut off. After stabilization and the consequent reduction in washover sand, marshes tend to have 

scarped and eroding edges.

The higher profile of a stabilized barrier island makes the draining of elevated storm water more difficult. Prior to stabilization, 

when northeast storms pushed water from Pamlico Sound against the backside of the islands, the water simply flowed between the 

dunes and into the ocean. Now the water does not drain as readily, and much of the land behind the stabilized dunes floods periodically. 

Similarly, hurricane winds from the southeast force elevated water from the ocean into the sound but, as the storm progresses 

northward, winds generally shift to the northwest and the elevated sound water gets trapped behind the dunes. 

Further complicating the situation is the impression of safety and stability created by the barrier dune. Numerous structures, 

such as motels, restaurants, homes, park facilities, and the U.S. Naval Station at Cape Hatteras, were built immediately behind the 

barrier dunes in the belief that the dunes would provide reliable protection. Instead, the beach has continually narrowed and the 

barrier dunes have eroded away, leaving many of these structures with little protection against extreme storms (fig. 79).

Figure 78. Barrier island stabilization 

can narrow the beach if it can no 

longer migrate landward in response 

to change. This September 2001 

photograph of the Kitty Hawk–Kill Devil 

Hills area shows a beach bordered 

landward by a road. Photograph by 

William Birkemeier, courtesy of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Engineering the Outer Banks 109

In the 1970s, the National Park Service ended its program of large-scale dune stabilization because of high maintenance costs 

and unintended or undesirable effects on geological and ecological processes (Dolan, 1973). Although scientists in the early 1970s 

substantiated that the islands were intrinsically unstable and that they naturally respond to stress by accretion or erosion (Dolan, 

Godfrey, and Odum, 1973), as early as 1938 the National Park Service’s own geologists had asserted that the low, open nature 

of the Outer Banks was a response to natural processes. Upon completion of a beach nourishment project at Buxton in 1973, the 

National Park Service outlined its new dune stabilization policy as follows:

Following damaging storms, the dunes [will] not be artificially rebuilt, but in extensive barren areas a re-vegetation program 

[will] be initiated. Inlets which opened during storms [will] be permitted to migrate and close naturally. This alternative 

envisions that at some time in the future it may be impractical to maintain a continuous road through the seashore (Behn 

and Clark, 1979). 

Since the National Park Service ended its dune-maintenance program, barrier dunes have eroded and highways and buildings 

have been increasingly damaged by storm surge. By 2008, less than one tenth remained of the original dunes stabilized by the Civilian 

Conservation Corps. As the beach eroded and the shoreline approached the dunes, the dunes were attacked more frequently by 

smaller and smaller storms until in many places they disappeared. It is thought that by 2090, most of the artificial dunes will be 

gone (DeKimpe and others, 1991). Houses and developed property in the pathway of the overwash are increasingly susceptible 

to damage or destruction and, perhaps more important, North Carolina Highway 12 is now vulnerable.

Figure 79. South Nags Head home 

in the active surf zone. Photograph by 

Robert Dolan, September 2003.
110 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

North Carolina Highway 12

North Carolina Highway 12, built on the sound side of the artificial dune system, presents many problems for both the North 

Carolina Department of Transportation and the National Park Service. When Highway 12 was planned and constructed in the 

1940s, the best location for the roadbed was immediately inland from the newly stabilized barrier dunes on the relatively stable 

overwash terraces. No one at the time knew that this seemingly ideal location would eventually become very high risk (fig. 80).

Maintaining the road, which provides the only access connecting all the Outer Banks villages, has become one of the highway 

department’s highest and most costly priorities. In some places the highway has been moved back from the beach several times. 

However, such movement is practical only in the national seashore and national fish and wildlife areas and, even in these areas, suitable 

locations for a new road are becoming limited. Relocation of the road is virtually impossible in developed areas. In addition, the road is 

routinely cleared of sand deposited by overwash, and periodically it must be repaved after storms flood the road and break the asphalt. 

The road has been rerouted several times when erosion destroyed or threatened the dunes, bridges have been abandoned, and 

roads have been built where ephemeral inlets closed (fig. 81). As the beach system continues to narrow, overwash, erosion of the 

artificial barrier dunes, and inlet formation continue to reshape the islands. Many structures built near the beach have been lost.

North Carolina’s coastal construction policies prohibit using engineering structures such as bulkheads or groin fields to protect the 

road. Beach nourishment is an option, but it may cost tens of millions of dollars per mile and, in most cases, is only a temporary measure. 
Engineering the Outer Banks 111

Figure 80 (far left). Active surf 

approaches North Carolina Highway 

12 as the beach erodes. The road 

requires routine maintenance and 

is often overwashed with sand.

Photograph by Robert Dolan.

Figure 81 (immediate left). The remains 

of an old roadbed and bridges created 

for “New Inlet,” which formed on Pea 

Island during the 1930s. The inlet sealed 

naturally before the bridge could be used. 

Illustration courtesy of Fred Hurteau, 

www.outerbanksguidebook.com; 

background photograph by National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

NC HIGHWAY 12

 

 

 

 

 

 Old roadbed and bridges over the “New Inlet”area

Public boat ramp

Parking and 

beach access

Mile Marker

34

ATLANTIC OCEAN

NC HIGHWAY 12
112 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Oregon Inlet

A hurricane passing the Outer Banks on September 8, 1846 

generated high waves and storm surge and breached Hatteras Island 

in several places. Two of these breaches developed into Oregon

Inlet to the north (fig. 82), and Hatteras Inlet to the south—about 

24 km (15 mi) south of Cape Hatteras. Both have remained open for 

more than 150 years. 

Oregon Inlet is now the only inlet between Cape Hatteras 

and Cape Henry at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. This 

inlet is the primary conduit for tidal exchange between the Atlantic 

Ocean and Pamlico Sound, one of the largest estuaries in North 

America. Fishing and recreational industries depend on the inlet, 

because it provides the only pathway to estuarine nurseries for 

several migratory and commercial fish species.

Between 1585 and 2003, the number of active inlets at any 

one time along the Outer Banks north of Cape Hatteras ranged from 

1 to 8. Oregon Inlet’s presence in 2012 as the single active inlet in 

this 160-km (100-mi) length of coastline is unusual. Historical 

sources suggest that in 1585, when Sir Walter Raleigh’s colonists 

sailed to Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island, two inlets were present 

just north of Oregon Inlet’s location.

Managing Oregon Inlet has been a challenge for decades not 

only because it is the primary inlet-outlet between Pamlico Sound 

and the ocean, but also because it is the primary transportation 

link across and adjacent to the inlet. Land managers’ goals are to 

maintain North Carolina Highway 12 and Bonner Bridge across 

the inlet while minimizing environmental effects associated with 

maintenance (fig. 83). Inlet maintenance is complicated by the fact 

that Highway 12 provides the only north-south access along the

Outer Banks islands, that Oregon Inlet is the only navigation channel 

through the Outer Banks, and that the protected areas of Cape Hatteras 

National Seashore and Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge border 

the inlet to the north and south (fig. 84) (Dolan and Smith, 2003).

Figure 82. Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. Photograph courtesy of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, September 18, 2001.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Oregon Inlet

Bodie Island

Bonner 

Bridge

PEA ISLAND 

NATIONAL 

WILDLIFE

REFUGE

0 1,000 2,000 FEET

0 250 500 METERS

35°46’

35°47’

75°32’30”

N
Engineering the Outer Banks 113

Figure 83. Oregon Inlet and Bonner 

Bridge. Photograph by Robert Dolan, 

June 16, 2005.
114 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 84 (page 114 and 115). The Hatteras Breach (also known as Isabel Inlet and Buxton inlet) just north of Hatteras Village, North Carolina. Hurricane Isabel caused the 

breach on September 18, 2003, when it struck the Outer Banks as a Category 2 Hurricane.

The breach opened in a low, narrow area of the island. Such low swales in the dune system are vulnerable to breaches when water levels rise. After a low area is inundated, 

rising water flowing through the low area can submerge nearby dune crests, eroding them rapidly. Here, the breach destroyed the only local road to the area, thus isolating 

residents of Hatteras Village until after repairs (Wamsley and others, 2009).

Through interagency cooperation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began closing the breach on October 17, 2003, and completed the closure 15 days later. The Corps used 

34,000 feet of pipeline to transport 300,000 cubic yards of sand from a borrow area in Pamlico Sound west of Hatteras Inlet. The final panel shows the closed breach and 

restored road on November 18, 2003. Photographs by D.C. Wilson, Virginian-Pilot newspaper, and used with permission.

October 17, 2003 October 23, 2003 October 27, 2003
Engineering the Outer Banks 115

October 30, 2003 November 2, 2003 November 18, 2003
116 The Outer Banks of North Carolina
Engineering the Outer Banks 117

Figure 85. Terminal groin, northern 

end of Hatteras Island at Pea Island 

National Wildlife Refuge. Photograph 

by Michael Halminski, June 17, 2005.

The longshore transport of sand along the Outer Banks varies by as much as 1.5 million m3 (2 million yd3) per year. From 

the time it opened in 1846 until the present, Oregon Inlet migrated southward about 3 km (2 mi), an average rate of about 

18 m/yr (59 ft/yr). In 1988, inlet migration began threatening the stability of the south end of Bonner Bridge, and in 1990 the North 

Carolina Department of Transportation built a 975-m- (3,128-ft) terminal groin at the northern tip of Pea Island (fig. 85). The 

groin has markedly altered Oregon Inlet’s dynamics and configuration but, as predicted, it did halt inlet migration.

Maintaining even minimal navigation depths and a relatively straight channel have been difficult and costly. The U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers has dredged Oregon Inlet and pumped the sand to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge since 1989. Pipeline 

dredges extract the sediment when volumes exceed 191,000 m3 (250,000 yd3) and pump the sediment directly onto the beaches at 

Pea Island (fig. 86). For lesser volumes, split-hulled hopper dredges place dredged material into Pea Island’s surf zone, in water 

4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) deep. Side-cast dredges (fig. 87) are also used. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Terminal groin

PEA ISLAND NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Oregon Inlet
118 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 87. Sidecasting dredge at 

Oregon Inlet. Photograph by Michael 

Halminski, March 31, 2005.

Figure 86. The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers pipes material dredged from 

Oregon Inlet onto the beach at Pea 

Island National Wildlife Refuge. 

Photograph by William Birkemeier, 

courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

Pipeline placing dredged

material on beach
Engineering the Outer Banks 119

Since the 1990s, split-hulled hopper dredges have transported approximately 1 million m3 (1.3 million yd3) of sand to Pea Island, combined with approximately 

5 million m3 (6.5 million yd3) transported with pipeline dredges. A White House Council of Environmental Quality 2003 referral statement requires that the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers will dredge nearly twice this amount by 2015 to meet navigation channel maintenance requirements, with attendant environmental implications. In 1970, when 

Congress authorized an improved project for stabilizing Oregon Inlet, it directed the Corps to build a dual jetty (each jetty 2.4 km (1.5 mi) long) to stabilize both sides 

of the inlet (fig. 88), coupled with a sand-bypassing plan. The Oregon Inlet stabilization project (also known as the Manteo (Shallowbag) Bay project) would have been one 

of the largest coastal engineering works on the Atlantic Coast. The project was intended to protect vehicle, power, and telecommunication access to Hatteras Island across 

Bonner Bridge, while maintaining navigation access through the inlet for commercial and recreational watercraft. The estimated cost for the project was about $125 million. 

Opponents of the dual jetty system proposal were not convinced that its dredging plan could properly balance the sediment budget or predict the ultimate effects of the jetties, 

given the incomplete understanding of the inlet’s dynamics.

Federal agencies rejected the plan in 2003, ending the 30-year debate among coastal scientists, engineers, and public land managers. Ultimately, the inlet’s proximity 

to Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge led to the project’s demise because of concerns (by both the National Park Service and the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) related to maintaining healthy island ecosystems.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s plan to replace the aging Bonner Bridge is a more recent development in Oregon Inlet’s story. Bonner Bridge was 

completed in 1963. The life expectancy of the original bridge was estimated to be approximately 30 years, so it has outlived its design life. In 2011, the State’s Department 

of Transportation awarded a design-build contract for a replacement bridge. However, construction was delayed because of environmental concerns related to bridge and 

road construction within sections of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. In June 2015, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the North Carolina Department 

of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Federal Highway Administration finalized a settlement agreement with Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Refuge 

Association, allowing the N.C. Department of Transportation to replace the Bonner Bridge over the Oregon Inlet with a new parallel bridge. Under the agreement, 

the Department of Transportation will also consider options that would move vulnerable portions of North Carolina Highway 12 out of the southern half of Pea Island 

National Wildlife Refuge and into Pamlico Sound (http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/bonnerbridgereplace/). 

The design of the new Bonner Bridge was the subject of considerable discussion and environmental review during the 1990s and 2000s. Many were convinced that the 

new bridge, regardless of cost, should completely bypass Oregon Inlet and instead take a route from the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center on Bodie Island and connect with Hatteras 

Island near the village of Rodanthe, approximately 20 km (12 mi) south of the inlet. This route would avoid the many problems associated with erosion and overwash along 

Pea Island and the associated maintenance of Highway 12. Others preferred a route that parallels the existing bridge because of its lower cost and because it maintains access 

to Pea Island beaches.

Figure 88. The proposed (and rejected) 

plan to construct a jetty on each side 

of Oregon Inlet.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Oregon Inlet

Bodie Island

Bonner Bridge

Adjusted shore line

Adjusted shore line

Proposed jetty location

762 m

(2,500 ft)

0 2,000 4,000 FEET

0 0.5 1 KILOMETER

N

35°45’30”

75°31’
120 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Engineering on Cape Lookout National Seashore 

Cape Lookout National Seashore, consisting of North Core Banks, South Core Banks, and Shackleford Banks, is undeveloped 

with the exception of National Park Service concessionaires and a few modest camping structures. Bridges do not connect the islands 

to the mainland, so access is limited to boat or ferry. Coastal engineering structures are much less common here than north of 

Ocracoke Inlet. A granite-boulder jetty near Cape Lookout, the artificial opening of New Drum inlet, and a 2006 shore restoration 

project near the lighthouse are three examples of engineering projects on Cape Lookout.

Before Congress created the Cape Lookout National Seashore on March 10, 1966, and before the current Barden Inlet opened 

in 1933, plans were made to build a safe harbor near Cape Lookout (Borelli and Wells, 2002). The Cape’s present shape is largely 

a result of this structure, built in 1915 (Godfrey and Godfrey, 1976). Part of the plan included a shore-parallel breakwater along 

Shackleford Banks connected to Cape Point, creating a harbor directly offshore. Only 2 km (1.2 mi) of the proposed 8 km (5 mi) 

breakwater were completed. When Barden Inlet opened, the partial breakwater near the mouth of the new inlet became a jetty. 

Currently, sediment bypasses the jetty and has lengthened a spit in the area at a rate of 37 m/yr (121 ft/yr) since 1940 (fig. 89) 

(Borelli and Wells, 2002).

In a more striking engineering project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reopened historic New Drum Inlet on Core Banks in 

1971. Old Drum and New Drum Inlets are ephemeral, and previous openings and closings date back to the early 1800s and pre-1585, 

respectively. When Old Drum closed naturally in 1971, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responded by reopening historic New 

Drum Inlet on December 3 that same year, about 4 km (21⁄2 mi) south (fig. 90) (Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc., 2004). In 

1999, waves from Hurricane Dennis reopened Old Drum Inlet (Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc., 2004) and, as of 2010, both 

inlets remain open and are not being artificially maintained.

More recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers replaced sediment on the sound side of the national seashore to protect Cape 

Lookout Lighthouse and the keeper’s quarters. After an inlet channel shifted in the late 1970s, the shoreline near the lighthouse rapidly 

eroded, leaving the structures in a more vulnerable position (National Park Service, 2006) (fig. 91). Then in 2003, Hurricane Isabel 

damaged part of the historic compound. In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placed about 46,000 m3 (60,000 yd3) of sediment 

along 793 m (2,600 ft) of the sound shoreline (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2006).
Engineering the Outer Banks 121

Figure 89. The evolution of Cape 

Lookout after construction of a jetty in 

1915, which altered sediment dynamics 

and caused lengthening of the spit on 

the left side of the cape. A, courtesy 

of the National Park Service; B, from 

Godfrey and Godfrey, 1976; C, courtesy 

of the U.S. Geological Survey. 

COAST GUARD STATION

Cape Lookout 

Lighthouse

1888 Chart

1966 Chart

A. 1941

B. 1983

C. 1888 and 1966

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN

34°36’

34°38’

34°40’

0 2,000 4,000 FEET

0 0.5 1 KILOMETER

76°35’ 76°30’
122 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 90. The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers reopened historic New Drum 

Inlet on Core Banks (A) in December 

1971 (B). Photographs by U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, courtesy of the 

National Park Service.

Figure 91 (above). Erosion after a 

channel shift encroaches upon Cape 

Lookout Lighthouse and keeper’s 

quarters. Photograph by J.J. Smith, 2002.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

New Drum Inlet

A B
Engineering the Outer Banks 123

Moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest in North America at 61 m (200 ft), is one of the most popular historical attractions 

on the Outer Banks. Built in 1875, the lighthouse replaced earlier structures that had been lost to beach erosion. When constructed, 

the lighthouse was approximately 460 m (1,500 ft) from the shoreline. By 1987, erosion had reduced this distance to less than 50 m 

(160 ft), and it was feared that the structure had become vulnerable to damage from a severe hurricane. In need of an effective solution, 

the National Park Service requested an evaluation of the problem, along with options for preserving the lighthouse, from the National 

Academy of Science’s National Research Council.

After an 18-month study, the Council concluded that the lighthouse would be lost within a few decades, or sooner, in response 

to “a direct hit by a severe hurricane or series of lesser storms” (U.S. National Research Council, 1988). Of 10 options for preserving 

the lighthouse and associated buildings, the preferred approach was to move the lighthouse complex to a more storm-resistant 

location. During the ensuing decade the relocation option was extensively debated and discussed and, in the spring and summer of 

1999, after receiving approximately $12 million for the project from Congress, the National Park Service moved the lighthouse and 

associated buildings.

Moving the lighthouse, which weighs 4,400 tons, was technically challenging. The structure had to be raised with hydraulic 

jacks, placed on a wheeled platform (fig. 92), and transported on tracks about 884 m (2,900 ft) to the southwest (figs. 93, 94). The 

lighthouse now sits about 488 m (1,600 ft) from the shoreline, where it should be safe from the effects of erosion and storm waves 

for about 100 years. The process associated with moving the lighthouse, including analysis, public hearings, decisionmaking, and 

funding, demonstrated that buildings can be relocated successfully from high-hazard zones along the coast.

Figure 92 (left). A special rail transport carried the Cape Hatteras 

Lighthouse to a location about one-quarter mile farther inland. Photograph 

by Kevin Adams, 1999.
124 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 93. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is prepared for its journey 

inland in 1999 (A), away from the encroaching ocean (B). 

A, photograph by Kevin Adams; B, photograph by J.J. Smith.

A

B
Engineering the Outer Banks 125

Figure 94. Moving Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Photograph by 

Kevin Adams. 
126 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Land Management Considerations

Recent Trends in Land Use

The rate of population growth along the Outer Banks in recent decades has been among the highest in North Carolina. The 

permanent population of the Outer Banks portion of Currituck County, for example, grew 32 percent between 1990 and 2000 from 

13,736 to more than 18,190 people. Concurrently, Dare County also grew by 32 percent, increasing from 22,746 to 29,967 persons. 

Between 2000 and 2010, however, population growth slowed in Dare County, increasing approximately another 13 percent 

to 34,000. In comparison, the population of North Carolina grew 21 percent between 1990 and 2000, and 18.5 percent between 

2000 and 2010. Tourism is the economic engine of the Outer Banks, and the seasonal population, which peaks during the summer 

months, is also growing. “Dare County estimates that its daily population increases by more than 225,000 additional residents 

during peak summer months,” which is more than six times its permanent population (University of North Carolina, Carolina 

Population Center, 2016).

Development of the Outer Banks has also increased during the past several decades although the amount of land available for 

development is limited (figs. 95, 96). More than 60 percent of the Outer Banks, from Currituck to Cape Lookout, is in Federal 

and State parks, seashores, wildlife refuges and sanctuaries, and historical sites and monuments. These protected lands ensure that 

the rich natural diversity of flora, fauna, and landscape will survive for future generations. Of the remaining 40 percent of land, 

most has either already been developed or is slated for development. 

I must go down to the sea 

again, for the call of the 

running tide 

Is a wild call and a clear call 

that may not be denied.

—John Masefield, 1902, Sea Fever 
Land Management Considerations 127

Full development of existing land does not mean that new construction on the islands is at an end. In the near term, plans 

exist for redevelopment of existing properties. As the value of property all along the Outer Banks has soared, so too has the 

financial incentive to tear down and replace first- and second-generation beach cottages with much larger houses. Not surprisingly, 

this intensification of land use on existing properties is controversial because it increases the demand for water, sewer, power, and 

other community services that, in turn, increases stress on the islands’ ecosystems (fig. 97). To address these concerns, county 

governments on the Outer Banks are looking to reduce these demands through improved building practices and caps on the size of 

replacement structures.
128 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Wright Memorial

A

B
Land Management Considerations 129

Figure 95 (facing page). Changes in land use near the Wright 

Memorial. A, looking northeast in the 1940s; B, looking southwest 

in 2001. A, photograph by Aycock Brown, courtesy of the National 

Park Service; B, photograph by William Birkemeier, courtesy of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
130 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 96. Whalebone Junction at the 

northern boundary of Cape Hatteras 

National Seashore in 1958 (A) and 2002 

(B). A, photograph by Gus Martin, 

courtesy of the North Carolina News 

Bureau, Department of Conservation 

and Development; B, photograph by 

Robert Dolan.

A

B
Land Management Considerations 131

Figure 97. Housing encroaching on a 

marsh on Roanoke Island. Photograph 

by Robert Dolan.

Freshwater

Additional constraints on future development are being imposed by the physical characteristics of the islands themselves. 

Although the Outer Banks are surrounded by water, the amount of potable freshwater available on them is limited. As with other 

wide barrier islands, freshwater on the Outer Banks is found within the sandy underlying soils (fig. 98). Rainfall seeping directly 

into the porous sand creates and sustains these relatively shallow unconfined aquifers. Some of the infiltrated water flows laterally 

through the sand toward the edges of the island where it discharges into the ocean and sound. The remainder percolates downward 

through the soil until it eventually contacts sediments that are saturated with salty ocean water. At the interface between the fresh 

and salty water, a zone of intermixing produces a layer of brackish water. These three distinct zones of water compose the 

groundwater system of a barrier island.
132 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Figure 98. A barrier island aquifer in 

cross section. Arrows show the path 

of water movement (adapted from Cohen 

and others, 1968). (Symbols courtesy 

of the Integration and Application 

Network, University of Maryland Center 

for Environmental Science (ian.umces.

edu/symbols/).

Lower-density freshwater forms a lens that floats on the saltier layers. The size of the freshwater lens, or near-surface aquifer, naturally varies depending upon precipitation. 

When rainfall is above normal, the aquifer expands; when it is below normal, the aquifer shrinks. Regular rainfall, then, is essential for recharging the freshwater aquifer 

and maintaining an adequate groundwater supply.

Precipitation is not the only factor affecting the size of the aquifer, however. Individual homeowners and municipalities on the Outer Banks draw freshwater from the 

aquifer through groundwater wells. As population increases, so too does the demand for water. When the demand exceeds the amount of water being recharged by precipitation, 

the aquifer shrinks. Thus, keeping the aquifer stable is a function of both natural supply and public demand.

Demand for drinking water has increased sharply since the early 1980s, when the Outer Banks tourist industry began its rapid growth. In 1970, the permanent population 

of the Outer Banks was 6,253; by 2000, it was 53,859 (Street and others, 2005). During the summer tourist season, this number grows to nearly one-half million on any given 

day. This enormous increase in population, particularly during the summer, is depleting Outer Banks aquifers.

By the late 1980s, freshwater demand was beginning to exceed renewal supply in some locations. Dare County’s solution was to desalinate brackish groundwater by 

use of reverse osmosis, and the County installed the first reverse-osmosis desalination plant on the Outer Banks in 1989. Currently, the County operates three reverse osmosis 

plants, one each in Kill Devil Hills, North Hatteras Island, and South Hatteras Island. Desalination of brackish groundwater is becoming a primary method of producing 

potable water in the coastal counties of Dare, Currituck, and Hyde. These three counties now have the capacity to desalt nearly 11 million gallons of groundwater daily. 

Looking into the future, continued population growth on the Outer Banks will further stress freshwater supplies. Inevitably, the fraction of the water supply coming from the 

withdrawal and treatment of brackish water will also grow.

OCEAN Sound

Water table

Fresh water

Zone of

intermixing

Salt water Salt water
Opportunities for Future Research 133

Opportunities for Future Research

This report presents an overview of the geological history of the Outer Banks of North Carolina: how the islands formed, how 

they have changed, and why they will continue to change. It includes an assessment of human activities since the time of the first 

settlements. The purpose is not just to describe the natural processes but to point out how some of these processes produce environmental 

hazards. Data are presented that allow a holistic look at changes in the barrier island system.

Natural processes are key indicators of areas that are particularly hazardous to develop. Data on erosion and overwash penetration 

rates, coupled with land use information, can provide a basis for guiding future development away from the more hazardous areas 

and into locations of greater relative safety. Similarly, such data can be effectively used to evaluate various hazard mitigation 

techniques and to choose those that offer the most protection with the fewest negative effects.

The natural configuration of barrier island coastlines, as determined by coastal processes, is not straight; it tends to have 

sinuous curves and bulges. Some homes on the Outer Banks constructed in the 1950s are still standing today, having weathered 

hundreds of storms, even the destructive 1962 Ash Wednesday northeast storm. Other houses have disappeared. The vulnerability 

of some places along the coast is not simply a matter of chance but, rather, is part of a pattern. Research suggests that even for 

individual sites along the barrier islands, natural processes result in shoreline forms that are systematic or recurring (Dolan, Lins, 

and Stewart, 1980).

If hazard zones along the barrier islands are distributed systematically, they should also be predictable. Although detailed 

historical information for establishing past patterns is not always available, evidence suggests that if a section of sedimentary coast 

has experienced storm damage and serious erosion in the past, it is likely to experience more in the future.

Barrier island inhabitants continually assess environmental processes and the associated potential for hazardous conditions 

brought about by island changes caused by natural and human processes. Although precise predictions of storm timing and location 

are not possible, general assessments of along-the-coast variations in hazard probabilities are possible. It is possible that one of 

the most important elements in future hazard research and assessment is a concept that has so far been explored principally on 

an intuitive level: that storms provide the energy for coastal change and that geomorphological characteristics determine how 

that energy is distributed. 
134 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

References 

Ashton, Andrew, Murray, A.B., and Arnault, Oliver, 2001, Formation of coastline features by large-scale instabilities induced by 

high-angle waves: Nature, v. 414, p. 296–300. 

Bacon, Francis, 1620, The new organon, book 1, aphorism 3.

Barlow, P.M., 2003, Ground water in freshwater-saltwater environments of the Atlantic Coast: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1262, 

unpaged. Available at pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2003/circ1262/

Behn, R.D., and Clark, M.A., 1979, The termination of beach erosion control at Cape Hatteras: Public Policy, v. 27, no. 1, 

p. 99–127.

Beston, Henry, 1928, The outermost house—A year of life on the great beach of Cape Cod: New York, Henry Holt, 218 p.

Beven, J., 2000, Preliminary report—Hurricane Dennis, 24 August–7 September 1999: U.S. Department of Commerce National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, 17 p. Accessed 14 June 2005, 

at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1999dennis.html

Bindoff, N.L., Willebrand, J., Artale, V., Cazenave, A., Gregory, J.M., Gulev, S., Hanawa, K., Le Quéré, Corinne, and others, 2007, 

Observations—Oceanic climate change and sea level. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, 

M., and Miller, H.L., eds., Climate change 2007—The physical science basis: Cambridge and New York City, Cambridge 

University Press, p. 385–432.

Binkley, Cameron, 2007, The creation and establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore—The Great Depression through 

Mission 66: Atlanta, Ga., U.S. Department of Interior National Park Service, 278 p.

Birkemeier W.A., Dolan, Robert, and Fisher, N., 1984, The evolution of a barrier island—1930–1980, Shore and Beach, v. 52, 

p. 3–12.

Blackwelder, B.W., MacIntyre, I.G., and Pilkey, O.H., 1982, Geology of the continental shelf, Onslow Bay, North Carolina, as 

revealed by submarine outcrops: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 66, p. 44–56.

Blake, E.S., Landsea, C.W., and Gibney, E.J., 2011, The deadliest, costliest, and most intense United States tropical cyclones from 

1851 to 2010 (and other frequently requested hurricane facts): National Atmospheric and Oceanic Association, NOAA Technical 

Memorandum NWS NHC–6, 47 p. 

Bodge, K.R., 1993, Gross transport effects and sand management strategy at inlets: Journal of Coastal Research, special issue 18, 

p. 111–124.

Borelli, Mark, and Wells, J.T., 2002, Sediment bypassing, spit progradation and the Cape Lookout “jetty”: Shore and Beach, v. 70, 

no. 3, p. 15–19.

Burk, C.J., Curran, H.A., and Czerniak, T.M., 1981, Dunes and vegetation—Natural recovery on a damaged barrier island: Shore 

and Beach, v. 49, p. 21–25.
References 135

Carson, Rachel, 1955, The edge of the sea: Cambridge, Mass., Riverside Press, 276 p.

CAMA (Coastal Area Management Act) Handbook for development in coastal North Carolina, 2003: North Carolina Department of 

Environmental and Natural Resources Division of Coastal Management website. Accessed 20 June 2006 at http://dcm2.enr.state.

nc.us/Handbook/section4.htm

Coastal Area Management Act, 1974: North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Division of Coastal 

Management website. Accessed 2 July 2006 at http://dcm2.enr.state.nc.us/Rules/cama.htm

Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc., 2004, Bogue Inlet channel erosion response project cumulative effects assessment: 

Accessed 6 July 2006 at http://www.saw.usace.army.mil/WETLANDS/Projects/BogueInlet/FEIS/Mar2004FEISAppendices/

Appendix%20F%20CEA/CEA%20March%202004%201-3.pdf

Cobb, C., 1903, Recent changes in the North Carolina coast with special reference to Hatteras Island: Science, v. 17, no. 423, 227 p.

Cohen, P., Franke, L.O., and Foxworthy, B.L., 1968, An atlas of Long Island’s water resources: New York State Water Resources 

Commission Bulletin 62, 117 p.

Croft, L.P., 1934, Study for a national seaside including Kill Devil Hills, Cape Lookout, Fort Macon area (Seashore study authorized 

by the Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes): National Park Service Branch of Planning (Outer Banks Group Museum 

Collection, Manteo, NC).

Culver, S.J., Grand Pre, C.A., Mallinson, D.J., Riggs, S.R., Corbett, D.R., Foley, J., Hale, M., Metger, L., Ricardo, J., Rosenberger, J., 

Smith, D.G., Smith, C.W., Snyder, S.W., Twamley, D., Farrell, K., and Horton, B.P., 2007, Late Holocene barrier island 

collapse—Outer Banks, North Carolina, USA: The Sedimentary Record, v. 5, p. 4–8.

Darwin, Charles, 1937, The voyage of the Beagle: New York, P.F. Collier and Sons, 524 p.

Davis, R.A., Jr., 1997, The evolving coast: New York, Freeman Scientific American Library, 233 p.

DeKimpe, N.M., Dolan, Robert, and Hayden, B., 1991, Predicted dune recession on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, USA: 

Journal of Coastal Research, v. 7, no. 2, p. 451–463. 

Dillon, W.P., and Oldale, R.N., 1978, Late Quaternary sea-level curve: Geology, v. 6, p. 56–60.

Dinsmore, S.J., Collazom J.A., and Walters, J.R., 1998, Seasonal numbers and distribution of shorebirds on North Carolina’s Outer 

Banks: Wilson Bulletin of Wilson Ornithological Society, v. 110, no. 2, p. 171–181.

Dolan, Robert, 1971, Coastal landforms—Crescentic and rhythmic: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 82, p. 177–180.

Dolan, Robert, 1973, Barrier islands, natural and controlled, in Coates, D.R., ed., Coastal geomorphology, Geomorphology Symposia 

series, 3d: Binghamton, State University of New York, p. 263–278.

Dolan, Robert, 1996, Experiences with Atlantic coast storms, barrier islands, Oregon Inlet, and Douglas Inman: Shore and Beach, 

v. 64, no. 3, p. 3–7. 
136 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Dolan, Robert, and Davis, R.E., 1992, An intensity scale for Atlantic coast northeast storms: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 8, 

no. 4, p. 840–853.

Dolan, Robert, and Ferm, J.C., 1968, Crescentic landforms along the Atlantic coast of the United States: Science, v. 159, 

p. 627–629. 

Dolan, Robert, Godfrey, P.J., and Odum, W.E., 1973, Man’s impact on the barrier islands of North Carolina: American Scientist, 

v. 61, p. 152–162. 

Dolan, Robert, Hayden, B., and Bosserman, K., 1981, Is the Lost Colony really lost?: Shore and Beach, v. 49, no. 2, p. 17–19.

Dolan, Robert, Hayden, B., and Felder, W., 1979a, Shoreline periodicities and edge waves: Journal of Geology, v. 87, p. 175–185.

Dolan, Robert, Hayden, B., Heywood, J., and Vincent, L., 1977, Shoreline forms and shoreline dynamics: Science, v. 197, p. 49–51.

Dolan, Robert, Hayden, B., and Lins, H.F., 1980, Barrier islands: American Scientist, v. 68, no. 1, p. 16–25.

Dolan, Robert, Hayden, B., Rea, C., and Heywood, J., 1979b, Shoreline erosion rates along the Middle Atlantic coast of the United 

States: Geology, v. 7, p. 602–606.

Dolan, Robert, Hayden, B., and Vincent, L., 1974, Crescentic coastal landforms: Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, v. 18, no. 1, 

p. 1–12.

Dolan, Robert, and Lins, H.F., 1986, The Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1986: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 

1177–B, 47 p.

Dolan, Robert, Lins, H.F., and Stewart, John, 1980, Geographical analysis of Fenwick Island, Maryland, a Middle Atlantic coast 

barrier island: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1177–A, 24 p.

Dolan, Robert, and Runyan, K., 2001, Discussion—Origin of Jockey’s Ridge, North Carolina; the end of the highest sand dune on 

the Atlantic coast?: Shore and Beach, v. 69, no. 3, p. 29–32.

Dolan, Robert, and Smith, J.J., 2003, Coastal forum—The stabilization of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina: Shore and Beach, v. 71, no. 3, p. 7.

Duane, D.B., Field, M.E., Meisburger, E.P., Swift, D.J.P., and Williams, S.J., 1972, Linear shoals on the Atlantic inner continental 

shelf, Long Island to Florida, in Swift, D.J.P., Pilkey, O.H., and Duane, D.B., eds., Shelf sediment transport—Process and 

pattern: Stroudsburg, Penn., Dowden Hutchinson and Ross, p. 447–498.

Dunbar, G.S., 1958, Historical geography of the North Carolina Outer Banks: Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 234 p.

Emery, K.O., 1968, Relict sediments on continental shelves of the world: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 

v. 52, p. 445–464.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, 10 December 2003, State/Federal disaster aid tops $155 million (press release). Accessed 

at http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=9029

Field, M.E., and Duane, D.B., 1976, Post-Pleistocene history of the United States inner continental shelf—Significance to origin of 

barrier islands: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 87, p. 691–702.
References 137

Field, M.E., Meisburger, E.P., Stanley, E.A., and Williams, S.J., 1979, Upper Quaternary peat deposits on the Atlantic inner shelf of 

the United States: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 90, p. 618–628. 

Fisher, J.J., 1962, Geomorphic expression of former inlets along the Outer Banks of North Carolina: Chapel Hill, University of 

North Carolina, M.S. thesis, 102 p.

Fisher, J.J., 1967, Development pattern of relict beach ridges, Outer Banks barrier chain, North Carolina: unpublished PhD dissertation, 

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 250 p. 

Godfrey, P.J., 1970, Oceanic overwash and its ecological implications on the Outer Banks of North Carolina: U.S. Department of 

the Interior National Park Service, 37 p.

Godfrey, P.J., 1972a, Ecology of barrier islands influenced by man: Washington, D.C., American Association for the Advancement 

of Science Conference, December 30, 1972, 9 p. 

Godfrey, P.J., 1972b, Ecological approach to dune management in the natural recreation areas of the U.S. East Coast: Noorwijk, 

The Netherlands, International Society Biometeorologists Congress, 6th, September 5, 1972, 8 p.

Godfrey, P.J., 1976, Barrier beaches of the East Coast: Oceanus, v. 19, no. 5, p. 27–40.

Godfrey, P.J., and Godfrey, M.M., 1976, Barrier island ecology of Cape Lookout National Seashore and vicinity, North Carolina: 

National Park Service Scientific Monograph Series 9, 160 p. 

Grand Pre, C., Culver, S.J., Mallinson, D.J., Farrell, K.M., Corbett, D.R., Horton, B.P., Hillier, C., Riggs, S.R., Snyder, S.W., and 

Buzas, M.A., 2011, Rapid Holocene coastal change revealed by high-resolution micropaleontological analysis, Pamlico Sound, 

North Carolina, USA: Quaternary Research, v. 76, no. 3, p. 319–334.

Haag, W.G., 1956, The archeology of coastal North Carolina, Coastal Studies Series 2: Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University 

Press, 136 p.

Hariot, Thomas, 1588, A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia: London, [publisher unknown], 48 p. Accessed 

12 July 2013 at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=etas [text] and at http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/plate45.html [engravings].

Horton, B.P., Peltier, W.R., Culver, S.J., Drummond, R., Engelhart, S.E., Kemp, A.C., Mallinson, D., Thieler, E.R., Riggs, S.R., 

Ames, D.V., and Thomson, K.H., 2009, Holocene sea-level changes along the North Carolina coastline and their implications for glacial 

isostatic adjustment models: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 28, no. 17–18, p. 1725–1736. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.02.002

Houston, J.R., 2002, The economic value of beaches—A 2002 update: Shore and Beach, v. 70, no. 1, p. 9–12.

Hoyt, J.H., 1967, Barrier island formation: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 78, p. 1125–1136.

Jarrell, J.D., Mayfield, M., Rappaport, E.N., and Landsea, C., 2001, The deadliest, costliest, and most intense United States hurricanes 

from 1900 to 2000: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS TPC–1. 

Accessed 11 June 2005 at http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/deadly/index.html

Komar, P.D., 1998, Beach processes and sedimentation: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 544 p.
138 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Kraft, J.C., Biggs, R., and Halsey, S., 1973, Morphology and vertical sedimentary sequence models in Holocene transgressive 

barrier systems, in Coates, D.R., ed., Coastal geomorphology, Geomorphology Symposia series, 3d: Binghamton, State 

University of New York, p. 321–354.

Mallinson, D., Burdette, K., Mahan, S., and Brook, G., 2008, Optically stimulated luminescence age controls on late Pleistocene 

and Holocene coastal lithosomes, North Carolina, USA: Quaternary Research, v. 69, no. 1, p. 97–109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/

j.yqres.2007.10.002

Masefield, John, 1902 (original publication), 1913 (this source), Sea fever, in Masefield, John, Salt-water poems and ballads: 

New York, Maxmillan Co., 112 p.

Menzies, John, 2002, The Pleistocene legacy—Glaciation, in Orme, A.R., ed., The physical geography of North America: Oxford, 

U.K., Oxford University Press, p. 36–54.

Miller, T.L., Morton, R.A., and Sallenger, A.H., 2005, The National assessment of shoreline change—A GIS compilation of vector 

shorelines and associated shoreline change data for the U.S. southeast Atlantic coast: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 

2005–1326, unpaged.

Mitasova, Helena, Overton, M., and Harmon, R., 2005, Geospatial analysis of a coastal sand dune field evolution—Jockey’s Ridge, 

N. Car.: Geomorphology, v. 72, p. 204–221.

Morton, R.A., 2004, An overview of coastal land loss—With emphasis on the southeastern United States: U.S. Geological Survey 

Open-File Report 03–337, 29 p.

Morton, R.A., and Miller, T.L., 2005, National assessment of shoreline change—Part 2, Historical shoreline changes and associated 

coastal land loss along the U.S. southeast Atlantic coast: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005–1401, 35 p. 

Moslow, T.F., and Heron, S.D., Jr., 1979, Quaternary evolution of Core Banks, North Carolina—Cape Lookout to New Drum Inlet, 

in Leatherman, S.P., ed., Barrier islands: New York, Academic Press, p. 211–236.

Moslow, T.F., and Heron, S.D., Jr., 1994, The Outer Banks of North Carolina, in Davis, R.A., ed., Geology of Holocene barrier 

island systems: Berlin, Springer-Verlag, p. 47–74.

Nordstrom, K.F., 2005, Beach nourishment and coastal habitats—Research needs to improve compatibility: Restoration Ecology, 

v. 13, no. 1, p. 215–222.

North Carolina Department of Commerce, 2008, North Carolina coast: Accessed 7 January 2008 at http://www.visitnc.com/where_

to_go_coast_obx.asp

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Office of Archives and History, 2013, available at http://www.history.ncdcr.gov/

North Carolina Environmental Policy Act, 2005, Requirements for Projects Requiring a CAMA Permit, 13 April 2005: Accessed 

2 July 2006 at http://dcm2.enr.state.nc.us/Rules/sepa.pdf

North Carolina Environmental Policy Act of 1971, vers. 2.2, 2005: Accessed 3 July 2006 at http://dcm2.enr.state.nc.us/rules/sepa.pdf

Oosting, H.J., 1945, Tolerance to salt spray of plants of coastal dunes: Ecology, v. 26, p. 85–89.
References 139

Oosting, H.J., and Billings, W.D., 1942, Factors affecting vegetational zonation on coastal dunes: Ecology, v. 23, p. 131–142.

Paerl, H.W., Bales, J.D., Ausley, L.W., Buzzelli, C.P., Crowder, L.B., Eby, L.A., Fear, J.M., Go, M., Peierls, B.L., Richardson, 

T.L., and Ramus, J.S., 2001, Ecosystem impacts of three sequential hurricanes (Dennis, Floyd, and Irene) on the U.S.’s largest 

lagoonal estuary, Pamlico Sound, N. Car.: Proceedings National Academy of Science, v. 98, p. 5655–5660.

Pielke, R.A., Jr., and Pielke, R.A., Sr., 1997, Hurricanes—Their nature and impacts on society: New York, Wiley, 279 p.

Pierce, J.W., 1969, Sediment budget along a barrier island chain: Sedimentary Geology, v. 3, p. 5–16.

Pompe, J.J., and Rinehart, J.R., 1999, Establishing fees for beach protection—Paying for a public good: Coastal Management, 

v. 27, p. 57–67.

Price, A.L., Butler, J., Patterson, N., Capelli, C., Pascali, V.L., Scarnicci, F., Ruiz-Linares, A., Groop, L., Saetta, A.A., Korkolopoulou, P., 

Seligsohn, U., Waliszewska, A., Schirmer, C., Ardlie, K., Ramos, A., Nemesh, J., Arbeitman, L., Goldstein, D.B., Reich, D., and 

Hirschhorn, J.N., 2008, Discerning the ancestry of European Americans in genetic association studies: PLoS (Public Library of 

Science) Genetics, v. 4, no. 1, e236.doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030236

Riggs, S.R., and Ames, D.V., 2003, Drowning the North Carolina coast—Sea-level rise and estuarine dynamics: Raleigh, 

North Carolina Sea Grant Program publication UNC–SG–03–04, 152 p.

Roush, J.F., and Hatch, C.E., Jr., 1968, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, historical research management plan: 

U.S. Department of Interior Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, National Park Service, 53 p.

Runyan, Timothy, 2006, The Ocracoke shipwreck survey 2004: Accessed 25 July 2006 at http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/

explorations/04ocracoke/welcome.html

Schott, Timothy, Landsea, Chris, Hafele, Gene, and others, 2012, The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale updated 1 February 2012 

to reflect minor changes to Category 3/4 and 4/5 boundaries: www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/sshws.pdf, 4 p. 

Shakespeare, William (1606–1607), Anthony and Cleopatra, reprinted in Gaither, Carl C., and Gaither, Alma E., eds., 2001, 

Naturally speaking—A dictionary of quotations on biology, botany, nature and zoology: Bristol and Philadelphia, Institute of 

Physics Publishing, 596 p.

Shelley, P.B., 1818, Lines written among the Euganean hills, in Shelley, P.B., The poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley: West 

Yorkshire, U.K., Pomona Press, 2008, 444 p.

Shepard, F.P., and Wanless, H.R., 1971, Our changing coastlines: New York, McGraw-Hill, 579 p.

Simpson, R.H., 1974, The hurricane disaster potential scale: Weatherwise, v. 27, p. 169 and 186.

Singer, C., 1959, A short history of scientific ideas to 1900: Oxford, Oxford University Press, 525 p.

Snyder, R.A., and Boss, C.L., 2002, Recovery and stability in barrier island plant communities: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 18, 

no. 3, p. 530–536.

Sonu, C.J., 1973, Three-dimensional beach changes: Journal of Geology, v. 81, p. 42–84.
140 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Stahle, D.W., Cleaveland, M.K., Blanton, D.B., Therrell, M.D., and Gay, D.A., 1998, The Lost Colony and Jamestown droughts: 

Science, v. 280, no. 5363, p. 564–567.

Stalter, R., and Lamoot, E.E., 1997, Flora of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Ocracoke Island to Virginia: Journal of the Torrey 

Botanical Society, v. 124, p. 71–88.

Stick, David, 1952, Graveyard of the Atlantic—Shipwrecks of the North Carolina coast: Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina 

Press, 276 p.

Stick, David, 1958, The Outer Banks of North Carolina, 1584–1958: Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 352 p.

Street, M.W., Deaton, A.S., Chappell, W.S., and Mooreside, P.D., 2005, North Carolina coastal habitat protection plan: Morehead 

City, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Marine Fisheries, 656 p.

Unrau, H.D., and Williss, G.F., September 1983, Administrative history—Expansion of the National Park Service in the 1930s: 

Accessed 20 June 2006, at www.cr.nps.gov/history/ online_books/unrau-williss/adhi.htm

UNC [University of North Carolina] Carolina Population Center, 2016, Carolina demography. Accessed February 12, 2016, at 

https://demography.cpc.unc.edu/resources/data-tables/

UNC [University of North Carolina] Carolina Population Center, 2016, Tourism impacts on Dare County. Accessed February 12, 2016, 

at http://demography.cpc.unc.edu/2015/07/14/tourism-impacts-on-dare-county/

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2006, Engineer update: Accessed 20 June 2006 at www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/apr06/

story9.HTM

U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Names Committee, 2006, Divisions of geologic time—Major chronostratigraphic and chronologic 

units: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2007–3015, 2 p.

U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2007, USS Monitor, in Encyclopedia of the Sanctuary: Accessed 17 February 

2007 at http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/onms/park/Parks/USS Monitor

U.S. National Park Service, 2006, Shoreline protection work planned for lighthouse, Cape Lookout National Seashore (press 

release): Accessed 20 June 2006 at http://www.nps.gov/ns/calo/parknews/02_17_2006b.htm
References 141

U.S. National Research Council, 1988, Saving Cape Hatteras Lighthouse from the sea—Options and policy implications: 

Washington, D.C., National Academy Press, 136 p.

Wamsley, T.V., Hathaway, K.K., and Wutkowski, M., July 2010, Hatteras Breach, North Carolina: Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory 

Engineering Technical Note ERDC/CHL CHETN-VI-43, Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development 

Center. Last accessed July 15, 2013, at http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/library/publications/chetn/pdf/chetn-vi-43.pdf

Weggel, J.R., 1995, A primer on monitoring beach nourishment projects: Shore and Beach, v. 63 no. 3, p. 20–24.

Wells, J.T., McNinch, J.E., and Drake, T.G., 2001, The fate of artifacts in an energetic, shallow-water environment—Scour and 

burial at the wreck site of Queen Anne’s Revenge: Southeastern Geology, v. 40, no. 1, p. 19–27.

Whitman, Walt, 1856, Miracles, reprinted in Gaither, C.C., and Gaither, A.E., eds., 2001, Naturally speaking—A dictionary of 

quotations on biology, botany, nature and zoology: Bristol and Philadelphia, Institute of Physics Publishing, 596 p.

Wood, F.J., 1986, Tidal dynamics: Dordrecht, Holland, Reidel, 558 p. (Expanded version of Wood, F.J., 1978, The strategic role of 

perigean spring tides in nautical history and North American coastal flooding, 1635–1976, Washington, D.C., National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration.)

Wordsworth, William, 1807, Ode—Intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood, in The complete poetical 

works of William Wordworth, 1888, London, MacMillan. 

Wutkowski, M., 2004, Hatteras breach closure: Shore and Beach, v. 72, no. 20, p. 20–24.
142 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Glossary

A

anticyclone A central region of high atmospheric pressure surrounded by large-scale circulation of winds; it is clockwise in the 

Northern Hemisphere, counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

B

back barrier bay The relatively calm, shallow, and protected body of water that separates a barrier island from the mainland.

backshore beach The area of a shore that lies between the average high tide mark and dune vegetation; it is affected by waves 

only during severe storms. It is commonly referred to as the backshore.

barrier dunes Unconsolidated mounds of wind-blown sand on the ocean side of a barrier island, typically covered with sparse to 

dense vegetation, and that separate the beach from the interior environments of the island.

breakwater A structure sheltering a harbor, anchorage, or stretch of beach that provides protection from waves.

C

cape A land area that projects seaward from a continent or large island and that prominently changes the direction of the shoreline.

coastal plain An extensive area of low relief, bounded by the sea on one side and by a zone of higher relief on the landward side, 

that typically is underlain by strata that dip gently and uniformly toward the sea.

continental shelf The relatively shallow (no more than 200 meters deep) seabed surrounding a continent and extending from the 

shoreline to the continental slope, where the seabed abruptly drops to the deep ocean floor.

cyclonic The rapid inward circulation of air around a low-pressure center, flowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere 

and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, that is usually accompanied by stormy weather.

D

Dolan-Davis Intensity Scale A classification system for characterizing the intensity of coastal extratropical storms (nor’easters or 

northeast storms), ranging from 1 for a weak storm that does no damage to 5 for an extreme storm that does extensive damage.

deep water wave A surface wave having a length less than twice the depth of the water.
Glossary 143

E

erosion setback A prescribed distance from the shoreline to a coastal feature or structure within which all or certain types of 

development are prohibited because of local rates of erosion.

estuary A partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it and with a free connection to 

the open sea.

extratropical cyclone A low-pressure system that forms in the midlatitudes (approximately 30° to 60° north and south of the 

Equator) and that gets its energy primarily from temperature differences in the lower atmosphere. Cold fronts and warm fronts are 

typically associated with extratropical cyclones. Northeast storms are extratropical cyclones that move northward along the East 

Coast of the United States.

eye, eyewall The eye is a circular region of mostly calm weather at the center of strong tropical cyclones. It is typically 

30–65 kilometers (20–40 miles) in diameter and has the lowest barometric pressure in the hurricane. The eyewall is a ring of 

towering thunderstorms surrounding the eye that produces the storm’s highest wind speeds.

F

fetch The length of water over which a given wind has blown. It is also referred to as fetch length. The longer the fetch and the 

higher the wind speed, the larger and more powerful the waves will be.

flood tidal delta Sandy shoals on the estuarine side of a tidal inlet that form on a rising (flooding) tide.

foredune A coastal dune or ridge that parallels the shoreline of an ocean or large lake and is stabilized by vegetation.

foreshore beach The area of a shore that lies between the average high tide mark and the average low tide mark. It is also 

commonly referred to simply as the foreshore.

G

geomorphic A physical characteristic associated with the shape or surface configuration of Earth.

groin A shore protection structure that extends from the backshore into the surf zone, perpendicular to the shoreline. A groin is 

intended to build up an eroded beach by trapping littoral drift or to retard the erosion of a stretch of beach.

H

Holocene marine transgression The worldwide rise in sea level and inundation of shorelines that began around 12,000 years ago, 

caused by the melting of Pleistocene ice sheets, ice caps, and mountain glaciers. 

I

inshore The zone of variable width extending from the low tide mark through the surf zone, where waves are transformed by 

interaction with the sea bed.

inshore current The horizontal movement of water inside the surf zone, including longshore and rip currents.
144 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

L

littoral drift Sand and coarser material moved in the surf zone by waves and longshore currents.

longshore current The movement of water in the surf zone, generally parallel to the shoreline, generated by waves breaking at an 

angle to the shoreline. 

longshore sediment transport The movement of sedimentary material parallel to the shore.

lunar tides That portion of the daily rising and falling of the ocean and coastal waters that can be attributed directly to the 

gravitational attraction of the Moon.

M

mean low water The average of all low-water heights observed during a 19-year-long National Tidal Datum Epoch; the previous 

19-year period was 1983–2001. 

microtidal A tidal range of less than 2 meters (6 feet).

midlatitude The area of the earth between the tropics and the polar regions, approximately 30° to 60° north and south of the Equator.

N

neap tide The tide occurring at the first or last quarter of the moon (quadrature) when the tide-generating forces of the sun and 

moon oppose each other and produce the smallest difference between high and low tide.

northeast storm A type of extratropical cyclone that occurs along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, so 

named because the storm travels to the northeast from the south with strong onshore winds that blow from the northeast. Also 

known more commonly as a northeaster or nor’easter.

northeasterly winds Winds that blow from the northeast.

O

overwash The mass of water and sediment that flows over the crest of a beach and that does not directly return to the ocean. In 

the field of coastal geology, and as used throughout this book, “overwash” refers to a landward flux of sediment due to overtopping 

of a dune system typically during intense coastal storms.

overwash fan, overwash flat A fan-like landform of sand washed over a barrier island or spit during a storm and deposited on 

the landward side. Overwash fans can be small to medium sized and completely subaerial, or they can be quite large and include 

subaqueous margins in adjacent lagoons or estuaries.
Glossary 145

P

perigee, perigean The point in the orbit of an object around the earth that is nearest to the center of Earth. 

period, long period, short period The interval of time between successive occurrences of the same state in an oscillatory or cyclic 

process. In the context of waves, long period waves typically have a frequency of minutes to hours, whereas short period waves 

typically have a frequency of less than 30 seconds.

primary dunes Accumulations of sand derived primarily from the beach and generally closest to the shoreline. They are dynamically 

linked to beach processes and are strongly influenced by wave action as both a constructional and an erosional force.

S

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale A hurricane intensity categorization system, ranging from 1 to 5, based since 2012 on sustained 

wind speed. A Category 1 hurricane has sustained winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour and is capable of producing some property damage. 

A Category 5 hurricane has sustained winds of 157 miles per hour and higher and is likely to produce catastrophic damage. 

screw-pile lighthouse A lighthouse standing on piles, the feet of which each have a wide helical blade that is screwed into sandy 

or muddy sea or river bottoms.

shoal A shallow place in a body of water, such as a sand bar or reef, that constitutes a hazard to navigation.

significant wave height The average height of the highest one-third of waves present during a specified interval of time.

sound A body of water roughly parallel to the coast and separated from the open ocean by barrier islands.

spring tide The tide occurring at the new or full moon when the tide-generating forces of the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned 

with each other (syzygy) and produce the largest difference between high and low tide. 

storm surge A rise above normal water level on the open coast, due to wind stress that piles water up onto the coast. The very low 

atmospheric pressure typical of a hurricane or intense extratropical cyclone also amplifies storm surge.

subtropical cyclone A storm system that has some of the characteristics of both a tropical and an extratropical cyclone.

T

tidal range The difference in height between consecutive high and low water levels.

tropical cyclone A generic term referring to a warm-core storm system that forms in a maritime tropical air mass. It ranges in 

intensity from a tropical depression (maximum sustained winds less than 39 miles per hour) to a tropical storm (maximum sustained 

winds of 39 to 74 miles per hour) to a hurricane (maximum sustained winds greater than 74 miles per hour). “Warm core” means 

that at any height in the atmosphere the center of the cyclone is warmer than its surroundings; this characteristic separates tropical 

cyclones from other cyclonic systems.

tropical latitude The region of Earth adjacent to the Equator, bounded on the north by the Tropic of Cancer (23.4°N) and on the 

south by the Tropic of Capricorn (23.4°S).
146 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

W

washover fan, washover flat A fan-like landform of sand washed over a barrier island or spit during a storm and deposited on 

the landward side. Washover fans can be small to medium sized and completely subaerial, or they can be quite large and include 

subaqueous margins in adjacent lagoons or estuaries. Major or repeated overwash events produce a larger depositional area known 

as a washover flat.

wave angle The horizontal angle (azimuth), measured with respect to the shoreline, at which a wave strikes the shore.

wave runup The maximum vertical extent of a wave washing up on a beach (swash) above mean sea level.

wavelength, long wavelength The horizontal distance between wave crests (or troughs) on two successive waves as measured 

perpendicular to the crest (or trough). Waves that typically have long wavelengths include seismic sea waves (tsunamis) and tide 

waves (produced by the gravitational attraction of the Moon and Sun).

wind shear A difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Wind shear has both 

vertical and horizontal components. Horizontal wind shear is found across weather fronts and near the coast, and vertical shear is 

found typically near the ground or sea surface—and less commonly at higher levels in the atmosphere near upper level jets and 

frontal zones aloft.
Glossary 147
148 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Additional Photograph Credits

Page

Covers 1 and 4 Wild oats with waves—Photograph by William Birkemeier, used with permission

Cover 1 Soaring tern—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

Title Page Receding tide—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory—public domain

iii Soaring tern—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

iv–v Receding tide—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory—public domain

vi Kitty Hawk storm—Photograph by William Birkemeier, used with permission

vii–xiii Grass and sea thumbnail—Photograph by Roxanne Crouse—Fotolia 12872919; purchased license

xiv–1 Grass and sea—Photograph by Roxanne Crouse—Fotolia 12872919; purchased license

2 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

4 House above washout—Photograph by Chris Hill—Fotolia 17416292; purchased license

6 Atlantic ghost crab—Photograph by Hans Hillewaert—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 4.0

7 Satellite photograph of Outer Banks—Photograph courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, public domain

8–9 Tidal wash—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory—public domain

10 Inlets in Hatteras Island—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey, public domain

11 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

13 Shell and crab drawings—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

14 Dunes with grass—Photograph by junej—Fotolia 30252174; purchased license

15 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

15 Small satellite photograph—Photograph courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, public domain

18 Orange sunset—Photograph by sbgoodwin—Fotolia 41863611; purchased license

21 Ocean sunset—Photograph by ksena32—Fotolia 24405212; purchased license

22 Small waves—Detail of photograph courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory—public domain

24 Hurricane whorl—Photograph courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, public domain

26–29 Hurricane whorl—Photograph courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, public domain

32–33 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

34–35, 37 Hurricane whorl—Photograph courtesy of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, public domain

38 Small storm surge—Photograph courtesy of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—public domain

38–39 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

40 Moon jellyfish—Photograph by William Birkemeier, used with permission

43 Firewheel (Gaillardia)—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

46 Fence in sand background—Photograph by Jörg Hackemann—Fotolia 29154424; purchased license

46 Small inset photograph of dune—Detail of photograph by William Birkemeier, used with permission
Page 

47 Plant drawings—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

48–49 Dunes at Jockey’s Ridge background—Photograph by Pytheas at English Wikipedia—Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 3.0

51 Inlets in Hatteras Island—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey—public domain

52–53 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

54 Tidal wash—Photograph by byheaven—Fotolia 42181083; purchased license

57 Beach dune—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

58–59 Background—Cape Hatteras Lighthouse—Fotolia 30780847; purchased license

62 Drawing of sea rocket—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

63 Small photograph of salt marsh cordgrass—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution– U.S. Department of Agriculture—public domain

64 Black skimmer—Photograph by Dan Pancamo—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 2.0 Generic

64 Drawing of birds—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

65 Maritime forest—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

65 Small photograph of sea grass—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

66 Drawing of birds—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

66 Soaring tern—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

67 Rabbit in grass—Photograph by Harvey Henkelmann—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

67 Drawing of fauna—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

68–69 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

69 Drawing of shells—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

70 Drawing of live oak—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

71 Seagrass and sun on horizon—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

71–72 Drawing of plants—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission

72 Marsh pinks—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

73 Wright brothers’ plane background—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Library of Congress—Prints and Photographs Division—public domain

74 Four small seabeach amaranth—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—public domain

75 Adult piping plover—Photograph by Bear Golden Retriever—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 2.0 Generic

76 Footprints in sand—Photograph by sbgoodwin—Fotolia 41008756; purchased license

77 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

78 Compass—Photograph by Stepan Nagornyi—PixelSquid object—TurboSquid, Inc.—Royality free license

78 Chesapeake Bay map—Photograph by John White—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

80 Drawing of plants—K. Leigh Rhodes, used with permission—public domain

80 View of lighthouse lantern room—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore

81 Bodie Lighthouse and quarters—Photograph by Jarek Tuszyski—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 3.0

Additional Photograph Credits 149
150 The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Page

82 Small Cape Hatteras Lighthouse—Photograph by sbgoodwin—Fotolia 41008816; purchased license

83 Small Cape Lookout Lighthouse—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

87 Oregon Inlet lifesaving station—Photograph by William Birkemeier, used with permission

88–89 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

90 Wright Brothers Medallion—Wikimedia Commons—United States Mint—public domain

92 Great egret—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

92 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

95 USS Monitor—Watercolor by Oscar Parkes, United States Navel History and Heritage Command—public domain

97 Queen Anne’s Revenge—Etching by Joseph Nicholls—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

98 Battle of Roanoke Island map—Wikipedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

100–101 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Vladimir Voronin—Fotolia 36393762; purchased license

102–103 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

104–105 Car tracks in beach background—Photograph by Jenny Thompson—Fotolia 36284909; purchased license

106 Fence posts in sand—Photograph by Jörg Hackemann—Fotolia 29155493; purchased license

110 Dunes and clouds—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

116 Pier at sunset—Photograph by crystalseye—Fotolia 29757222; purchased license

120–121 Ocean beach at South Core Banks—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

122 Cape Lookout Lighthouse—Photograph by Rob Byron—Fotolia 22412641; purchased license

123 Small aerial view of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Sevice—public domain

123 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse move—Photograph by RadioFan at English Wikipedia—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—3.0 Unported

125 View to top of Cape Hateras Lighthouse—Photograph by Jenny Thompson—Fotolia 44022295; purchased license

126–127 Ocean and beach houses—Photograph by Jörg Hackemann—Fotolia 35861160; purchased license

128–129 Wright Brothers National Memorial—Photograph by Ken Thomas—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

132–133 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

140–141 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

141 Starfish—Photograph by bobmartin—PixelSquid object—TurboSquid, Inc.—Royality free license

146–147 Grass in sunset—Photograph by jgpatino—Fotolia 45402735; purchased license

150–151 Soaring tern—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

150–151 Strewn sand background—Photograph by Oliver Sved—Fotolia 38618093; purchased license

Cover 3 Receding tide—Photograph courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory—public domain
Additional Photograph Credits 151
152 The Outer Banks of North Carolina
Poster Map Photograph Credits

A

BC

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

NO

A Soaring tern—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—

Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

B Currituck Lighthouse—Photograph by Warfieldian—Wikimedia 

Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

C Ocracoke Island Lighthouse—Photograph by Henryhartley—Wikimedia 

Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 3.0

D Bodie Island Lighthouse—Photograph by Pete—Wikimedia Commons; 

Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 2.0 Generic

E Cape Hatteras Lighthouse—Photograph by sbgoodwin—Fotolia 

41008816; purchased license

F Cape Lookout Lighthouse—Photograph by BrianDBell at English 

Wikipedia—Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—

Share Alike 3.0 Unported

G Wright brothers’ plane—Photograph courtesy of the National Park 

Service—public domain

H Wright Brothers National Memorial—Photograph by Ken Thomas—

Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

I Cape Hatteras National Seashore sign—Photograph by Vbofficial—

Wikimedia Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—public domain

J Pea Island dunes—Photograph by Vbofficial—Wikipedia Commons; 

Creative Commons Attribution—ShareAlike 3.0

K Pamlico Sound sunset—Photograph by ChristopherLocke—Wikimedia 

Commons; Creative Commons Attribution—Share Alike 3.0 Unported

L Wright Brothers Medallion—Wikimedia Commons—United States 

Mint—public domain

M Seagrass and sun on horizon—Photograph courtesy of the National 

Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

N Ocean beach at South Core Banks—Photograph courtesy of the 

National Park Service—Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

O Beach dune—Photograph courtesy of the National Park Service—

Cape Lookout National Seashore—public domain

Symbols courtesy of the Integration and Application Network, University of 

Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Additional Photograph Credits 153
Publishing support provided by Denver Publishing Service Center

Edited by Mary-Margaret Coates

Layout and graphic design by Carol A. Quesenberry

This publication is available online at:

https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1827

ISSN 1044-9612 (print)

ISSN 2330-7102 (online)

https://doi.org/10.3133/pp1827