page_title: Outer Banks
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Outer Banks / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: The Outer Banks off the coast of the state of North Carolina, USA - taken from the International Space Station - April, 2019 - Original - North =&gt; lower left.
context_page_description: The Outer Banks are a 200-mile string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating Currituck Sound, Albemarle Sound, and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean.
  A major tourist destination, the Outer Banks are known for their wide expanse of open beachfront and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The hundreds of shipwrecks along the Outer Banks have given the surrounding seas the nickname Graveyard of the Atlantic. The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is in Hatteras Village near a United States Coast Guard facility and the Hatteras ferry.
  The English Roanoke Colony—where Virginia Dare was born—vanished from Roanoke Island in 1587. The Lost Colony, written and performed today on Roanoke Island to commemorate the original colonists, is the second longest-running outdoor drama in the United States and its theater acts as a cultural focal point for much of the Outer Banks.
context_section_description: The Outer Banks is a string of peninsulas and barrier islands separating the Atlantic Ocean from mainland North Carolina. From north to south, the largest of these include: Bodie Island (which used to be an island but is now a peninsula due to tropical storms and hurricanes), Hatteras Island, Ocracoke Island, Portsmouth Island, and the Core Banks. Over time, the exact number of islands and inlets changes as new inlets are opened up, often during a breach created during violent storms, and older inlets close, usually due to gradually shifting sands during the dynamic processes of beach evolution.
  The Outer Banks stretch southward from Sandbridge in Virginia Beach down the North Carolina coastline. Sources differ regarding the southern terminus of the Outer Banks. Generations of North Carolina schoolchildren have learned that the term includes the state's three prominent capes: Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout, and Cape Fear. Other sources limit the definition to two capes (Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout) and coastal areas in four counties (Currituck County, Dare County, Hyde County, and Carteret County). Some authors exclude Carteret's Bogue Banks; others exclude the county entirely.
  The abbreviations OBX (Outer Banks) and SOBX (Southern Outer Banks) are modern terms used to promote tourism and to market a variety of stickers, t-shirts, and other items to vacationers. OBX, which originated first, is generally used in the northern Outer Banks. SOBX is a misnomer, used to capitalize on the popularity of "OBX" and refers to the Crystal Coast area and the Bogue Banks.
  The northern part of the Outer Banks, from Oregon Inlet northward, is actually a part of the North American mainland, since the northern inlets of Bodie Island and Currituck Banks no longer exist.  It is separated by the Currituck Sound and the Intracoastal Waterway, which passes through the Great Dismal Swamp occupying much of the mainland west of the Outer Banks. Road access to the northern Outer Banks is cut off between Sandbridge and Corolla, North Carolina, with communities such as Carova Beach accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles. North Carolina State Highway 12 links most of the popular Outer Banks communities in this section of the coast. The easternmost point is Rodanthe Pier in Rodanthe, NC .
  The Outer Banks are not anchored to offshore coral reefs like some other barrier islands and as a consequence they often suffer significant beach erosion during major storms. In fact, their location jutting out into the Atlantic makes them the most hurricane-prone area north of Florida, for both landfalling storms and brushing storms offshore. Hatteras Island was cut in half on September 18, 2003, when Hurricane Isabel washed a 2,000 foot (600 m) wide and 15 foot (5 m) deep channel called Isabel Inlet through the community of Hatteras Village on the southern end of the island. The tear was subsequently repaired and restored by sand dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  It was cut off once again in 2011 by Hurricane Irene.  Access to the island was largely limited to boat access only from August to late October until another temporary bridge could be built.
caption: NASA - Outer Banks - North Carolina, United States - International Space Station
  (north = lower left; April 2019)
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