page_title: Corolla, North Carolina
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Corolla, North Carolina / History
caption_attribution_description: Corolla, North Carolina - view from the lighthouse
context_page_description: Corolla is an unincorporated community located in Poplar Branch township, Currituck County, North Carolina along the northern Outer Banks. It has a permanent population of approximately 500 people; during the summer vacation season, the population surges into the thousands. Corolla is home to the Currituck Beach Light, one of the seven North Carolina coastal lighthouses.
  Previously a quiet and little-known location, a development boom in the 1980s sparked growth in the area, and since then, Corolla has become a popular vacation destination. Resting between the Currituck Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, Corolla attracts mainly beach-goers, especially in the summer months. Corolla is home to numerous attractions such as the historic Whalehead Club, Currituck Beach Light, Center for Wildlife Education, and is known for its numerous locations for shopping, dining, and participating in water sports.
  Corolla is home to a herd of feral Banker horses. They are located on a 12,000-acre animal sanctuary situated north of the populated areas of Corolla. Over fifty thousand people come to see these wild horses every week in the summer months.
context_section_description: The community of Corolla began as a European development on American Indian hunting grounds. Tribes including the Chowanoke and Poteskeet hunted along the barrier island.
  The town of Corolla was first called Jones Hill, after an early settler. It was also known as Whalehead or Currituck Beach. Early settlers made a living from fishing and hunting, as well as from salvage from shipwrecks and serving as guides to hunters.
  Currituck was derived from an American Indian term, Carotank, meaning land of the wild geese. On the Atlantic migratory flyway, the area at the time had a large wild geese population.  Over hunting in the late 19th century caused numbers to severely drop.
  The town officially took the name Corolla in 1895 when a post office opened in the community. The name was chosen to refer to the botanic term for the petals of a flower.
  Development of Currituck's Northern Outer Banks began in 1967 when investors from Sandbridge, Virginia, put together an investment group to purchase undeveloped land. The first subdivision plotted was Carova with 1,993 lots. The lots were originally priced in the early 1970s at $8,000; as of 2006, some of these lots are worth up to $500,000.
  The investors planned for a road to come through from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to allow access to the lots; however, these plans were abandoned in 1973 when the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge south of Sandbridge was closed to all vehicular traffic, except by permit. Development pushed south through the 1970s, creating well over 1,000 additional lots in several subdivisions. In 1984 the residents of Corolla succeeded in their attempts to gain a public access road from the south.  The state began paving the extension of NC-12 toward the north.
  In addition to the Currituck Beach Light, the Currituck Shooting Club and Whalehead Club are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
caption: Corolla, as viewed from the Currituck Beach Lighthouse
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