Ocracoke Island

North Carolina Outdoors

Ocracoke Island

Ocracoke Island Photo Tour

Just the Facts Local Links Regional Books & Music

The picture above says everything you need to know about Ocracokers. This island is disconnected from the mainland by spirit as well as geography. If you can't slow down here, you've got your foot locked on the accelerator.

Ocracoke's unique character is a function not only of its long isolation but recent development pattern. Since the 1940s, the National Park Service has owned all of the island except for the 1000 acres that comprise the original village. Consequently, the island has been spared the postwar strip development that plagues most coastal resort development, including Cape Hatteras just to the north.

Ocracoke is an old-fashioned village. If you like, you can park your car for the week and walk, bicycle, or paddle everywhere you need to go. That's living.

Just the Facts...

Location: Dare County, off the southwest tip of Hatteras Island, about 15 miles east of the mainland.

Access: NC DOT ferry, private boat, or airplane. Call 1-800-BYFERRY for reservations. Visit NCFerry.org for a map and schedule.

Size: About 16 miles long and half a mile wide.

Ownership: National Park Service. Ocracoke Island is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore . Privately owned land is limited to the village of Ocracoke at the southern end of the island, totaling less than 1000 acres.

Local Links

Ocracoke Preservation Society - Operators of the Ocracoke Museum, a must-see for all visitors.

Ocracoke Dialect - An NCSU Linguistics Dept. site on the Ocracoke brogue, complete with video and audio clips and oral histories.Excellent site.

Ocracoke Village Map - Excellent Map. Adobe PDF reader required.

Tide Chart - Ocracoke Inlet

NCRoute12.com - Resource Guide to the Outer Banks

Village Craftsmen - On Howard St., sells lots of neat things made by local crafts people.

Ocracoke Hammock Company and Candyland Emporium - Locally made hammocks and fudge.

Osprey Charter Fishing

Sailing Carolina Cruises - Charter a sailboat out of Ocracoke.

Drum Stick Charters

Open Water Duck Hunting

O'Neals Tackle Shop

Tradewinds Bait & Tackle - Site has an up-to-date fishing report.

Ocracoke Variety Store

Ocracoke Island Realty

Sandy Shores Realty

Edwards of Ocracoke - Operates local motel and cottages.

Pony Island Motel

Ocracoke Island Inn

Ocracoke Harbor Inn

Outer Banks Rent Direct Service - Rent an Outer Banks cottage directly from the owner.

North Carolina's Outer Banks - A comprehensive commercially-oriented guide to the Outer Banks.

Ocracoke Island Photography - Excellent photos by a local photographer.

Donald Davis Storyteller - Ocracoke resident Davis is a nationally-acclaimed storyteller.

Teach's Hole Specialty Shop - Everything imaginable on Blackbeard the Pirate.

RoanokeRiver.com - The river is nearly 100 miles away, but worth a visit. An outstanding site devoted to conservation and recreation on the lower Roanoke River.

Click for Ocracoke, North Carolina Forecast

Books on Ocracoke and
the North Carolina Coast

Ocracokers - by Alton Ballance. My favorite account of Ocracokers and their environs. Written by a native. A sympathetic yet serious look at the island's past, present, and future.

Ocracoke Wild : A Naturalist's Year on an Outer Bank's Island - by Pat Gerber. The first of a two-part series by an Ocracoke newcomer. Likely to become an Outer Banks classic.

Ocracoke Odyssey : A Naturalist's Reflections on her Home by the Sea - by Pat Gerber. Second of the series. Rated 4 stars by Amazon reviewers.

Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks : The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue - by Walt Wolfram. Yes, the natives talk a little bit different. Have you brushed up on your Elizabethan English lately?

The Nature of the Outer Banks: Environmental Processes, Field Sites, and Development Issues, Corolla to Ocracoke - by Dirk Frankenberg. A serious look at the difficult choices facing the Outer Banks.

Ocracoke Lighthouse (Island History, 1) - by Ellen Fulcher. A history of the Ocracoke Lighthouse by a local preservationist.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina - by David Stick. Simply the best book on the history of these unique islands.

Graveyard of the Atlantic : Shipwrecks of the North carolina Coast - by David Stick. Another classic work on North Carolina history by the dean of Outer Banks historians.

An Outer Banks Reader - edited by David Stick. An anthology of 450 years of writing about the Outer Banks.

The Waterman's Song: Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina - by David S. Cecelski. Published 2002. Engaging, thoughtful, and scholarly. The best book on NC history I have read in several years.

The Beaches Are Moving : The Drowning of America's Shoreline : With a New Epilogue - by Orrin Pilkey and Wallace Kaufman. A classic treatise on the folly of beach hardening. Pilkey's work led to NC's 1985 ban on seawalls, one of the best pieces of conservation legislation in this state's history. Pilkey is universally scorned by coastal developers, which means he must be speaking the unvarnished truth.

A Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina - by John O. Fussell. I keep this guide in my car anytime I travel downeast. Thorough and clearly written. Maps and directions included.

North Carolina Hiking Trails - by Allen de Hart. Comprehensive. Covers 968 trails. My favorite.

Hiking North Carolina (Falcon Guide) - by Randy Johnson. Covers fewer trails than de Hart's book, but covers them in more detail; maps and photos included.

Exploring North Carolina's Natural Areas: Parks, Nature Preserves, and Hiking Trails - edited by Dirk Frankenberger.

Newcomb's Wildflower Guide - The best field guide. My copy is only two years old, but already dogeared.

Eastern Trees (Peterson Field Guides)

A Field Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians (Peterson Field Guides)

A Field Guide to the Birds (Peterson Field Guides)

Old Time Music

O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Soundtrack from the movie. An incredible collection of old time music. This is REAL country music. It is everything that today's slick new Nashville pop isn't. Featuring Norman Blake, Emmy Lou Harris, Gillian Welch, Allison Kraus, John Hartford, The Stanley Brothers, and more. An astonishing collection! Rated five stars by Amazon reviewers.

Salt Sea Bound - Polecat Creek. First release (March 2002) from this triad-based group. Original music in the Old Time tradition. Outstanding song writing and beautiful harmonies. My favorite album of 2002.

Ballads, Banjo Tunes, And Sacred Songs of Western North Carolina - by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. A Smithsonian Folkways CD, rated five stars by Amazon reviewers.

Clarence Ashley And Doc Watson: The Original Folkways Recordings, 1960-1962 - Doc is a NC legend and national treasure. This is one of his earliest recordings. A Smithsonian Folkways 2-CD Set. Rated five stars by Amazon reviewers.

The High Lonesome Sound - by Roscoe Holcomb. One of the greatest of the old-time banjo players, Holcomb did almost all of his playing at Holiness Church services and square dances. A Smithsonian Folkways recording. Rated five stars by Amazon reviewers.

Music From The Lost Provinces: Old-Time-Stringbands From Ashe County, North Carolina & Vicinity 1927-1931 Various artists. A classic of the old-time genre. Rated four stars by Amazon reviewers.

The Legacy Of Tommy Jarrell, Vol. 1: 1: Sail Away Ladies - Tommy Jarrell was one of the greatest old-time fiddlers. Rated five stars by Amazon reviewers.

Ways That are Dark - by Daniel Gore, with Peter Rowan, Tim O'Brien, Jack Lawrence, and others. A musical companion to Horace Kephart's classic book, Our Southern Highlanders .