Background
The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a summer playground for millions of visitors. But before the era of paved roads and gasoline automobiles, the Outer Banks were a wild, remote, and storm-tossed wilderness. Fishermen inhabited a few settlements and occasional visitors came by boat.
Around the turn of the 20th century, Americans became interested in the beach. As urbanization and congestion increased in cities, affluent people escaped to the seashore for healthy air and recreation. Resorts arose to accommodate them. But until the age of the automobile, these resorts remained small isolated coastal enclaves tied to the hinterland by railroads (for example, Atlantic City, New Jersey) or by ferry boat. The technical revolution of the 20th century brought electric trains, automobiles, gasoline-powered pleasure boats, labor-saving devices for the home, and a new era of leisure to a prospering nation (Morison and Commager 1962). Electricity provided convenient power to energy-poor barrier islands for lighting and water pumps for drinking water. Changing morals allowed people to sunbathe and enjoy the hedonism of the beach experience (Lenček and Bosker 1998). By the 1920s, automobiles let beach-goers follow new paved roads to the coast.
But the Outer Banks remained remote and wild until the early 1920s. Victims of shipwrecks were often stranded with no water and food, and often with no way to signal for help.
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| Diamond Shoals and Cape Hatteras, view north |
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| View north to Buxton and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at its original location. |
The US Life-Saving Service and its Stations
During the sailing vessel era, the Outer Banks of North Carolina were a dangerous and remote expanse of coast with no safe harbors of refuge. Because of the many shipwrecks that occurred in these treacherous waters, the US Government allocated funds for a life-saving organization in 1848. The fledging organization lacked budget and training, but the brave men did what they could with limited resources. Finally, in June 1878, the US Life-Saving Service became an independent unit of the US Treasury Department with a mission statement and more adequate funding. The US National Park Service has a succinct summary of the service and the amazing and heroic work that these men performed to save victims of shipwrecks.
From the National Park Service:
The first Outer Banks Life-Saving Service (LSS) stations were built and manned in 1874. They were, from north to south, Jones Hill (later with the more familiar name “Currituck Beach”), Caffeys Inlet, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Bodie island (renamed “Oregon Inlet”), Chicamacomico (now village of Rodanthe) and Little Kinnakeet (just north of today’s village of Avon). In 1878, eleven more stations were added. These included the now famous Kill Devil Hills station, which assisted the Wright brothers, and the Hatteras Inlet station. Still more were added, eventually totaling 29, averaging about six miles apart on the North Carolina outer coast from the Virginia line (Wash Woods LSS – 1878), to the South Carolina line (Oak Island LSS- 1886). In 1915, all these became Coast Guard stations.
United States Life-Saving Service stations on Bodie, Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands – includes the area in 1953 which became the Cape Hatteras National Seashore – were Bodie Island, Oregon Inlet, Pea Island, New Inlet, Chicamacomico, Gull Shoal, Little Kinnakeet, Big Kinnakeet, Creeds Hill, Cape Hatteras, Durants, Hatteras Inlet and Ocracoke.
Here are a few 1990s photographs of some of the life-saving stations, going from south to north. Some have been restored since then and are now museums or visitor centers. Not all of the 1800s stations exist now. Some, like Big Kinnakeet, were demolished after damage caused by hurricanes.
Little Kinnakeet
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| 1904 Coast Guard Station |
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| Tower of the 1904 Coast Guard station |
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| 1874 original life saving building before restoration |
Little Kinnakeet is just north of the town of Avon and is in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This 1874 station was one of the first seven life-saving stations erected on the Outer Banks. It operated from 1875 to 1915 and then continued as a Coast Guard station until 1954. The 1874 building has been restored since I took these Kodachromes, but the 1904 building is in poor condition and now fenced off.
Chicamacomico
The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe is the most complete life-saving station left in North Carolina, according to the National Park Service. It was first commissioned in 1874 and operated until 1954. In the first photograph above, note the water cistern to the left of the door. Drinking water was difficult to secure on the Outer Banks.
Chicamacomico Station has been beautifully restored and includes an interesting museum.
Oregon Inlet
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| 1898 lifesaving main building with 1979 dormitory |
This Quonochontaug-type building was the third station at Oregon Inlet. The US Coast Guard used the station from 1898 to 1988. In 1990, the Coast Guard moved to a new dock and facility north of Oregon inlet in Pamlico Sound. The old building sat empty for a number of years, during which it suffered vandalism. In 2008, the State of North Carolina funded a repair and rehabilitation, which included raising the historic building onto piles and demolishing the 1970s dormitory.
Kitty Hawk
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| Oops. Years before, house lots existed on the seaward side of Hwy 12 (to the right in the photograph) |
Kitty Hawk is famous as the area where the Wright Brothers did their pioneering experiments with powered flight early in the 20th century. But this part of the barrier island is also highly vulnerable to beach retreat caused by storm waves and a lack of sediment supply. In some stretches, Hwy 12 now runs along the beach because former house lots on the seaward side have been washed away. I do not know what happens to property rights when the land is washed away. It is a complicated problem that is sure to plague communities in the future in the face of sea level rise.
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| Kitty Hawk sunset |
On this part of Kitty Hawk, land owners (or the county?) have placed sand fencing to trap wind-blown sand. And bulldozers have pushed sand up in front of the properties to protect them. But the lack of vegetated dunes shows that this beach is not stable. This part of the barrier is sediment-poor. Shoving a limited amount of sand around with tractors will not cure that problem.
Part of the former Kitty Hawk lifesaving station is now the Black Pelican Restaurant.
Duck
Duck is a fashionable town north of the frantic intersection where US 158 crosses the intersection and diverges south to Kitty Hawk. The only road to Duck is on NC Highway 12, and in summer it gets backed up with tourist traffic. Duck has some stable sand dunes with huge old oak trees. The presence of mature oak trees means this part of a barrier island has been stable for years or centuries. But further north, developers have raped the landscape and built miles of vacation homes.
The US Army Corps of Engineers Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory operates the Field Research Facility (FRF) just north of Duck. The tower houses cameras and laser measuring equipment. The laboratory conducts experiments on beach processes, wave action, and sediment transport. During WWII, the site was a US Army bombing range.
Corolla
The town of Corolla is the northern end of NC 12 on the Outer Banks. The only way to reach the mainland is to turn around and head south back to the US 158 causeway (a long drive). Some homes have been built north of the end of the paved road. Their owners or summer tourists use 4-wheel drive vehicles to get around the sand roads or the open beach.
My friend, Bill Birkemeier, former director of the Field Research. Facility, described the recent history:
While there were always people living here, modern history probably began in 1967 with the development of Carova Beach with 2,300 plotted lots. At the time, there was an expectation of a paved road from Virginia. When the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge closed off access in 1974, interest shifted to a permanent road from the south. A private, partially paved road connecting Corolla to the south was opened in 1975. The It included a guardhouse to limit access only to property owners (at the time there were just 12 permanent residents).
The State of North Carolina removed the guardhouse in 1984, opening the area to the visiting public.
Then in 1988, medical waste washed ashore in New Jersey, closing the beaches there. Many New Jersey shore vacationers discovered the Outer Banks. They found beautiful, undeveloped, empty beaches that were free to visit (many New Jersey beaches have access fees). They also found real estate prices that were significantly lower than in New Jersey. The real estate market and the number of new homes took off. More recently, the area experienced another development bump, this time Covid-related.
Although the number of permanent residents has increased—most of the homes are vacation rentals.
The Walehead Club was an exclusive and luxurious Art Nouveau mansion built between 1922 and 1925 for two very wealthy duck hunters. One was female and not allowed to join any of the other hunt clubs, so they built their own. In those days, visitors crossed Currituck Sound from the mainland by steamer or motor launch. The building has been restored and is open to tours. Don't mind the "wild" horse chowing out on the grass.
The horses are of Spanish and English origin and were left behind by early explorers. The Corolla Wild Horse Fund has a history.
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| Ferocious wild horses chilling out in the surf and avoiding mosquitoes |
Tourists like to watch the wild horses. They are reasonably mellow but are not domesticated critters - definitely not to be petted. They have adapted well to their sandy environment. When the flies are bothersome, the horses walk on the windy ocean beach. When the weather is hot, I have seen horses wallow in some of the canals on the sound side, like little hippopotamuses. Smart critters.
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| Heidi instructing coastal scientists and engineers on beach processes in Corolla. |
Further north, a gate blocks the border between Virginia and North Carolina. A few old-timers who lived in Corolla in the 1970s had keys to open the gate. They could drive north to Virginia Beach to buy groceries.
This has been our quick tour of the Outer Banks. Go visit this fascinating geological phenomena. (But visit in the off-season to avoid the traffic).
I think my friend, Bill Birkemeier, for helping me with background information on some of the lifesaving stations.
References
Lenček, L., and Bosker, G. 1998. The Beach: The History of Paradise on Earth. Viking, New York, 310 p.
Morison, S. E., and Commager, H. S. 1962. The Growth of the American Republic. Fifth Ed., Oxford University Press, New York.
