Ocracoke Island

Ocracoke Island is accessible only by boat. I took the ferry from Hatteras Inlet to get there. Its main industries are commercial fishing and tourism. From a tourism standpoint it is the site where the pirate Blackbeard met his death on November 22, 1718. The area of the modern day grounds of Springer’s Point Nature Preserve is alleged to be the location of his hideout. A small British Cemetery is also on Ocracoke. During World War II German U-boats torpedoed British vessels off its shore and four sailors washed up on the island and were buried in a small cemetery. A yearly ceremony honors their sacrifice conducted by members of the British Royal Navy, the National Park Service and the US Coast Guard. Beacon Island in Ocracoke Inlet, two miles southwest of Ocracoke village, was the site of Fort Ocracoke a Confederate fort built during the Civil War. After the fall of Hatteras Inlet the Confederates abandoned the fort in August of 1861. The Federals destroyed it on September 17, 1861. Beacon Island has been underwater ever since the 1933 hurricanes that struck the coast. In 1998 remnants of the fort were located by the Surface Interval Diving Company. The 75-foot tall Ocracoke Lighthouse is the smallest of North Carolina’s coastal lighthouses. Constructed in 1823, it’s the second oldest operating lighthouse in the United States. There is also a small museum on the island with a Civil War exhibit.