A Growing Economy

Like most barrier island communities, Duck started as a small fishing village. Families lived in rough-hewn wooden houses set atop 2-foot blocks that kept the floors above the level to which the sea or sound had been known to rise during storms. With more trees and thicker underbrush here than in other areas of the Outer Banks, many Duck residents farmed small garden plots to supplement their seafood and waterfowl diets. Hogs, cows, and chickens were raised in the woods while watermen worked from dawn until dark, netting fish from the beach with long-haul seines, taking dorries out in the sound to set pound nets, and trapping crabs with wooden crates. Crews of women, men, and children toiled together for days mending heavy cotton fishing nets, sometimes earning up to 25 cents an hour for their trouble. During the Great Depression children and sometimes grown-ups earned money by catching "peelers"-blue crabs that had shed their shells. The business of harvesting these soft-shell crabs, still a major fishing enterprise on the Outer Banks, began in Duck. Eel pots also were prevalent along the shallow shores and shoals. Made of thin wood and more rounded than the crab pots, these contraptions were used by local fishermen who packed the long, snakelike creatures in salt, stored them in barrels, and trucked them along the sand trails to Hampton Roads markets, where eel were once eaten in abundance.

In 1909 Duck's first post office opened when postmaster Lloyd Toler gave the community its charming moniker in honor of the area's abundant waterfowl. The facility was abandoned by 1950. Year- round residents today have to travel to Kitty Hawk for their mail, though residents and visitors can mail letters and postcards from the little postal station now located in the Barrier Island Shops.

Little changed in Duck until the late 1970s. Single-family homes were sparsely scattered throughout the thick shrubbery, and small wooden boats bobbed alongside tree trunks turned into pilings.

Tourism took over about 1980, when small shops began lining up along the two-lane road through town and larger houses were built upon the beach. Barrier Island Station, among the biggest and most popular time-share resorts on the Outer Banks, now houses a restaurant and includes an indoor and outdoor pool, tennis courts, a communal hot tub, and live evening entertainment on a covered waterfront deck.

In 1990 you had your choice of five restaurants between Kitty Hawk and Corolla. Today more than 25 establishments offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including a coffeehouse, a pizza parlor, a deli with unusual homemade salads, bistros, sandwich shops, and a marvelous wine bar and cafe. Galleries, boutiques, and colorful shops offer offbeat wares, crafts created by local artisans, and quality sea-themed souvenirs (see our Restaurants and Shopping chapters for more details).

Recreational offerings abound here, too. You can learn to windsurf or rent a sailboat or a trimaran, speed across the sound on a JetSki, paddle around a marsh island in a canoe or kayak, or bounce about the waves on an inflatable banana boat.

No matter what your tastes in food, fashion, or fun, you will find something to enjoy in the now-bustling village of Duck.

Getting to Duck

If you're heading to Duck from the northern Outer Banks, turn left onto NC 12 at its junction with US 158 in Kitty Hawk, 1.5 miles after crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge. Travel past the flattop homes of Southern Shores, and wind around the dunes on the two-lane highway. On good days, Duck is a 10-minute drive from Kitty Hawk. In heavy summer traffic, bottlenecks form in the village, causing backups that stretch for miles and that sometimes last more than 30 minutes.

NC 12 curves through the center of Duck. All the commercial development is along this road, confined to the highway by zoning ordinances, landscaped with lovely local foliage. Drive slowly-even we locals are astounded by the fetching sights around every bend.

The sea is quite close to Duck, as is the sound; many rental homes provide the rare opportunity for viewing both bodies of water from upstairs open-air decks. Wild beans, peas, and cattails cover the marshy yards, most of which are at least partially wooded, with the houses tucked among the trees.

True to its name, Duck is both home and passageway for a variety of nesting and migrating shorebirds and waterfowl. Streets are named after these feathered creatures, which often come to call. Loons, cormorants, gannet, and flocks of terns and gulls soak up the sun's warmth near the water's edge. You can sometimes see swans and mallards swimming in the sound at sunrise as well as otters playing in the sound.

On the northern edge of Duck, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers research facility occupies the site of a former Navy bombing range. Military weapons recovery crews have dug up thousands of unexploded shells around here, and an 1,800foot-long pier now provides scientists with an important opportunity to track subsurface currents, study the effects of jetties and beach nourishment projects, and chart the movements of the slender strips of sand (see our Attractions chapter for more information).

Beyond the pier, heading north toward Corolla, you'll find the Duck Volunteer Fire Department, the Dare County Sheriff's Office northern beach station, and the Duck Recycling Center.

About 5 miles north of Duck, through an open wilderness area, Sanderling is the northernmost community on Dare County's beaches-an isolated, exclusive enclave with 300 acres stretching from sound to sea.

The community itself was started in 1978, setting a precedent for excellence among vacation destinations. These neighborhoods, barely visible from the road, approach land planning sensitively, preserving as much natural vegetation as possible and always aiming for architectural excellence. They are well worth searching out.

In 1985 the Sanderling Inn and Restaurant opened in the restored Caffey's Inlet Lifesaving Station, built in 1874. With cedar-shake siding, natural wood interiors, and English country antiques, it has the appearance of turn-of-the-20th-century Nags Head resorts and the ambience of a European escape. It's large and airy, with wide porches offering plenty of room for conversation, drinks, and soaking in the sunrise while rocking in wooden chairs (see our Accommodations and Restaurants chapters for details).

North of Sanderling, Palmer's Island Club is a 35-acre development with 15 oceanfront one-acre lots and at least eight estates ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 square feet each. The homes are engineered to withstand 120 mph winds. Signature architectural embellishments are scaled to match the grandeur of the natural environment.

Stretching from sound to sea, Southern Shores is heralded as one of the most beautiful, well-thought-out developments on the Outer Banks. Interwoven with canals, maritime hardwood forests, dunes, and private beaches, its scenic beauty is hard to match. Real estate agents call Southern Shores property one of the best Outer Banks values for long-term investment.

Southern Shores is south of Duck and north of Kitty Hawk. You can enter this community from the south via NC 12; by South Dogwood Trail, which runs alongside Kitty Hawk School; or by Juniper Trail, which runs perpendicular to The Marketplace shopping center.

Yesteryear and Today

Southern Shores was the first planned community on the northern Outer Banks and a pioneer for underground utilities. Frank Stick-developer, artist, outdoors- man, and self-trained ichthyologist-bought the land in 1947 for $30,000. Today it is worth more than $430 million.

Stick worked eight years developing Southern Shores, and his care is evident throughout the town today. A master illustrator who studied under the distinguished Howard Pyle, Stick later shared the task of developing the area with his son, David. Much like a watercolor from the era in which the senior Stick thrived, Southern Shores was developed to resemble a Wind in the Willows paradise.

Home to cardinals, finches, mockingbirds, Canadian grosbeaks, woodpeckers, quail, raccoons, deer, and squirrels, this idyllic place with seas of white dogwoods blooming in spring speaks of the Sticks' love and dedication for preserving the natural habitat. Perhaps nowhere else on the Outer Banks better illustrates the harmonious coexistence of human development and nature.

The small oceanside community consists of approximately 4 square miles and lies alongside NC 12 stretching through the northern Outer Banks. As you drive through the town along this winding, two- lane road, you'll see open skies, dunes with low scrub vegetation, vacation homes including old-style cottages with vintage flattops, intermittent with large, expensive beach homes. If you turn off the highway away from the ocean onto one of the side roads, the landscape changes dramatically. Here you'll find neighborhoods of year- round homes, green lawns, hardwood trees draped with Spanish moss, dogwoods, and a sprawling golf course.

A Haven of Solitude

Comprising mostly single-family homes, Southern Shores is predominantly a residential town uncluttered by the commercial aspects of other Outer Banks areas, making it the perfect place to seek solitude. Residents enjoy canoeing or kayaking in the canal system designed by David Stick, a local historian and published author. Though not the painter his father was, David's artistic talent was in full swing when he created these panoramic lagoons that connect interior properties to Jean Guite Bay and Currituck Sound.

The community includes two private marinas, soundside picnic and bathing areas, and ocean beach accesses situated every 600 feet. The accesses are available only to residents and vacationers staying in the area (make sure you display the proper permit), affording every beachgoer enough elbow room to comfortably spread a blanket or throw a Frisbee. A soundside wading beach on North Dogwood Trail is a favorite spot for families because the shallow sound water is a safer place for children to swim than the ocean. In the summer, the picnic area has toilet facilities. Paved and unpaved bike trails meander through the town. Anyone can use the facilities, but to park you must belong to the civic association or get a town sticker. In either case, you have to be a property owner or guest to park in Southern Shores.

The golf course at Duck Woods Country Club winds its way through a residential neighborhood of Southern Shores, offering outstanding play in a pristine setting among tall pines, dogwoods, and other foliage. The 18-hole course is the oldest on the Outer Banks and accepts public play year-round (see our Golf chapter).

The 40 original families who inhabited Southern Shores formed the town's first civic association. The Southern Shores Civic Association acts like a parks and recreation department. It owns, operates, and maintains the marinas, playgrounds, beach accesses, and crossovers for residents, property owners, and guests. Membership dues cover costs, but most of the physical upkeep is done by volunteers in the community.

Today the population has expanded to more than 2,600 year-round residents, swelling to 10,000 in the summer months. Until recently, most residents were retirees, but now Southern Shores has an equal number of young families living within its boundaries. The town hall sits on a small hill off US 158 on Skyline Road.

It's been more than half a century since Stick first purchased Southern Shores, but the slow pace of development means there still is real estate available. Raw land on the oceanfront or soundfront is hard to come by these days, but those wanting to purchase property can obtain homes or land in the beach zone, dunes, or woods. Due to careful planning, Southern Shores has land reserved for a future civic center and several plots to be developed for other town needs.

One of the town's two retail establishments, The Marketplace, includes a movie theater, a Food Lion, and a multitude of smaller shops (see our Shopping chapter). This complex sits at the edge of Southern Shores, just east of the base of the Wright Memorial Bridge. The new Southern Shores Crossing, situated behind Southern Shores Realty, offers more small shops, a day spa, and an upscale restaurant.

Southern Shores was incorporated in 1979 and growth has occurred in the development since Frank Stick's purchase, but the developers' spirit of conservation is felt with every bike ride, every sunset, and every tour of the waterways that weave together flora, fauna, and humankind. The town continues to be environmentally conscious and is the first Outer Banks community to offer curbside recycling.

If you access the Outer Banks from North Carolina's Currituck County mainland, the first town you'll reach is Kitty Hawk. This beach municipality begins at the eastern end of the Wright Memorial Bridge over the Currituck Sound and stretches sound- to-sea for about 4 miles. Within its town limits are a maritime forest, a fishing pier, a golf course, condominiums, and a historic, secluded village where Wilbur and Orville Wright stayed while conducting experiments with their famed flying machines.

Southern Shores forms the northern boundary of Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills is to the south. Milepost (MP) markers offer the best means of finding your destination. Most rental cottages, shops, restaurants, attractions, and resorts in this area can be located by green milepost markers along US 158 (Insiders call this the Bypass) and NC 12 (Insiders call this the Beach Road). The first milepost marker (MP 1) is in Kitty Hawk where the highway splits near the Aycock Brown Welcome Center.

With its name bonded to aviation history and its positioning as one of the gateways to the wide, undeveloped beaches of the Outer Banks, Kitty Hawk might not be what you expect-at least at first glance. Much of the 4 miles of beachfront here is narrower and appears more developed than any other place on the barrier islands. Even though Wilbur and Orville Wright certainly disembarked and stayed with the locals in the village of Kitty Hawk, they didn't fly here. Their experiments and successful flights were accomplished a few miles down the road in Kill Devil Hills.

Now that we've got that straight, enjoy Kitty Hawk for what it is: a vacation getaway offering lots of family-oriented activities, a fishing pier, some great eateries, convenient shopping, and all the fun you could want on a clean beach. Plus, tucked away within the borders of Kitty Hawk's 12 square miles are some of the loveliest and most exclusive communities in the central beach area.

Keep in mind that when you just feel like taking a ride, the Beach Road through Kitty Hawk is one of the few stretches on the entire Outer Banks where you can see the ocean from your vehicle. Cruising south along the beach, you'll notice some weather-beaten houses perched on the shoreline. At high tide and in stormy weather, waves crash under the house pilings and wash out truckloads of sand. The ocean plays chicken every year with these tired beach cottages, and just about every year a cottage cries uncle and collapses into the pounding surf. After every "big blow," local gossip (we love to talk weather here) inevitably comes around to an update on the Kitty Hawk cottages. You've likely gotten a good view of one of them on the Weather Channel, which, to the Tourist Bureau's chagrin, seems to delight in showing the wreckage of a Kitty Hawk beach house clinging pitifully to the sands during a storm. Once they're gone, they're gone, as federal coastal management law now forbids building closer than 60 feet from a coastline's first line of vegetation.

By one popular version, Kitty Hawk owes its colorful name to a derivation of local Indians' references to goose hunting season as "killy honker" or "killy honk." Eighteenth-century documents record this beach community as "Chickahauk," a name adopted by the prestigious southeastern section of Southern Shores. Other theories say the name evolved from "skeeter hawk," mosquito hawks that were prolific in the area, or from ospreys or similar raptors preying on the area's kitty wren.

The History of "A Hospitable People"

Outer Banks children at a single facility in Manteo. Today, Kitty Hawk still has its own elementary school. Older students travel by bus to Kill Devil Hills to attend First Flight Middle School or the new First Flight High School, which opened in the fall of 2004. Today more than 3,300 residents call Kitty Hawk home.

The Transition to Vacation Destination

Unlike Nags Head, which has been a thriving summer resort since before the Civil War, Kitty Hawk didn't become a vacation destination until about 70 years ago. A group of Elizabeth City businessmen bought 7 miles of beach north of Kitty Hawk Village in the late 1920s and formed the Wright Memorial Bridge Company. By 1930 they had built a 3-mile wooden span across the Currituck Sound from Point Harbor to the Outer Banks. Travelers could finally arrive at island beaches by car from the mainland. Kitty Hawk land became popular-and a lot more pricey. Summer visitors streamed across the new bridge, paying $1.00 per car for the privilege.

With the sudden boom in tourism, development shifted from the protected soundside hammocks to the open, windswept beaches. Small wooden cottages sprung from behind dunes on the oceanfront. As the beach eroded over the years, wind and water had its way with many of the beachfront homes. Houses were swept away during hurricanes and nor'easters, providing newfound ocean frontage for the neighbor cottage across the street. In 2003 Hurricane Isabel took an additional seven homes.

Even the original Kitty Hawk Lifesaving Station had to be jacked up and moved to a more protected site on the west side of the Beach Road to prevent tides from carrying it to a watery grave. The station is now a private residence, but travelers can still recognize the original Outer Banks gabled architecture of this historic structure.

In the western reaches of this community, the maritime forest of Kitty Hawk Woods winds for miles over tall ridges and blackwater swamps. Here, primarily year-round residents make their homes on private plots and in new subdivisions. Some lots are much larger than in other central beach communities. The twisting vines, dripping Spanish moss, and abundant tall trees offer seclusion and shelter from the storms not found in the expansive, open oceanfront areas. On summer days, locals often ride horses around the shady lanes of old Kitty Hawk Village, reminiscent of the days before bridges.

Although you'll find some businesses tucked back in the trees of Kitty Hawk Village at the western end of Kitty Hawk Road near the sound, most of this town's commercial outposts are along the Bypass and the Beach Road. The Outer Banks's only Wal-Mart is in Shoreside Center near the end of the Wright Memorial Bridge. Regional Medical Center at MP 1 1/2 offers a full range of emergency and outpatient services.

If you're headed for the beach, you'll find a public bathhouse at MP 4 1/2. The public is also welcome to use the Dare County boat launch at the end of Bob Perry Road, where locals and visitors can set sail during a hot summer day and watch the dolphins frolic in Kitty Hawk Bay.

From waterskiing to fishing, Kitty Hawk presents exceptional recreational possibilities. With all the water fun rounded out with a fine selection of dining establishments, convenient shopping, and medical services, along with history and natural beauty, it's obvious why Kitty Hawk is a favorite beach retreat for families, retirees, and college students.