Outer Banks Highway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 1059

4. Roanoke Island
In1587EnglishsettlersattemptedtocolonizeRoanokeIsland.Butby1590thecommunity
had inexplicably vanished, along with the first child born of English parents in the New
World—Virginia Dare. All that remained was the word Croatoan, carved into a tree for
subsequent voyagers to discover and for theorists to ponder for centuries to come. At Fort
Raleigh National Historic Site, you can see the community's reconstructed fort, which
lends a poignant resonance to the mysterious story of the Lost Colony.
Next door to Fort Raleigh, you'll find another memorial to the lost colonists: the Eliza-
bethan Gardens, 10 acres of carefully tended native and exotic plants, garden statuary, and
a sunken garden.
On your way back to Rte. 158, drop in at Manteo, a charming village on Shallowbag
Bay. Here you can tour the Elizabeth II, a reproduction of a 16th-century sailing ship, built
in 1984 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first voyage to Roanoke Island.
5. Cape Hatteras National Seashore
The drive pushes south on Rte. 12 into Cape Hatteras National Seashore—an expanse of
undevelopedshoreline.InplacesthebarrierislandissoslenderthatyoucanseetheAtlant-
ic on one side of the road and Pamlico Sound on the other.
Across the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, a long, arched span over the sparkling blue wa-
ters of Oregon Inlet, lies Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. The vast numbers of snow
geeseandegretsinitssaltmarshescanbeviewedfromobservationplatforms.Afewmiles
tothesouth,stopattheChicamacomicoLifesavingStation,builtin1874.Inthishandsome
structure exhibits recall the plucky lifesavers who used to rescue mariners from the Grave-
yard of the Atlantic.
For nearly 150 years the towering striped lighthouse at Cape Hatteras has warned sail-
ors away from dangerous shoals. Over time, shifting sands and rolling swells came to
threaten the 208-foot beacon, the tallest brick lighthouse in the country. In 1999 it was
moved about half a mile to protect it from the encroaching sea. Visitors can climb to the
top from mid-April to mid-October.