Ocracoke, North Carolina

Ocracoke Village sits at the far southern end of a 16-mile barrier island reachable only by water or air — no bridge connects it to the rest of the Outer Banks. Visitors arrive by one of three ferries (a free 60-minute run from Hatteras, or longer toll routes from Swan Quarter and Cedar Island on the mainland), by private boat, or by landing at the small local airstrip. That isolation has kept the village's population, around 800 year-round residents, and its character distinctly its own compared to the rest of the Outer Banks.

Blackbeard's Last Stand

Ocracoke Inlet was once the only navigable passage for ships moving in and out of northeastern North Carolina, which is exactly why the pirate Edward Teach — Blackbeard — used the sheltered waters here as his base to ambush merchant vessels. On November 22, 1718, Lieutenant Robert Maynard's Royal Navy sloops cornered and killed Blackbeard in a close-quarters battle just off the island, ending his career for good; the site is still known locally as Teach's Hole.

A Village, Not a Grid

Unlike the platted beach towns further north, Ocracoke Village grew up organically around Silver Lake Harbor, with narrow, winding lanes, historic homes, and a distinctive local dialect — the "Ocracoke Brogue" — that traces back to the island's early English settlers. Sixteen miles of undeveloped National Seashore beach separate the village from the ferry docks at the island's north end.