My family loves to vacation in the Outer Banks about every two years, however, I haven’t been to Ocracoke in over 20 years. The last time I was there, I was 15 and for some reason this elephant memory of mine doesn’t remember much of it at all. My husband has never been (in fact we introduced him to the Outer Banks 10 years ago) and he really wanted to go.
This time around there was a special reason I wanted to venture down there- Outlander book six- A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I had started the book back at Christmas time- one of my gifts from my dear husband. Unlike the previous few, it was harder to get through this book for some reason. Between September and December, I sailed through Voyager, Drums of Autumn and Fiery Cross.
On our trip down to the Outer Banks and at night when we had downtime, I feverishly reading through the rest of ABOSAA. I needed to know any hint of action that took place on Ocracoke before going over. I mean what if I could find the stones!? haha.
The Trip Through the Sto Over
The ride over was beautiful! I wished I could have taken a boat over to the some of the sandbars and looked for shells! Once on the island, we drove about a 12 mile stretch of ocean to the left. At times, you could see straight to the ocean, a couple of yards away! At one point, we drove through a wooded area. I thought to myself, could it be around here that the stones might be hiding?
“It was well past mid-afternoon, and his clothes stuck to him with sweat, when he came to one of the dozens of small tidal inlets that cut into the island like the holes in Swiss cheese. It was too wide to leap across, so he made his way down the sandy bank and into the water. It was deeper than he’d thought- he was up to his neck by mid-channel, and had to swim a few strokes before he found solid footing on the other side.
The water pulled at him, rushing toward the sea; the tide had begun to turn. Likely the inlet would be much shallower when the tide was out- but he thought a boat could make it up the inlet easily, with the tide coming in.
But then the inlet began to narrow, the water level dropping to no more than a foot- and then less, only a few inches of water running clear over dusky sand. He was loath to give up, though, and shoved his way under a low canopy of pine and twisted scrub oak. Then he stopped dead, skin tingling from scalp to sole.
Four of them. Crude stone pillars, pale in the shadow of the trees. One stood actually in the channel itself, tilted drunkenly by the action of the water. Another, on the bank, had carvings on its face, abstract symbols that he didn’t recognize. He stood frozen, as though they were living things that might see him if he moved.”
~ excerpt from A Breath of Snow and Ashes
As we got to town, I almost felt transported. It is such a quaint little village. The boys ate in the car on the way over and my husband and I were ready for lunch. We heard of a Mexican food truck that was really good. It is located in the parking lot of the ABC store and across from Teach’s Hole- Blackbeard Exhibit. After that, we went straight to the Ocracoke Lighthouse- which I had never seen in person. Be aware, there is limited parking. You can not climb this lighthouse but it was neat to see. I realized after we had left, that we should have checked out Springer’s Point. Legend has it, Captain Teach (better known as Blackbeard the Pirate) had a raging two day party on the beach and then met his end just off the shores in Teach’s Hole. Local lore also states that his treasure is buried in some sand dune on the shore! For more info click here.
We moved on to the north and drove past some restaurants and inns along Silver Lake Harbor. I checked out the memorial for Fort Ocracoke. The remnants of this fort are actually underwater 2 miles out in the Ocracoke Inlet. It was built at the beginning of the Civil War when North Carolina seceded from the Union. It was then destroyed after the Union victories on Hatteras Island in 1861. The remains were discovered in 1998.
My husband found a little wine and beer cafe, named Zillie’s. It is located on Back Road. He likes to try a new beer when we are on vacation. He purchased a six pack of beers to take home. Apparently, this was one of the first places to introduce ‘mix and match’ craft beer shop.
Continuing down the road we came to the British Cemetery. This is where the bodies of four members of the British Navy are buried. They were found washed up on sure after their ship sank offshore in 1942.
If you are into antiques, there are several little shops around the island. I only stopped into one, Roxy’s Antiques. It is located on HWY 12 and across from Lighthouse Road in the village. I stopped into a cute little shop called Books to Be Red (yes R E D) and Deep Water Pottery. The pottery is beautiful and there are plenty of books. It has a nice size kid section of books and gifts. Of course, I had to search for the Outlander series. I mean, come on, you can’t be a bookstore in North Carolina and not have the books! I did search in another small store on my trip (I won’t name names) and they didn’t, unless I was looking in the wrong place. This store however, did have them!
We decided to head back and try to beat the busy time for the ferry. On our way back, we stopped at one of the beach pull offs and walked the beach. I was looking for buried treasure and some standing stones seashells. I heard that Scotch Bonnets can be found on Ocracoke and I did find pieces of them. Here is a picture of what they actually look like:
There are miles and miles of undeveloped beaches on Ocracoke. It truly reminded me of those beaches from the latter part of Season 3- the second reunion of Jamie and Claire after she escaped the jungle and the shipwreck with the big sweep over the sand dunes of the finale. Sigh. I wanted to stay there.
They say Ocracoke has a magical feeling to it. I don’t know that I felt that exactly. However, I felt the magical Outlander connection. Now that I’ve seen it again as an Outlander fan, I am looking forward to what magic they come up with for Season 6.
Have you visited Ocracoke? What do you love about it? What do you like to see or do when you are there?
