Take the Outer Banks National Scenic Byway for a great drive.
Scene of the Lost Colony production on Roanoke Island.
summer since 1937. The drama recounts the story of the entire English Roanoke Colony. Before those 117 settlers contemplated coming to the area, it was inhabited by Native Americans. Some archeologists believe that the Outer Banks were inhabited for well over a thousand years by Native Americans, with small branches of larger tribes, such as Algonquins, Chowanog, and Poteskeet. One might think that life on a sandbar before electricity, roads, and any access to the mainland might be tricky, but the original inhabitants were able to flourish and survive on the islands of the Outer Banks precisely because of their unique geographic features. Stretching 200 miles across four barrier islands that separate mainland North Carolina from the Atlantic Ocean, the Outer Banks (also known as OBX) offers a diversity of landscapes, from pristine protected beaches to marshes to stunning gardens to seriously large sand dunes. In addition to one of the oldest and most mysterious histories in the United States, there are a plethora of things to do. Hundreds of years later, it was to these barrier islands that the Litten clan started exploring and camping beginning in the 1960s. We four kids acted like wild
Native Americans, not just because we always believed we descended from a fierce tribe. (Unfortunately this was proven to not be the case, causing me great sadness.) We were simply equipped with Army surplus tents and sleeping bags, white gas stoves, firewood, and some musical instruments. My father loved the sand and the sea and my mother was an intrepid shell collector. We were allowed to explore the sand dunes and gently lapping ocean to our hearts content. Before we knew the dangers, my older brother and I would see who could get the deepest tan. We were all good swimmers, but my younger brother preferred digging deep holes in the sand and playing army. In the evenings, under a large tarp and a lively wood fire, we’d sing accompanied by guitars and a wash-tub bass. Our camping neighbors often brought chairs and joined in the singing. My father was in heaven. Although I would have much preferred sleeping in a comfy motorhome, there was something to be said for our primitive campsite and the get-back-to-nature feeling of sleeping on the sand. Decades later, the pull of the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras still calls to us. One of my brothers plans an annual trip to the area with his five children, their
MYSTERIES OF THE OUTER BANKS
COAST TO COAST SPRING MAGAZINE 2022
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