The Hidden Colony
North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, tucked between the mainland and the Outer Banks, has become much more than the site of one of history’s great mysteries.
By MARY KELLEY HOPPE
MANTEO, N.C. – Anchored in the sounds between North Carolina’s coastal mainland and its famed Outer Banks is the village of Manteo, part Mayberry, part bohemian hamlet. The quaint waterfront community on historic Roanoke Island beckons visitors to linger.
Fifteen minutes east by car are the Outer Banks, a chain of barrier islands including popular vacation spots Nags Head, Hatteras, Duck and Kill Devil Hills, site of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first flight in 1903.
To the west are spectacular black-water rivers and land rimmed by ribbons of roads less traveled. The crown jewel of this backcountry is the 150,000-acre Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, where red wolves are battling back from extinction under the protection of biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Perched between the summer shores and the refuge is Roanoke Island, best-known as the site of the Lost Colony, the first British people to settle on American soil, who then vanished, leaving a single word, “Croatoan,” carved in a tree. The colonists’ fate has never been determined.
Worth a trip by itself is the island town of Manteo. Along with charming inns and bed and breakfasts, the town has unusual shops, a terrific little bookstore, potters and other artisans – even a blacksmith – and plenty of satisfying places to unwind and get a bite to eat.
Manteo is the antidote for travelers tired of overpriced accommodations and summer traffic on the beaches. Visitors can wade in the shallow surf or head west to explore North Carolina’s coastal interior.
The pedestrian-friendly waterfront district has an easy, 1.8-mile walking tour that begins at the end of Ananias Dare Street, over Dough’s Creek. You stroll by historic inns, the Pioneer Theatre – operated by one family since 1918 – and the home of the Etheridge family, which you can watch conduct the family business: shedding crabs to get to the soft shell.
Farther along, in the waterfront district, is a replica of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, classified as a screwpile beacon. It sits on spider-leg pilings designed for shallow-water areas exposed to the strong winds and tides common in the North Carolina sounds and the Chesapeake Bay.
Nearby, as is virtually everything, is Wanchese Pottery, where owners Bob and Bonnie Morrill are usually firing an assortment of meditation bowls and “mommy pots,” miniature vases perfectly sized to hold a dandelion or single flower plucked by tiny hands.
Fuel up or wind down on the dock behind Poor Richard’s Sandwich Shop on Queen Elizabeth Street; locals and tourists gather there for conversation and casual food. The Full Moon Cafe, across the street, is another good bet.
Lovers of independent bookstores will appreciate Manteo Booksellers on Sir Walter Raleigh Street. The town blacksmith, at Magnolia Market, offers brass keychains at $4; on mine he hammered “The Road Less Traveled.”
As for the feeling of being in TV’s Mayberry, it’s not far off the mark: Andy Griffith has made Manteo his home on and off for more than 40 years.
Lost and found
Even the casual history buff is interested in the story of the Lost Colony, 117 men, women and children last seen in 1587. The saga is recounted in The Lost Colony, America’s longest-running outdoor drama, performed Monday through Saturday throughout the summer in the Waterside Theatre at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.
The park also features the spectacular Elizabethan Gardens, a memorial to those colonists.
At Roanoke Island Festival Park, across a short bridge from Manteo, visitors can climb aboard the Elizabeth II, a full-sized model of a 16th century British sailing vessel. Costumed interpreters onboard offer tours.
A waterfront boardwalk rims the park, which also has a history museum, an art gallery and a film theater showing The Legend of Two Path, a story about how the colonists’ arrival changed the lives of American Indians.
Children enjoy sifting through the treasure-strewn shells in the fossil garden outside the welcome center. After a few minutes of probing, I unearthed an ancient tiger shark tooth and tiny white-washed corals.
Venture west on Highway 64 to the vast Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, home to one of the largest concentrations of black bears along the mid-Atlantic coast. It is also one location of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s effort to re-establish red wolves.
By 1970, the animals were on the brink of extinction. Ten years later, the Fish and Wildlife Service had captured 17 of them in its effort to save the species. Fourteen were able to reproduce, and they formed the core of a captive breeding program that continues today.
Since 1987, red wolves have been released into northeastern North Carolina in an area that includes the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The population is estimated at 100. More than half are outfitted with radio transmitters so biologists can track them.
To expose visitors to the wolves, the refuge conducts “howling safaris” in the evenings, this year April through December. Participants meet on one trail to caravan into refuge areas where red wolves are likely to respond to calls.
Though general access to the refuge is limited, there are two trails. For a primer on the region’s flora and fauna, walk the half-mile Creef Cut trail, outside Manteo on Highway 64. The path straddles a freshwater marsh surrounded by sweet gum, red maple and a dark peat swamp. Inland, the Sandy Ridge trail overlooks Milltail Creek, where outdoor enthusiasts can paddle black-water streams through stands of Atlantic white cedar and bald cypress.
The Outer Banks
Less than 15 minutes’ drive east of Manteo on Highway 64, Highway 12 runs the length of the Outer Banks. At turns these islands can be lonely and windswept, driving all but the heartiest observer indoors, or bustling with beachcombers on a sun-baked afternoon.
Composed of more than 100 miles of sand dunes, marshes and woodland, the Outer Banks stretch from Corolla, near the Virginia border, to Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the south. On Ocracoke Island, flocks of Canada geese are apt to greet the car ferry in the winter.
The pirate Blackbeard once roamed these waters and shores. He never benefited from Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, America’s tallest brick beacon, rising 208 feet above the Atlantic since 1870. Offshore, an estimated 600 ships lie in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
On the north end of Hatteras Island, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge is one of the country’s premier birding sites. In winter, thousands of majestic snow geese arrive from around the Arctic Circle, along with Canada geese, tundra swan and more than 25 species of ducks.
They forage at the edge of Pamlico Sound. By controlling salinity and water levels in the impoundments on the refuge, its managers provide a steady stream of food for hungry migratory birds. A visitors center, wheelchair-accessible trails and an overlook provide easy access.
– Tampa freelance writer Mary Kelley Hoppe is editor of “Bay Soundings,” a quarterly journal covering the Tampa Bay estuary. She recently drove up the Atlantic Coast to Annapolis, Md.
If you go
GETTING THERE: Manteo is 198 miles east of Raleigh on U.S. 62/264 and 136 miles east of Rocky Mount, where Highway 64 intersects Interstate 95. For more information, go to www.roanokeisland.net
The Outer Banks are also accessible by ferry from the mainland; www.ncferry.org toll-free 1-800-293-3779.
PLAYING THERE: Follow the Manteo Walking Tour and Roanoke Island Guide, available for $8.95 plus shipping through the Cameron House Inn; toll-free 1-800-279-8178. This informative, well-organized guide includes a map of the waterfront district detailing sites along a 1.8-mile walking tour, plus the lowdown on Roanoke Island attractions, accommodations and shopping.
Canoe the black-water lakes and streams of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge amid magnificent bald cypress trees and Atlantic white cedar with native son and experienced guide Melvin Twiddy. Contact Wilderness Canoeing at (252) 473-1960. Rates are $39 per person for a three- to four-hour trip, $117 minimum, by reservation.
For information on red wolf tours at the refuge, go to alligatorriver.fws.gov or call (252) 473-1131, ext. 243.
STAYING THERE: Cameron House Inn is a beautifully restored 1919 Arts and Crafts-style bungalow. Bikes are provided so guests can explore the island, and children are welcome. Seven guest rooms offer various amenities; rates range from $100 to $210; 300 Budleigh St., Manteo; toll-free 1-800-279-8178. Tranquil House Inn is on Shallowbag Bay, in the heart of Manteo’s historic district. The inn offers modern conveniences in 25 rooms and features one of Roanoke Island’s finest restaurants, named 1587. Room rates $99 to $199; 405 Queen Elizabeth Ave., Manteo; toll-free 1-800-458-7069; www.tranquilhouseinn.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
* Roanoke Island and Manteo, www.roanokeisland.net www.townofmanteo.com
* Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Dare County, www.outerbanks.org toll-free 1-800-446-6262.
* Lost Colony Box Office, www.thelostcolony.org toll-free 1-866-468-7630.
* U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Pea Island and Alligator River wildlife refuges, peaisland.fws.gov, alligatorriver.fws.gov; 252 473-1131.