National Park Service Summer Hours and Programs To Start June 10

Date: June 7, 2007
Contact: Outer Banks Group, [phone]

National Park Service visitor centers at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Wright Brothers National Memorial, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday June 10 through Labor Day. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern National bookstores at all three parks will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Summer programming will also start on Sunday June 10, 2007. A wide variety of programs will be offered daily through Labor Day.

New programs offered this summer include: "Especially for Kids" at Fort Raleigh NHS, a children’s activity program on Roanoke Island history; "Experiments in Flight" at Wright Brothers NMEM, a children’s flight science activity program; "Winged World" at the Seashore’s Bodie Island Visitor Center and Buxton Woods Nature Trail, a nature hunt for butterflies, dragonflies and birds; and "Night’s Light", at the Seashore’s Hatteras Island Visitor Center and Ocracoke Campground, an evening exploration of star gazing and tide-line bioluminescent plankton.

Three special tours will be offered this summer: The "Coast Guard Station Oregon Inlet Tour"- a new Seashore tour this year - provides an up-close look at Coast Guard operations and vessels; the "Old Days at the Hatteras Weather Station", also a new Seashore tour, gives a history of this recently restored building; and the Fort Raleigh NHS "Tour of the Collections" is a walk through the park’s museum collections storage facility for a look at some very interesting artifacts.

Two community volunteer groups, the Cape Hatteras Bird Club and Cape Hatteras Anglers Club lead the Seashore’s "Morning Bird Walk" and the "Take Me Fishing" programs.

The summer program schedules also include many other history talks, nature walks, and recreational programs such as crabbing, seining, and snorkeling. Evening campfire programs are offered at the Seashore on Wednesday evenings.

Program schedules are available on-line at each park’s website: Fort Raleigh NHS,