Stories

The islands of Cape Lookout National Seashore have born witness to daring rescues, secret raids, and legendary storms. The places of this park have hundreds of years worth of stories to tell. But it has been the people--from the early settlers of Portsmouth Village and the whalers on Shackleford to the keepers of the light and the heroes of the surf--who have brought life to the stories of the coast.

In this section, there is a small sampling of the stories in and about this part of the legendary Outer Banks.

 

• 

  The Civil War Along the Outer Banks

  Little physical evidence remains of the war on our coast, but the stories of battle and the voices of soldiers resonate through the land.

• 

  Wreck of the Olive Thurlow

  "It was a wonder that any was saved, and that those in attempting to save them was not also killed..."

• 

  Rescue of the Sarah D.J. Rawson

  "You have to go out, you don't have to come back." That was the unofficial motto of the U.S. Life-Saving Service.

• 

  Wreck of the Vera Cruz VII

  One of the most unusual and well-known rescues at Ocracoke Inlet. Remembered less for the wreck itself than for her cargo.