To this day no one knows exactly where the freed slaves founded their colony on Roanoke Island, which eventually grew to a population of 3,500, but we do know that it existed. All evidence of the colony has been removed, and the historical records that have been passed down do not give any hint as to the location. For whatever reason, this mysterious colony that ended up becoming government sanctioned and protected by Union soldiers during the Civil War is left out of most history books completely. Today the often forgotten portion of history has a heritage trial dedicated to it on Roanoke Island.
Best Place to Perform a Planing Gybe: Haulover Day Use Area, Avon
Feel like trying your hand at windsurfing? Maybe kayaking? Or maybe you just like to lie around on the beach? You can do all of these at the Haulover Day Use Area, which is better known as Canadian Hole. With a public bathhouse and plenty of parking, this area has become the center of the windsurfer's world on the Carolina border. If you are not feeling that adventurous, it is also a great place to just swim and enjoy watching others windsurf.
Best Free Boat Ride: Hatteras-Ocracoke Ferry, Hatteras, 252-986-2352
Not only is it the only way to get your car from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island, it is one hundred percent free (if you exclude local taxes, that is). If you are familiar with traveling by ferry, do not expect the luxury you get at other “pay-to-ferry” places, such as the Cape May-Lewes Ferry between New Jersey and Delaware. You will get a nice 45 minute boat ride between the islands, but it will actually feel like you are on a ferry, not a glorified floating bar. Get out of your car, sit on your car hood, or tail gate, and talk to the strangers around you. This is what traveling is all about.
Best Place to Stay: The Avon Motel, Avon, 252-995-5774
Being a great motel is all well and good, but if you are the best motel in the middle of the Mojave Desert, I am still not staying there. The first reason that I picked the Avon Motel as the best place to stay is the town of Avon itself. Avon is a lot further south than most Outer Banks visitors venture, and even if they do travel this far south, they usually just blow through Avon on their way to Hatteras. Being there is somewhat like finding a diamond that everyone else has missed, despite it being right where everyone is looking. The beaches are beautiful and, depending on if you are on the ocean side or the sound side of the island, either brutally rugged or amazingly peaceful. Fantastic restaurants are everywhere, or you can have a cookout on the beach, if you like.
Now, all that location is well and good, but if the hotel is not up to par, you can throw all of it out the window. The second reason that I picked this motel as the best is, oddly enough, that it is a great place to stay. Family owned and family friendly, the Avon Motel provides a place to clean all the fish you can catch, kitchens to cook them in, and great hospitality to boot. It was built in 1954 and it keeps hold of the feeling of a motel from the United State's glory days of travel without being shabby. In fact, the rooms matched the beach perfectly; wonderfully clean and beautiful, but still with a little rugged edge to it. You are, after all, below mile marker 57 on the Outer Banks.
That wraps up the best of the Outer Banks. Pack your bags, and don't forget the sunscreen. The Outer Banks are calling.
