Okracoke to Roanoke

Tucked away between tall pine trees and freshwater marshland, the Bodie Island Light presents anything but a typical lighthouse setting. Every evening it's powerful light beams out across the darkening waves, keeping silent watch over the treacherous waters known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

I climbed the steps of the current Bodie Island Lighthouse, the third that has stood in this vicinity on the Outer Banks in North Carolina, built in 1872.

Above is an artist's rendering, the picture I have in my imagination; below is the photo I took on an overcast day.

At the top of the stairs is a platform that circles around. The Ranger checked wind speed and it was momentarily below 45 mph so we could walk outside. What a view!

Up the road from the Lighthouse is Fort Raleigh National Historic Site which preserves the location of Roanoke Colony, the first English settlement in the United States. The site commemorates the founding of the first English settlement in North America in 1587.

The colony, which was promoted and backed by entrepreneurs led by Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh (ca. 1554–1618), failed sometime between 1587 and 1590 when supply ships failed to arrive on time. When next visited, the settlement was abandoned with no survivors found, including the famous Virginia Dare, first English baby born in America.

This photo is of the dramatic site where the story of the Lost Colony is re-enacted every summer.
See the ocean behind the stage.

On these small wooded grounds lives of immigrant families and their struggles took place. Here were the first efforts of English colonization in the New World (1584-1590). Sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh, the Colony ended with the disappearance of 116 men, women and children.

At another location on the island I boarded the Elizabeth II, a boat built based on those on which the settlers arrived in 1584. What would cause a person to ride with fifty others in this boat across the Atlantic in 1584 to the unknown New World?

Print of Indians dancing at Roanoke.

At night in Okracoke campground IKEA snowflake lights are reflected in the window glass.