THE INNER AND OUTER BANKS
OF NORTH CAROLINA
In Search of the Lost Colony and more
June 16-19, 2015
DAY 1: June 16, 2015
Depart Wilmington, via motor coach, about 7 A.M. with a heavy brunch/lunch (11 A.M.) at the Inn at Gray’s Landing in Windsor, NC.
12:15 P.M. continue to Hertford, NC to the Newbold-White House, considered the oldest brick house in NC, for a tour (but mostly) a presentation by the Executive Director, Philip McMullan. Mr. McMullan, author of BEECHLAND AND THE LOST COLONY will share the recent research of his Master’s thesis (NC State) that sheds new light on what happened to The Lost Colony. Continue to Corolla where you will have a light evening meal at Cindy’s Kitchen (featured in Our State Magazine) and an overnight stay at the Hampton Inn.
DAY 2: June 17, 2015
Arise, eat breakfast at your hotel and begin a 100 mile trek of that shoreline known as the Outer Banks. You will see and have photo opportunities of "the sights" and villages along the way to include the Currituck Light, the villages of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Wright Memorial, detour through old Nags Head, Jockey’s Ridge, and arrive in Manteo early enough to check into our hotel, the Elizabethan Inn, eat dinner and tour Fort Raleigh before the evening performance of the outdoor drama, The Lost Colony.
DAY 3: June 18, 2015
Arise and go to a nearby restaurant for breakfast before we continue the trek toward Buxton. Expect to see the Bodie Island Light and cross the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge. Continue toward Pea Island and all the small villages along "the banks" to include Rodanthe, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras. We will stop at the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, one of the two remaining life-saving stations used to rescue ship-wrecked people in early days. We will visit the Cape Hatteras Light before taking a short ferry ride across Hatteras Inlet to Ocracoke Island. After disembarking the ferry we will stop to see the famed ponies of Ocracoke before we check into The Pony Island Motel for the evening.
At 7:30 P.M. we will meet Mr. Phillip Howard, a local historian, for tours including the Ocracoke Light and tales of Ocracoke before we turn in for the evening. (Breathe.) You will have completed the 100 mile strand of the Outer Banks in two days.
NOTE: While all meals have not been mentioned, I promise we will eat. Many restaurants are small. I need to see how many people will be in the group before I can make the best choices for us.
DAY 4: June 19, 2015
Start this day with a big breakfast to energize you for the last, but exciting day. We will board a boat for a short crossing of Black Beard’s (the pirate) famed Ocracoke Inlet to Portsmouth Island. Portsmouth Island was a thriving seaport in the mid-1800s. Now it is a NC ghost village. While there are no permanent residents, several of the structures remain. Displays and exhibits depict the lives of the people who lived there, the harsh lives they endured, and their love for their Portsmouth Island home. Interestingly, this is probably NCs first "planned community." You will learn about that. Back to Ocracoke for lunch and some time to shop.
3:30 P.M. be in line for a 4:00 P.M. ferry crossing the Pamlico Sound back to the mainland. As you travel you will be able to view islands of nesting colonial water birds. Upon docking at Cedar Island 2.5 hours later we will continue our 2.5 hour drive via Beaufort, Morehead and Jacksonville with a fast food stop. We should arrive in Wilmington around 10 P.M.
Includes: Round-trip motor coach and ferry transportation, lodging, local guides and presentations, entrance fees per the itinerary, viewing of four NC lighthouses, one life saving station, breakfasts daily, and one lunch. Provisions will be made for lunches and dinners, but this is fried food country. Since many people do not eat fried foods, it is difficult to arrange a suitable dinner for everyone. You will appreciate an opportunity to buy a baked potato, salad or bowl of clam chowder rather than pay for an expensive seafood platter that you cannot eat.
Total cost of tour: $1000 per person (double); $1275 (single)
Deposit: $300; Deposit due: May 8; Final payment due: May 15
Click here for reservation form.
Kindly send checks made payable to:
Natural & Family Resources, Inc.
6451 Quail Run Road
Wilmington, NC 28409
*Hark the words of Mark Twain! "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you do... Explore. Dream. Discover."
