Golf carts are the way to go on Ocracoke and are catching on in Hatteras village Summertime drivers in Hatteras and Ocracoke villages have long struggled with navigating the narrow, congested streets that, during vacation season, are filled with cars, off-road vehicles, delivery trucks and RVs, and are flanked on all sides by scooters, pedestrians, runners, and cyclists. But now, thanks to new measures approved by both Hyde and Dare county governments, there is a way to avoid driving, biking, or walking through the villages— golf carts.  Read more Island People: Mauro Ibarra was the first Mexican to call Ocracoke home Two months ago, Pat Garber interviewed a Mexican immigrant named Margarita Gonzalez and shared her story of coming to Ocracoke with readers of The Island Free Press. This is the story of another immigrant from Mexico, Mauro Ibarra, the first Mexican to come to Ocracoke. As with Margarita, his story is one of courage, hard work, and successful integration into island life. Read more Island People – A Mexican immigrant’s long journey to a new life on Ocracoke In the winter of 1985, 15-year-old Margarita Gonzalez left her impoverished home in central Mexico and, with her sister and a group of strangers, set out for the forbidden land of plenty to the north. Now, 25 years later, she lives and works on Ocracoke Island. She is an American citizen, with her own home and a family, and two daughters bound for college. Margarita is one of a growing community of Latinos on the Outer Banks and her story is one of the courage and determination of an immigrant to find a new life in the United States.  Read more Island Living: In defense of a world without Walmart Columnist Joy Crist writes about a college friend who arrived on Hatteras without his underwear and couldn’t believe how far he might have to drive to buy some more. He was incredulous, but Crist was more philosophical. “I’m sacrificing my right to worldly underwear variety, Walmart, and all the other conveniences of modern commerce to enjoy the most beautiful place I’ve seen with a few other weather-worn, full-time beach bums who love it as much as I do,” she writes.   Read more Winter surf report:  The swell was swell but water temps were not….WITH SLIDE SHOW There was a lot of swell on the ocean this winter – more so than in the past few years. But a lot of times there was too much swell to surf with the northeasters that came through on an almost weekly basis in January and into February. However, that wasn’t the news headline about winter surfing.  That big news is that ocean temperatures were cold – really cold.   Read more Hometown boy captures the attention of the surfing world in Hawaii event Who is Brett Barley? Most everyone on Hatteras Island knows the answer to that question, but now the world surfing community wants to know about the kid who blazed onto the scene in the Volcom Pipeline Pro event in Hawaii.    Read more Fall Surfing: Nor’Ida never really panned out for surfers….WITH SLIDE SHOW It seems like it has been all or nothing for surfing this past few months. It is either full-on huge or just not even breaking. I take that back.  There were a handful of days at the Frisco Pier that were fun before the mid-November northeaster ripped the sandbar at the pier apart.    Read more Island Cooking: A culinary tour with local Kevin McCabe The last page of Kevin McCabe’s new book contains a recipe for Summer Breeze, a refreshing cocktail blend of Kevin’s own creation.  If I were you, I would get a copy of “25 Secrets Revealed: A Culinary Tour.”  Go straight to that last page.  Find a comfy spot outside to relax with some friends. Then stir up a batch.  You will need their help to mix it! And to drink it! Now you are ready to read this delightful book aloud to your companions.     Read More Island Cooking: Sharon Peele Kennedy shares her seafood recipes on her radio show “Tonight I’m fixing broiled crabs for supper.  I’ll be right back to tell you how.” Thus began a recent segment of Sharon Peele Kennedy’s daily radio spot, “What’s for Dinner?”   Sharon has always worked with food but never imagined a broadcasting career would come of it.   Read More   Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum is geared up for summer The Ocracoke Preservation Society  Museum staff are gearing up for a summer season of historic and cultural presentations -- porch talks geared toward adults and, during the month of July, Backyard Kid Talks for children. All are invited to come and learn more about Ocracoke’s island heritage at these free events held in the yard of the Ocracoke Museum. Read More North Carolina Coastal Federation has a travel guide with a conscience The North Carolina Coastal Federation’s annual State of the Coast Report makes it easy for tourists who are visiting the state’s northeast coast this summer and for the residents who live there to visit some special natural places where they can hike, launch a canoe or kayak, look for birds and wildflowers, or learn about the region’s heritage. They are all natural areas that have been saved from development.   Read More Shipwreck museum has some new exhibits and programs, but completion is still way down the road The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras village has been in the planning stage for 21 years.  It has a completed building with some new temporary exhibits and regular summer programs this summer, but completion is still three or four years and  an estimated $2.5 million away. Also, this summer the museum will be getting its first actual shipwreck.   Read More Looking for Adventure? Head to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Summer on the Outer Banks brings many opportunities for visitors and local residents to explore the natural world. Toss in the word “free,” and the adventures sound even more inviting! Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is located on northern Hatteras Island. Regular weekly programs on the refuge begin the first week in June.   Read More Native American Museum offers special programs for families this summer The Frisco Native American Museum & Natural History Center will be offering a number of special programs for children and families this summer.    In addition to the self-guided tours, visitors will also have the opportunity to participate in hands-on workshops that are included in the price of admission.   Read More National Park Service has a wide variety of summer programs for all ages National Park Service summer programs at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Wright Brothers National Memorial, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore will start on Friday, May 28.  A wide variety of programs will be offered daily through Labor Day.  Also, on May 28, the visitor centers at those three parks will begin summer hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.    Read More Visiting the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site…WITH SLIDE SHOW The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site is a seven-acre, eight-building complex, extending from Highway 12 to the Atlantic Ocean in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island.  It is considered the most complete remaining U.S. Life-Saving Service complex in the nation. Of the 285 USLSS stations built from 1848 to 1914 along most of America’s coastline, the Chicamacomico complex contains two complete stations as well as a number of outbuildings.  Also, porch programs are presented throughout the week.  Read More Outer Banks art shows scheduled this summer at Chicamacomico The Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site & Museum will host a new series of art shows this summer, featuring artists from throughout the Outer Banks who will show their works. Ready for sale will be original works in a multitude of art media including acrylic, glass blowing, water colors, pottery, hand-made jewelry, hanging art, fish art, photography and still more formats.  Read More Visiting Portsmouth Island is a trip back in time …WITH SLIDE SHOW No one lives on Portsmouth Island anymore, but it’s still home in the hearts of former residents and their descendants, and the island has claimed the hearts of many visitors, who once they go there, can’t help but go back again and again. It takes a lot of effort to get to Portsmouth, but that just makes it more special.  Read More Full moon tour of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse… .WITH SLIDE SHOW Tours of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on the night of the full moon each month have been a popular addition to the interpretive programs that the National Park Service offers at the seashore.   Read More Strange sea creatures show up in the Ocracoke surf During the last weeks of May, beachgoers and sport fishermen at Ocracoke’s ocean beaches came across an oddity that few recognized. “A strange kind of slimy grass” was how one fisherman described it. “Gooey strings resembling frog eggs” was someone else’s comment. Actually, they are salps, sea creatures that may be useful in fighting global warming.  ....Read more Restoring an Ocracoke salt marsh “No wetlands, no seafood” is the logo on a bumper sticker from the North Carolina Coastal Federation (NCCF.)  It is quite appropriate, therefore, that one of the group’s latest projects is restoring wetlands on Ocracoke Island.  The federation teamed up with the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) to replant an acre of marsh at what was formerly the Ocracoke Coast Guard Station and is now an NCCAT teaching campus.   ....Read more The ‘old Hatteras’ in photographs An Island Free Press reader who is a regular visitor to Hatteras Island and whose father and grandfather have visited here since 1953, shares some very old family photos of Hatteras village and Buxton an extraordinary view from the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  ....Read more New York’s 1853 ‘Great Exhibition’ reveals a new discovery in the storied history of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse’s historic Fresnel lens In the summer of 2002, historian and author Kevin Duffus announced that he had solved the long-standing mystery of the missing Cape Hatteras Fresnel lens removed from the lighthouse during the first months of the Civil War. The lens was first hidden in Washington, N.C., for nine months, then for the remainder of the war on a sprawling plantation in Granville County, N.C., not far from the Virginia border. The lens was recovered after the war by federal troops, returned to Paris for repairs, and was eventually installed in the modern Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Now, Kevin Duffus reveals a new discovery.       ....Read more Hatteras village shipwreck appears and disappears with the shifting sands…WITH SLIDE SHOW Despite the proliferation of shipwrecks along the Outer Banks, there are very few that are accessible to the casual observer. Most are buried deep below the waves, visible only in pictures or with the help of special equipment.  One of the few exceptions to this rule lies on a beach in Hatteras village. There, one piece of the Island’s maritime history—the wreckage of a mystery barge—can still be seen, in varying degrees, by anyone who cares to walk the stretch of beach at the end of Flambeau Road where it rests.      ....Read more Remembering the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse relocation Moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse: A triumph of the human mind and spirit…WITH SLIDE SHOW Even for someone who didn't want the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to be moved from its historic site at the edge of the ocean, the day that the move was completed 10 years ago this month was a glorious day. It was a moment of triumph of the human mind and spirit. It was, as so many have said, "the move of the century."  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  It was an incredible engineering feat that was pulled off by men whose passion for the lighthouse equals that of many islanders.     ....Read more The story of erosion at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse The federal government fought erosion at the site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for decades.  The issue of how to ensure the safety of the iconic lighthouse was the subject of many studies and considerable controversy before the Park Service made the decision to move it.   ....Read more How the lighthouse was moved…WITH SLIDE SHOW The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse began its historic and controversial move out of harm's way on June 17 at 3:05 p.m. in a steady downpour of rain. The journey ended 23 days later on July 9 at 1:23 on a particularly hot and humid summer afternoon. In between, thousands of people came to see the famous sentinel -- before, during, and after the move of just over a half mile.  This is the story about how the historic moved was engineered.   ....Read more The Moving Men They are engineers and laborers, historic preservationists and stone masons, designers, inventors, and jacks of all trades.  They are northerners, southerners, and Hatteras Islanders. They are the men who have moved the Hatteras Island Lighthouse. They worked long hours, at times two shifts a day six days a week to get the lighthouse ready for its historic trip down a special roadbed to a new home some 2,900 feet -- a bit more than half a mile -- from where it was built 129 years ago.  ....Read more The Expert Movers The Matyiko brothers -- Jim, John, and Joe -- were part of the International Chimney team for the move of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.   But make no mistake about it, the Matyikos are THE moving men.  Their company, Expert House Movers, took the lead on the move project in late May after International Chimney workers finished removing the granite and mortar foundation, and it was the Matyikos who took the lighthouse on its historic trip.    ....Read more Islanders share their lighthouse memories Hatteras islanders cherish their memories of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, a monument that has become part of the fabric of their daily lives.  For many generations, the grand old beacon has stood as a stalwart symbol of a way of life of people who pride themselves on a unique history and heritage.  ....Read more PRECIOUS MEMORIES These are podcasts of a series of stories by Buddy Swain, offered by The Island Free Press. In the series, entitled "Precious Memories,"  Swain recounts his adventures as a youngster in the 1940s when he spent summers with his grandparents on Hatteras Island. A podcast is a collection of digital media files that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players (iPods and other mp3 devices) and personal computers. To hear the audio of this feature you must have on your computer the latest version of Internet Explorer (click here to download the lastest version of Internet Explorer  ) and the latest version of Quicktime (click here to download the latest version of Quicktime ).   Once these have been installed, click on The Island Free Press Podcast logo below to hear the author narrate the story.  This feature also works with the Safari Web browser.  By downloading the story to your portable media player, you are no longer chained to the computer to listen to or read the story.   You can enjoy it while you are walking, jogging, or commuting to work.  If you don't have a portable media player yet, you can read the story on your computer as you usually do or listen to it on your computer while you are doing other chores. Going to Grandmom's:  House Crossing The Pamlico Sound Going to Grandmom's House Driving The Beach Going To The Store Going Clamming Going To The Landing Going To Get Religion Going To Uncle Luther's Going To Bed Going to the Picture Show Going on Vacation Going Visiting Going To Supper Going To Heaven	We Moved To Stowe on Twelve!