An estimated 70 truckloads of debris have been removed from the shoreline over the past three days, following the collapse of an oceanfront home in Rodanthe on East Point Drive on Monday, March 13. “On Wednesday, we had 40 National Park Service employees [helping in the clean-up] and on Thursday we had 20 employees,” said Michael Barber, Public Affairs Specialist for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS). “This is in addition to the many volunteers who have been helping all week.” A formal beach clean-up was held on Thursday, March 16, with supplies distributed by CHNS personnel, and while no additional formal clean-up events are currently scheduled, efforts by CHNS, as well as residents and visitors, continue. “Even without a formal clean-up, people are still out there and cleaning the beach, and we know that happens every day,” said Barber. The majority of large piec [...] Seashore News | Full Article
The original Cape Hatteras Lighthouse lens is on the move. The roughly 20-foot-tall structure, which is housed within the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, is painstakingly being taken apart and relocated to a secure and on-site storage area while work progresses on the museum’s total renovation. Though the prospect of a museum renovation had been floating around for some time, in May 2021, the museum received a $4.1 million grant from the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to conduct an overhaul of the Hatteras village site. Months later, Dare County and the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau stepped in with an extra $500,000 in funds, which the state then boosted with an additional $400,000, resulting in a total of $5.1 million to bring the remodeling project to life. In the fall of 2022, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum began the slow and intricate process [...] Island Features | Full Article
Are you a buyer looking for some good news in this rapidly changing real estate market? The February Outer Banks Association of Realtors (OBAR) statistical report has one very interesting stat for Hatteras Island in 2023. Median sale prices so far YTD are down 17%. This comes with some caveats, however, as it reflects a very limited number of closings. But there have been quite a few sales this year where the final price was $400k or less. Median Sales Prices Are Down In areas like Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, home prices are up YTD but it’s important to remember that we are dealing with a very small sample size so far in completed sales. In two months there were a total of 35 sales on all of Hatteras Island. Sales Volume Has Slowed Significantly This graphic is for all OBX areas, but you can see that home sales are less than half of what they were in 2021 when we had more [...] Real Estate | Full Article
On Saturday, April 1, the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association (NCBBA) will once again launch its Operation Beach Respect program, where NCBBA members are stationed at every beach access ramp from Bodie Island to Ocracoke to hand out information packets and trash bags to beachgoers. “We chose April 1 to include the seasonal [ORV] ramps #23 and #34, so all ramps from #2 thru #55 will have coverage including Ramp #70 on Ocracoke Island,” stated Tom Brueckner, NCBBA Director, in a press release. “After a busy winter storm season, volunteers and their families are needed to 'hit' the beaches to do the actual combing of the beach and load up their [4-wheel-drive vehicles] with rubbish." Celebrating its 39th year in 2023, Operation Beach Respect is held in conjunction with the organization’s Adopt-a-Highway program, also occurring on April 1. For the Adopt-a-Highway clean-up, volu [...] Fishing | Full Article
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