About the only Outer Banks town that hasn’t lost its small-scale charm, Ocracoke is a great place to spend an afternoon or two, walking or cycling along unpaved back streets lined by overgrown gardens and weathered old homes. Since it’s easy to reach from the mainland, via ferries from Swan Quarter and from Cedar Island, Ocracoke is a popular destination, but the tourism here is so low-key it still feels like a place you can discover for yourself.
The ferries from the mainland drop you at the heart of town, but coming in from the north on Hwy-12, you pass through a short strip of real estate agencies and restaurants like Howard’s Pub (252/928-4441), a local institution whose rooftop, ocean-view deck is a very pleasant place to eat fresh local seafood and sample one or more of its 200 different beers.
From Hwy-12, a number of small back roads (including oak-lined Howard Street, and another called simply “Back Road,” which runs past Teach’s Hole, a shop dedicated to the pirate Blackbeard) are worth exploring—especially by bike, the best way to get around Ocracoke. Just south of the harbor, Point Road runs west to the squat, whitewashed 1823 Ocracoke Lighthouse, while the harbor itself is ringed by restaurants, bike rental stands, hotels, bars, and B&Bs.
The Outer Banks
