Hatteras Island - Outer Banks - NC

Hatteras, Kinnakeet, Chicamacomico, Avon, Trent, Buxton, Frisco - a lyrical blend of Native American and English words scattered about the island. The most unusual names stem from the Croatan “Indians,” members of the Algonquin tribe and full-time residents of the island long before Europeans ever saw this slender strip of sand. “Hatteras” is an English rendition of a Native American word that meant “there is less vegetation;” “Kinnakeet” meant “that which is mixed;” and “Chicamacomico” meant “place of sinking down sand.” The other names stem from English settlers who made their way to the island in the 1700s, forming a short-lived melting pot of cultures similar to other colonial areas on the East Coast.

The Croatans were the only Native Americans to live year round on a barrier island. Other tribes lived on the mainland and only visited the barrier islands to hunt and fish, but the Croatans, supported by the bounty of the sea and sound and the protection of wooded areas, found safe haven on Hatteras Island. The Algonquins are believed to have been on the Outer Banks since around 500 A.D.

European settlers began making their way to Hatteras Island in the 1700s. These were primarily people of English descent moving to the island from colonies on the Virginia and North Carolina mainland. It appears that Kinnakeet, now Avon, was the first area to be colonized. The first land grant on the island was at Kinnakeet in 1711. The banks were divided into three sections: Cape Hatteras Banks (from old Hatteras Inlet on what is now Ocracoke Island to the cape); Kinnakeet Banks (from the cape to Chicamacomico Banks); and Chicamacomico Banks (through Chickinacommock, or New Inlet, on Pea Island).

In the late 1700s shipwrecks were common off the North Carolina coast, particularly at Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras. Two strong ocean currents, the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream, collide near Cape Hatteras, and sail-power vessels had to draw close to the Outer Banks to hitch a ride on either of these currents. This should not have been a problem except that the winds and storms so common to the Outer Banks often drove the ships ashore or landed them on shoals. Plus Hatteras Island was so flat with no visible landmarks that ships often didn’t realize where they were until they were running aground on its shoals.

In 1773 a teenager named Alexander Hamilton was a passenger on a ship that nearly sank off Cape Hatteras, and he experienced first hand the danger of the cape’s dreaded Diamond Shoals. Seventeen years later, when Hamilton was the second-ranking member of George Washington’s cabinet, he still heard terrifying tales of shipwrecks at Cape Hatteras. In 1789 Hamilton, who is reputedly the one who coined the moniker “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” urged Congress to investigate the possibility of establishing a lighthouse on the Hatteras Sand Banks. The lighthouse wasn’t authorized until 1794, and it wasn’t constructed until 1802. Mariners were not impressed with the lighthouse, which they said was not sufficiently bright or reliable.

In an 1846 hurricane, a new inlet opened on Hatteras Island, which caused Hatteras Island to separate from Ocracoke Island. Another inlet was also formed to the north — Oregon Inlet, which separated Pea Island from Bodie Island. Hatteras Inlet brought prosperity to Hatteras Village. The new inlet was deep and navigable, and the steady stream of maritime traffic that had always used tricky and unreliable Ocracoke Inlet began to use Hatteras Inlet instead. This brought new work for the people in Hatteras Village as pilots, mariners and boat builders. Island residents also found work in exporting lumber. They cut trees to build boats and houses and to sell. Before the Civil War, live oak was in demand for building Yankee Clippers.

Despite the lighthouses to help keep ships on course, wrecks were still happening in alarming numbers off the Outer Banks. In 1874, the first seven Life-saving Stations were built along the N.C. coast, including one at Chicamacomico and one at Little Kinnakeet. That same year, a U.S. Weather Station was also established at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Later, new Life-saving Stations were establsihed at Oregon Inlet, Pea Island, New Inlet, Gull Shoal, Big Kinnakeet, Cape Hatteras, Creed’s Hill and Durants (Hatteras Village). The Life-saving Stations, in addition to lighthouses, weather stations and post offices, provided jobs with steady pay, and the islanders scrambled to get them. The Life-saving Stations got the island’s first telephones in 1885.

Commercial fishing was also becoming a profitable occupation as the locals began to figure out ways to export their catches off-island. People realized that fishing could be a source of income, not just a means of getting food on the table. Islanders fished for finfish, oysters, clams, scallops, turtles, seaweed, whales and porpoises. Porpoise fishing was quite lucrative for a number of years, and there was a porpoise factory in Hatteras Village from 1885 to 1891.

A group of people introduced an idea to give new life to the Outer Banks. These people proposed establishing a national park, the first national seashore, on the Outer Banks, including Hatteras Island, to draw tourists to the area. At first everyone supported the idea, especially the poor residents of Hatteras Island. In June 1935, 999 acres, including Cape Point and the area around Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, were donated as the nucleus for the national seashore park. In 1938, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge was established on the northern end of the island.

The Herbert C. Bonner Bridge was completed in 1963, Hatteras Island was changed forever. Vacationers have been streaming onto the island ever since. The native islanders have mixed feelings about the easy accessibility of the island. On one hand, their isolation has been invaded. The older the resident, the more harsh the sting of change seems to be. On the other hand, bridges and roads provide opportunities the island has never before known. Young people no longer have to move away to make a living. Jobs are plentiful most of the year. Medical facilities and services are available that weren’t dreamed of in years past.