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Cape Lookout National Seashore

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Fifty-Six Miles of Uninhabited Shoreline

Now part of the National Park System, Cape Lookout National Seashore encompasses about 28,500 acres and four islands—North Core Banks, Middle Core Banks, South Core Banks and Shackleford Banks. This is one of the few remaining undeveloped coastal barrier island systems in the country and can be accessed only by boat or private ferry. Picnicking, shell-seeking, swimming and a boardwalk, hunting and fishing, camping—this is a Nature-lover’s paradise, and one that is recognized internationally for its bird watching.

On South Core Banks you’ll find the famous Cape Lookout Lighthouse, pulsing its beacon once every fifteen seconds across the waters to warn sailors of the treacherous shoreline. Feel free to visit the lighthouse keeper’s quarters and its collection of natural history; if you’d like to climb the lighthouse, reservations are required (and available only four times a year).

On North Core Banks, discover and meander through Portsmouth Village which was first established in 1753. Though its residents are long gone, the village still appears much as it did in the early 1900’s and descendents of residents still sometimes utilize the homes, churches and cemeteries here. There’s the Portsmouth School (a one-room schoolhouse), U.S. Life-Saving Station that was used from 1894-1938 to rescue crews from the inevitable shipwrecks of the time, the Theodore and Annie Salter House which also serves as a visitor center, and the old U. S. Post Office complete with a corner once used as the general store.

Shackleford Banks, known for its whaling history in years gone by, is now home to about 100 wild ponies and other wildlife. Climb the dunes and you can usually spy a band of these famous ponies, which are thought to originally have descended from the horses of Spanish explorers. Also here, on the rock jetty of the island, is what many say is the best spot for angling, and fishermen try their luck often from this highly coveted fishing spot.