Outer Banks

The Outer Banks are a roughly 200-mile chain of barrier islands, spits, and peninsulas along the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, forming a shifting boundary between the Atlantic Ocean and nearby sounds. Created from ridges of sand left after glaciers melted, the islands have been continually reshaped by storms, erosion, and rising seas, with inlets opening, channels closing, and some areas narrowing dramatically. Known for broad beaches, dunes, and protected coastal landscapes, they also support distinctive plant life and feral horses. Their waters hold hundreds of shipwrecks, and at Kill Devil Hills the Wright brothers achieved the first controlled powered flight in 1903.

Buxton, North Carolina · United States