Hatteras Island, a long-standing barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound, has long been sustained by surrounding waters that supported Native Americans, fishing families, and later recreation and tourism, even as Outer Banks waters offshore earned the name Graveyard of the Atlantic for their many shipwrecks. Seven communities—Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras—developed from the bounty of the sea and sound and maintained strong local identities, while Southern live oaks became enduring features of the coastal landscape and historically provided heavy wood for ship framing. Public education expanded when the Dare County School Board created nine school districts on the island in September 1892, with 602 students attending in 1893, before village schools were consolidated in 1955 at Cape Hatteras School in Buxton and later new school facilities opened in Buxton in 2002 and 2007. Commercial fishing was and remains central to the island economy, with harbors in Hatteras, Avon, Buxton, and Rodanthe serving working watermen and women, Hatteras village supporting a fleet of 40 fishing boats by 1948, and Dare County now landing North Carolina’s most valuable county catch. Watersports also became a major part of island life, from Capt. Ernal Foster’s charter fishing operations beginning the sports fishing industry in 1937, to surfing since the 1950s, later windsurfing and kiteboarding, and quieter exploration by kayak, canoe, and paddleboard, while Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, first lit on Dec. 16, 1870, remains a defining presence in the island’s evenings.