The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse looks great for its age. And the iconic attraction plays host to about 500,000 annual visitors while some 1,500 people climb the lighthouse daily between April and October. But at 150 years old, there’s some work that needs to be done. As a first step, a contractor is starting the task […]
Local News | Full Article
As home sales continue at unprecedented rates and housing inventories fall, the Outer Banks may be entering uncharted territory. According to the Outer Banks Association of Realtors, every community on the Outer Banks (with the exception of Colington and Ocracoke) saw double-digit gains over 2019 in the number of properties sold – with some of […]
Real Estate | Full Article
There may never be an answer to what caused the fire in Buxton last October that took four lives. “I know that this is really not what anyone wants to hear, and it’s hard for us as part of the investigation team not to be able to have definitive answers,” Steve Kovacs, Dare County Fire […]
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The Outer Banks real estate market is hot. It’s part of a national trend, but what is happening locally goes beyond the strong national trend. What realtors with experience in the Outer Banks market and longtime observers of local conditions are seeing exceeds anything they have seen before. “It’s been absolutely nuts,” said Jeff Scott, […]
Real Estate | Full Article
The flood waters of Hurricane Dorian receded quickly, but three inches or three feet in a home makes little difference. Everything has to go. All the furniture and appliances, even the drywall has to be stripped to the studs; books, photos, memories of years gone by — all of it is piled by the side […]
Island Features | Full Article
This story was submitted to the Island Free Press from the Outer Banks Community Foundation and is Part One of a Two-Part Series. Part Two: Housing, and the COVID Crisis will be published at a future date. On a warm day in late August this year, Ocracoke looks much like it has for years. Traffic […]
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As the nation heads into a crucial 2020 election in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic, Dare County officials are confident that they are prepared to protect the integrity of the process, regardless of how heavy the turnout is. Voting is a relatively simple process — a matter of indicating preference for the candidates or […]
Local News | Full Article
In 2016, as construction on the Marc Basnight Bridge that would span Oregon Inlet and replace the Bonner Bridge was beginning, the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Division of Marine Fisheries came up with solution for the Bonner Bridge: The bridge would be dismantled and the debris would be used to maintain and expand […]
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In a coordinated effort among the three counties of the Outer Banks, the area will reopen to visitors on Saturday, May 16. When the rental homes, hotels and motels do reopen, it may appear to be business as usual. But for the people who work in the hospitality business, it will be anything but. “This […]
Island Features | Full Article
On Saturday, March 14, Gov. Roy Cooper ordered all North Carolina schools to close. Classes would continue, but instruction would be entirely online. Two days later, the nonprofit Outer Banks Community Foundation rolled out the first of its COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants, which it awards in times of crisis. The $4,500 grant awarded to the Dare Education Foundation helped […]
Island Features | Full Article
