Leaving Raleigh, most people take hwy 64 to the beach. It's a nice drive, but if I may suggest either going, or coming back, vary the route and take 264. You can get the ferry to Ocracoke at Swan Quarter (where I went to high school), or keep going through the rest of Hyde County, which bills itself as the "Road Less Traveled"....and believe me....it IS. I grew up in Engelhard, right on the Pamlico Sound. Population somewhere around 600, and don't blink, or you'll miss the whole town. Not a stop light in the entire county...at least as of a few years ago. Haven't been up there for about 6-7 years. As you continue on 264 toward Nags Head, take a cut off for Stumpy Point, a little fishing hamlet where just listening to the people talk is worth the short side trip.
Then, it's on to Manns Harbor, which used to be very quaint. Since the major boom on the OBX, the little towns, slightly inland are barely recognizable anymore. Note...that boom has not made it to Engelhard....It is still a slice of, as my kids dubbed it, "out in the middle of nowhere!!!" Next is Roanoke Island and Manteo, where you will find the Lost Colony and Elizabethan Gardens and another hamlet called Wanchese. If you enjoy different accents, it's a must visit. You may not even be able to understand the locals there, even though they are speaking English. When you get to Nags Head, at Whalebone Junction, where you turn south to go down the banks toward Oregon Inlet and Ocracoke, there is a great little eatery called Sam and Omie's. Been there for a gazillion years, right across from Jeanette's pier (where I learned to play pool).
Dang.....now you've gone and made me homesick!!! LOL....last time I was at the beach, it did not look like home, at all. Huge, expensive houses taking up every inch of oceanfront. I liked it better 40 years ago, but I suppose that's natural.
Enjoy!!
|