Forty Years or so of Whiskey Papa's Casual Photography: Ocracoke

This view across the harbor of Ocracoke Light was taken from the waterfront at the entrance to the visitor center. Pat had gone inside to find a map so we can find all the village sights. The port of Ocracoke was established in 1715, 130 years after Sir Walter Raleigh's flagship, Tiger, ran aground on a sand bar and landed on the island for repairs. The harbor, now called Silver Lake, was once called Cockle Creek.

This similar view with a wider angle includes a visitor's pier on the left, the lighthouse in the center, and pilings at the entrance to the ferry terminal on the right. The town of Ocracoke was recognized in 1753 and was populated by 20 or 30 families. During the American Revolution, many of the supplies for the Continental Army were shipped to Ocracoke for transfer in lighter craft to the mainland. The Royal Navy chose not to guard the inlets because of the hazards to shipping off Hatteras and the Outer Banks.

This lovely sailboat, Papillon, is tied up in an ideal spot with the amenities of the village off to the far right, the ferry terminal also right, and the harbor entrance straight ahead. The lighthouse is out of sight, about 90° off to my left.

This is a pleasant view of the waterfront at the foot of the lighthouse. Wouldn't it be nice to spend a couple of weeks a year here? The original lighthouse was built in 1798 on Shell Castle Rock abreast Ocracoke Inlet and was destroyed by lightning in 1818.

Here's another shot of Papillon and the Silver Lake harbor entrance, designated on our map of Ocracoke as "the ditch". Of course you know, when I finish the blog posts for this trip, I'm going to have to go back and add some seagulls and pelicans to this picture. . .

You can't imagine how startling the red steel roof of this building was. (I presume it's the light keeper's residence.) The base of the tower is hidden in every view except this one. The simplicity of the design and the bright whitewash suggest that's all you'll ever get. You wander all over the village and never get a hint of the color till you arrive here. This lighthouse was built in 1823 and is the oldest one on the east coast of the United States still in operation. It's also the shortest of North Carolina's lighthouses, and can be seen for 14 miles.

We'd already seen "the British cemetery", where four unknown British sailors are buried (their ship was sunk by German torpedoes during WWII) when we found the lighthouse, so we decided to eat lunch at Dajio (which was The Pelican when we were here in 2002) before heading to the ferry. When we got there we came face-to-face with the ferry schedule again, so deployed to the beach just east of the village to wait, and perhaps catch another nap.