Where is Ocracoke really?

This week I thought it might be interesting for our followers (those not from here in NC) to really see where Ocracoke is located.  Many of you may have heard about the North Carolina Outer Banks, but  not ever really looked at where they are.  Here is some perspective.

Map of a section of the East Coast of the United States

Now we will zoom in a bit to NC.  Ocracoke is out there off the coast of NC in the Atlantic Ocean.

This is a little closer view of the NC Outer Banks.  They are essentially a thin chain of sand bars stuck out into the Atlantic Ocean.  Corolla is at the most Northern end and Emerald Isle is at the most Southern.  Ocracoke is about two thirds of the way south along the chain.

This map copied more clearly and it shows the northern Outer Banks from Corolla to Ocracoke.

This is Ocracoke with the end of Hatteras Island just visible at the north and Portsmouth Island to the south.  The small gray area where the word Ocracoke is on the map is where the Village of Ocracoke is located.

Ocracoke Village and the light house are at the southern end of the island of Ocracoke.  The remainder of the island is all National Seashore and can not be built on or developed.  This map shows the harbor (Silver Lake) where we are docked with Southern Style.  It also shows the roads and areas of the village where houses and businesses are located.  I apologize that these maps are a bit fuzzy, but I think they still give everyone some perspective of the area.

Other than highway 12 which runs straight down the island from north to south, there are only a few small roads within the village.  These roads did not even have official names until 1999.  And it was 2005 before there were any road signs within the village.  Now locals never had a problem with this as everyone knew everyone and directions were given by referring to landmarks or resident's names.  Having grown up in a fairly rural area myself, I am familiar with how this works.  If however, you have never been given directions in this manner before, it could certainly be a bit confusing.  Below is a story from a local resident that appeared in the paper here that I found quite charming nostalgic.  I hope you get a snicker from it as well.  It is told by Ocracoke resident Phillip Howard in his own words.

Back in the 1980's I was asked to design a small cottage for the Methodist minister here on Ocracoke.  One afternoon as I was digging a hole for one of the house pilings, I cut through an underground telephone wire.  

For years local resident Randall Mathews was the island’s one and only telephone repairman. It was common practice to simply call Randall about any telephone problems or issues, and he would promptly make the repair. However, shortly before this incident the telephone company had established a company-wide 800 number to call for all customer repair issues.

I called the number and quickly realized the service representative was not from eastern North Carolina, and had never heard of Ocracoke. I discovered she was located in Kansas. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Hello, I am calling to report a severed telephone cable.

Her: Yes sir, can you tell me where you are located?

Me: Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.

Her: And where exactly is the severed cable?

Me: Well, it is about halfway between Myrtle Doolittle’s house and the new cottage we are building for the Methodist minister.

Her: Sir, can you please give me the street address?

Me: I am sorry, but we don’t have street addresses.

Her: You don’t have street addresses? How will I know where to send the repairman?

Me: Randall will know where this is.

Her: Who is Randall?

Me: Randall is our telephone repairman.

Her: But I still need to know what to tell him

Me: Please tell Randall to go behind Myrtle’s house, and walk toward the road where Mrs. Padgett lives. He will see the lot where we are building a small cottage for the Methodist minister. Actually, I found a concrete turtle on Myrtle’s porch steps. I carried it over to the construction site and set it down so it is pointing directly at the hole I was digging when I cut the telephone cable. He will have no problem finding the severed cable if he just looks for the concrete turtle.

Her: (There was a lengthy silence before she replied.) Uhh,…OK….I’ll pass this message on to the repairman. Thank you very much.

Several days later I saw Randall at the Post Office. “Did you get the telephone cable repaired,” I asked him.

“Oh my gosh,” he said, “that woman in Kansas was so befuddled. All she could say was that some man called to say that ‘Myrtle Somebody’ had a turtle that was stuck in concrete and that somehow the turtle had cut a telephone cable. I think she thought you might have been calling from an insane asylum.”

We had a good laugh, and Randall told me he had found the severed cable and made the repair.