When we talk about “local,” it’s more than just a physical address. It’s a state of mind; it’s when awe and appreciation spill over into a sense of pride and preservation.
Outer Banks native Bri Young also knows firsthand these feelings for her hometown.
She grew up spending every minute of her free time at the beach and in the ocean, so she had always felt protective of the Outer Banks. But it was not until she worked as an ocean rescue lifeguard that she developed a sense of pride for this place and a deep desire to share it with others. “The more I got to share with others about ocean safety, the more I realized I love to teach people about the ocean,” Young says.
Bri Young and her husband, Riley, gear up for a morning surf session. Photography courtesy of Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
Now, Young owns Outer Surf, a surf shop and school in Nags Head, a career that lets her connect locals and visitors with the surrounding environment through surfing.
“When we teach visitors to surf, they sometimes start out hesitant or nervous,” Young says. “But as they get more comfortable, we see them light up. They see first-hand how special this place is, and it just clicks for them.”
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As her students fall in love with surfing, Young sees them adopt a sense of stewardship for the special environment, too, often picking up someone else’s trash on their way off the beach or even volunteering for an organized beach cleanup.
“That’s why it’s so important for us to share what we love, so that others want to preserve and protect and keep it clean too,” she says.
Ready to appreciate the Outer Banks like a local? Here’s how:
Designated accesses lead beachgoers between sea oats and sand dunes to help prevent erosion on the fragile but protective dune line. Photography courtesy of Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
Like Young, the people who love the Outer Banks want to show it off, and one of the things everyone is most proud of is the beach.
On the Outer Banks, more than 100 miles of beach are open to the public, and nearly 50 miles of that beachfront is undeveloped, thanks to Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the first national coastal park in the country. These beaches belong to a very delicate ecosystem, prone to erosion and home to numerous types of wildlife. As a result, people try to be good stewards. They’ll avoid walking on dunes, preferring to reach the beach via designated accesses, and avoid areas closed to wildlife, like nesting endangered sea turtles. Some even take it a step further, joining beach cleanups through Surfrider Foundation, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge or North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. All of these small actions keep these sandy shores beautiful — and livable! — for people and wildlife.
Opened in 2024, the Epstein Beach Access Bathhouse in Nags Head offers parking, showers, restroom facilities, and more. Photography courtesy of Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
More than 80 public beach accesses from Kitty Hawk through Cape Hatteras provide free parking and amenities that make a day at the beach a more enjoyable experience. Amenities range from a simple walkway and water spigot to handicapped-accessible bathhouses with showers and changing areas. Choose your location based on who’s in your crew: If you have kids and family in tow, you deserve a fully equipped bathhouse.
Beach accesses with bathhouses include plentiful parking, wooden walkways, showers, changing areas, handicapped accessibility, and, because they are so desirable, lifeguard stands in summer. Some popular choices are Kitty Hawk Bath House; Hayman Boulevard and Ocean Bay Boulevard in Kill Devil Hills; Bonnett Street and the newly opened Epstein Beach Access Bathhouse in Nags Head; and Coquina Beach Access on a remote stretch of beach in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Northeasterly winds pick up in the fall months on the Outer Banks, leading to favorable surf conditions. Photography courtesy of Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
The beauty of choosing an access near the lifeguard stands means you get daily updates on the conditions posted on the stands, including high tide and low tide times, water temperature, and risk of rip currents. In the summer, there are more than 50 lifeguard stations along the Outer Banks where you can spread out your towel nearby and take to the surf. And don’t forget to check the warning flags if they’re flying from the stands — red means no swimming, yellow means swim with caution.
At the camps, clinics, and lessons Young teaches through Outer Surf, she reminds everyone she works with to respect their limits in the ocean. “With everyone, we just remind them to take it slow and build up their confidence a little at a time,” she says.
If you want to explore beyond the beach, make some of the local attractions your first stop. Unsurprisingly, maritime history runs deep on these islands, and you can climb the Bodie Island Lighthouse in South Nags Head and imagine the dedicated lightkeepers who helped mariners navigate these waters safely. And to understand why this lighthouse and its sister stations were so important, look no farther than the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras.
In addition to the nautical roots, Outer Bankers are rightfully proud of all the “firsts” that happened on the sandbars. On Roanoke Island in the late 1500s, English settlers attempted to start their first colony in the New World. You can still experience this history at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and through The Lost Colony production, the longest-running outdoor drama in the United States. Centuries later, another colony began in Roanoke Island — this time one of the first Freedmen’s Colonies for emancipated people after the Civil War, and the history is also interpreted today at Fort Raleigh. Hatteras Island is home to the Chicamacomico National Life-Saving Station Historic Site, the first U.S. Life-Saving Station commissioned in North Carolina — it celebrates its 150th anniversary in October 2024 — and nearby was the first all-Black U.S. Life Saving Station at Pea Island, whose story is retold at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.
Visit the monument commemorating the Wright Brothers’ first flight. Photography courtesy of Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
Of course, the ultimate first is the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, and in Kill Devil Hills there’s an entire museum and monument, Wright Brothers National Memorial, dedicated to celebrating the brothers’ amazing achievement and the innovation that has followed.
One first that many people do not know about is that the first contact between English explorers and Indigenous Americans in North Carolina happened on Hatteras Island in 1585. In order to share this history with present-day audiences, Joyce Bornfriend co-founded and operates the Frisco Native American Museum in the village of Frisco.
In the village of Frisco, you can see exhibits showing the innovative and advanced ways Indigenous Americans thrived on these islands. Photography courtesy of Outer Banks Visitors Bureau
“Our exhibits show ways that natives lived in harmony with their environment and found innovative ways to use materials,” she says. “For instance, the Croatans on Hatteras used cattails in astonishing ways, for medicine, padded mats, fire-starting. People are really surprised at the innovation, and it also causes them to look at the surrounding environment in new ways. It thrills us when we hear our visitors admiring the creativity and ingenuity of the Native cultures.”
Connecting people with the history anchoring the early cultures that shaped these sandbars is Bornfriend’s favorite way of helping museum visitors better appreciate the surrounding setting. After all, the opportunity to take that closer look at the Outer Banks’s environment and the influences that form what you see today is one of the best ways to feel — as the bumper stickers call it — “as local as it gets,” even if you don’t call it home. Click here to learn more about experiencing these coastal towns and discover it for yourself.
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