Pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, began her writing career on a 2,300-acre network of islands a short paddle south of Beaufort. At the reserve that now bears her name, marine scientists follow in her wake.
Shaped By Sand & Sea
A summer camp, a beach resort, and a community retreat: Hammocks Beach State Park in Onslow County — and its epic, sugar-sand beach — inspired generations of teachers and their students. Now, it awaits rediscovery.
A Guide to Ocracoke
Where in the world is Ocracoke? For many mainlanders, the island accessible only by ferry, boat, or plane remains a mystery. For those who live there, it is home to past and present, change and stasis, a tight-knit village and wild woods filled with centuries of secrets.
Keepers of the Light
There are no bridges to Cape Lookout, no roads along the 56 miles of islands. In the seven years that Ron and Joan Preloger have come here to watch over its iconic lighthouse, they’ve survived raging storms and swarms of stinkbugs. They wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sea Monkeys, Sand Dollars, & Wild Dunes
The Holden Beach island vacations of childhood are still there, if you know where to look.
Island Time
What a gift, those great shifting sandbars — a 325-mile-long string of them, clustered up and down the Carolina coast, looming so large in the history of our state and in our lives. The bridges and ferries, the wild dunes and crashing waves, the beach houses and fish dinners. Year after year, we return to the islands.
The Transplants
A community farm in Chapel Hill grows more than okra, bitter melons, and Thai chilies. New lives spring from these red-clay rows.
Hog Wild in Rockingham County
On this Rockingham County farm — past the barn and beyond the pasture — a herd of pigs roots and runs in the forest. Far from feral, these animals are being raised for restaurants and grills. But until then, they — and the couple who runs the sustainable farm — are living their best lives.
The Kids Are All Right
The most popular club at some North Carolina high schools is nearly a century old, but it’s as relevant as ever. Energized and optimistic, members of the Future Farmers of America are shaping the state’s agricultural path forward — not just in fields, but in labs and offices, too.
