Hidden Outer Banks

09/12/2024

For decades, North Carolina's Outer Banks aimed to attract as many tourists as possible to its picturesque shores. As the chain of islands experiences an incredible influx of visitors, and the environmental and social impacts that come with it, locals are looking to a new approach to tourism.

27/10/2024

Another hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism, this time neither proving nor disproving the belief that beer kegs can fly.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice On Dec. 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright proved that humans could, in fact, conquer the skies. But their triumph did little to answer the question beer lovers hav…

22/10/2024

Hard news pushed this one back a bit, but it sure was a great day on 10/12 celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Chicacomico Life-Saving Station. And, I finally understand how a Lyle gun works.

Photo essay: The crew's heroic legacy was lauded during a recent program commemorating the 150th anniversary of the station opening October 1874 in Rodanthe.

20/10/2024

Another assignment that I had to struggle through. What a hardship...being outside on a beautiful day, eating good food, seeing happy people and listening to good music.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice With great seafood from local chefs, music that got people up and dancing from country music artists Celeste Kellogg and the Daniel Jones Band, a cooling breeze from…

16/10/2024

It's going to be an uphill battle to reinstate Area of Environmental Concern protections for Jockey's Ridge State Park. For reasons that leave me baffled, they seem adamantly opposed to protecting the park. The legal findings of the Rules Review Commission that stripped the park of AEC protections, contorted logic to the point that it was screaming in pain by the end of the filing.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice As the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) seeks to again reinstate Area of Environmental Concern (AEC) protections for Jockey’s Ridge State Park…

14/10/2024

Some assignments are pure agony. I had to struggle to get to the finish line on this one.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice It would be hard to imagine a better day for the 15th Annual Duck Jazz Festival. From the improvisational genius of the Jae Sinnett Quintet featuring Randy Brecker (…

10/10/2024

The Corps of Engineers has probably been, more responsive than they have in quite some time to the issues at Buxton...perhaps more responsive than they have ever been. But there are still significant questions about where this is going.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice There is visible progress in cleaning up the former Naval Cold War listening site in Buxton. The latest incident began in early September when a sheen of fuel that o…

09/10/2024

Wow! Just wow! What an amazing globe trotting story. I cannot thank Sam Farquhar with her patience as I tried to master the pronunciation of Inuit towns.

Studying the intersects of food security, industrial fisheries and climate change, the doctoral researcher has learned that no matter whether its Nepal, Madagascar, Greenland or Wanchese, building relationships is the first step.

05/10/2024

Time really got away from me this month. It's a bit late, but make it if you can to avoid harassment from Cathartes aura (sub) mortuus litterae.

04/10/2024

There is so much happening with the renovation of Hatteras Lighthouse. The amount of research and documentation that had to go into tracking down the details to recreate the original look and feel of the tower is amazing.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice Nine months after the renovations of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse began, the project is moving forward and appears to be on schedule as reporters were given an Oct.…

30/09/2024

And this is why it was such an active news day. The NTSB had very little information to share. The type of aircraft was mentioned--Cirrus SR22. The lack of information was not for lack of asking questions, but the answer consistently was we'll let you know when we can confirm it or some form of that answer.

Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice Following the crash of a Cirrus SR22 aircraft at First Flight Airport on Saturday at 5:18 p.m., investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were…

24/09/2024

Feels like fall, y'all!

16/09/2024

The story behind the Rehoboth Methodist Church in Washington County is really remarkable. Thank you Chris Barone Barber for your help, patience and a copy of your book The Tie That Binds that tells an amazing history of religion in northeastern North Carolina.

Rural Washington County is home to a restored 170-year-old house of worship on the National Register, and the nonprofit group formed to restore the structure likely built by enslaved people says it offers revealing glimpses into our past.

15/09/2024

"I am a creature of habit, and to me, the birthplace of aviation, is a place worth visiting more than once. In fact, I would say it is more than a photo op, a gift shop visit or buzzing the Wright Brothers Monument in your plane. It is a spiritual place to me, as powerful as Diamond Head or Machu Picchu in that regard. It is a sandy piece of land, where one can stand at the exact spot where man left the planet for the first time, and reflect in these troubled times, on what it means to soar above the earth and go traveling amongst the stars. Those kinds of thoughts are the things that separate pilots from passengers."

In fall 2008, James William Buffett jumped into his Cessna Caravan for his annual pilgrimage from New York to Florida - a familiar "change in latitude". He touched down at First Flight Airport in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, to pay homage to those two pioneering brothers who gave us the gift of flight.

Jimmy found the Outer Banks to be a special kind of place. He first visited back in the 80s, though his grandfather Capt. James Buffett had firsthand experience with Cape Hatteras via the S.S. Chiquimula (a four-masted schooner rescued east of Hatteras in 1925).

On his blog, Mr. Buffett wrote of flying the shoreline down to Cape Hatteras and back, of deflating the tires on his big "Green Tomato" van to drive on the beach, and of dreaming about big waves. He wrote of ferries, of ponies, of the things which residents of the Outer Banks sometimes take for granted until seeing them again through a visitor's eyes. Buffett wrote about staying on Ocracoke and reading himself to sleep while "the light from the lighthouse swept by my window in a constant pattern like some guardian angel standing watch."

Inspired? We sure are. We invite you to visit Wright Brothers National Memorial, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Cape Hatteras National Seashore to make some memories. Visit the parks, view the wildlife, and (of course) check out the beaches. A wise man once said, "“If there’s a heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached.”

Fair winds and following seas, Jimmy.

📷: Jimmy Buffett, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

11/09/2024

Really interesting subject with some truly amazing photos in the book.

By Kip Tabb | Outer Banks Voice The front lines of WWII were on the doorstep of the Outer Banks in 1942. In the first six months of that year, more than 360 Allied ships trying to cross the Atlant…

09/09/2024

Things started really slowly at Sandy Run this morning but then, it got really interesting.

06/09/2024

If the reference is not understood, come to the next open mic for an explanation.

29/08/2024

I haven't put pictures up for a while. There's been a lot of writing, but the camera has been in hand at all times.