The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a long, skinny strip of land stretching out into the Atlantic Ocean. The area was first settled by colonists from England who developed a profitable business as “land pirates”. The people who settled in Nags Head tied lanterns to horses and walked them up and down the beach. Captains of ship mistook the horses’ lanterns for the lights of ships sailing safely close to shore. As the ships tried to hug the coast they ran aground on the low Outer Banks and were pillaged by the land pirates of Nags Head.
Today, Nags Head is the most popular Outer Banks vacation town. The beaches are soft white sand and the spectacular sand dunes can still be seen in this northern part of the coast. Thanks to the Nags Head pirates and the modern artificial reef program, there are numerous shipwreck remains for divers to explore.