After many suggestions to look into OBX for a family vacation (2 adults, 1 child, 1 infant)for late May early June, I decided to begin researching. Therefore I've been in a bookstore this weekend reading, reading, reading. I quickly concluded that there are numerous places to choose from along the OBX that would be an 'ideal' family vacation. After many suggestions, I'm interested in Nags Head but open to other areas. Everything I read about the OBX area & NAGS HEAD sounds intriguing & full of fun & relaxation. Actually the area seems to have a lot of character + history ... I like that! We are interested in renting a condo or house either Oceanside or Soundside for a week. My main question is that while I have been researching that area & others, it appears we may run into a considerable amount of 'beach traffic', especially it being Memorial-Day weekend ... are there beach areas that we could find accomodations, still be close to the local areas, & have privacy. What I mean by privacy is virtually a beach to our own. As exciting as the OBX area sounds, we're worried that there may be heavy tourist traffic & that's what we're trying to avoid on this particular vacation. For the sake of repetition, we're wanting an area that feels 'all our own'! Any suggestions for that in OBX???

I think the farther south you go, past the natl. seashore area that starts after South Nags Head, the more open the spaces and more quiet the beaches are. I'm not sure if any of it is completely secluded, but I'm sure others will fill you in. Have you been able to get up to date info on recovery from Hurricaine Isabel? Look at Rodnathe, Waves, Salvo areas. I've been to the beaches down there and it seems less developed (although there are certianly nice houses.) I would say look even further down than that, like Hatteras and Ocacroke, but I think those villages still have hurricaine recovery issues. I hope you can get good current info on that. I think if you are looking for secluded, as in where you can walk on the beach at any time and not see anyone, you won't find that anywhere north of the natl seashore area (South Nags Head and north from there- all the way up to Corolla).
Wait a minute- I just thought of the 4 wheel drive area north of Corolla. Look into that area. North of Corolla the mainatined road ends and there are houses that you have to have a 4 wheel drive to get to. Miles and miles of beach without roads, and houses are far apart. People do live up there, I've driven around and there are rental houses too. It would mean renting a 4 wheeel drive if you are flying in, but this might be exactly what you are looking for. Carova beach is one of the beaches. I'll look in my OBX file and see if I have anything on rental agencies that rent up there. It's a very different world north of Corolla.

I checked my "Insider's Guide to NC's OBX" book and my map of the norhtern OBX beaches. Above Corolla, you go through the Ocean Hill area and that is where you enter Fruitville Beach township and the 4 wheel drive area. From there north, the beach areas w/houses are in this order: Penny's Hill, Seagull, Swan Beach, North Swan Beach, and then Carova (which ends at the VA border.) The houses are on streets, but to get btwn these beach areas you need 4 wheel drive. It is 12 miles btwn Corolla and Carova. Water is by individual well and septic systems. I see some houses for rent in the Sun Realty catalog, but not too many, and none in my other rental co. catalogs, but i know they rent as I drove up there and saw rent co. signs on the houses. Try Twiddy Realty, I think they rent up that far north; also there used to be a co. called Riggs Realty that dealt in properties up there (not sure if they are still around.) An internet search on rentals in those beach areas would probably lead you to the other companies.
It's very secluded up there. Nice houses. There is a Coast Guard Station and tower at N. Swan Beach. You'd want to get all your provisions at one time on the way in, I don't think this is an area where you can just go get a gallon of milk from the store at the spur of the moment. But this is the area where the wild Spanish mustangs used to roam free on the beaches- I saw them too, although I think they have been rounded up now and moved.
Good luck- I hope others will post who have rented up there. If you go up there, please report back for the rest of us.

Thanks EMD again for your great help! I really liked everything you've mentioned earlier about NAGS HEAD but just trying to get some major seclusion on this trip. I'll try to see what I can find out about the Isabel Recovery ... haven't checked that yet & will look into Hatteras & Ocacroke areas plus up North above Corolla! From what I've read, you can virtually travel the OBX (North to South) in about 2 hours ... is that true? Anyway, I'll try to check into all this info!

Wondering what guidebooks you're using to even think for a second that Nags Head is in any way "secluded" or "quaint." From Kitty Hawk to Nags Head is terribly congested and overbuilt. You'll have nothing to yourself there, and your neighbors will be able to see you eat breakfast. Follow the advice of those sending you far north or far south.

For myself, my favorite island is Ocracoke -- all the housing and restaurants are confined to the little town at one end of the island (none are beachfront, which is on purpose), and the entire rest of the island is secluded beach -- drive or bike (some hardy souls can walk it) along the one road, choose a pull-over and walk out to your own beach.

Interesting you say that Soccr .... I was looking at Ocracoke. Sounds like it's ideal with a place 'to my own'. However, let me ask .... is Ocracoke being repaired/renovated from Isabel? How is it now?

ssharris: I have emailed you the latest Washington Post travel section article (1/25/04) on the hurricaine recovery in OBX. At that point they described Hatteras as "obliterated" and looking like a bomb site (really) Tom Midgett of Midgett realty and also chair of the Dare Co. Tourism board is quoted as saying about Hatteras Village, "I don't see how we will clean this up and have a good face by summer." Hatteras lost 294 of its 436 motel rooms. The article summarizes Isabel's impact as of January from Kitty Hawk south, town by town. Ocracoke: On large sections of Hwy 12 that run btwn the north ferry dock and town, Isabel washed out a one mile section of road and obliterated dunes. The road is open now but much of it is patched w/bumpy asphalt, and dunes remain flat. Hatteras is in worse shape though.
For others, go to www.washingtonpost.com; register free; go to travel on the left side, search in the topic area for beaches, mid-atlantic, and you can get the article.
Soccr: SSharris posted two different emails at first- one on looking for secluded beaches not just in OBX, and another one related to OBX and asking what a sound is. I replied to the sound one, and in the course of discussion we started chat on OBX, but without the emphasis on his desire for seclusion. I told him about Nags Head as we like it alot w/our age kids. But since then I have seen his other post on wanting seclusion and this new post now where he is now loking specifically for seclusion in OBX. Never tried to mislead him. The beauty of the OBX is it has something for everyone- more secluded areas, more active areas, alot of history, etc.

Regarding hurricane damage and the southern beaches, Ocracoke Island is in good shape and will be fully open for business when the season gets underway. Same is true for Avon, Buxton and Frisco. As of early February, the towns still recovering were Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo and Hatteras Village. Check ahead for those places.

While the OBX is popular overall, Memorial Day week is not that crowded. Many homes don't even open for rental until May 15th. The ocean water will likely be too chilly for swimming. We're in Duck every year at this time and it's very pleasant, not at all overrun. You don't see the body to body stuff until late June.

If your definition of secluded is NO ONE on the beach, you'd have to go back in time 10 or 15 years. For relative seclusion, luck will be better on the southern beaches or the northern most ones emd mentioned that are only accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicle. Besides, with a couple of kids, I'd consider another youngster or two to be a bonus not a negative. Ocracoke would be an excellent choice.

If you opt elsewhere, I'd chose ocean side over soundside with children. No beach soundside.

While overall Nags Head is commercialized and toursity, there are some very nice places on the oceanfront in South Nags Head that don't suffer from the blight. I, wouldn't characterize any of the Outer Banks as "quaint" or with "character." It's not a series of New England fishing villages. Ocracoke and Hatteras (pre hurricane) probably come closest.

For the record the wild ponies used to roam freely all over the Outer Banks. Their numbers were concentrated in the northern beaches because that was the last part of the OBX to be developed. Once the people and traffic came to Corolla and environs, the horses were moved even farther north "for their own good."

ssharris: one more thing re your comment on driving length of OBX in two hours. Don't count on it. From the bridge onto the OBX if you turn left to go north up to Corolla and beyond, it is a two lane road. MUCH congestion on that road, esp. on Sat. and Sun. when renters are coming in and leaving, but also at any other time if you get behind a slow driver (passing is difficult, winding road), or on weekdays if something is going on up in Duck or Corolla (for instance two yrs ago we went from Nags Head to an art festival on the grounds of the Whalehead Club in Corolla midweek, and it took forever- that was th elast time we ever went north of the bridge.) From the bridge if you turn right, the Hwy through Kill Devil, Kitty hawk, and Nags head is 5 lanes (2 each direction and a turn lane in middle), so although everyone going to south beaches and Roanoke Island uses that road, it moves quickly. From South Nags head area the road turns back to two lanes, through the natl seashore, Bodie island, and beyond down south, but it is less developed there and I've never encountered slow driving on that stretch. But don't forget you do have to add in the ferry time to get as far as Ocracoke.
I find the area above Pine Island and into Corolla very congested now (timbuktu shopping area is a zoo now and that is pretty much the grocery shopping area for anything north of it, including the northern 4 wheel drive beaches.) We used to go to Corolla for years but now go back to Nags Head. To each his own, it's a big set of barrier islands in which you can find your own place.

obxgirl: regarding the horses, although it was terribly dangerous for them when they roamed the northern beaches and got killed and run over from the development, it was also really sad when they subsequently tried to keep them fenced up on the grounds of the Currituck lighthouse. I saw them there, and I heard alot of them got sick being in that close proximity, and some died. I have wondered since then where they are. So have they been let go to roam up in the 4 wheel drive area above Corolla? If so, that makes me feel alot better.

emd, The horses wandered freely until 1994. The ones you saw penned by the Currituck Lighthouse were there because they were sick or were pregnant or had just given birth. They were put there for their own protection but it was always considered a short term and inadequate solution. In 1994 the Corolla Wild Horse Fund spearheaded the campaign to have the horses moved to the then undeveloped land between the end of the road NC12 and the VA border.

As you accurately described, there is some minimal development in the area where the horses now reside. The rental properties there tout themselves as ultra exclusive because a 4 wheel drive is needed to navigate. The reality is that there is no road there because for years the Dept of Interior has not wanted NC to build a connector to the VA border. Population density in the northern OBX has created traffic nightmares from So. Shores north and hurricane evaculations are called at the whiff of bad weather because it takes so damn long to get everyone off the island. I don't like it but an extension of NC12 to VA is probably inevitable. Massive development to follow shortly thereafter.

Thanks again for all of your input. According to obxgirl .... Ocracoke sounds like it might be the place & more redeveloped after Isabel than I was thinking. As far as wanting NO ONE on beach ... I realize that would be a challenge to find but the fewer the better for this particular trip. Also, I agree that having a few other 'playmates' close would be an additional benefit but on this particular trip ... I'm wanting some major Daddy - Daughter interaction. It seems like I can get so busy working, doing 'my thing' that I don't ever seem to spend enough time with that 'one-on-one' with my children. They grow up so quickly! Anyway, enough of that ... the point is OBX sounds like a great place for the family with a lot to do close by & hopefully a beach area to fit my needs. Again, guys, thanks for the help! Hopefully I can be decisive & figure out 'where in the world' we will go!

obxgirl:

I remember at one time there was discussion of building another causeway on the north end of the island. Do you know what happened to that plan? Also, I've always wondered about the 4-wheel drive parts of the beach up there...Is it like lying in the road when you're on the beach? Do you know what about nesting birds on the beach with traffic?

The development of OB is pretty sad. I know time doesn't stand still but it really was so amazing there 25 years ago. I still love going there - but it is a different kind of place now, still fun but different. I remember so much nature. Bobwhites and Whipoorwills calling (they seem to be completely gone - do you hear them anymore?), turtles laying eggs on the beach, big snakes, deer and foxes... When they chopped into the maritime forest (possibly the most endangered type of ecosystem in the country) for the Wal-Mart I thought, "It's all over now." Oh well, no different than my home town!

Thanks!

ssharris, You pretty much can't go wrong on the Outer Banks if you're looking for a place to spend a little family time. Good luck!


Weenie57, Prior to the explosion of development on the northern OBX, talk of a connector road cropped up periodically but federal pressure to maintain the pristine quality of the wildlife refuge, the beaches and environment won out. Yes I know it's hard to believe the fed was being conservation minded but the Nature Conservancy is mixed in there too! Right now the push seems to be to double the size of NC12 through So. Shores, Duck and north to accommodate the traffic. That will decimate parts of those communities. I don't like any of the solutions to the problem. And I agree with you time can't stop, but greed and OVER development can be constrained. BTW, did you ever read Anthony Bailey's entertaining narrative about visiting the OBX from top to bottom?

emd, I was a partcipant in that art festival last year. You didn't miss anything. It was a dud!

Last Easter we spent 3n 4 days in Ocracoke. This was our first time visiting Ocracoke, we have stayed in different towns in the OBX but decide after spending one night in Hatteras to take the ferry and see how we liked it. Our Easter week vacation we did not have reservations for any certain place so it worked well. When we got into to town we found a nice codo on the water that rented by the day this time of year. I don't think any of the homes are on the ocean. Not a whole lot of activities for kids. But you can bike all over town you do not need your car unless you are going to the beach. My children enjoy Ocracoke (ages son-11 daughter-8) We hope to stop and spend a couple of nights on our way back from S.C. this Easter vacation. They have alot of different shops and you will find them all over town. We had good food the whole time. I don't remember the name of the condo but will see if I have any info and let you know. They only had 15 or 16 units but very nice.

Thanks obxgirl & dawnag! Your input has been very helpful!

The name of the condo was Captain's Landing Hotel Suites (www.thecaptainslanding.com). Pony Island Motel & Cottages have motel and also condos units they have a pool and barq grills. www.ponyislandmotel.com. Also found this web address www.ocracokevillage.com as far as house rental try typing www.ocracoke-island.com. I hope this helps.

Thanks dawnag ... very helpful ... I've written down the sites to explore!