The North Carolina coast

black and white lighthouse on brown grass field under white sky during daytime — Photo by Rich Brents on Unsplash

348 charted sites, from the state line to the state line, in the stretches of coast people actually name.

Currituck Beach and the northern Outer Banks16 sites
Corolla, Duck and the four-wheel-drive beaches up to the Virginia line, with the Currituck Beach Lighthouse and the wrecks that the northern beaches were once notorious for.
Nags Head and Roanoke Island41 sites
Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head, the piers, Bodie Island Lighthouse and Oregon Inlet, and Roanoke Island behind them across the sound.
Hatteras Island49 sites
Rodanthe to Hatteras village, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Diamond Shoals, and the densest part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, where U-boats sank tankers within sight of the beach in 1942.
Ocracoke53 sites
Ocracoke Island and its inlet, the oldest working lighthouse in the state, and the shoals of Pamlico Sound behind it.
Cape Lookout and Core Banks43 sites
The Cape Lookout Lighthouse, Core Banks, Portsmouth Island and Shackleford Banks, and the offshore wrecks south of the cape, including U-352.
Crystal Coast39 sites
Beaufort, Morehead City, Fort Macon, Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle along Bogue Banks, with the artificial reefs and wrecks of Onslow Bay offshore.
Topsail Island and Onslow Bay16 sites
Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail, Bear Island and Onslow Beach to the north, and the reefs and wrecks of the bay.
Wrightsville Beach17 sites
Wrightsville Beach and Masonboro Island, and the wrecks and artificial reefs off Wilmington.
Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher18 sites
Pleasure Island: Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Fort Fisher, where the Civil War blockade runners came and went, down to the mouth of the Cape Fear.
Cape Fear, Bald Head and Oak Island34 sites
The Cape Fear itself: Bald Head Island and Old Baldy, Oak Island and its lighthouse, Southport, and Frying Pan Shoals running twenty miles out to sea.
Brunswick Islands22 sites
Holden Beach, Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach, the quiet south-facing islands down to the South Carolina line.