Outer Bank's rich maritime culture may gain focus

With fish houses, lighthouses, shipwrecks and fishing piers dotting the coast, a new revision of the Outer Banks Scenic Byway has put an emphasis on the region's rich and distinctive maritime culture.

The proposed byway is 30 miles longer than the current one, with two new loops in the Down East portion. The corridor management plan will be submitted next month for nomination in the National Scenic Byways Plan.

If accepted, it would be a boon for heritage tourism, said byways planner Elizabeth Watson, principal with Watson Heritage Strategies in Chestertown, Md.

"Heritage travelers are the kind of people who travel all year round," she said. "They tend to spend more and stay longer."

The Outer Banks Scenic Byway, one of 51 across the state, was designated in the early 1990s by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and an initial management plan was released in 2003. But the nomination process for the National Scenic Byways Program changed in 2005, requiring the update.

Watson said Dare and Hyde counties have adopted the plan, and she hopes that Carteret will do the same on Dec. 1. At that point, she said, the revised plan will replace the original one.

Stretching from Whalebone Junction in Nags Head to just south of Morehead City, the planned corridor passes through two national seashores, two national wildlife refuges and protected maritime forest, and includes historic sites. Ferries cross Hatteras Inlet and Pamlico Sound.

There are traditional maritime villages where families have lived for generations and residents make their living off the water, hunt and fish for recreation, and see their lives ruled by the weather.

The national program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration. Since 1992, it has funded 2,451 projects for state and nationally designated byway routes.

Of the program's 125 America Byways, two are in North Carolina: Blue Ridge Parkway, which is also in Virginia; and Cherohala Skyway, also in Tennessee.

National byways overall are chosen for one or more qualities: archaeological, cultural, historical, natural, recreational and scenic. The Outer Banks has them all, Watson said, but what stands out is its centuries-old culture. In addition to detailing the cultural assets of the Outer Banks, the plan emphasizes the interplay between culture and nature.

Watson said the Outer Banks Scenic Byways nomination will be submitted to the national program on Dec. 17, and she expects they'll know by spring whether it's been accepted.

"There's nothing like this," she said. "Very few communities have retained the flavor of a 400-year-old culture the way we have here. The Outer Banks is one of the more unusual places on the planet. It's not just America. This is an internationally famous place. I can't imagine that they would not want to have this as part of the national collection."

For more information, visit: www.byways.org/, to see the draft corridor management plan for an Outer Banks Scenic Byway, visit www.co.dare.nc.us/OBScenicBywy/

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com