State

Fascinating E] I I ptre of Water By BILL SHARPE North Carolina's coastland is more than just a bench upon which the ocean beats; a breezy land of heroic memory and salty people. If you vacation on North Carolina’s coast — and this includes a whole lot besides just an ordinary ocean — you will find a waterfront well adapted to the habits of most North Carolinians. Ours is an extravagant sea coast geographically, with an amazing net¬ work of water — beaches running north, south, cast and west; rivers, sounds, creeks and lakes. But. from the point of view of development. North Carolina’s coast shows plainly the mark of its renovaters — a people of moderate income and simple tastes. You can spend a lot of money at our beaches, but you need not do so to have a wonderful time. Nothing Fancy However, there are no luxurious resorts, fancy beachside swimming pools or swanky colonics. By far the majority of visitors arc in the younger age group. This includes a lot of fam¬ ilies, because it is a tradition among many Carolinians to rent housekeep¬ ing facilities at the beaches for a week or even for a few days, filling every bed and sofa in the building with chil¬ dren. aunts, uncles, cousins and neigh¬ bors. Like our mountains, the individual beaches each have their devoted fol¬ lowing. some of them specializing in guests from one particular area. Some Tar Heels, however, spend a lifetime going from one locality to another, working their way up and down the coast, and eventually becoming ac¬ quainted with the whole area, a prac¬ tice which we heartily recommend for those curious about this very curious waterfront. A glance at a map shows that there is nothing in America quite like the North Carolina seashore. It_ is char¬ acterized by the great American sand bank, which follows most of the east¬ ern American seaboard, with the ocean generally due cast, and with narrow and shallow sounds behind, forming what is essentially a long chain of small islands, usually no more than a mile or two in width. Surf casting at Wrighlsville Beach — a picture by John Ilenimer. The Outer Bunks But in North Carolina, the islands and the mainland part company. At about where the sounds of Currituck, Pamlico, Albemarle, Roanoke and Croatan join, the Banks bear out into the ocean, while the mainland recedes to the west. Here begins the famous Outer Banks, which continue on to Cape Hatteras, thence down to Cape Lookout, where once more the reef resumes its proper place and marches close to the mainland in a southwest¬ ern direction toward South Carolina. Into the sounds, large and small, which back our beaches, pour a num¬ ber of great rivers, all of them navi¬ gable to some extent, some of them THE STATE, Vol. XIX; No. 5J. Entered as second-class matter. June 1. 19S3, at the Poslofflce at Raleigh, North Carolina, under ihe act of March J. 1B79. PubUshcd by Sharpe Publishing Co., Inc., Lawyers Bldg., Raleigh, N. C. Copyright, 1952, by Ihe Sharpe Publishing Co.. Inc.