Alligator (New) Lake. See State,
January 23, 1954.
Mackey's Ferry
The south shore offers another
water of interest. North of Roper,
short Mackey's Creek enters the sound,
and at its narrow mouth is the site of
the strategic colonial ferry which ran
to Hdenton and bound the Albemarle
country together for 200 years. Two
brothers, Bell by name, started the
ferry in 1734, later sold it to Col. Wil¬
liam Mackey. It operated until August
14, 1938, when the bridge was opened,
and now the landing is a base for com¬
mercial fishermen, its old docks and
warehouses still intact, though falling
into dilapidation.
A seven-foot channel leads from the
landing to deep water in the Sound.
You have to turn off the highway to
get down to the landing, an interesting
old cove. Skiffs for rent.
Where Five Great Sounds Meet
Memorial Bridge crosses Currituck Sound to Outer Banks, leaving the farmlands of Currituck County behind.
At right of bridge is Powell’s Point, strategic meeting place of big waters. — (Photo by Aycock Brown.)
A
w
T
okc Inlet (1775) but most recently
Nags Head Inlet. There have been
three or four inlets north of that point.
In colonial time, the area between
the island and Manns Harbor was a
marsh, and a ditch permitted passage
of only a small volume of water (see
map, page 37). For some reason
Croatan Sound opened up, diverting
the scour necessary to keep the
northern inlets open, and they
all shoaled up.
Five Sounds Meet
By taking a boat ride around Roan¬
oke Island, the traveler can say that
in one day he has visited North Caro¬
lina's five largest sounds. At the north
end Albemarle merges with Currituck
and they enter Croatan and Roan¬
oke sounds. These discharge into
Pamlico at the south.
Such a boat ride is highly feasible,
because a large fleet of boats for
hire — ranging from Gulf Stream cruis¬
ers to skiffs — is based at Manteo
and Wanchese, at the inside of Ore¬
gon Inlet, at the canal where the
bridge touches the island, and at
Manns Harbor on the mainland.
Channels suitable for small boats
are marked in these waters, and Ore¬
gon Inlet is the road by which sport¬
fishing boats go into the Atlantic. At
low water, there generally is not less
than 7 feet in the inlet, which is
world-famous for its channel-bass
fishing in spring and fall. A ferry
crosses to Pea Island.
Oregon Inlet is marked by Bodie
Island lighthouse, rebuilt in 1S72 to
replace a light erected in 1S4S. It is
a conical tower, rising 163 feet above
the ground, with the light itself 156
feet above the water, and visible 19
miles at sea. It is painted with alter¬
nating white and black horizontal
Roanoke Island
Where does all this water go — the
billions of gallons daily poured into the
Albemarle by a dozen rivers? At the
bottle mouth of the inland sea is a
stopper. Roanoke Island, but it only
loosely corks the unremitting current.
The water follows the southeastern
coastal current, and flows past and
around the island through two
straits — Roanoke and Croatan sounds
— making its first breach in the banks
at Oregon Inlet just south of the is¬
land.
It has not always been this way.
When Raleigh's colonists briefly oc-
i cupied Roanoke and explored the
area (1584-1587) the torrential Al¬
bemarle "River” exerted most of its
pressure against the banks north of
the island.
Pouring through the natural funnel
created by Colington Island and
Roanoke Island it kept open an inlet
variously named, once called Roan-
THE STATE. JULY 3. 1954
17
