The water front at Bclhaven is a busy place. — (Photo by Hemmer.)
The Peninsula of Pamlico
Did you know that
You can embark from a North
Carolina shore, sail straight into the
setting sun, and travel 98 miles be¬
fore reaching dry land again? That's
how big Pamlico Sound is — 1,700
square miles — largest sound on the
American coast, with the exception of
Long Island Sound.
Pamlico is the destination of several
large rivers. When they come to the
waters of this expansive sound, they
open their mouths wide in gulpy,
drooling surprise. One such river is
the Pamlico, which makes a junction
with the Pungo as they leave the banks
of the mainland.
Eighty Miles tang
Curving south to west, Pamlico
Sound is about 80 miles long, but the
greatest distance on a straight north-
south line is about 45 miles. On this
voyage, you would sail from a point
on the Croatan shore of Roanoke
Sound, just opposite Manteo, and fetch
up in the hook of Hatteras Island,
southeast of the village of Hatteras.
But a sailor making either journey
had better go in a boat drawing not
over a foot of water. The Pamlico,
while contributing beauty, variety,
fishing and geographical oddity to our
coast, docs nothing for navigation, ex¬
cept to complicate it. Most big-boat
travel on it must follow marked chan¬
nels dredged by man.
It was named Pamticoe first for the
Indians who lived on its shores, or
part of them, for it is big territory for
one tribe to possess. The vacationist,
however, may encompass it easily in a
few days of driving and boating.
Stumpy Point
You view it from Wanchcse on the
south end of Roanoke Island, and it
is next accessible by car at Stumpy
Point, a mile off U.S. 264. This is a
little fishing village composed of a
single row of cottages curving around
Stumpy Point Bay, formed by a long,
hooked arm of land. Once the shad
capital of America, Stumpy Point still
devotes itself seriously to the business
of fishing, docking its boats in a canal
leading up to the village from the bay.
Stumpy Point is hemmed in on all
sides by water and wilderness. There is
not a single neighbor within 16 miles
— not even a farm house, and bear
and deer share the cranberry bogs and
wild grapevines which stretch to the
west. The environment is stern in fact
as it is in appearance.
Stumpy Point is one of the few
places on the mainland where the Pam¬
lico Sound can be reached on foot or
by vehicle.
Canals Reach Sound
The farmed land — much of it
brought into cultivation by drainage
systems begun in colonial times — lies
back a mile or more from the sound,
with the intervening terrain in salt
marshes. Most use of the sound water
So, if you launch your boat about a
mile or a mile and a half from Buxton
on the Outer Banks, set a due west
course, and hold to it undcviatingly.
your craft will fetch up on a point of
land northeast of Aurora, and called
Pamlico Point.
THE STATE. JULY 3. 1954
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