plus
the Four-Wheel-Drive Area and the Currituck Mainland
Corolla on the Currituck Outer Banks is vacationland. This area
is, on the whole, the newest, most modern resort area on the
Outer Banks, and it exists primarily for summer vacations. Corolla
has many miles of beautiful beaches and thousands upon thousands
of rental cottages to house the people who want to enjoy the
sand and the sea. The area accommodates visitors with the best
of all amenities and plenty of fun things to do.
The Currituck Outer Banks is on the northernmost
end of the Outer Banks, making up the first 20 miles of the
50-mile-long peninsula that also houses Duck, Kitty Hawk and
Nags Head. Though it borders the state of Virginia, the Currituck
Outer Banks is not accessible from the Virginia border. To get
to Corolla you must drive north on two-lane N.C. Highway 12
from Dare County, passing through Southern Shores, Duck and
the Sanderling community before crossing the line into Currituck
County.
The Currituck Outer Banks is made up of two
distinct areas – the southern portion, often referred
to entirely as Corolla, and the northern portion, usually called
the Four-Wheel-Drive Area. It is common nowadays for people
to refer to the whole southern portion of the Currituck Outer
Banks as “Corolla,” though historically that name
was only used for the very small village near the lighthouse.
Corolla is not a town (there are no incorporated towns in the
whole of Currituck County) but it’s the name of the only
post office on the Currituck Outer Banks, so it works well as
the moniker for the whole area.
Up until the development boom of the 1980s,
only 20 years ago, Corolla was little-known and little-traveled
and was often referred to as North Carolina’s last beach
frontier. That’s all changed today. Corolla has grown
quite rapidly, and it is a top vacation destination on the East
Coast. The establishment of rental properties and a few hotels
has brought vacationers, which has in turn brought all the amenities
of a modern vacation — shopping centers, restaurants,
movies, grocery stores, a golf course, tennis, swimming pools
galore, attractions, recreational opportunities and, as always,
the beach.
Corolla’s location is a little out of
the way, but it’s not really remote. The only issue with
traveling to Corolla is that it’s essentially at a dead
end; there’s only one way in and out, and that’s
on a two-lane highway. With as many as 50,000 people vacationing
here per week in the height of the summer season, you can imagine
that traffic is awfully sluggish on summer weekends at rental
changeover time. It can take a couple of hours to travel only
10 miles or so along the northern Outer Banks on Saturday and
Sunday afternoons in July and August. People are making efforts
to solve this problem. Regularly scheduled air service is available
to Corolla, some rental companies offer alternative check-in
days and times, and many locals are pushing to establish a bridge
across the Currituck Sound. The bridge would eliminate the need
to travel through the congested areas of Southern Shores and
Duck to get to Corolla, as it would connect to the Currituck
mainland. Should this bridge ever come to fruition, and surely
it will someday, it will shave at least an hour off the trip
to Corolla.
The Corolla area consists mostly of planned
development “communities” or subdivisions –
Pine Island, Palmer’s Island, The Currituck Club, Ocean
Sands, Whalehead, Buck Island, Monteray Shores, Corolla Light,
Village at Ocean Hill and others. These subdivisions are vacation
oriented. The larger ones offer amenities like pools, tennis
courts, bike paths, beach accesses, shuttles and other recreational
opportunities for their guests.
Corolla’s housing and shopping areas
are spread out over about 20 miles, and there is no exact “center.”
For this reason, if you want to do anything besides go to the
beach, you’ll need a car while vacationing in Corolla.
The southern end of the Currituck Outer Banks,
near the Dare County line, is almost entirely residential. The
oceanfront is lined with enormous homes, some of them for rent,
some not. As you head a little farther north, you come to The
Currituck Club, a golf course community with many smaller subdivisions
of homes. A new Harris Teeter grocery store and only a few shops
and restaurants serve the lower area.
Farther to the north is where the real shopping
and dining and recreation are located. Timbuk II is a shopping
and entertainment village with tons of shops, restaurants and
recreational activities. Across the street is Monteray Plaza
with more restaurants, shops, a Food Lion grocery store and
a movie theater.
A few more miles to the north takes you to
the Corolla hotspot – Currituck Heritage Park, which is
located within walking distance of the Corolla Light subdivision,
Corolla Village and the Corolla Light Shops. Currituck Heritage
Park has a vast, open lawn right on the sound. It’s a
great place to gather for a picnic, kite-flying or to attend
a special event. (It’s often the site of weddings.) Currituck
Heritage Park is home to The Whalehead Club house museum and
the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education. The Currituck
Beach Lighthouse and quaint shopping in Corolla Village are
close by, within walking distance.
Be sure to see the Corolla tabloid in this
newspaper for all the details on shops, restaurants, attractions,
accommodations and recreation in Corolla.
Four-wheel-drive Area
Drive all the way up N.C. Highway 12 through
Corolla, and you’ll eventually find a surprise: The paved
road ends and in front of you is a stretch of beach and sand.
Unless you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle, you have to turn
around. Those with four-wheel-drive can keep going, up the beach
for another 13 miles, until you are stopped by a gate at the
Virginia line. Locals call this the “Four-Wheel-Drive
Area,” for lack of a better name. You’ll also hear
parts of this area referred to as Carova, Swan Beach or North
Swan Beach.
The Four-Wheel-Drive Area is remote, often
referred to as “back country.” It is home to a national
wildlife refuge and a wild-horse sanctuary. It is also home
to an increasingly large number of private and rental homes,
so if you love the rugged side of the Outer Banks, it is available
to you. If you don’t have a four-wheel-drive vehicle,
several companies offer guided tours of this area, and they
point out the wildlife, wild horses, history and natural features
along the way.
Things to Do
There is something for everyone to do in
Corolla. Most visitors are attracted to the wide, clean, easily
accessible beaches, but Corolla is also home to some of the
Outer Banks’ top attractions at Currituck Heritage Park.
The attractions are clustered together, so visiting all three
makes for a great day off from the beach. The Whalehead Club
is a historic house museum. Originally known as Corolla Island,
it was a vacation home for a wealthy northern couple who had
great taste in Art Nouveau design. The Outer Banks Center for
Wildlife Education is an educational center offering exhibits
and programs about the natural and cultural history of the Currituck
Outer Banks. The Currituck Beach Lighthouse is open for climbing
and offers an amazing view from the top.
Other favorite things to do in Corolla include
shopping, watersports, tennis at the Pine Island Racquet Club,
golf at The Currituck Club and horse tours (see the section
on horses, below).
If you love history, you’ll love taking
the Corolla Walking Tour. This self-guided tour leads you through
historic Corolla Village, the little village at the base of
the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. The tour includes 25 historic
sites, and through old photographs and stories you’ll
learn about the fascinating history of Corolla and the Currituck
Outer Banks. This year, the book also includes the memories
and stories of Corolla native Norris Austin, who has lived in
Corolla Village his whole life. You can find the Corolla Walking
Tour, which is published by One Boat Guides, in many bookstores,
gift shops and retail centers on the Outer Banks.
A Daytrip to Corolla
Corolla is the perfect location for a daytrip,
but we recommend going during the week in the summer months.
Traffic is too bad on the weekends. In the summer, it takes
about an hour, or maybe a little less, to reach the northern
end of Corolla from the Nags Head-Kill Devil Hills area. It’s
about 20 minutes from Duck. You can hit all three attractions
– the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, The Whalehead Club and
the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education – in about
two and a half hours. After lunch, you’ll still have time
for a wild horse tour.
The Currituck Mainland
Across the Currituck Sound from the Outer
Banks is the Currituck mainland. If you’re driving in
from the north heading to the Currituck Outer Banks, you’ll
pass through the Currituck mainland before crossing over into
Dare County and then heading back into Currituck County on the
Outer Banks.
Most people zip through the Currituck mainland
on their way to and from the beach, but if you take your time
when traveling through this area, you won’t be disappointed.
This is beautiful country. The heritage of the Currituck mainland
is agricultural, and much of the area continues to be cultivated
for corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, vegetables, peaches and grapes.
(There are three wineries in Currituck County!) As you pass
through the area on U.S. Highway 158, you’ll find numerous
roadside stands offering a variety of fresh, local produce.
Do not pass through here without stopping at a stand to stock
up on sweet corn, tomatoes, strawberries, melons, squash and
all the other produce that’s in-season when you’re
visiting. If you want to taste the local wine, you can take
the ferry to Knotts Island or stop at Sanctuary Vineyards in
Jarvisburg.
Also along the highway, you’ll find
antiques shops and down-home restaurants, including some of
the best eastern North Carolina barbecue around. Monster-truck
fans may be surprised to see the home of the Grave Digger right
alongside U.S. Highway 158 (there’s a little museum and
shop, so make a stop if you’re interested in this hometown
hero).
Mainland Currituck County is changing from
its small-town feel and agricultural roots, however. Sandwiched
between the Outer Banks and the metropolitan area of Hampton
Roads, Virginia, Currituck is catching spillover growth and
development from those two areas and is now one of the fastest-growing
counties in North Carolina. Signs of change are everywhere,
but the county is doing its best to balance rapid growth with
the area’s culture and heritage. “Currituck”
is an Algonquin Indian word that means “Land of the Wild
Goose,” and the county hopes to keep its waters, marshes,
woods and wildlife intact.
An interesting geographical feature of Currituck
County is that the Intracoastal Waterway runs through the county
and separates the southern mainland from the northern mainland.
Marinas and restaurants serve the pleasure and commercial vessels
that travel up and down the waterway.Knotts Island Wineries
Yet another area of Currituck is Knotts Island. To get there
you have to take a short ferry ride across the Currituck Sound.
You can also drive there from Virginia but we recommend the
ferry ride from Currituck. Knotts Island is worth a visit because
it is home to two wineries that are open to the public for tours
and tastings -- Moonrise Bay Vineyards and Martin Vineyards.
Martin Vineyards also has an orchard where you can pick apples
or peaches in season. Also of interest on Knotts Island is the
Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is open for wildlife
viewing, birding, walking, biking, fishing and boating.
Corolla Wild Horses
North of Corolla, about 70 or so wild horses
live in the natural habitat of the Outer Banks. The bay, chestnut,
sorrel and black wild horses are a beautiful sight feasting
on salt hay and coarse grasses and drinking rainwater that collects
in swales. How did these horses get to the Outer Banks?
It is widely believed that the Corolla wild
horses, like those on Ocracoke Island and Shackleford Banks
farther south, have been living on the northern Outer Banks
for more than 400 years, since the era of early Spanish and
English exploration of the New World. It is unknown exactly
how the horses arrived on this coast, but most believe it was
by way of Spanish or English explorers, or both. Spanish conquistadors
explored coastal North Carolina in the early 1500s, bringing
with them horses, sheep, cows and pigs that were bred in the
Spanish colony of Puerto Rico, but they abandoned their livestock
when they ran into conflict with the Native Americans. Later,
English explorers brought Spanish-bred horses and livestock
on their voyages to Roanoke Island between 1584 and 1590. Some
say the horses could have also swum ashore from shipwrecks.
Scientific and genetic studies have proven that the horses have
genetic connections to Spanish mustangs. In fact, they are some
of the purest descendants of the Spanish mustangs because of
their isolation on the remote Outer Banks.
You can watch these wild horses if you travel
up to the Four-Wheel-Drive Area. Oftentimes you can spot them
if you drive around on your own, but the best way to see them
is to take a wild horse tour. The tour companies know exactly
where to find the horses and can give you lots of information
about them as well as point out interesting sites along the
way. You can take tours in four-wheel-drive Suburbans, on kayaks,
on electric ATVs or – get this – on four-wheel-drive,
electric Segways.
Corolla Calendar of Events
June 16
Wild Horse Days Finale
Currituck Heritage Park, Corolla. Last day of the weeklong Wild
Horse Days celebration of the treasured Corolla wild horses.
Children’s activities, food and fun. 4–8 p.m. (252)
453-8002 or (252) 453-9040
June 21–22
Whalehead Club Arts Festival
“Under the Oaks”
The Whalehead Club at Currituck Heritage Park, Corolla. Outdoor
art show with more than 100 artists. Music, food and kids activities
too. Wednesday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–5
p.m. (252) 453-9040.
July 4
Festival and Fireworks
– Corolla
The Whalehead Club at Currituck Heritage Park, Corolla. Fun
and fireworks. 6–11 p.m. Free. (252) 453-9040.
July 6, 13, 20, 27
Summer Concert Series
on the Lawn
The Whalehead Club at Currituck Heritage Park, Corolla. Enjoy
the musical talents of the performers in the NCSA Summer Performance
Festival. Bring a blanket or chair to sit on. Snacks available.
Thursdays, 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Free. (252) 453-9040.
August 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
Summer Concert Series
on the Lawn
The Whalehead Club at Currituck Heritage Park, Corolla. Local
musicians perform jazz, blues, folk and classic rock. Bring
a chair or blanket. Snacks available. Thursdays 7 p.m. Free.
(252) 453-9040.
August 12
Corolla Kite Festival
Hampton Inn Suites, Corolla. Stunt kite demonstrations on the
beach, free exhibitions, casual competition and free games for
the kids. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (877) FLY-THIS, (252) 441-4124.
October 27–28
Haunted Corolla Village
Corolla Village. Tour begins in Corolla Village with fall festival
of pumpkin carving, scarecrow stuffing, apple cider and baked
goods. Shops open. Then a hayride to the schoolhouse, lighthouse
and Whalehead Club. Rain date Oct. 29. 5:30–9 p.m. $6
per person. (252) 453-9040.
