By: Angie Brady-Daniels

It is rather obvious what attracts most visitors to the Outer Banks. In surveys conducted by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, the number one answer is always the beautiful beaches, followed by safe environment, scenic areas, interesting historic sites and landmarks, good accommodations, great fishing, unique restaurants, shopping, and family fun. When you ask most residents why they first came to the North Carolina coast, they cite identical answers. But what are the qualities that convert an Outer Banks visitor to a resident?

Someone once asked me how you know when you cross the line between Outer Banks resident and Outerbanker. My reply was simply that it happens at different times for different people, but when it happens that it will be unmistakable. You will know without a doubt that you have crossed the line and that there is nowhere else on earth that will ever seem more like home than the North Carolina coastline.

Let’s face it. Most of us were not born and raised on the Outer Banks. We’re transplants due to great family vacations spent in the area, a boosting economy that calls the name of entrepreneurs wishing to make their fortune at the beach, chefs wishing to be discovered, and customer service representatives knowing the best training is in a changing, resort community.

We’re all drawn to the water but after the reality hits of knowing that the cost-of-living rates are higher here and that most of us really don’t spend as many hours at the beach as we’d originally dreamed of, what is the draw that holds us here? What makes this place home?

For many of us, it is community pride. The fact that despite the 5 million plus visitors that vacation on the Outer Banks each year, this is still a small community. We know most of our neighbors by name and long for the cold, winter days when the grocery stores are empty, our workloads are less stressful and we have the time to stop and chat with our neighbors.

We support each other – even when we do not agree on issues – and almost enjoy the passionate debates over a long or short bridge, driving on the beach or protecting wildlife, beach nourishment or no action, multiple schools or one combined unit.

We love our school sports teams and when they head for a state championship game, we close the streets for parades, pack our bags and follow the team. Newspapers declare our team the winner before the games begin and as one local sports reporter put it in 2006, “we stick our chests out with pride knowing that the community is behind us.”

We pull together to make the impossible happen. From Marathons that expand our off-season and raise money for education and interfaith agencies, to galas that support cancer centers, first flight celebrations, and golf tournaments for chambers of commerce and civic groups, we truly support causes. Currently, there are over 100 non-profit agencies on the Outer Banks covering every cause imaginable. We support not only the traditional Rotary Clubs, Lions, Shriners, Kiwanis, and churches, but also county agencies such as Parks and Recreation and organizations that encourage family time. We require our most talented youth to tutor the less fortunate. We send generators and bottled water when a neighboring community is hit with disaster and we send pleas across the radio airways when we know of someone in need. Our people come from all walks of life but the thing that is most contagious is the compassion of the area.

Dare County Sheriff Rodney Midgett says it is simply the quality of the people that live on the Outer Banks.

“With a good mix now of Outer Banks natives and the good people that moved to our area, we have a very caring and safe community to live in, Midgett said. “Even though we have grown tremendously over the past 20 years, we still do not have the fast paced life that is often associated with larger areas. The Outer Banks is a wonderful place to raise a family and to retire to.”

Carol Dillon of Outer Banks Motel on Hatteras Island echoed those feelings.

“I was born in a hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina and brought here at two weeks old and have lived here 77 years,” she said. “My family was shipwrecked here from Germany in the sixteen hundreds and have been here ever since. In my opinion Cape Hatteras is the best place in the world because my roots are here, my values are here and it will always be home.”

Barbara Hird, who was first drawn to Roanoke Island in 1998 to play the role of Queen Elizabeth I in The Lost Colony and who played the role for ten years before opening her own theatre company Elizabeth R and Company, said that on the Outer Banks, there is room to breathe.

“There is a huge sky to enjoy in all its many moods,” Hird continued. “A link with history which makes our lives a real part of the huge jigsaw of humankind, a connection to the community which is frequently missing in other larger and even not-so-large communities, and in Manteo in particular there is still a feeling of belonging and living in a small town – with sidewalks, a downtown area that is easily and quickly identified, a feeling of being safe, a feeling of community. I am English by birth, American by choice. There is a special place in my heart for North Carolina and Roanoke Island.”

Dare County Fire Marshall Doug Remaley said that even though the area has grown rapidly over the years, he still recommends this area to everyone he meets.

“The best thing about living here is definitely the people,” he said. “I relocated here from Annapolis, Maryland in 1984 after taking a job with the Town of Nags Head as its first paid Fire Marshall. Six months later, I become the first career Fire Chief in the area. I was attracted to the beauty of the area, met my wife Debbie here and have been living here ever since. I recommend this area to everyone. . . but check the housing market first.”

Bob Sanders of Tortugas Lie said that he fell in love with the Outer Banks from the first time he visited.

“It is truly a beautiful and majestic place,” Sanders said. “The best thing about doing business on the Outer Banks is location. I go to work in flip flops and a t-shirt and get to work with the freshest seafood in the world.”

It’s the quality of life, the natural beauty, the colorful sunsets of fall, warm summer nights, the traffic stops to allow geese crossing, the remoteness of the area yet closeness to Norfolk, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, nice resourceful people. It’s moments like standing along Highway 64 on a cold December morning in 2006 beside a team from an opposing high school holding a banner saying “We support you” that you know that you’re truly an Outer Banker.

Top