Visit Roanoke Island
Perfect Day Trip while visiting the Outer Banks
Roanoke Island is a wonderful day trip from the Outer Banks. It is just minutes away from Nag Head and the beaches and yet it seems a world away.
On Roanoke Island you find beautiful tree lined streets and a much slower pace of life. We also found lot to do on the Island.
There is a wonderful waterfront area in the town of Manteo that includes shops, restaurants and a lighthouse replica on the pier.
Roanoke island celebrates it's history at Roanoke Festival Park and you can experience the history in a nightly outdoor drama during the summer months.
Roanoke Island is also home to the North Carolina Aquarium and I found a wonderful Christmas shop that seemed to go on forever!
Come experience Roanoke Island through my photographs!
Original Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse
The original Roanoke Marshes Light was a square cottage-style screw-pile lighthouse. It stood at the southern side of the island near the town of Wanchese.
This lighthouse was decommissioned in 1955 and was lost in Croatan Sound when it was being moved to private property.
This photo can be seen inside the replica which was built on a pier on the Manteo waterfront in 2004.
Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse
This replica of the original Roanoke Marshes Light is located on the pier in the town of Manteo on the east side of Roanoke Island.
This light was dedicated by the Town of Manteo on Septmember 25, 2004. It has a 4th order Fresnel lens with a fixed white light. It is an active guide to navigation in the bay.
Visitors can enter the small house which serves as a lighthouse museum. I enjoyed walked up to and around the lighthouse and reading the information inside the building.
Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse at Dusk
Dusk at the Manteo Waterfront - Sailboat in the harbor
Closeup of Lighthouse
Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse in the Evening
Boats Stacked on Dock in Manteo
History of Roanoke Island
Read more of the exciting history of Roanoke Island
The Elizabethan Gardens - horticultural displays and renaisssance statuary
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeElizabethean Gardens-Design from my Photograph - Choose from a variety of products
Roanoke Island Festival Park - Elizabeth II
Roanoke Island Festival Park celebrates the very first settlement of the new world by the English. This settlement took place in 1585, over twenty years before Jamestown. Although this settlement did not survive it paved the way for future settlements.
It was in this settlement on Roanoke Island that the first English child, Virginia Dare, was born in America.
In the Festival Park you will find the Elizabeth II a representative ship of the voyage of 1585. Find out about life in the settlement and explore history and 16th century woodworking and games.
For more information visit Roanoke Island
The Lost Colony - outdoor drama
In 1585, 117 men, women and children came to Roanoke Island to settle the area. Three years later when another ship came from England everyone was gone. The mystery of the Lost Colony is performed each summer at the Waterside Theatre on Roanoke Island on the very site where the colony settled over 400 years ago.