Outer Banks Scenic Byway
Ocean, Sound, and a Once (and Future?) Inlet, NC

Outer Bankers live at the beach and on the sounds. Visitors can enjoy the Atlantic Ocean at Frisco Day Use Area with a convenient comfort station and the soundside beach at Sandy Bay. Older villagers remember childhood pleasures playing on the sound. This stop between Frisco and Hatteras villages gives visitors a chance to explore both beach and sound in one location and see the narrow width of the barrier island. Geological studies of the Outer Banks have pinpointed areas that have opened and closed repeatedly over 12,000 years. This is one of the points in the island chain most vulnerable to inlet formation. The steep dune beside the road beyond the Sandy Bay parking area marks the location where Hurricane Isabel separated Hatteras village from the rest of Hatteras Island in 2003.