Featured Stories
Island ghost walks combine spookiness and history
Text and photos by Jeanne Brook
Truth can be stranger than fiction. And history is sometimes more frightening than ghost stories. In a small island...
NCDOT creates online survey on pending ferry tolls
NCDOT is working on setting up tolls on all ferry routes as required by the recently passed law to establish and start collecting tolls...
Some golf-cart parking now available at Springer’s Point
By Connie Leinbach
Parking is a premium all over Ocracoke Island and no more so than the entrance to the popular Springer’s Point Preserve at...
Seafood Festival to help Health Center to bring X-ray imaging to the island
By Jamie Carter
The Ocracoke Seafood Festival fundraiser, benefiting the Ocracoke Health Center, will be held on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4 and 5, at...
State plans September public listening sessions as part of ferry tolling mandate
From our news services
MANNS HARBOR – The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division plans to host public listening sessions in September as the division...
General Island Information
The Ocracoke lighthouse was 200 years old in 2023. Photo: C. Leinbach
Island Images
A Snowy Owl over the Ocracoke dunes. Photo: P. Vankevich
Snowy South Point Road. Photo: P. Vankevich
Northern lights seen on Ocracoke Nov. 12, 2025. Photo by Ocracoke Harbor Inn
An Ocracoke canal. Photo: C. Leinbach
The Ocracoke ponies. Photo: P. Vankevich
Ocracoke summer surf. Photo: C. Leinbach
The Island Inn Commons in bloom. Photo: C. Leinbach
Sunset cruise on the Pamlico Sound. Photo: C. Leinbach
August 2026 print issue
The Ocracoke Observer website won first place in the 2020-2021 NCPA contest Online Division, plus four other awards. It has won more than 60 awards, many in first place, since joining the N.C. Press Association in 2015 and entering the contest starting in 2016.
