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 the end of Loop Road.

There was no parking there until July 4 when mainlander Ray Stotesberry and his wife, Michelle, turned the small lot they own across from the entrance into a golf cart-only parking lot.

Stotesberry, who is a commercial landscaper, wanted to use the spot for his large vehicles.

“But when I cleared it and I was going to use it to park my trailers, there was always somebody there,” he said.

One day, as he and Michelle were sitting there, they noticed visitors coming and going to Springer’s Point.

One disabled man had to walk the half mile from the parking area at the Life Saving Church on Lighthouse Road.

An occupational therapist, Michelle saw that people with mobility issues, grandparents and people with small children needed a closer parking area, and the couple decided to forgo that spot for Ray’s landscaping equipment.

He’s asking golf cart drivers to pay $10 a day to park there on the honor system, payable through an app or cash, to help offset some of the maintenance costs and taxes.

“It gives something back to the community,” Ray said. 

Springer’s Point is owned by the N.C. Coastal Land Trust.

A few years ago, someone who owned a lot farther down on Loop Road proposed that the Land Trust could purchase it for parking, but the Land Trust said they could not manage a parcel that’s not contiguous to the Springer’s Point Preserve.