The Outer Banks in 1822

We just added a great coastal map from 1822 to the North Carolina Maps site. The “Chart of the coast of North Carolina comprising the three Capes Hatteras, Lookout, and Fear, with the Harbors of Ocracock, Beaufort, and Smithville,” by Robert H. B. Brazier, shows exactly why the waters off of North Carolina were known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” The map details many of the shifting currents, shallow waters, breakers, and changing inlets along the Outer Banks.

My favorite details on the map are the windmills shown in Beaufort and on Pivers Island.

windmills

3 thoughts on “The Outer Banks in 1822”

  1. I followed the link to the actual map and it is amazing the differences over the years. The feature to zoom in and out is terrific. Was this prior to the time of the appearance of Oregon Inlet? The map doesn’t go that far north.

    — Dan

  2. The North Carolina Gazetteer says that Oregon Inlet was formed from a hurricane in 1846. However, the area shown on the 1738 Wimble map as “New Inlet” looks like a similar location. I wonder if the inlet was there in the 18th century and was closed again before the 1846 hurricane opened it back up.

  3. Jack Betts wrote this in the Charlotte Observer in 1999:
    “Oregon Inlet, the northernmost on the state’s coast, 90 miles from the Virginia line, has moved about 2.3 miles south in the last 150 years at an average rate of about 50 feet a year.”
    Just interesting.

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