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Lots To Do At Cape Hatteras National Seashore This Summer

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Published Date

May 22, 2015
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A visit to Cape Hatteras National Seashore can include a climb of Cape Hatteras Light/NPS

A summer vacation to Cape Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina's Outer Banks offers adventures from climbing lighthouses and body surfing...to studying maritime history or just relaxing on the beach surrounded by castles of sand.

The summer schedule at Cape Hatteras, as well as the other units of the Outer Banks Group, runs from May 22 '“ Sept 7.

Program schedules and descriptions are available on-line at each park'™s website: Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, www.nps.gov/fora; Wright Brothers National Memorial, www.nps.gov/wrbr; and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, www.nps.gov/caha. Program schedules can also be found in the summer newspaper, In The Park, which will be available at all National Park Service visitor centers and Outer Banks Visitors Bureau welcome centers starting May 22.

From May 22 through Labor Day, the visitor center and museum at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will be open on extended hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will be open on extended hours of 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during those same dates. The Bodie Island Visitor Center is open from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the Bodie Island Lighthouse will be open for climbing from 9 a.m. to 4:25 p.m. The visitor centers at Fort Raleigh NHS, Wright Brothers NMEM, and on Ocracoke Island in Cape Hatteras National Seashore are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Fort Raleigh NHS is offering many programs that provide an in-depth look into the park'™s multiple themes, including the Roanoke Island Freemen'™s Colony, the Civil War Battle Of Roanoke Island, Reginald Fessenden'™s wireless experiments, as well as the Roanoke Voyages story. For Wright Brothers NMEM, check the daily program schedule at the information desk when you arrive.

Recreation programs such as surf fishing, seining, crabbing, and cast netting are just some of the programs offered at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Other activities include beach walks, night sky, and special kids programs, as well as tours such as Coast Guard Station tours, Cape Hatteras night climb tours, and a walking tour of Ocracoke Village historic sites.

The Full Moon Tour of the Cape Hatteras and Bodie Island Lighthouses will also return this year on June 2, July 1, July 31, Aug 29, and Sept 27.

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Comments

Submitted by beachdumb on May 22, 2015 - 6:00am.

Thanks to Congress the Cape Hatteras National Seashore legislation, passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Bill, instructs the Secretary of the Interior to review and adjust wildlife protection buffers, keep them in place the shortest possible duration, designate vehicle and pedestrian corridors around resource closures, and confer with the state of North Carolina on certain buffers and protections. This new legislation will force the NPS to increase recreational access that has been greatly reduced over the past several years. The NPS had been influenced and misdirected by outside leftist environmental NGOs(Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, NPCA, SELC, Sierra Club) determined to reduce recreational access by using junk science, misinformation, and lies. 

Also, the beach at Cape Hatteras is No. 5 in the annual top 10 list of U.S. beaches compiled by a coastal science professor known as Dr. Beach. 


Submitted by Rick Smith on May 22, 2015 - 4:37pm.

beachdumb--Should we just ignore by which groups your point of view is influenced?


Submitted by beachdumb on May 23, 2015 - 9:30am.

Your choice Rick. The NPS choose to ignore my group, the citizens of the United States of America. 


Submitted by Jim Burnett on May 23, 2015 - 9:55am.

My, there's some bait for comments :-) Are all individuals or groups with views different from yours therefore not citizens of the U.S.A? Seems to me the reality is there are "citizens" on both sides of every issue, and as was the subject of this story, there's a lot for those citizens to do and enjoy at Cape Hatteras.


Submitted by Rick B. on May 23, 2015 - 12:49pm.

I never knew when I volunteered for the Audubon bird count that I was showing I hated America.


Submitted by Gary Wilson on May 23, 2015 - 9:15pm.

Those nasty scientist are all products of the hitler youth!  Science is just a libral' conpsiracy!


Submitted by beachdumb on May 24, 2015 - 6:08am.

Junk science is a liberal conspiracy. Climate change scam is the latest example of that. Why is it that all the organizations that seek to deny recreational access to parks like Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area lean hard left? Why do these leftist organizations think it's okay to deceive and spew misinformation to favor their agenda? I think it's sad that such orgs like Audubon/NPCA can no longer be trusted to provide truthful information. 


Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on May 24, 2015 - 8:26am.

Ok, we've gone down this road before, let's not go any further. 


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