North Carolina’s Other Ocean

(coastal)

In 1524, Giovanni daVerrazano sailed the east coast of North America. After sailing between two land masses (the present site of Ocracoke Inlet), he was certain he had found the long sought passage to China. In reality he had found an inland sea separated from the Atlantic by the barrier islands known today as the Outer Banks. To him the Pamlico Sound looked like another ocean. The Pamlico and its smaller sister sounds to the south and north (Core, Croatan and Albemarle) are among the most productive marine habitats in eastern North America. They have played an important role in the development (or lack thereof) in North Carolina and the Southeast. These waters were used by Native Americans, colonists, pirates, fisherman, loggers and tourists.