Core Sound Communities

I was born and raised on a sailboat, and that’s the most beautiful

going in all the world, is onto a sailboat.

Worth Harris, Cedar Island

The trip to Cedar Island is marked by crossing the Monroe Gaskill Bridge, a high rise that crosses “the Thoroughfare” canal. From the top of the bridge travelers are treated to a spectacular view of the 14,000-acre Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge stretching in every direction.

The Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1964 to protect habitat for a rare, mouse-sized bird known as the black rail. “Cedar Island has the largest concentration of black rail on the planet,” refuge employee Kevin Keeler emphasized. The refuge’s headquarters is located at 879 Lola Road, which turns turn off Highway 12 just inside the village boundaries. The modest visitor’s center provides information about the wildlife in the area, from diving ducks to otters and black bears. Primitive hiking opportunities abound, but exploring the wilds is best during the cold-weather months when mosquitoes are at a minimum. On the way to the Refuge office on Lola Road is the Pilgrims Rest Original Freewill Baptist Church, with a graveyard containing rare cedar markers in lieu of headstones.

Hog Island, located just northeast of Cedar Island, was once a small community known as Lupton, made up of about 200 people. Lupton had a school, church, and Post Office. Writer Bland Simpson describes the tragedy of the last postmistress of Hog Island, who poisoned herself and her children when her cash drawer came up short. The Post Office closed shortly thereafter in 1920, and the community was eventually abandoned by the early 1930s. Many Hog Islanders simply moved to Cedar Island. Hog Island was home to a hunting club, still standing today. Cedar Island’s Harbor Island Hunt Club, built of sea shells, sand, and mortar, is a mere relic of its former self, washing away in Cedar Island Bay.

Cedar Island, the northernmost village Down East before taking the ferry to Ocracoke, is probably Down East’s most viable fishing community. People are often seen mending fishing nets or cleaning crab pots in the yard. Some drive around in their funky “boom” trucks, which are salt-rusted pickups with a boom and wench welded onto the bed for lifting nets. People might gather at the community harbor to watch the latest boat unload their catch. Cedar Island fishermen have easy access to both Core Sound and the deeper Pamlico Sound, which probably contributes to their relative success.

Cedar Island was once made up of two distinct communities: Lola and Roe. Lola was located down Lola Road where the Wildlife Refuge office is located. Roe was the village proper, on the main road going toward the ferry terminal. Locals still refer to Lola and Roe. In fact, white oval bumper stickers have appeared that proudly bear the old community names. Residents eventually joined as Cedar Island, named so when a new post office came in the 1950s.

People are comfortable with the distance between them and the busier towns to the west. Some find gainful employment at the Cedar Island-Ocracoke ferry terminal, as ferry captains, crew, or shore personnel. When off- shift, however, many are quick to return to their oilskins and resume commercial fishing or net making. Others make a long daily trek to Beaufort, Morehead City or even Cherry Point for work.

Two fish houses operate on the island today, Bradley Styron’s Quality Seafood at 2890 Cedar Island Road and Big A and Little A’s fish house, 2714 Cedar Island Road. Both fish houses are interesting stops for anyone interested in what fish are in season or what the latest news is in fish politics. Bradley was a long-time member of the state Marine Fisheries Commission and is extremely knowledgeable about fisheries issues. Aron Styron (“Big A”) and his son (“Little A”) are passionate about fishing and clearly prefer the world of water to the land of regulations and paperwork.

Big A and Little A are among a handful of fishermen pioneering new marketing techniques. Flounder caught in their pound nets are transferred to holding ponds, and sold to Asian buyers who arrive with trucks outfitted to keep the fish live for market. Aron Styron and crew participate in Walking Fish, a Community Supported Fishery based in Beaufort that sells “shares” of local seafood in advance to clients, helping consumers learn where and how – and by whom - their seafood is caught. Cedar Island fishermen are a lively and opinionated bunch, and manage to keep a keen sense of humor despite all the challenges they face.

At the end of the road on the north end of Cedar Island is the North Carolina Cedar-Island to Ocracoke ferry terminal. The visitor’s center at the terminal provides the only public restrooms Down East, and for that reason is a popular stop! Check the website for up-to-date schedules and prices (www.ncdot.gov/ferry/). Expect about a two-hour and fifteen-minute crossing on the vast and lovely Pamlico Sound. Reservations are highly recommended (1-800-By-Ferry), especially between Easter and Labor Day.

While waiting for the ferry, check out the horses and cattle on the east side of the terminal, remnants of Cedar Island’s “pony penning” past. A popular campground operates next to the ferry terminal as well. If the winds are right, the eastern beach where the livestock roam has become a hotspot for kite boarders, who ski the shallows, jump a wave, and soar several feet into the air. 

Cedar Island beach, a white strip of paradise on the west side of the ferry landing, is definitely worth the trip whether ferry-bound or not.  It is the perfect place to relax at the water’s edge and take in the beauty of Pamlico Sound.