Ocracoke Island

Only accessible by boat or small plane, Ocracoke (pop: 948) lies 21 miles south of Hatteras in the Pamlico Sound. The free Hatteras ferry only takes an hour, but it lands passengers in an earlier century. Blackbeard hid out on the protected sound side with pal Calico Jack Rackham, just off what is now the busy harbour. Cedar-shaded lanes, crunchy with seashells, lead past period homes and spooky vine-covered cemeteries. Time slows down here: the main mode of transport is the golf cart or bicycle. There’s an annual Blackbeard Pirate Jamboree at Halloween, but the history is not all piratical: older locals still talk of seeing