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The Outer Banks
Four hundred years after the first English colonists tried to gain a foothold on the coast of North Carolina, with its fragile islands and hazardous inlets, Anthony Bailey made a journey along the Outer Banks. He found a landscape that is by turns intrguing, dismaying, and enchanting.
- GenresNonfictionTravel
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
28 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Bailey
188 books8 followersAnthony Bailey (born 1933) was a British non-fiction writer, and art historian.
He was evacuated to Dayton, Ohio, in 1940 during World War II. For many years he was a writer for the New Yorker magazine.
He died of corona virus in Colchester, Essex, which he contracted whilst in hospital for hip surgery after a fall at his home.
He lived in Mersea Island, near Colchester, Essex, with his wife Margot. They have four daughters: Liz, Annie, Katie and Rachel.
His obituary in the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/bo...
He was evacuated to Dayton, Ohio, in 1940 during World War II. For many years he was a writer for the New Yorker magazine.
He died of corona virus in Colchester, Essex, which he contracted whilst in hospital for hip surgery after a fall at his home.
He lived in Mersea Island, near Colchester, Essex, with his wife Margot. They have four daughters: Liz, Annie, Katie and Rachel.
His obituary in the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/bo...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 13, 2023
The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a truly unique part of the Atlantic coastline of the United States of America – a narrow and fragile line of barrier islands that extend out from the Eastern seaboard, like an arm bending outward toward the elbow and then back inward at the wrist. In his 1989 book The Outer Banks, British writer Anthony Bailey sets forth in helpful detail his own impressions of this extraordinary stretch of American coastline. Bailey, an art historian who has written on a wide variety of topics, brings his gift for observation to a trip down the Banks, from Carova Beach on the North Carolina-Virginia state line all the way down to Cape Lookout at the very bottom of Core Banks.
At first, I was concerned that The Outer Banks might turn out to be one of those travel books in which a British author continually turns up his nose at all things American. Bailey reserves some of his harshest animadversions for unsatisfying restaurant experiences, as when he writes of a lunch in Kill Devil Hills that “I suppose a turkey sandwich ordered on a Sunday is unlikely to be made of fresh bread, but this bread is stale, and collapsing to boot; the contents taste like cardboard” (p. 50).
Yet this initial impression on my part was not accurate. Bailey writes with appreciation and respect about many of the people he meets during his Outer Banks sojourn. Much of the heart of the book involves Bailey hunkering down with new friends in the Roanoke Island community of Wanchese as Hurricane Gloria roars toward the North Carolina coast. This detail, for me, situated Bailey’s visit to the Outer Banks firmly in the summer and autumn of 1985. That September, we were very closely watching Gloria’s progress at the Rockville, Maryland, publishing firm where I then worked; each hour, I would call the National Hurricane Center for Gloria’s latest coordinates, and would then chart the hurricane’s progress on a large map I had brought in. For that reason, I found it easy to relate to the sense of foreboding with which Bailey watches the coast at Nags Head, not long before Gloria makes landfall: “Large, inexorable seas sweep in, slightly athwart the wind, and crash onto the sand. There are more gulls than I’ve seen before, standing just in front of the dunes and looking more than usually wary. Suddenly all the cottages and motels seem frailer than ever” (p. 100). Bailey captures well the odd sort of bonding that can occur among people who face together the prospect of calamity.
Bailey pays appropriate attention to what is geographically unique about the Outer Banks as a group of barrier islands that, in contrast with the usual pattern, stand off a long distance from the mainland that they protect. Frequent visitors to the Banks know well the Bonner Bridge, the long bridge that crosses Oregon Inlet and connects the Outer Banks “mainland” with Hatteras Island. But, as Bailey points out, inlets that suddenly open on the Banks can close just as unexpectedly; and furthermore, “Some also think that Oregon Inlet has reached a point in its natural career where, at the age of 140, it is on the point of closing back up again – though this is not what the fishermen of Wanchese like to hear” (p. 150).
Yet the people of the Banks endure, as they always have, through creativity and innovation, as when students at the kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade Cape Hatteras School in Buxton created their own magazine called Sea Chest, an award-winning compendium of interviews with older Bankers whose memories of old times on the Outer Banks might otherwise be lost. Over the course of the book, a strong impression emerges of people whose ability to adapt and improvise will continue to sustain them in their lives on a beautiful and fragile stretch of coast.
Bailey closes with a visit to the less-frequently-explored stretches of the coast below Ocracoke – the “ghost town” of Portsmouth Island, a long-abandoned port town now inhabited only by mosquitoes whose “bites are vivid and immediately painful, but the irritation from them is not long-lasting” (p. 250), and then the remote Core Banks below. Throughout the book, Banks’s growing appreciation for the unique geography and society of the Outer Banks becomes clear – a theme emphasized at book’s end when Bailey stands at Cape Point, the southernmost and last point of land on the Outer Banks, and writes, “I dig fingers and toes into the fine sand, anchoring myself to the Banks through this gritty contact and the memory-making power of sensation, however transient. Although the Banks end here, I don’t want them to slip away” (p. 276).
Part of why Bailey’s The Outer Banks is special to me is because it was, in a way, my introduction to the region. Back in the early 1990’s, before my family and I made our first Outer Banks excursion, I repaired to our local library – the Miller Branch Library in Ellicott City, Maryland – and found the library’s copy of Bailey’s The Outer Banks. I read the book, and enjoyed it, and said to myself, “Alright. I have read Bailey’s impressions of the Outer Banks. Now I will develop my own impressions.”
Suffice it to say that we loved the region; and for almost twenty years, Outer Banks communities like Rodanthe and Avon were our summer home. We explored the Banks from the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in the north to Ocracoke in the south. When we lived in the Raleigh-Durham region, just a couple of hours from the coast, the Outer Banks were once again a consistent part of our lives. If you are contemplating a first trip to the Outer Banks, then Bailey’s The Outer Banks will provide you with a helpful introduction to the region. If you already know the Outer Banks well, then you may find it interesting to compare Bailey’s impressions of the region with your own.
At first, I was concerned that The Outer Banks might turn out to be one of those travel books in which a British author continually turns up his nose at all things American. Bailey reserves some of his harshest animadversions for unsatisfying restaurant experiences, as when he writes of a lunch in Kill Devil Hills that “I suppose a turkey sandwich ordered on a Sunday is unlikely to be made of fresh bread, but this bread is stale, and collapsing to boot; the contents taste like cardboard” (p. 50).
Yet this initial impression on my part was not accurate. Bailey writes with appreciation and respect about many of the people he meets during his Outer Banks sojourn. Much of the heart of the book involves Bailey hunkering down with new friends in the Roanoke Island community of Wanchese as Hurricane Gloria roars toward the North Carolina coast. This detail, for me, situated Bailey’s visit to the Outer Banks firmly in the summer and autumn of 1985. That September, we were very closely watching Gloria’s progress at the Rockville, Maryland, publishing firm where I then worked; each hour, I would call the National Hurricane Center for Gloria’s latest coordinates, and would then chart the hurricane’s progress on a large map I had brought in. For that reason, I found it easy to relate to the sense of foreboding with which Bailey watches the coast at Nags Head, not long before Gloria makes landfall: “Large, inexorable seas sweep in, slightly athwart the wind, and crash onto the sand. There are more gulls than I’ve seen before, standing just in front of the dunes and looking more than usually wary. Suddenly all the cottages and motels seem frailer than ever” (p. 100). Bailey captures well the odd sort of bonding that can occur among people who face together the prospect of calamity.
Bailey pays appropriate attention to what is geographically unique about the Outer Banks as a group of barrier islands that, in contrast with the usual pattern, stand off a long distance from the mainland that they protect. Frequent visitors to the Banks know well the Bonner Bridge, the long bridge that crosses Oregon Inlet and connects the Outer Banks “mainland” with Hatteras Island. But, as Bailey points out, inlets that suddenly open on the Banks can close just as unexpectedly; and furthermore, “Some also think that Oregon Inlet has reached a point in its natural career where, at the age of 140, it is on the point of closing back up again – though this is not what the fishermen of Wanchese like to hear” (p. 150).
Yet the people of the Banks endure, as they always have, through creativity and innovation, as when students at the kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade Cape Hatteras School in Buxton created their own magazine called Sea Chest, an award-winning compendium of interviews with older Bankers whose memories of old times on the Outer Banks might otherwise be lost. Over the course of the book, a strong impression emerges of people whose ability to adapt and improvise will continue to sustain them in their lives on a beautiful and fragile stretch of coast.
Bailey closes with a visit to the less-frequently-explored stretches of the coast below Ocracoke – the “ghost town” of Portsmouth Island, a long-abandoned port town now inhabited only by mosquitoes whose “bites are vivid and immediately painful, but the irritation from them is not long-lasting” (p. 250), and then the remote Core Banks below. Throughout the book, Banks’s growing appreciation for the unique geography and society of the Outer Banks becomes clear – a theme emphasized at book’s end when Bailey stands at Cape Point, the southernmost and last point of land on the Outer Banks, and writes, “I dig fingers and toes into the fine sand, anchoring myself to the Banks through this gritty contact and the memory-making power of sensation, however transient. Although the Banks end here, I don’t want them to slip away” (p. 276).
Part of why Bailey’s The Outer Banks is special to me is because it was, in a way, my introduction to the region. Back in the early 1990’s, before my family and I made our first Outer Banks excursion, I repaired to our local library – the Miller Branch Library in Ellicott City, Maryland – and found the library’s copy of Bailey’s The Outer Banks. I read the book, and enjoyed it, and said to myself, “Alright. I have read Bailey’s impressions of the Outer Banks. Now I will develop my own impressions.”
Suffice it to say that we loved the region; and for almost twenty years, Outer Banks communities like Rodanthe and Avon were our summer home. We explored the Banks from the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in the north to Ocracoke in the south. When we lived in the Raleigh-Durham region, just a couple of hours from the coast, the Outer Banks were once again a consistent part of our lives. If you are contemplating a first trip to the Outer Banks, then Bailey’s The Outer Banks will provide you with a helpful introduction to the region. If you already know the Outer Banks well, then you may find it interesting to compare Bailey’s impressions of the region with your own.
February 23, 2016
The Outer Banks by Anthony Bailey
An area we've yet to visit but know we would love.
A guide to NC outer banks. Besides the political events among the locals there are tourists that get instructions on how to hangglide.
Sounds interesting as long as there is land under you...so much information about the Wright brothers history.
Living through Hurricane Gloria, I remember this one when it hit RI. Like the discussions about the sea turtles and why they are endangered and what the locals are doing about it.
Loved hearing about the wild ponies=have seen them pictured in movies...
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
An area we've yet to visit but know we would love.
A guide to NC outer banks. Besides the political events among the locals there are tourists that get instructions on how to hangglide.
Sounds interesting as long as there is land under you...so much information about the Wright brothers history.
Living through Hurricane Gloria, I remember this one when it hit RI. Like the discussions about the sea turtles and why they are endangered and what the locals are doing about it.
Loved hearing about the wild ponies=have seen them pictured in movies...
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
September 20, 2014
The Outer Banks by Anthony Bailey (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1989)(917.56). A traveler samples the Outer Banks and then writes about it. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 2001.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews