Hatteras, North Carolina

Transcription

Coming up, on "Life in the Carolinas," we go to the Outer Banks for a visit on Hatteras Island. It's about adventure. It's about history and traditions. It's about great friends and good food. It's all about Hatteras Island and it's coming up next, on "Life in the Carolinas." [ ♪ ♪ ] This episode of "Life in the Carolinas" is brought to you in part by The Outerbanks Visitors Bureau, America's best ranked beaches are yours to enjoy on Hatteras Island and the OBX. Plan your visit today, at outerbanks.org. "Life in the Carolinas" is brought to you in HD by Hampton inn and Sweets at Philips Place. [ ♪ ♪ ] Stretching almost 200 miles along our Atlantic coast, the Outer Banks are the picturesque playground of the Carolinas. With so many wonderful things to see and do, these barrier islands seem to have something for, well, just about everybody. Among the many wonderful vacation spots here, the island of Cape Hatteras, located on the Pamlico Sound, is known around the world as one of the finest. Hatteras is an island with Pamlico Sound separating it from the mainland by over 25 miles. A single road, Highway 12, runs down its nearly 50 mile lane, but in most places, the island isn't even a mile wide. The Atlantic currents that created this island, also created treacherous shoals that caused the sinking of many ships. So many in fact, the area came to be known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Pilot Dwight Burrus runs a charter service out of Hatteras regularly taking up visitors for an aerial tour of this beautiful island. A native of Hatteras, Dwight gave us an overview of some of the island's highlights, and history, including his own family connections. Hatteras Island has a lot to offer visitors, beginning with some great places to stay. Carl: Hey, Steve. Steve: Welcome back to Hatteras Island, and the Inn on Pamlico Sound, buddy. Carl: It's been too long. Steve: Wait until you see what we changed. Come on in. We'll show you what we've been up to. [Narrative] On one of my first trips to the island, I met Steve Nelson and his wife, Sharon, who ran a beautiful inn, located right on the Pamlico Sound. Steve: You know one of my passions is film. I've been collecting film for a long time. Carl: I know that. How many have you collected so far? Steve: I've got about 2,000 Carl: Two thousand? Steve: that are available to our guests. And this is our theatre. It's for film reproduction, it's a really huge high definition television. This used to be a game room. It was a terrible game room, because it was too small for a game room. When we did the conversion, we had to open all the walls. We had to strip this thing to the studs. Gets used quite frequently, we'll have to watch a film. Carl: Yeah, what's your favorite? Steve: Oh, that's an easy one, "Casablanca," greatest film of all time. You want to see one of the coolest aspects of my place? Let me show you my favorite room. Carl: Okay, great. Steve: After you. Carl: How'd you get your inspiration for these rooms? Steve: We like an eclectic selection of guests, so we have an eclectic selection of rooms in different price ranges with different feels, to make people comfortable. When we first got to be friends, you knew my wife Sharon, who I lost to cancer last year. This was Sharon's favorite room. Carl: I remember that, my first visit down and we had dinner together and your wife was so incredibly charming. I'm awfully sorry she's not with you anymore. Steve: Most beautiful woman I ever knew. Best honor of my life was that she chose me for her husband. It was always her favorite room and it's actually the room that most couples take for their wedding night. It will always have special memories for me, but also for the hundreds of people who've been married here. Carl: It's a special spot. Steve: Oh, yea. [Narrative] Steve's inn is just one of the many wonderful hotel options available, but what if you want to bring a large family or even a group of families? Companies like Midgett Realty rent spacious vacation homes right here on the beach. Carl: Tell me about some of the types of accommodations you have for people who come down. Beth: Well, mostly single-family homes anywhere from three bedroom, all the way up to nine bedroom homes. Carl: Wow, so some really big ones. Beth: Everybody says they're going to get together, everybody says they're going to catch up. You catch up on social media, you catch up by texting each other, but you don't spend time together. And this is what allows them to spend time together. Steve: I worked in Manhattan for about 15 years. I worked for a big fortune 50, I had a corner office, ran big project teams and my standing joke was that only idiots live at the beach because they have hurricanes there and then when I moved here, my brother said, I'd proved the point because I joined all the idiots. Carl: [Laughs] Beth: It is one of the places you can come that is absolutely unspoiled. There are just miles and miles of undeveloped beach. There's not many places you can come that in this day and age that you just hit these unspoiled stretches of beach. It's beautiful. Steve: People come here for the lifestyle. You come here because you want that slower pace. You want this, you want to sit on the dock for an hour and just think. People show up here unannounced all the time. Your friends just walk in and the expectation is you stop and you chat Carl: And it's not often a quick chat, either, is it? [Laughter] Steve: Quick and Hatteras Island do not belong in the same sentence. Beth: When you get time off here, you're steps away from paradise. You can do whatever you want to. Steve: The purpose of coming here is to take your shoes off, to sit down, slowdown. I always tell people, the less of an agenda when you come here, the better of the time you'll have. Beth: So if you really want to vacation and come to the ends of the Earth, this is a good place to do it, without actually leaving the country. Carl: And we won't fall off. We might fall in love with the place, but you won't fall off. Beth: you're not going to fall off. We won't let you go. Carl: [Laughs] That's great. So you pretty much left New York and came to paradise. Steve: This is one of the standing jokes, no matter what. People will say this is just another day in paradise and we mean it. [Narrative] Oh, I sure like the sound of that, but I can't help but wonder how's the food here in paradise? Steve: I'm going to meet you guys up at Diamond Shoals. [Narrative] Coming up, I try some local sushi, take in the Hatteras nightlife and show you a few things you can do on your island vacation. Closed caption brought to you by Buxton Village Books, celebrating 30 years of fostering great reading. When you're on the island, or online, check them out at Buxtonvillagebooks.com. [Narrative] There are a lot of ways to relax and enjoy yourself here on the Island and you don't have to go far to find a culinary treat to tantalize your taste buds. Steve has a great chef and the food at the Inn on Pamlico Sound is outstanding, but he's also quick to point out that Hatteras Island has many great restaurants. [ ♪ ♪ ] Carl: Steve, you made it. Steve: I made it in one piece. One of the best sushi bars that you'll ever go to. Carl: Wow, I can't wait to see. Steve: Come on in. Let me show you one of my favorite places. Carl: This is great. Steve: This is my friend, Keith Gray. Carl: Hey, Keith. How are you? Keith: It's nice to meet you, Carl. Carl: Is this some of your sushi? Keith: This is the plating station. Carl: Oh, wow. Keith: Oh, baby. I liked you before, now I think I love you. Steve: Oh, yea. Carl: It's good? Is that one of your favorites? Keith: Yep, it's one of the top sellers. Steve: Favorite one, right here. Carl: That's really good. [Narrative] People are creative here. A rich community of artists and artisans call this island home Carl: Hey, Wendy. Wendy: Carl, how are you? Carl: It's so good to see you. This is some of your work, right? Wendy: I made all this. Carl: Do you have a favorite? Wendy: I love them all, but I love the double helix the best. Carl: Now what does that mean? Wendy: This is a rod with a little bit of metal in it and if you use a lot of oxygen, then the colors kind of pop out. Carl: Would you mind showing us? Wendy: Sure. Carl: Wow, all of these pieces of jewelry that you created here, they all start right at this table? Wendy: They do, they start with these glass rods. I melt them down, make the beads, they go in the kiln for 10 hours. The next day I come and take them off the rod. Carl: How long have you been doing this, Wendy? Wendy: About 13 years and I started out in Charlottesville. There was a sign in class that said glass class. I paid for it and changed my mind once I got home. It was a six hour drive, and tried to get out of it. They wouldn't give me my money back, so I drove back out there. So it was totally meant to be. Carl: You're too frugal to let that money go away. Wendy: It was $400. Carl: So this really is an amazing art form. A little science and a little art too, right? Wendy: It's more science than art, I think. There you go, now can you see the coloring? I love it. This isn't a job. [Narrative] Hatteras is a great place for artists, not only to create work but share their talents, providing visitors with the opportunity to discover and express themselves as well. Carl: Hey, Antoinette. Antoinette: Hey, Carl. Great to see you. Carl: Good to see you. [Narrative] My dear friend, Antoinette is a ceramics artist who owns Kinnakeet Clay, here on the island. She comes from a family with a long history here and in the arts. Antoinette: This is actually one of my great grandmother's prints. We're four generations of artists. This is one of her prints. [Narrative] And if you've got the time, she'll show you how to make some creative works of your own. Carl: They call me the old new pot thrower [Narrative] If painting is more your thing, Linda Meyer Browning is one of the most renowned watercolor artists in the world. She makes Hatteras Island her home and shares her skills with visitors through her gallery and classes. Linda: Hey, you. Carl: Linda, how are you? [Narrative] She taught me how to do watercolor, as she will for anyone that comes to her class. Carl: Look at that Linda, I'm going. It's running. Look at that, my humble painting. [Narrative] Artists here take inspiration from the wind and the surf. The wind fills every aspect of life here, but also provides a chance for a lot of fun. [ ♪ ♪ ] Local resident, Stephanie Kiker has been kiteboarding for over 10 years. It's a sport that's taken off here on the island. Carl: So what are you doing here on the beach? Stephanie: I just wanted to show you a little bit about the kite boarding we do on Hatteras. Carl: So has this really become a big sport? Stephanie: This has become a big thing for this area. Hatteras Island has got all the conditions that you could want. No matter what wind condition, the way the island turns, you can kite anywhere, flat-water, waves, slicks, anything you want. It's therapy. It's a way to relax. It can be exhilarating. It can be peaceful. It's just a lot of fun to do. Carl: One of those good sports. Stephanie: Oh, yeah. [Narrative] Kite boarding is a relatively new sport, but traditional surfing has long had a home here at Cape Hatteras. Carl: This is your board? Ray: This is a longboard. This is a nine two. I surf all size boards. I have boards from six two to nine two. Carl: You've been surfing for a long time. Ray: I've been surfing for over 49 years. Carl: Wow. Ray: I started here in 1965. In the seventies, it was the mecca of east coast surfing. Whole families come here, that's the cool thing. And a lot of people come here, this is where they learn to surf. [Narrative] Hatteras has been home to many professional surfers. Ray: My friend Brett Barley is a professional surfer here. He's local, he's right here from Buxton. Brett: I got my first surfboard when I was five. I fell in love with it and didn't ever want to stop. I spend a ton of time here at home because this place has some of the best waves on the east coast. In the summertime it's warm, the waters warm. You swim with your family and hang out. In the winter time it gets really cold, but the waves get really good. I mean we get world-class waves all fall and winter long. Being able to live here I get to experience waves that other people have to travel for. [Narrative] Brett is just the latest in a long line of professionals who have earned their living from this ocean. When we come back, you'll meet a fisherman whose father reeled in a whole new industry. It's called the Graveyard of the Atlantic. More than a thousand ships are believed to have gone down in these waters, taken with them countless lives. It's just one part of the history of this island, one that's commemorated here at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum and Hatteras Village. With so many shipwrecks, it shouldn't be surprising to discover that Hatteras has a connection to one of the most famous. Clara: This was the message that was received from the Titanic at the weather station here on Hatteras Island. Now, the man at the weather station tried to pass this message on and was basically told to stop junking up the lines and everybody knew this ship was unsinkable, [Narrative] But the history of seafaring vessels on Hatteras Island isn't all bad. People here have made their living fishing for generations. Charter fishing is another of the great outdoor adventures here and it's also an economic mainstay for the community. Captain Ernie Foster is owner of the Albatross Fleet, one of the premiere charter fishing companies on the island with a long history. Carl: How come you're here doing this now? Ernie: I got trapped. I grew up in a home in which everyone was a fisherman. My father was the guy that started the offshore fishing. [Narrative] Back in the 1930s, Ernie's father, Captain Ernold Foster, commissioned one of the first boats designed strictly for charter fishing. It would mark the beginning of a whole new industry, here on the island. Launched in 1937, that original boat, the Albatross, has remained in service ever since. Ernie: I tried to get away from it. I went off to college. I was going to be an engineer. Then it dawned on me, that you can't get any fishing done two weeks a year. [Narrative] It's a vocation tossed down, from generation to generation right up to today. Carl: How long you been doing this? Boy: Two months. Carl: Two months? How old are you? Boy: Thirteen. Carl: Good to see young people involved in the business. Ernie: Yup, young people getting involved with the business and once that happens, once the bug bites, it just doesn't let go. You hear people say, it gets in your blood? And I don't know what that means, but I know that it does. Carl: It does do that. [Narrative] If you like fresh seafood, you won't find better than right here on the island at restaurants like Catch 55 where Chef Seth serves up some other best food around. Carl: Hey, Seth. Is that you? Seth: Hey! I was classically trained, worked in fine dining restaurant and really got tired of wanting to conform to everyone else's way. And out here I'm able to source my own seafood from the docks in Hatteras, from Buxton, from local guys here in Avon. Fresh seafood out of the water. You want to cook seafood, why not do it the best you can? Carl: So you get the freshest you can get? Seth: Oh yeah, absolutely. We work our butts off to get the good stuff. That's the difference. What's so nice about being out here is the availability of local seafood. It's not 20 guys with a boat that does all the work for them. It's two guys with a rod and a reel or a winch and a net. You know they work hard for what they bring us and it makes the difference. There's TLC in it. [Narrative] If seafood isn't your thing, don't worry. Chef Seth knows his way around food for land lubbers. Carl: Nice. Look at that. Seth: It's a Herford beef fillet. It's a cow that's been brought over into America now, it's raised in Idaho. They are inherently lazy cattle, so they make great beef. Carl: I'm going to give this a try. That is wonderful. The flavors are so good. [Narrative] And after a great local meal, what's better been than taking in the local nightlife? Steve picked a place for us to visit and while he seems to be getting along with well, pretty much everybody, I'm not quite sure this is exactly, my kind of scene. [ ♪ Loud rock music ♪ ] Well there's something for everybody and everybody here sure seems to be having a great time. [ ♪ ♪ ] Well, maybe not everybody. Let's see if Steve can find something a little closer to my speed. [ ♪ Soft acoustic guitar ♪ ] Ah, that's more like it. Yeah, I know we're at the beach, but you can take the man out the mountains, but there's no taking the mountains out of this man. [ ♪ ♪ ] When Steve moved here with his wife Sharon, they found a community of people that made them feel like family and in their time of need, the community was there for them. Steve: During the time that Sharon was in cancer treatment was after a Hurricane. The community had been financially devastated and the entire community did a benefit just for us. Hundreds of people came out and it made a big dent in our medical bills. [Narrative] Just a year after Sharon's passing, Steve learned of another resident in need and knew exactly what to do. Steve: Tosser Hooper who is a good friend of mine and was one of Sharon's best friends, said how cool would that be if we could do for someone else what the community did for you? And it was just a blinding flash of the obvious. A couple hundred people turned out and we raised a lot of money to make a dent in their medical bills, but that's just what this community is like. [Narrative] It's a sentiment I heard echoed time and again with almost every resident I spoke with on Hatteras Island. Ernie: I think probably the thing that's most significant to me is that you recognize the interconnectedness of us all and that the different types of occupations overlap that are interconnected. Beth: The community that we built down here welcomes everybody. We support one another, not only the artists but also the community, whether people are in need of assistance or whether they just need a pat on the back. People are there to take care that. Steve: The first year I lived here full time, there was a major hurricane and Hatteras Village was cut off. Well, I came from up north. I have a chainsaw and I know how to use it. So the way that I met most to the people in Hatteras Village was somebody popped me on a boat. I went down there with Dwight Burrus actually, who you went flying. That's how I got to be friends with Dwight. I wired in people's generators and we dropped trees together. It was my first real experience in being home. Dwight: I'm in love. I'm in love with an island. Carl: I think the wind blow the cobwebs out of your head. [Narrative] I'll be on the road again for another show next week, but this week I'm staying right here.