Ocracoke Current

26/06/2025

The proceeds of this raffle benefit the Ocracoke Friends of the Library!

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26/06/2025

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Wowee wow wow! The BIG DAY is almost here! 🤩
TOMORROW, June 27th, is the Ocracoke Friends of the Library Annual USED BOOK SALE! 📚📖📚📚📚📖📚
Doors open at 9 AM, but if you're an early bird -- we'll let you in at 8:30 if you're an Ocracoke Friends of the Library member!?!?! 😁
Not a member? Not a problem! You can join at the door!
The sale will continue during regular library hours through July.

25/06/2025

By Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice Dewey Hemilright, a Dare County waterman and official of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, tells the Voice that at about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 25,…

24/06/2025

23/06/2025

23/06/2025

Our deepest condolences go out to the O’Neal family. If you ever had Chloe’s corn pudding or mac and cheese, you know how much she will be missed. She and Fowler are together again. ❤️

In Loving Memory of Chloe Ann (Garrish) ONeal (1937–2025)
Chloe Ann ONeal, 88, of Ocracoke, passed away peacefully at home on June 21, 2025, surrounded by her family. A devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, Chloe lived a life full of love, grace, and kindness. She loved cooking traditional island dishes, and feeding her family and a countless number of friends. She will be remembered for her warm heart, gentle spirit, and her devotion to her late-husband Robert “Fowler” ONeal, Sr.
She is survived by her three children, Robert Fowler ONeal Jr. “Bobby” and Joan Ann ONeal “Joanie” of Ocracoke, and Gloria ONeal Nash “Sissy” of Newport News, VA. Chloe had 10 grandchildren who affectionately called her Granny “Coco”.
The grandchildren include: Robert W. ONeal “Billy” of Santa Maria, CA, Mark ONeal, Chloe ONeal and Jackson Strange of Ocracoke; William Stevens “Will,” Neal Stevens, and Caroline Minns of Newport News, VA, Tressa Kane of Smithfield, VA, Leeanna Lanciault of Williamsburg, VA; and Aurora Schraffenberger of Anchorage, Alaska. She is also survived by 11 great-grandchildren across the country, and her brother Robert C. “Bobby” Garrish of Ocracoke.
She is preceded in death by her father Uriah W. Garrish, Jr. and Maude T. Garrish of Ocracoke and her three sisters Maude Ballance and Grace Gaskill of Ocracoke, and Helen “Tink” Helpenstill of Eagle, Alaska.
A date for a graveside service is still being determined.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department or Ocracoke United Methodist Church in Chloe’s memory.

20/06/2025

Happy JAWS Day!!

19/06/2025

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19/06/2025

It's not over til it's over: there's still time to tell your NC reps what you think about the the ban on trawling. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19DYv5jRDh/

06/19/25 2:07PM Shrimp Trawl Ban Update. Unfortunately, a third reading of HB442 PASSED the NC Senate today and will now be sent to the House. The good news is, there is still an opportunity to save your access to safe, local North Carolina shrimp if we raise our voices together.

What can you do? Call & Email your legislators and tell them to OPPOSE HB442. Use ncmegaphone.com. Tell them you want access to local, NC shrimp, that special interests are spreading misinformation about shrimp trawling, and that this bill bypasses collaborative, science-based fisheries management set forth by the Fisheries Reform Act. AND Share this post to help spread awareness. Don't wait til it is too late.

19/06/2025

Today is a National Holiday, but not all state agencies in NC take the day off.
It's time to recognize Juneteenth as a major holiday of remembrance right alongside Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and to celebrate it like we celebrate the 4th of July. It marks the day that ALL Americans finally became free, and our nation moved a step closer to making a reality of the promise of "liberty and justice for all."

19/06/2025

Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people to be freed during the Civil War. The road to emancipation was long, and some of the first steps on it during the Civil War were made in the Other Banks.

The Battle of Hatteras Inlet in August 1861 was the first strategic Union victory in the Civil War. Some U.S. Navy warships in this battle, such as the U.S.S. Minnesota, had integrated crews of black and white sailors.

Freedom seekers in eastern North Carolina sought refuge in Union forts on Hatteras Island. A converted barracks nicknamed “Hotel De-Afrique” became one of the first refuges for the formerly enslaved in the Civil War. While the building is gone, the site is now recognized as part of the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

You can learn more about the Civil War in the Outer Banks here: https://www.nps.gov/caha/learn/historyculture/civilwar.htm

Nearby Roanoke Island also became an important refuge for freedom seekers. You can learn more about it at our sister site, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.



🖼 Bombardment of Fort Hatteras and Fort Clark. U.S. Navy Art Collection. Photograph is courtesy of the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.