A few things about Ocracoke Island

The Ocracoke Island lifestyle somewhat defies explanation. Usual adjectives don't quite get their arms around the state of mind that is Ocracoke Island.I am not a native of the island. My family has been coming here since the 50's and has had a home here since the 70's, so I'm definitely not a tourist either. I fall somewhere in the middle: a local I guess. I was baptized on this little island in the Atlantic Ocean across from the Ocracoke Pony Pen when I was 6 months old. Old Lawton Howard gave me a dollar (Lawton was a wonderful Ocracoke native who gave each Ocracoke baby a dollar; he has since passed away). The water must have gotten in my blood - I am never happier than when I first get off the ferry. It is as if the weight of the world is lifted off my shoulders and I can finally breathe again!Now, Ocracoke is not a perfect place by any stretch of the imagination. And this is coming from someone who considers it their personal paradise. It is not meant for everyone.We have no mini golf courses here. The nearest strip mall, large grocery story, or movie theatre is at least an hour and a half away, and for the most part we could care less. Distance is distorted: it is a "long way" from Howard's Pub to my house out in Oyster Creek (distance: 1.1 miles), yet we think absolutely nothing of making an entire day or even 2 day trip up the beach or to the mainland to go grocery and essentials shopping. Big wigs and people living pay check to pay check belly up to the same bar without the slightest hesitation or recognition of their social differences.I work in an up and coming real estate office here on the island, Ocracoke’s Blue Heron Realty, so I deal with a lot of people thinking about coming to Ocracoke. I get all kinds of emails that to me seem absolutely ridiculous - this morning, I got one with a request for a 3-4 bedroom house on the beach with a pool, close to a golf course.I replied (very cordially too!) that we did not have any houses on the beach, that there were no golf courses on the island because everything that is not built on or kept privately is conserved.
For anyone who has never been to Ocracoke Island: it is a spit of land about 13 miles long on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, narrow all the way down the beach (think about a 1/2 mile or so wide) until you come to the village. The village has expanded over the years, but has reached its boundaries at approximately 1 square mile.

There are no (that’s zero!) buildings on the beach - no houses, no restaurants, no board walk. That is why we were named #1 beach in 2007 by Dr. Beach...because our beach is freaking sweet and not jammed with people who want to savor anything more than just the sand, sun and waves. Here you can’t find amusement parks only 10 feet from the Atlantic. This often seems to be a difficult point for some big city types to grasp - why, I do not know.

The beauty of the beach is that you can get on it at any point, walk for 5 minutes, and have your own personal beach.

People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for private beaches all over the world - here; you can have one for free. Enjoy it!!