Jockey's Ridge State Park in Nags Head

Jockey’s Ridge State Park is a wonderful place to visit on the Outer Banks. It is located at milepost 12 to 13 in Nags Head. It is made up of large dunes of shifting sand with little vegetation. It is the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern United States.

There is a marvelous story to this park being created by the State of North Carolina. In the early 1970’s, when I began visiting the Outer Banks, there were little jars with slits in the top as collection containers to “Save Our Dunes.” These could be seen at almost every local business. At that time, some of the dunes were actually being “sand mined” and carried away to be used as fill in other areas. There was a local jewelry maker named Carolista Fletcher Baum who persisted to save the dunes.

She began her campaign of collecting funds and lobbying legislators to protect this ridge of sand dunes. The state eventually purchased the ridge and created the State Park. The dunes are enjoyed by young and old alike.

Any time of year you can see kite flying and hang gliders on top of the ridge. At Christmas time there was a wonderful display of red and green lights up the kite string and outlining the kite. It was wonderful glowing against the starry night sky.

There is a museum at the entrance to Jockey’s Ridge which is free to the public. You can hike across the dunes and see the ocean and sound. In the early mornings, the wildlife tracks from foxes, deer, birds and an occasional snake are fun to identify in the sand before all the human tracks cover it up.

Any wildlife or plant life that you see on the ridge must not be disturbed or removed from the park. You may also see fulgurites on the dunes. They are hollow tubes that are formed when lighting strikes the sand. You may not remove any fulgurites from the ridge. There are samples of these in the museum.

Sunsets on the ridge are breathtaking. There are many free programs that are presented by Jockey’s Ridge State Park including the sunset watch and star gazing at night.

There are picnic tables to accommodate your lunch. There is a great sound side beach on the west side of the ridge. The water is very shallow and great for small children. Children love climbing the ridge and rolling down the soft hills in the sand. A wooden boardwalk provides handicapped accessibility with a great view at the end.

The dunes are constantly changing shape and migrating to the south. Every few years, the State of North Carolina has to have sand trucked from the south side of the ridge back over to the north side of the ridge. Recycled Christmas trees have been used on the south end of the dunes to delay this migration.

Each year that you come, you will see how the ridge has changed. Start your own photo collection from year to year to mark the migration of the dunes. You may wish to join the Friends of Jockey’s Ridge who preserve and support the park. As a member of the Friends group, you will receive discounts in the Gift Shop as well as a newsletter, The Dune Breeze.

Visit the Jockey’s Ridge State Park website at http://www.jockeysridgestatepark.com/info.html