Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Wright Memorial Travel Guide

If you live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, or if you’re visiting for any length of time, you know that there’s plenty to see and do here, of both a historically-fun and a fun-fun nature, (and I will enumerate each and every one of these in future articles, never fear). But for now, I’d like to discuss things to see and do on a day trip to the Outer Banks.

The Outer Banks are a series of long and narrow islands lying off the east coast of North Carolina. There’s a wealth of maritime history there, as well as lots and lots of beach area for swimming, sail boarding or kite boarding.

For this day trip, we’re going to go to the Wright Memorial Park and then on to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which those of us who feel up to the challenge are going to climb.

From your location in Hampton Roads, use one of the internet’s driving directions sites to find out how to get yourself onto Highway 168 heading south. You’ll most likely head to Norfolk to do so. You can start out very early in the morning to avoid going-to-work traffic, or wait until about 9 am to do so. Don’t leave later than 9 am if you want to be able to get to the Outer Banks with enough leisure time to do stuff before it’s time to head back home.

Time and timing is important on a single day trip. The Wright Memorial closes promptly at 5 pm. While you can walk around the Cape Hatteras lighthouse at any time, there are set times that you can climb it, and ticket sales end at 4.30 (with the deadline of those already in the lighthouse to have finished their climb by 5 pm). So it’s best to visit the Wright Memorial first, and then go to Cape Hatteras, rather than the other way around.

It’s hard to tell you how long it will take you to get from Virginia down across the border into North Carolina - so much depends on the traffic which is not much in winter, not too bad in spring, a little congested usually in summer, and not too bad again in fall....like most “summer fun” places. But if you’ve got good traffic, you’ll get to the North Carolina border in about an hour.

One of the blocks of the Icarus Monument, beside the Outer Banks Visitor Center in Kitty Hawk, NC.

Credit: Barbara Peterson

Copyright: Barbara Peterson