Located on Hatteras Island in North Carolina, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse stands at a towering 208 feet. The lighthouse is the tallest in the U.S. Over 1.2 million bricks provide the structure for this lofty lighthouse, which warns sailors of the Diamond Shoals area where shallow sandbars extend 14 miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Threatened by waters, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved from its original location in 1999. The gigantic lighthouse is open to the public from early April until mid October.
Jockey's Ridge, the tallest natural sand dune system in the U.S. calls Nags Head, North Carolina home. The enormous amount of sand making up the dunes at the 420-acre Jockey's Ridge State Park is enough to fill up six million dump trucks. Fascinatingly, the sand from the dunes never blows away as northeast and southwest winds simply blow the sand back and forth. Visitors to the dunes enjoy picnics, hiking and hang-gliding.
The "First in Flight" slogan on North Carolina license plates is seen on every interstate in the U.S. The fact that brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright accomplished their first powered flight in Kill Devil Hills, located in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, is not as well-known. The flight took the Wright brothers four years of experimentation, and the wind and sand of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina provided the conditions to make their dream of flight a reality. Tourists to the Outer Banks visit Nags Head's Wright Brothers Memorial every year.
Off the coast of Cape Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina lies The Graveyard of the Atlantic, which contains one of the largest densities of shipwrecks in the world. The area contains over 2,000 shipwrecks situated on the ocean floor. The shipwrecks offer a paradise for curious divers searching for adventure, and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum provides curious tourists information on the multitude of shipwrecks found in the nearby waters.
Wilmington, North Carolina is the only area in the world where the notorious meat-eating Venus fly-trap lives indigenously. The Venus fly-trap, like all plants, receives nutrients from the air and soil in which it lives; however, because the plant usually lives in poor soil, it also requires nourishment from insects that it captures in its wide-opening leaves. The Boling Springs Lake Nature Trail in Coastal North Carolina grants people the opportunity to see these carnivorous plants in their natural surroundings.
