The History of Fort Ocracoke in Pamlico Sound

Pamlico Sound is one of the most storied bodies of water among North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Early colonists to Roanoke Island used it for protection. Blackbeard the pirate was killed there in 1718, and General Washington relied on it for transportation in the Revolutionary War. It wasn’t a surprise, then, that the Confederate bastion of Fort Ocracoke was built in those same waters. Said to be capable of mounting fifty guns, the fort was part of the coastal defense system of the state. After Union victories on nearby Hatteras Island, the fort was destroyed and its whereabouts lost for generations. Author Robert K. Smith led an archaeological mission to find the once lost fort and presents the harrowing story of its past and discovery for the first time.