Bodie Island facts for kids
Bodie Island (pronounced BAH-dee) is a long, thin strip of land. It's part of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It used to be a real island. But in 1811, a water channel called Roanoke Inlet closed. This connected Bodie Island to the Currituck Banks. Now, they are one long piece of land. People still call different parts by their old names. This land stretches about 72 miles. It goes from Oregon Inlet in North Carolina all the way to Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Cool Places to See
This long strip of land has many interesting spots. You can find two lighthouses here. One is the Bodie Island Light. The other is the Currituck Beach Light. Lighthouses help guide ships safely.
The Wright Brothers National Monument is also on this land. It has a special light too. This monument celebrates where the Wright brothers first flew their airplane.
You can also visit Jockey's Ridge. This park has the tallest sand dune on the East Coast! It's a huge pile of sand.
Parts of this area are protected. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore protects the southern end. The Currituck National Wildlife Refuge, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and False Cape State Park protect northern parts. These places help keep nature safe.
A Look at History
Bodie Island was first called Bodie's Island or Body's Island. It was named after a family. This family's name was spelled "Body," "Boddye," "Boddy," or "Bodie." They settled here a long time ago. Robert Boddy came to Virginia from London in 1635. Some of his family later moved to what is now North Carolina. The island was named for his family members.
There's a story that the island was named for dead "bodies." These were supposedly sailors who drowned in shipwrecks. The Outer Banks is known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." But this story is just folklore. The island was truly named after the Bodie family.
Water channels, called inlets, often open and close along the Outer Banks. This makes the land change shape. Bodie Island used to be longer. It formed around 1738 when New Inlet opened. This separated it from Hatteras Island to the south.
Later, in 1846, Oregon Inlet opened. This cut off the southern part of Bodie Island. It created a new island called Pea Island. The strong Oregon Inlet caused New Inlet to close around 1933. So, Pea Island became part of Hatteras Island. But in 2011, Hurricane Irene reopened New Inlet.
Near the North Carolina-Virginia border, other inlets once existed. These included Currituck Inlet and Musketo Inlet. Caffey's Inlet was also to the south. These inlets made the Currituck Banks a chain of islands. Currituck Inlet was even the state border in the early 1700s.
These inlets closed over time. Old Currituck Inlet closed around 1728. Caffey's Inlet closed in 1811. New Currituck Inlet closed by 1828. Musketo Inlet finally closed in 1882. This created the long piece of land we see today. It stretches from Sandbridge to Oregon Inlet.
An explorer named John Lawson wrote about "Bodies Island" in 1709. He mentioned it in his book A New Voyage to Carolina. He was talking about rabbits found there. This shows the island was called Bodie Island as early as 1709.
Towns and Areas
Here are some places you can find on this long strip of land, listed from south to north:
- Nags Head, North Carolina
- Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
- Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
- Southern Shores, North Carolina
- Duck, North Carolina
- Corolla, North Carolina
- Carova Beach, North Carolina
- Sandbridge, Virginia
How to Get There
You can reach Bodie Island from mainland North Carolina. The Wright Memorial Bridge, built in 1966, helps you get there. You can also use U.S. Route 64. The Washington Baum Bridge opened in 1994 for this route. If you are driving north from Hatteras and Pea Islands, you will reach the Currituck Banks on NC Highway 12.
The northern end of the land is in Virginia. You can get there using Sandpiper and Sandfiddler Roads. These roads connect to Sandbridge Road. However, there is no highway that connects the Virginia part of the Currituck Banks to the North Carolina part. You can't even drive on the beach north of the North Carolina border anymore. There were plans for a new bridge, called the Mid-Currituck Bridge, near Corolla. But these plans are currently on hold.
