Currituck & Corolla Day Trip

I have been to the Outer Banks many, many times, but always explored south from Nags Head to Okracoke. So, on this trip, we decided to explore the northern area of Currituck and Corolla.

We started the day at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, which is an all brick lighthouse.

In hindsight, climbing 220 steps to the top of a lighthouse with two four-year-olds…maybe not my best idea ever? It was really nerve-wracking climbing all of those open stairs with really widely spaced rails. Then we got the top and my daughter was trying to get away from my husband, which became our first lighthouse-lookout-meltdown. The view from the top was wonderful — you could see the sound and there was a great view of the Whalehead Club. We couldn’t stay long because we couldn’t trust the kids to hold our hand, listen and not dive over the rail.

The view from the top.

After our lighthouse visit, we walked over to the Whalehouse Club, but stopped to enjoy the trees and the sound first.

We didn’t actually go in The Whalehouse Club, because we figured it might not be the best activity for kids, but we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the exterior. The kids were enchanted with the geese, ducks and turtles.  The Whalehead is a restored 1920s-era Art Nouveau-style mansion that you can tour.

After finding some lunch, we decided to take a drive on the beach. This is still the official highway in this area! We hoped to get lucky and see the wild horses again, but no such luck. We still enjoyed it and kids thought it was grand.

And, finally, we stopped at Currituck Banks, which is a coastal estuarine reserve and maritime forest. It is a mostly-shaded, flat, short and easy boardwalk trail that goes out to the sound. I think this is a must-do activity if you’re in the area and enjoy nature and wildlife. It’s perfect for kids, too. There were tons of live oaks, which I think are such majestic looking trees. Within the first five minutes of walking, we saw three different species of lizards — a blue-tailed skink, a Carolina Anole and not sure about the third one.

We laughed and laughed with the kids because I told them to be really quiet so they wouldn’t scare away the wildlife, so they started saying “shhhh” to us and tip-toeing in a very exaggerated fashion. Also, my son held this hands up to his eyes and said he was using his “nocca-locka-lurs.”  And my daughter asked if we said, “Peek-a-boo,” would the snakes be scared away? Haha! Not quite, I’m afraid. They had an absolute blast here and we really enjoyed it, too.  The shade was a huge plus.

Don’t forget the shut the gate when you leave! It’s there so the wild horses don’t get loose on the roads. You could combine seeing all of these things with a wild horse tour as well for a full day of activities.

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See more Outer Banks posts, North Carolina posts or Virginia travel posts.
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