The Outer Banks are a 100-mile (160-km) long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina on the East Coast of the United States. They cover approximately the northern half of North Carolina's coastline, separating the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound from the Atlantic Ocean. The Outer Banks are a major tourist destination known for temperate weather and wide expanses of open beachfront. The Wright Brothers' first flights in a powered, heavier-than-air vehicle took place on the Outer Banks on December 17, 1903, in the sea-front town of Kill Devil Hills. The Wright Brothers National Monument commemorates the historic flights, and First Flight Airport is a small, general-aviation airfield located there.
A British colony where the first person of English descent Virginia Dare was born on American soil ([[1] vanished without a trace from Roanoke Island in 1587. The treacherous seas off the Outer Banks and the large number of shipwrecks that have occurred have given these seas the nickname Graveyard of the Atlantic. The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is currently under contruction in Hatteras Village near the United States Coast Guard facility and Hatteras ferry.