Portsmouth Island
Portsmouth Island - "an island with a soul" - is today a glimpse of what living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina was for generations of seafaring men and women who lived at the end of the sea. Portsmouth is a step back in time for all who visit there and a sacred heritage for those whose lineage takes them back to this seaport village of the early 1900s.
Portsmouth Village
- Portsmouth was chartered in 1753.
- It was organized as a lightering and fishing community. Lightering is the transfer of goods from trans-Atlantic ships to smaller and shallower-draft vessels.
- At its height, the population of Portsmouth was about 800 residents, prior to the Civil War. By 1870, the population was about 300 people. The last two residents moved off of the island in 1971 after the death of Henry Pigott, the African-American man who lived his entire life on the Island. He had helped the two elderly women, Marian Gray Babb and Elma “Addie” Dixon stay on their Island home until their 70s.
- Portsmouth Island is the northern-most portion of Cape Lookout National Seashore. The park opened new exhibitions at Portsmouth Village in April 2010 that includes homes, the school, the post office, the church and the Lifesaving Station. There are more Portsmouth exhibits next door at the Park Service Visitors Center.
- Portsmouth Homecoming is held in the spring of even-numbered years and is supported by the non-profit group, Friends of Portsmouth Island.
- A passenger ferry runs from Ocracoke to Portmouth, a second-generation family business now run by Rudy and Donald Austin.
