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NAGS HEAD DINING -
Outer Banks Calendar of Events
Modern visitors have found Nags Head to be
the ideal vacation spot, but they are simply
carrying on a tradition that began over 160
years ago when a North Carolina plantation owner
first set foot at Nags head and discovered the
charms of the area. In those days, planters from
inland counties longed to escape the long, hot
and humid summer, which they believed fostered
malaria and other diseases. In the 1830's, the
first of these genteel plantation owners came to
Nags Head and purchased 200 acres of land where
he built the very first beach cottage.
Within 20 years, Nags Head had become a
thriving resort settlement, with two dozen vacation homes
from Sound to sea, and a massive resort called the Nags
Head Hotel at the foot of Jockey's Ridge. For many years
before and after the Civil War, the hotel was the focal
point of summer activity in Nags Head. Dance and dinners
were held nearly every night. The hotel even built a
railway for transportation of its guests to the ocean
beach. Accommodations were inexpensive as well: $1.50
per day, with children and servants half price.
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