Outer Banks Articles & Shorts - Duck's Cottage

If you’re like a lot of people – like hundreds of thousands of people – you love the Outer Banks of North Carolina. You might consider us presumptuous drawing this conclusion so quickly, and we would agree with you . . . except for the fact that we’re right. You love the Outer Banks beaches, the Outer Banks water sports, the Outer Banks towns, Outer Banks shops, the Outer Banks events and Outer Banks activities . . . everything about this place (you wouldn’t be on this site if you didn’t). We do too. And, lucky for you, we also love writing about the Outer Banks. Locals and visitors alike value our Outer Banks information.

Our local writers tell you how to negotiate dining out if you have a big crowd. We show you, step by step, how to pick a crab. We’ve written articles highlighting Corolla and the Currituck Outer Banks or about charming Manteo on Roanoke Island or telling you the mysteries of Ocracoke Island. We cover the events happening on the Outer Banks – and, boy, are there a lot of them to cover! Outer Banks activities, everything from water sports to walking tours to lighthouse tours to birdwatching trips, are focal points. Businesses, rituals and legends local to the Outer Banks are detailed in our articles. You’ll find out how that restaurant got its name or the modest beginning of that now-booming business. We give you insider Outer Banks information about staying safe in the ocean, how to navigate those pesky turn lanes, which restaurants to check out for the best Southern cuisine in the area and resorts’ present and future aspirations. Our Outer Banks articles are good reading. You’ll feel like a local with all the knowledge you’re sure to collect! And we’re adding to them all the time. Click on in to learn about the Outer Banks from the locals' side!

 

The Art of Being Local

By Beth P. Storie
Realtors talk about location, location, location, but with booksellers it’s local, local, local! The owners of our independent Outer Banks bookstores all say that books written by locals or set on these shores are some of their biggest sellers, both fiction and nonfiction.  Bookstore owners explain that local books... Read More

Opening a Book Opens the World

By Molly Harrison
If you’re a reader, then you know there’s nothing like the delicious feeling of falling into a great book, staying up way past your bedtime to spend more time in a different world with characters and experiences far removed from your own. That’s the magic of books, their ability to transport us, expand our... Read More

Bookselling in a Time of Crisis and Beyond

By Molly Harrison
It takes a special kind of person to be an independent bookseller. The job requires large amounts of passion, creativity, hard work, people skills, tenacity and resiliency, and at no time has that been more apparent than during the pandemic. During the COVID-19 quarantines, many people were saved from the madness of... Read More

Wrecked and Well-Read: What Outer Banks Booksellers Would Read on a Deserted Island

By Hannah Lee Leidy
Your ship sank, the plane crashed, you took a wrong turn on the kiteboard – whatever happened, the travel plan failed you, and now you’re stuck on a deserted island. As a glass-half-full type of person, I’m seeing nothing but unlimited beach time. It’s the perfect opportunity to tackle my ever-growing reading list. ... Read More

Find Your Summer Reads in a Local Bookstore

By Sandy Semans
There’s little as relaxing as having a good book stuffed with paper pages to sink your mind into while stretched out in a lounge chair or on a beach towel. Four Outer Banks bookstore owners, experts in what’s hot in reading, have provided their summer picks that range in genres from historical fiction to real history... Read More