Oh
East and ahead of the coast of North America
distant from the inner shores of North Carolina there stands in the open Atlantic a slim and
moving line of sand
Visited and possessed by the outter see these sands might be the end or the beginning of a world
a
Slender stretch of sand dunes sea oats and salt marsh. These are the Outer Banks
Graveyard of the Atlantic
Land of lighthouses wild horses and legendary storms
Many Outer Banks place-names are world-renowned
Kittyhawk Kill Devil Hill, Cape Hatteras
But south of Ocracoke inlet there Rises a luminous bar of sand of almost 60 miles an extent
with no roads, no bridges
Cape Lookout National Seashore, one of the few remaining natural barrier island systems in the world
Remote windswept interlaced with earth sound and sea
Inside the sheltering arms of the barrier islands lies an inland sea
Huge shallow estuaries called sounds
Where fresh water blends with saline creating a prolific nursery for ocean-going creatures
Ringing the estuaries the salt marsh is one of the most productive
ecosystems on earth
Providing a fertile home for the inhabitants of the tide washed wetlands
The edges of the lower marshes around Pamlico and for sounds consists primarily of a single plant species
Saltmarsh cordgrass
Resilient
Flexible able to secrete salt through special glands
Cordgrass is a processor and distributor of solar energy
upon which the entire estuary depends
Resting a life from the sea has never come without great effort
Saltmarsh cordgrass
irrigated by seawater
Adapted to withstand coastal storms has found an ecological niche
Willing to bend but reluctant to break
For more than 200 years the people of Portsmouth Village showed similar
resilience in an ephemeral world of wind and water
Beyond the estuary lies a slip of moving earth between sound and see
Where the horizons are remote and distant rims on the edge of space
Cape Lookout appears on early maps of the continent as promontory 'm tremendum
the horrible headland
From the Cape a massive bar of sand extends into the ocean more than 15 miles
above and below water
In the days of sail ships would travel the eastern seaboard by coasting
sailing south on the cold Labrador Current
Hugging close to the land to avoid the north flowing Gulf Stream
This area has the highest wave energy along the entire East Coast and
Sudden storm waves could ground chips on the shoals were even pitched them completely ashore
No matter how storm-tossed the sea
To rescue people on ships in distress the surf men of the life-saving stations were duty-bound to go out
Though not all would come back
Geologist speak of these islands as if they were living beings of breathing inlets of
Sand as sustenance
Of nomadic Islands constantly on the move in response to wind and wave
Rolling and migrating toward the edge of the continent the most dynamic geology on earth
Elevation changes are measured in inches
a
Stand of beach grass will trap sand and over time
Enable the area to grow into a doom
Scientists refer to those parts of the earth where humankind has changed the natural world as the
anthroposophy r
The great polar ice sheets are melting the
Vast oceans are trending acidic
The anthroposophy r now encompasses the entire plan
From our limited perspective we think of land even islands as permanent
But when Columbus sailed if he had come north along the Carolina coast, he would not have found the Outer Banks
Most were not Islands then but sandbars submerged after a rapid rise in sea level
Today these ribbons of sand are in the midst of another major collapse
Many of the developed islands of the Outer Banks are on the verge of breaking apart
But the wild undeveloped beaches of Cape Lookout will likely survive
Riding the sea wind rolling further westward into core sound
preserving this solitude and sense of antiquity
The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place
Where the broad ocean leans against the land
Those who contemplate the beauty and mysteries of earth sea and sky were never alone or weary of life
We find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of the natural world
The assurance that dawn follows night and spring will after the winter
The continents themselves dissolve and passed down into the sea in grain after grain of eroded land
In its mysterious past the sea
Encompasses all the dim origins of life and receives in the end the remnants
For all at last returned to the sea
- Oh seeing us
the ocean river
Like the ever flowing stream of time
the beginning and
You