Walk into this former carriage house, take a few steps and you’re in the kitchen. The visual impact was one of the motivating factors that prompted the homeowner to completely remodel it.

In the ‘80s and early ‘90s, living large defined home design. Cavernous great rooms, ballroom-size kitchens and bathrooms that rivaled the size of Roman spas were high on must-have lists. Over that period, the average home grew from 1,780 square feet to 2,400 square feet.

Now, of course, many of the original owners of homes built during that period are either downsizing or are moving to 55+ or retirement communities. As a result, ‘80s-era homes are hitting the market and a new generation of buyers is looking to designers like Kevin Martin of Quality Custom Cabinetry and remodelers such as Bruce Gingrich of Glenn Gingrich, Inc., to make living spaces seem less overwhelming.

As per the adage, “what goes around comes around,” today’s home buyers – specifically the millennials – are looking to live in smaller, more manageable houses. If you’re a devotee of HGTV, DIY, FYI and other home-focused cable networks, you’re probably aware that “tiny” and “flipping” have become the driving forces behind many of their shows.

In Lancaster city, small house living is not a new phenomenon, as is evidenced by streets filled with tidy row homes. Repurposing carriage houses and other utilitarian buildings to create unique living spaces has also long been popular in the Red Rose city.

Fifteen years ago, a newcomer to Lancaster had taken up temporary residence with friends while he searched for a home to buy. One day he took a walk through one of the city’s historic neighborhoods and noticed a small “house” that sat off the street. “I thought to myself, ‘I love that!’” he recalls. A few weeks later he walked the same route and to his surprise, a For Sale sign had been posted on the property. He immediately arranged for a showing. Taking a step into the foyer, he made an instantaneous offer to buy the house.

It seems he purchased a slice of Lancaster’s architectural history that relates to the Victorian era: Built in the late 1800s, it originally served as the carriage house for a nearby residence. The caretaker lived in an apartment on the upper floor. In the 20th century, it was transformed into a private, single-family, 4-bedroom home.

The carriage house’s new owner moved in and quickly realized he had a lot of work ahead of him. While the original brown beadboard ceiling was beautiful, it delivered the impression of a ‘50s-era bowling alley. Yet, he liked how it related to the era in which the house was built and vowed to keep it and find a way to make it less obvious. The knotty-pine kitchen, circa the ‘60s, was certainly vintage, but it had to go. “Oh, and there was Laura Ashley wallpaper everywhere,” he notes. And, it didn’t want to budge from the horsehair plaster.

Still, the new homeowner forged on. He worked with a remodeling contractor to transform the second floor. A hallway was eliminated, which allowed for one of the bedrooms to become a loft-like sitting room and library. The bedroom that sat between the master bedroom and bath was reconfigured to become a dressing area and walk-in closet, thus creating a full-fledged master suite. Downstairs, the living/dining room was refurbished and given a fresh coat of paint, which softened the impact of the beadboard ceiling.

After a 12-year wait, it came time to tackle the kitchen. Despite its minuscule size – 8×12 feet – the homeowner was at a loss from a design perspective. “Everyone kept saying I had to take a wall down and open it up, but I didn’t want to do that,” he explains. He turned to Horizon Kitchens for help and began working with Kevin Martin. “He was convinced it was a design nightmare,” Kevin recalls.

The first time Kevin saw it, he had to agree with the nightmare assessment. “I didn’t know what to make of the hook in the ceiling, but it became a quirk that I grew to like,” he comments. “We agreed it had to stay.”

Because he wanted to devote the bulk of his time to designing the space, Kevin suggested they add Bruce Gingrich of Glenn Gingrich, Inc., to the team as a design associate and remodeler. “Bruce could not only serve as the remodeling contractor, but I was confident that because of his design aesthetic, he could essentially be the associate designer for the project and help with selecting countertops, the backsplash, faucets and lighting,” Kevin explains. “It was also nice to have him onboard to bounce ideas off of and offer second opinions.”

In Bruce’s opinion, “It was critical that it look good,” he says of the kitchen. “You walk through the front door and you’re there. I also thought that it was important for the design to reflect the character of the house.”

He was also aware of the challenges the small space presented. “The challenge here was to make things work when you’re faced with tight and compromising conditions. But, that’s part of the fun of a remodeling project: Sometimes you can be more creative than if you’re working with a clean slate.”

Bruce also had another ace up his sleeve: He loves to cook and fully understands the dynamics of a kitchen.

Kevin began by taking cues from other areas of the first floor. “The kitchen is open to all areas, so it needed to complement the styling and decor that was already in place,” he explains. To achieve that, he employed a simple inset-door style. Furniture-style construction also distinguishes the cabinetry. The cream paint color echoes the wall color and upholstery in the living/dining room.

Convenience was also built into the design, as all the lower cabinets are fully outfitted with pull-out shelving.

Eliminating clutter and creating a seamless look are keys to designing a small kitchen. Here, cabinet panels on the refrigerator and dishwasher help to achieve that, as does the elimination of outlets and such. Instead, outlet strips are tucked out-of-sight beneath the cabinets.

Light is another element of making small spaces appear larger. In addition to the cream-based color scheme, an expanse of recessed lights illuminates the kitchen. Natural light streams in through the off-center window.

The sensation of additional light comes courtesy of a door that separates the utility room/laundry from a hallway that also provides access to a bathroom and pantry. The homeowner liked to keep the door open, but complained that it resulted in a drafty kitchen. “We looked into a glass door but didn’t find anything that was right,” Bruce explains.

Then, one day Bruce was struck by the idea of removing the recessed panels of the existing door and replacing them with glass. The old/new door proved to be a perfect solution as it admits natural light but blocks drafts.

Bruce and the homeowner have continued to collaborate on projects. The area that holds the gas stove in the living room was made less obtrusive, and Bruce designed end tables that would contain the boxes, wires, etc., for the television, as well as provide display areas for books.

The homeowner, who has lived in Boston, Baltimore and Washington, loves living in Lancaster. “This is probably the best house I’ve ever had,” he says. “The tradespeople in Lancaster are wonderful, and they are so talented.”

While he is living small, he says the house is perfect for entertaining. “It’s a very easy house for entertaining,” he says. “The kitchen has made it more so. Now, there’s a nice flow that makes it very inviting. My friends from Baltimore and D.C. love it.”

Taking a cooking class has been a perpetual New Year’s resolution of mine. I’ve been intrigued by food almost as long as I’ve been a terrible cook. When the opportunity arose to take a cooking class hosted by friend and cooking enthusiast Bruce Gingrich, I jumped at the opportunity. In time, my resolution would lead to more than just a new way of life.

First, a little bit about Bruce. He’s always been interested in cooking and, during his time in college, a chance encounter with a chef at a cooking demonstration opened the door to improving his own kitchen skills. The chef suggested he buy the Culinary Institute of America’s textbook, The Professional Chef, and follow it from beginning to end.

Although the book was expensive (from a student perspective), Bruce took the chef’s advice, anted up the dough and cooked his way through the book. Envision the movie Julie and Julia, and you’ll get the picture.

Our connection? I met Bruce at a photo shoot for Lancaster County magazine. Not ironically, food and cooking were involved, as the storyline entailed a dinner party at the home of Pete and Carol Heth. “You look familiar,” Bruce said to me. In playing out a lengthy round of the Lancaster County game, we concluded our paths had crossed time and again, including the New Holland Coffee Co., which we both frequent.

Thanks to that assignment, Bruce and I have become buds, riding bikes together and collaborating on photography for some of Bruce’s building and remodeling projects.

Last year, Bruce launched a home-based cooking school of sorts and invited me and my girlfriend, Jessica, to participate. Eight of us typically gathered once a month to cover a new topic and prepare a host of recipes. We learned to make soups, pesto, fettuccine Alfredo, salad dressings and mayonnaise from scratch. One night we grilled each course (I highly recommend grilled pound cake). We sharpened our cooking techniques with improved knife skills.

The culinary experience alone would have been life-changing, but the difference the classes made in our lives was far-reaching. They affected how we shop; the quality of our meals improved with better ingredients, so many of which Lancaster County bountifully provides. We’ve begun to explore local roadside stands and added Lancaster Central Market and Stoudt’s Wonderful Good Market to our itinerary. We now stick to the perimeter of grocery stores like Shady Maple in order to focus on fresh produce, meats and seafood. Our new routine pays dividends when a recipe comes together.

Summer

A Greater Sense of Community

As the months went by, what started out as a journey in pursuit of preparing better food became so much more. We began looking for recipes, cooking inspiration, used cookbooks (the Lancaster Public Library book sale is a great source) and hot buys at The Restaurant Store.

Cooking also conjured up childhood memories. Everyone remembers cooking with a grandparent, leading to shared connections across generations. Recipes, techniques, family history and stories of days gone by are all passed on over food. It’s almost as though the point of food is nourishment not only for the body, but also for the soul.

Through cooking together over the course of a year, our monthly interactions quickly grew into a new community; as friendships developed, we discovered how much is shared through preparing and enjoying food as a group.

The more we shared at each class, the more we started to realize that opportunities to meet new friends or even catch up with old ones at meals are becoming rare.

Gone are the days when landlines reigned supreme and a last-minute call to a home phone number prequalified an impromptu Sunday afternoon visit. I thought of my grandmother, who was always prepared for guests to stop over. She had a well-stocked pantry full of fresh baked goods, sodas and other treats for the unexpected visitor.

My grandmother was also the perfect guest. She’d arrive at her destination with a thermal insulated bag filled with something in one hand and a pie from Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop in the other.

Fall

The Art of Being Neighborly

Contrary to what you might expect to hear in a cooking class, entertaining guests doesn’t require being a fantastic cook or baker. A hectic schedule is not a detriment either. You can buy prepared food, such as a rotisserie chicken, homemade soup, potato salad or a cake for your dinner party. It’s not a rule that you must make everything from scratch.

You can also take prepared dishes to another level if you’re feeling creative. One of my secrets comes from New Orleans’ French Quarter: a sliced pecan pie grilled with butter on a heated, cast-iron skillet, then served a la mode. Similar to a grilled sticky bun, grilling adds a delightful, caramelized crunch with a sweet play on temperature.

Beautiful desserts from the Baker’s Table or La Dolce Vita are a convenient addition to your menu. Keeping a selection of wine, beer, tea or coffee on hand is another simple inclusion.

And, if someone offers to bring something, by all means, accept the hospitality.

Winter

It also turns out that there’s an art to hosting and being neighborly, and it’s a critical subject for cultivating community around food. For example, there’s protocol for what to communicate ahead of a gathering. In addition to establishing a start time, be sure to make inquiries about dietary restrictions. Serving Delmonicos to a group of vegans will definitely put a damper on the festivities. You’ll be asked about what guests should wear; again there’s lingo to learn. “Anything” will get you just that; learn the nuances of what casual, cocktail casual, cocktail, etc., entail.

Creating a theme for the night – such as a summer fete en blanc, where everyone in attendance dresses in white – creates fun and excitement.

Also, address what guests should bring, if anything, and that includes children (and, in this day and age, maybe the family dog).

Deciding whether topics such as politics and religion should be encouraged or be off limits can make or break more than just an evening.

When guests arrive, make sure to facilitate introductions. I always appreciate when there’s a lead-in with shared interests, which almost instantly replaces any introverted awkwardness I bring to the table with deeper and genuinely enthusiastic conversation. Also along those lines, if you’re hosting a sit-down dinner, I can attest that tactfully seating guests around the dinner table can encourage conversation simply by placing introverts (such as myself) next to the more outgoing extroverts.

Spring

In the end, taking a cooking class turned out to be less about food and more about community than I anticipated. I’m grateful to the Gingrich family and the many friendships that have formed and for all of the wonderful evenings shared since it all began. It has provided an enduring perspective on how I experience and share food.

If cooking is of interest to you, I encourage you to take a class and learn how to prepare at least one dish well. You never know what a cooking class will really teach you.

For the last several months, I’ve been hitting Lancaster County eateries, snapping photos of appetizers, posting them to social media and tagging them with #LanCoTizer. The search was not all-encompassing: I wanted to find a few places offering something other than wings, mozz sticks and jalapeÑo poppers. Not that there is anything wrong with those, but there is just so much more restaurants have to offer.

The idea for this quest came on the heels of reading about chefs from around the world who either embrace or abhor photos of their food being plastered on social media sites. It seems diners just can’t help themselves – they want to photograph and share what they’re enjoying. The label #food attached to photos on Instagram surpassed 150 million tags in 2015 and, with the surging popularity of Instagram, that number has probably grown substantially over the last two years. Now, it’s not at all unusual to be in a restaurant and see people taking photos of drinks, food, themselves, their dining companions, the staff, the scenery and on occasion, the chef. It seems like only yesterday when someone from management would apologize to guests if the flash of a camera went off in a restaurant for a special occasion like a birthday, anniversary or graduation. I’m afraid those days are long-gone!

Many chefs have gone beyond tolerance and actually encourage photo-happy customers. Comodo, a chic neighborhood eatery in SoHo, encouraged customers to snap pics and even built an Instagram menu around user’s posts with #comodomenu. And, according to an article in Washingtonian magazine, that region’s restaurants are embracing the phenomenon; owners and designers undertaking remodeling and redecorating projects are devoting more attention (and money) to lighting, backdrops and color schemes that will accommodate their Instagram-happy customers and in doing so, bring attention to their restaurants. Some Washington-area restaurants are even supplying tip sheets on capturing the tastiest Instagram photo to commemorate a night out.

A few weeks ago, Good Morning America aired an unheard-of 10-minute segment on the subject. It seems restaurants in New York are now engaging the services of professional photographers to create “Instagram” images that capture their cuisine in the best light possible. The fact that the photographers spend considerable amounts of time styling and staging the food sort of defeats the purpose of Instagram.

 

However, there are detractors to the movement. Despite its viral marketing, Comodo closed in March. Michelin star holder Alexandre Gauthier joined a few other French chefs and banned the use of Instagram from his restaurant, La Grenouillère.

Asking around Lancaster County, it seems most local chefs – just like most chefs worldwide – have come to accept amateur food photography and the associated social networking posts. It’s a personal thing. Some embrace the idea. Some just shrug their shoulders.

Feel free to search #LanCoTizer on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for examples, but here are a few places that stood out for their creativity, dedication to food as craft, and all-around yumminess.

A Raw Staple

To Chef Carl Vitale, tuna tartare is a menu staple. The first time I ever sat down to talk with him about his food – back before the restaurant’s new location opened on Oregon Pike – he brought over a plate for each of us, along with a glass of California red wine. The dish, which evolves seasonally, is an important part of Vitale’s intent to build a menu around freshness and sustainability.

Bluefin tuna, once essential for upscale restaurants and a hard-sought prize for sport anglers, is dangerously overfished. Bluefin, the largest tuna, is sought for its size and populates menus at restaurants serving raw fish.

Not at Gibraltar. Vitale opts to procure the yellowfin variety, which is plated with an eggplant purée, kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes and a few salty caper berries. (Yellowfin is not on the Word Wildlife Fund’s list of endangered species and is often marketed as ahi tuna.) The dish is as beautiful to look at as it tastes.

“If you’re proud of your food, and you’re not insecure about other people stealing your ideas, then I think people taking photos of your food is flattering,” says Carl. “In my opinion, it’s bought and paid for; it’s theirs. If they want to take a picture of it and post it on Instagram, Facebook or wherever, that’s great publicity.”

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Gibraltar. 488 Royer Dr.; 717-397-2790; gibraltargrille.com

A Hero on a Half Shell

Matt Keasey likes oysters … and beer, so the mad scientist behind creations like The Astounding She-Monster Mango IPA, Lil’ Gruesome Peanut Butter and Jelly Stout, and Braaaiins! Pumpkin Ale For Zombies at Spring House Brewing Company requires the bivalves be on the menu at his Hazel Street location. In fact, the brewery known for pulling no experimental punches actually created an oyster beer using the shellfish in the brewing process.

“That’s Matt’s thing. Something about how well the briny nature of the oyster pairs with the beers,” says General Manager Damian Morris when I got down to talking appetizers – and oysters – with him recently.

Having an emphasis on the slightly obscure from day one, the menu at the Hazel Street location (as opposed to the tasting room downtown) has featured rabbit sandwiches, wild boar and wild game birds. Now branded The Butchery – with an emphasis on steaks – the eatery also offers a selection of oysters year-round (as available) and aims to source the creatures as close to home as possible.

During a recent visit, I tried a few raws from Nandua, Virginia. Nandua is an unincorporated community in Accomack County, on a tributary leading to the Chesapeake Bay, 75 miles southwest of Ocean City, Maryland. Nandua Selects Oyster Company (pictured left) is a fourth-generation fishery. I found the oysters to be both sweet and salty, with an incredible citrus aftertaste. Damian suggested pairing the oysters with their current JOOP offering, an IPA brewed with peach purée and Mosaic and El Dorado hops.

As for posting pics of The Butchery’s food on social media, Damian is all for it. “We use it to help promote our specials, and we love when customers show off what our chef can do,” he says.

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Spring House Brewing Company. 209 Hazel St.; 717-984-2530; springhousebeer.com/pages/hazel

A Stuffed Avocado

“It makes me feel good knowing someone took pics,” says Chef Mike Groff at Brady’s Pub in New Holland. “It also encourages me to make sure my presentation stays up to par. I don’t want a sloppy food pic posted.”

Self-taught, Mike has been cooking for over 20 years. He started in the industry as a dishwasher at the one-time Ephrata landmark, family-run Rawhide in the Cloister Shopping Center. He still works in the family biz, as his parents now own Brady’s where he is the full-time chef. When not in the kitchen, Mike spins tunes for local events, weddings and private parties as DJ Mike.

Over the years, he’s found he sometimes needs to push his customers to try new things. When he first introduced ahi tuna as an appetizer, no one ordered it. So, the next weekend he plated up two-dozen samples and handed them out as an on-the-house amuse-bouche. Now, the ahi tuna rivals the crab balls as the restaurant’s top selling appetizer.

“A lot of people do fried things when it comes to appetizers, so I wanted to do something outside of the box,” Mike says of his bacon, egg and cheese-stuffed avocado served with honey-glazed watermelon. He came up with the idea, which should not be misconstrued as a breakfast dish despite the eggs and bacon, and polled a couple of taste-testers at the bar. The sample bites were a hit.

It comes as no surprise that Mike’s corn, crab and lobster bisque earned him first place five years in a row at Taste of Lancaster County. The restaurant also displays people’s choice awards for his chili.

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Brady’s Pub. 856 W. Main St., New Holland; 717-355-5510; my.sociopal.com/bradyspub

 

It’s September, and many of you are probably thinking about making trips to the mountains to enjoy the fall foliage. Have you ever considered a fall getaway to the beach? If you head south to Virginia, the Carolinas and beyond, you’ll find the weather is great, the water is warm, fishing is fantastic and, best of all, the crowds are gone. Plus, there’s fall color: The dune grasses take on a golden glow.

After years of going the “shore” route, my family made a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina in search of something different. Indeed, the contrasts between the Outer Banks and our more familiar boardwalk beaches were striking. When I returned years later – in 2008 – as an adult, we headed north on NC12; that’s when the focus of my beach trips permanently changed from Wildwood to wildlife.

The Outer Banks is a string of barrier islands, peninsulas, and spits that stretch 200 miles from the southeastern tip of Virginia to Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. They’re separated from the mainland by a series of sounds. In some places the islands are so thin that you can simultaneously see the sound and ocean as you travel the only north/south route, NC12.

The Outer Banks has been in the news this summer due to a pop-up island that has taken shape off the point of Hatteras Island. Because of the array of shells that wash up, it’s been dubbed Shelly Island. And, of course, the construction disaster that disrupted power to the lower islands – causing mandatory evacuations for visitors – dominated the news in late July and early August.

Coming from the north, you’ll likely make your way across the Currituck Sound via the NC158 Wright Memorial Bridge, which takes you to NC12. From there you have the choice to go north to towns like Duck and Corolla, or south into the more densely populated areas like Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head.

Does Kitty Hawk sound familiar? It’s home to the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which is on the site where Orville and Wilbur first took flight. Go a little farther south into Nags Head, and you’ll spot ant-sized people hiking (or hand-gliding) over the giant dunes of Jockey’s Ridge State Park. Being that the stretch between the two mainland bridges is so populated, this area also offers the most shopping, dining, entertainment and recreational activities.

Shortly thereafter you can pick up US-64, which turns westward toward Roanoke Island, the home of the historical drama, The Lost Colony. This summer marked the production’s 80th season, and here’s some trivia: It’s where Andy Griffith launched his acting career.

 

Continuing south on NC 12, you’ll cross Oregon Inlet (home to the Discovery series, Wicked Tuna/Outer Banks) and enter Hatteras Island, which is home to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Officially established on January 12, 1953, it is recognized as the country’s first national seashore.

This is where the wind meets the wild, allowing the National Park Service to manage and preserve over 70 miles of the Outer Banks from Bodie Island to Ocracoke Island. Small towns, such as Waves, Rodanthe (yes, the movie, Nights in Rodanthe, was filmed on the Outer Banks), Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras Village, dot the length of the island.

It’s a popular area for camping, fishing, driving on the beach and other outdoor recreation. Hatteras Village offers the closest proximity to the Gulf Stream, making it a popular destination for fishing excursions. A stretch of ocean known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic is offshore, making it a favorite of divers in search of wrecks to explore. The island’s position in the Atlantic also makes it a prime place for surfing and lighthouses.

That’s right, this area is home to three of North Carolina’s seven beautiful coastal lighthouses: Bodie Island Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras Light Station and the Ocracoke Lighthouse. Proving the fragility of the Outer Banks, in 1999 the Cape Hatteras Light was moved 2,900 feet inland as beach erosion left the lighthouse just 15 feet from the water at high tide. That was a tall order for the tallest brick lighthouse in the country, but the effort is truly appreciated by the thousands of visitors who climb the 257 steps to enjoy the jaw-dropping panoramic view.

Once you reach Hatteras Village, you’ll need to board a ferry and pick up NC12 in Ocracoke.

Ocracoke’s claim to fame is being the favorite hangout of Captain Edward Teach, who is otherwise known as Blackbeard, the infamous English pirate. One of these years, I vow to make it to Ocracoke.

Ocracoke is a haul from our favorite vacation spot on the northern banks. It’s a very different feel from the southern islands. Shortly after turning north, the road quickly becomes two lanes with no passing (a stark contrast to the five lanes heading south). That’s because this area went basically undeveloped until the mid-80s. It was in 1984 that work began to expand NC12 north to Corolla. As the road expanded, so did the communities, and the modern towns of Duck and Corolla began to take form. Driving north, the landscape is dotted with brightly colored beach homes and condos. In both towns, shopping, dining, tours, entertainment and other tourist services are generally clumped together in shopping centers. A warning to first-timers, fast food isn’t really a thing here.

As you’re making your way through Corolla, you’ll spot the red brick Currituck Beach Lighthouse above the horizon. After braving the 220 steps and a 150-foot climb, this is yet another lighthouse on the Outer Banks with a very rewarding view over Historic Corolla Village. Within the vicinity, you will also find the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education (great for rainy days with the kids) and Whalehead, which is a beautifully restored 1920s Art Nouveau-style residence that is open to the public for museum tours. This is one of the places we stop to let some air out of the tires for the last leg of our annual journey.

As we turn back onto NC12, there are a few more shops, a pizza place, wild horse tours and the last chance for gas. After a few more twists and turns, you begin to see the warning signs. You also begin to notice the road is filled only with pickups, hummers, jeeps and SUVs. Traffic slows before the final bend as the pavement stops and the sand begins. This is the beginning of the 11-mile stretch to the Virginia border known as the 4×4 Beach. This is the only route to the group of communities generally known as Carova, which extends to the Virginia border.

This is wild horse country. In the years following World War II, the local equine population outnumbered humans 100 to 1 at times. This remained true until development began in neighboring Corolla. The exact origin of the local wild Spanish Mustang population is unknown, but it is believed the herd’s ancestors were left behind by early Spanish explorers in the mid-1500s. Another theory holds that they swam ashore in the aftermath of shipwrecks.

As visitation to the northern Outer Banks exploded, the wild horses were driven farther north, prompting fences to be erected at the Corolla and Virginia borders. The year-round residents of Carova wanted to ensure that their area stayed wild and, as a result, the 4,570-acre Currituck National Wildlife Refuge and the 965-acre Currituck Banks National Estuarine Preserve were established. Paving the roads would be impossible.

There is also a ban on commercial buildings, which guards against stores or resorts being built in the area. As a result, this is arguably the final frontier on the Outer Banks; the scenery consists of beach, sound, woods, houses and a local fire department. The habitat provides a home for local wildlife, while controlling visitor impact.

While the wild horses are a magical addition to a stay in Carova, it should be noted that it is illegal and dangerous to get with 50 feet of them. With a keen eye, you’ll be able to observe some other wildlife as well. In addition to the horses, I have also seen fox, wild boar, tree frogs, crabs, and many bird and fish species while staying in this area.

During the day, we typically pull up onto the beach and set up camp or take the kayaks back to the sound. The Carova Beach Park and Boat Ramp is a nice place to relax and watch the sun set or drop a lure, depending on the season. A walk on the beach on a clear night provides a full view of the Milky Way with the naked eye, while a walk before sunrise becomes a hunt for the ocean’s treasures that have washed ashore.

I typically summarize our visits as a relaxed environment with a touch of wild. Things move a little slower on this end of the banks, and it’s just the rest and relaxation we’re looking for when we head to the beach. September can’t come soon enough!