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Caffeys Inlet   Settlers came to Duck in the late 18th century by boat, sailing through the Currituck and Caffey's Inlets to the Currituck Custom House and boatyard in Ginguite Creek. By mid 19th century a growing community fished, farmed and sold surplus delicacies.
Swan Fish, fowl and fruit as well as caviar from the roe of local sturgeon and eel. In 1849, The Currituck Club was the first formal hunt club. Wintering duck and geese were sport for hunters.
 To protect the coast and travelers, the US Life Saving Service was formed. Stations were built every six miles.
 Residents had a livelihood and social life, evenings passed with whittling and paint decoys and recounting tales of hunting and whale sightings.
 Village life continued into the second half of the 20th century, then roads were improved, bridges build and people came to summer at the beach.
 The town of Duck was incorporated on May 1, 2002 to maintain the village quality.

NC Parrot

Crested Blue Jay
Fishing Hawk

Land Crab
Arriving in Williamsburg in 1715, Mark Catesby, a keen naturalist, tramped the woods and waterways through the Carolinas to Florida and the Bahamas.  He was the first naturalist to describe and paint the creatures of the new world in their natural setting.

  He observed, collected, drew and painted plants, birds, beasts and fish. Sanderling, Oceanfront
  Mark Catesby spent ten years in the American colonies observing, researching and painting native plants and animals. He devoted another 20 years to his monumental book: Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. The results were the first comprehensive English-language study of American plants and animals.

  Mark Catesby made two extended trips to America. Back in England, his wealthy patrons were eager to receive his shipments of the exotic birds, reptiles, insects and other animals and plants he found on the East Coast of America and in the Bahamas.
 Mark Catesby's "Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands" was the first major illustrated publication on the flora and fauna of Britain's American colonies. 		 Together with his "Hortus Britanno-Americanus" (1763), which detailed plant species that might be transplanted successfully to British soil, Catesby's "Natural History" exerted an important, though often overlooked, influence on the development of art, natural history, and scientific observation in the eighteenth century.

  In Europe, in 1731 he published The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands.  Inspired by a major traveling exhibition of Catesby's watercolor drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, this collection of interdisciplinary essays considers Catesby's endeavors as a naturalist-artist, scientific explorer, experimental horticulturist, ornamental gardener, and early environmental thinker in terms of the interests held by the various, overlapping communities in which he functioned -- particularly as those interests related to the British colonial enterprise.

  Europeans were fascinated by the strange creatures - the scarlet ibis, the red hind, the flame box crab - that he showed in vivid detail, often paired with plants that made up their usual habitat. Thomas Jefferson and Lewis and Clark were among those in America who sought out The Natural History.
Winter Waterfowl
  The Currituck Sound is at the midpoint of the Atlantic flyway and a historic migratory area for wintering ducks, geese and swan. Mid-October still sees the arrival of Pintail, Buffelhead, Teal and many other kinds of duck. Formations of Canada Geese, Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swan are heard in the night sky as they circle and descend once again to the ancestral winter feeding grounds, especially in the Pine Island Audubon marshes. Late afternoon you can hear and see the spectacle against the setting sun.
  Currituck County was established around 1668. It was one of the five original ports for North Carolina and one of the original counties. The Currituck County Courthouse and Jail are two of the oldest buildings in North Carolina. The Currituck County Jail is one of the five oldest jails in North Carolina. In 1731, Currituck County was a place in change - settlers from the old world came to farm while Algonkian Indians hunted and fished the shores. Currituck, today still has places of wilderness and wonder !
  "Currituck" in the Algonquian Indian language means "The Land of the Wild Goose."
The abundant waters, marshes, and woods still available in the county enable Currituck to enjoy a national and international reputation as a "Sportsman's Paradise." Hunting and Fishing guides still operate in Currituck as they have for centuries.
Bald Cypress
Bald Cypress trees are commonly found trees in coastal Carolina and recognized for the upward projecting roots call 'cypress knees.' Its delicate feathery green leaves made it camouflage for the Carolina Parrot, now extinct. Tall cypress trunks are habitat for fish, hawk and osprey. 		Hercules Elbow or The Toothache Tree This coastal tree is prevalent throughout the Northern Outer Banks. It gets its name from the prickly knobs or 'elbows' on its trunk. The Indians used the roots to anesthetize their gums for toothaches. The leaves have an aromatic odor similar to oil of lemons. Externally it may be used as a stimulation liniment for rheumatism and fibrositis. Live Oaks
Live Oaks assume a wind-sheared, dwarfed appearance near ocean dunes, moving into the maritime forest the oak has a large spreading canopy and wide trunk. It is particularly well suited to withstand the winds of the barrier island because its grain runs in gnarls and knots. This keeps the limbs from breaking during storm winds. Oak trees start producing acorns when they are 20 yrs. old. The acorns of Live Oak are borne on a long stalk and are football shaped.
     

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