Introduction
The Coastal Plain of North Carolina is often defined by its seashores, beaches, wetlands, and other geographic features significant to this low-lying region of eastern North Carolina. The region’s natural beauty and undeveloped landscape offers visitors an easy escape to an environment that can only be found in a handful of other places in the U.S. North Carolina ranks as the #3 state in terms of National Park visitor spending, behind California and Alaska respectively. This not only attests to the state’s draw to visitors and importance of public lands, but also its land management and preservation practices.
Park management
The North Carolina State Park system is managed by the Division of Parks and Recreation, which is currently directed by John Fullwood. The Division receives resources through the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund as well as the Parks and Recreation Authority. Under the Division, there is a Chief Deputy Director, a Deputy Director of Operations, and a Deputy Director of Natural Resources.
Chief Deputy Director—Responsible for management of the “business side” of the park system. This included budgeting, marketing, publications, and technology.
Deputy Director of Operations—Responsible for park district management (North, South, East, and West) as well as park-level affairs such as facility maintenance, exhibits, and law enforcement. The majority of the parks in the Coastal Plain fall in the East region of the district breakdown.
Deputy Director of Planning and Natural Resources—Responsible for natural factors in the parks such as trail management, park planning, and land protection.
National Parks
In the state of North Carolina, there are 10 National Parks that are managed by the National Park Service. However, the National Park Service also manages several other sites that are associated with the National Parks. There are six sites that are managed by the National Park Service in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain:
Moores Creek National Battlefield—This site marks the events of February 27, 1776. On this day, loyalist forces charged across the Moores Creek Bridge, where they were met by nearly 1,000 waiting patriots. The battle marked the last broadsword charge by Scottish Highlanders, and it noted as the first significant Patriot victory in the Revolutionary War.
Cape Lookout National Seashore—This site is a collection of barrier islands that lies about three miles off of mainland North Carolina and is only accessible by auto ferry. The island is known for a variety of recreational activities as well as its historic villages and remote beaches.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore—This region, similar to the Cape Lookout National Seashore, is comprised of a collection of barrier islands. This site makes up most of the Outer Banks south of Kitty Hawk, which is made up of extensive shoreline on both the bay and ocean as well as the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site—This region is “oldest” of the bunch in terms of its historical presence, as it is considered one of England’s first new world settlements. The sight seeks to preserve the history of region’s Native Americans, as well as events that have transpired since the initial arrival of the English in 1584.
Wright Brothers National Monument—This is the famous site of the Wright brothers first flight. Comprised of rolling sand dunes and ocean breezes, this historic site is a small, tightly managed section of North Carolina’s National Parks that gave the state its designation of “First in Flight”.
Geography
While the geography and geology of parks and public lands in the Coastal Plain are no different than that of the natural Plain itself, there are some important geographical factors to consider as the environment changes and land management and preservation practices are forced to adapt. The most significant aspect of Coastal Plain geography is the presence of barrier islands and their vulnerability to moving sediment. This is relevant to the parks system because the parks system seeks to provide a natural environment for visitors but doing so may prove difficult when the environment is constantly changing. Changing inlets, for example, make the Outer Banks prone to shoaling and may make access to the islands difficult, especially for the Cape Lookout area given that it is only accessible by boat.
Rising sea levels are also proving to be a problem for the Coastal Plain and its parks. Structures on the Outer Banks that lie in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore are begging to fall to hurricanes and storms, threatening visitor volume and accessibility. Furthermore, in 1999 the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved 2,900 feet inland in response to the encroaching shoreline. The lighthouse currently lies about 1,500 feet from the shoreline, which is ironically about the same distance it lay from the shoreline when it was originally built. While this provides a solution in the short term, the Coastal Plain park system will be forced to adapt to a changing environment in order to maintain the level of accessibility and quality of parks that is sees today.
State Park History
The first major conservation effort involving what would end up being the State Park system began in 1891 when the Geological Survey was established. In an effort to keep track of minerals and timber, the report brought attention to permanent damage in the state as a result of over-logging. This led to the creation of Mount Mitchell as the state’s first State Park. After assessing the extensive damage to the area’s forests and water systems, an appeal to preserve the mountain was passed in 1915.
North Carolina’s Coastal Plain first staked its claim in park history in 1911. The General Assembly declared that, in the Coastal Plain’s Bladen, Columbus, and Cumberland Counties, any lake of 500 of more acres “shall always be and remain property of the state of North Carolina for the use and benefit of all the people of the state”. The act was expanded by reducing the acreage requirement to 50 acres, transforming several other lakes to state managed sites.
The State Park system has always benefited through donations and grants, particularly in the 1930’s during the Roosevelt Administration. Through the Federal Public Works Program, the state saw continuous preservation of lands as well as the introduction of more modern facilities in parks. The Coastal Plain area further asserted itself in the parks’ history with the introduction of Cape Hatteras State Park in 1935. The land, which became a part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in 1952, was gifted to the state. The land was adjacent to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, famed for helping mariners navigate the treacherous waters off of the Outer Banks. As discussed above, the lighthouse has since been moved inland from its original location.
During World War 2, the parks system and public lands played a major role in the war effort. Several parks were transformed into training facilities and experimenting grounds for new weapons and technology. Several Coastal Plain sites, such as Fort Macon, were used by the Army to monitor the state’s shorelines and protect America from possible attacks by German U-Boats.
After the war, land use shifted back from military use to visitor and recreation purposes. Since then, the Park System has evolved to emphasize education and sustainability while maintaining its founding principles of preservation and conservation. Through the use of public funds as well as donations, the state has seen steady improvement of park facilities, trail conditions, and conservation efforts which have made the park system into what it is today.
References
https://www.ncparks.gov/carolina-beach-state-park/history
https://www.ncparks.gov/carolina-beach-state-park/ecology
https://www.nps.gov/state/nc/index.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20101120181206/
http://www.ncparks.gov/About/system_main.php
https://trails.nc.gov/https://traveltips.usatoday.com/tourism-coastal-plains-north-carolina-62432.html
https://www.stateparks.com/coastal_eastern_north_carolina_parks.html
https://files.nc.gov/ncparks/nc-division-parks-recreation-organization-chart-2020.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/articles/nps-geodiversity-atlas-cape-lookout-national-seashore-north-carolina.htm