Harkers Island

History

Before the arrival of European explorers and settlers, Harkers Island was inhabited by Native Americans of the Coree tribe, who likely spoke a language of the Algonquian family, like most coastal tribes. The nearby Core Sound and Core Banks are named after the Coree. The Coree left little in the way of evidence of permanent habitation on Harkers Island, except for a large mound of oyster shells at Shell Point on the eastern end of the island. Similar shell mounds were found by Europeans on the Shackleford Banks and other islands of the Outer Banks. The exact purpose of the mounds for the Coree remains unknown, but varying cultures of indigenous peoples in the Southeast had been building major earthwork mounds since 3500 BCE, the Middle Archaic period, usually related to religious and ceremonial uses. In 1584, an English expedition financed by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe explored the North Carolina coast for a suitable site for the first English colony in North America. Two Native Americans, Wanchese and Manteo, accompanied the expedition back to England in the fall of 1584. According to local island legend, Wanchese was a Coree from Harkers Island. The island was first charted on the maps drawn by John White during the 1584 expedition, but it was unnamed at the time. The island appears on a 1624 map of the greater Virginia coastline created by Captain John Smith. On that map, the island is labeled "Davers Ile", probably for Sir John Davers, one of the founders of Jamestown in 1607. On December 20, 1707, Farnifold Green obtained the first patent for land in the Core Sound area from the lord proprietor of the Carolina colony, which had been established by the English monarch Charles I in 1633. This patent included Harkers Island,…

Geography

Harkers Island is located south of the center of Carteret County. The Harkers Island census-designated place covers the entire island and extends slightly out into the surrounding water. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 41.76%, is water. At its highest point, the island is above mean sea level, in an area known as the "sand hole", on the western end of the island, made up of mostly white sand on rolling dunes. Harkers Island is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the barrier islands of the Shackleford Banks to the south and the Core Banks to the east. The body of water directly south of the island is Back Sound. To the east is Core Sound, to the north is The Straits, and to the northwest is the mouth of the North River. The Straits are shallow but navigable by those with local experience. There are two small bays on the north side of the island, Westmouth Bay and Eastmouth Bay. North of Eastmouth Bay is Browns Island, which is accessible only by boat. Harkers Island Road, designated as State Road 1335, connects the island to the mainland by the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge, a steel swing bridge built in 1968 to replace a wooden bridge built in 1941.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• East Carteret High
  High · Beaufort · 530 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Beaufort Elementary
  Elementary · Beaufort · 378 students · 11.8:1 ratio
• Beaufort Middle
  Middle · Beaufort · 258 students · 12.3:1 ratio
• Down East Middle and Smyrna Elementary
  Elementary · Smyrna · 249 students · 10.8:1 ratio
• Tiller School
  Elementary · Beaufort · 195 students · 11.5:1 ratio
• Harkers Island Elementary
  Elementary · Harkers Island · 117 students · 13:1 ratio