About Manteo

The town of Manteo wraps around Shallowbag Bay on the eastern side of Roanoke Island, part of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Named the seat of government for Dare County in 1870, this waterfront community incorporated in 1899. In those early days, every store lining the waterfront had two doors - one for those coming by boat, and the other for those coming from the courthouse or one of the inns on Water Street. Manteo is home to more Bed and Breakfasts than any other Outer Banks town.

Today, county business still brings people to the charming downtown streets, as do the many reminders of the island's unique history, including the representative 16th century ship Elizabeth II at Roanoke Island Festival Park, and the George Washington Creef Boathous and Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, part of the Roanoke Island Maritime Center. Each summer, Manteo welcomes singers, dancers and actors back to Waterside Theatre, where they perform the nation's oldest outdoor symphonic drama, The Lost Colony.

Weather is always a topic on an island, and in Manteo, the day's weather report takes the form of signal flags flying from a restored US Weather Bureau tower.

No matter the weather, there's always something different to do in Manteo, and another reason to return. Maybe there's a concert or art show or nature program that brings you back. First Fridays, Dare Day, July 4, Virginia Dare's Birthday, Halloween and Christmas are special times in the town for residents and visitors alike. For more information visit the town website townofmanteo.com

Roanoke Island is home to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, famed site of the first English Colony in the New World. You can still walk the grounds where Queen Elizabeth I established a lone military outpost in 1585 for raiding Spanish ships laden with Aztec gold. In 1587, just over 110 men, women and children sailed to the Outer Banks to scratch out a new life in an unexplored land. All that remains is their earthen fort that is still available to the public today. No one ever saw them again. 20 years later, the English would claim a stake in the New World again, at Jamestown.

Roanoke Island is home to the Freedmen's Colony, a place of safe haven during the Civil War where African-Americans could escape slavery if they could just make it across the Roanoke and Croatan Sounds. A marker located at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site recounts their humble beginnings. Freedman's Colony is an official honorary stop along the Underground Railroad.

The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, and the Elizabethan Gardens are two popular attractions located on the north side of the island. The Aquarium has a 1/3 scale replica of the U.S.S. Monitor as the centerpiece for their Graveyard of the Atlantic tank, patrolled by sand tiger sharks, barracuda, and other fish found along offshore reefs. Elizbethan Gardens is home to an English pleasure garden, exquisite statuary, and a walking trail that takes you into a world of rare roses, tea shrubs, and a cornucopia of camellias and azaleas.