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46375 Lighthouse Road Cape Hatteras Light Station Buxton, NC 27920 Cape Hatteras National Seashore is located along NC-12 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. You can reach the seashore from the north by following US 158 to Nag Heads, NC and the turn-off to NC-12 and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. From the south, you can take NCDOT ferries from Swanquarter, NC and Cedar Island, NC to the village of Ocracoke on Ocracoke Island. The provided physical address is the location of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, roughly in the middle of the park. The weather along the Outer Banks varies throughout the year and even throughout the day. Please check the National Weather Service information at http://www.weather.gov/mhx/ for forecast information. Entrance Fee-free This site is fee-free year-round. No entrance fee or pass is required. Parking/Transportation Parking, shuttle, or other transportation-related fees may apply. Bodie Island Visitor CenterApproximately six miles south of the seashore's northern entrance is the Bodie Island Visitor Center. This visitor center is located in the historic Bodie Island Lighthouse Double Keepers' Quarters at the end of a short park road off of NC Highway 12 across from Coquina Beach. The visitor center is a great place to get oriented and browse the park store. Hatteras Island Visitor CenterThe visitor center offers orientation information, a bookstore to shop for gifts, and a great views of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Museum of the SeaAbout 50 miles south of the seashore's north entrance is the Hatteras Island Visitor Center and Museum of the Sea in Buxton, NC. The Museum of the Sea is within the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Double Keepers' Quarters. The two-floor museum contains exhibits on Outer Banks history and natural history. A small audiovisual room provides video presentations, available upon request. Ocracoke Island Discovery CenterThe Ocracoke Island Discovery Center is where you can go within the village of Ocracoke to get park information and start your exploration of Ocracoke Island. Whalebone Junction Information CenterThe Whalebone Junction Information Center is located on Highway 12 in Nags Head, NC at the entrance to Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Park maps, newspapers, and current beach conditions are available inside. The building is staffed by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. Hatteras Island Weather Bureau StationThe Hatteras Weather Bureau Station was built in 1901 as one of the many stations along the east coast that would forecast weather for boats and the surrounding communities. Today the building is used as a information center. Public WiFi is not available.
Cellular access is generally good; access may be limited in remote beach areas. 
National Park Service Where Land and Sea Merge A thin, broken strand of islands curves out into the Atlantic Ocean and back again in a sheltering embrace of North Carolina's mainland coast and offshore sounds. For thousands of years these barrier islands—North Carolina's Outer Banks—have survived onslaughts of wind and sea. Their long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and woodlands are set aside as Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The treacherous waters off the coast of the Outer Banks is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, a grim but fitting epithet. Over 600 ships wrecked here as victims of shallow shoals, storms, and war. Diamond Shoals, a bank of shifting sand ridges hidden beneath the turbulent sea off Cape Hatteras, has never promised safe passage for ships. In the past 400 years the graveyard has claimed many lives, but island villagers saved many. As early as the 1870s, villagers served in the US Life-Saving Service. Others staffed lighthouses built to guide mariners. Few ships wreck today, but storms still uncover the ruins of the old wrecks that lie along the beaches of the Outer Banks. Cape Hatteras National Seashore protects parts of three barrier islands: Bodie Island, Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island. Beach and sound access ramps, campgrounds, nature trails, and lighthouses can be found and explored on all three islands.
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Last updated: November 10, 2021