Ocracoke by Carl Georch

First published in 1956, this popular classic tells the story of the small island of Ocracoke, certainly one of the loveliest pearls on the Outer Banks. Rich in history and legend, Ocracoke is a storyteller's dream. Carl Goerch had a sixty-year love affair with the island, and he does it justice in these entertaining and humorous stories. Goerch captures Ocracoke as it was more than sixty years ago, preserving it for the reader and vacationer of today. Many things have changed since his extended visits to the island. There are paved roads, police and a bank now, and most of the conveniences of modern life. Yet many things remain the same. The simple lifestyle, the spirit of the hardy islanders, the legends of pirates, storms and shipwrecks, the charm and beauty of the unspoiled beaches.

The late Carl Goerch was known as "Mr. North Carolina." He excelled in several fields: as the long-term reading clerk for the state house of representatives, a popular broadcaster, newspaper columnist, book author, and a widely sought speaker "full of good humor." Goerch also founded the popular magazine The State, still published today as Our State. He had visited all fifty states and fifty-two foreign countries, but if you asked him his favorite spot on earth, he no doubt would have said Ocracoke.