Manns Harbor, NC

Manns Harbor is a Dare County census-designated place on the mainland between Croatan Sound and the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The village was already in place when Dare County formed in 1870, with early families farming, fishing, and selling seine-net catches in salt-packed barrels to New York's Fulton Fish Market. Local boatbuilders used nearby juniper to make rounded-bottom shad boats. The community sits near the route to Roanoke Island, but Manns Harbor's older story is water, timber, fish, and boats.