Buxton is home to the tallest brick lighthouse in America - the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. A center of history, beauty, education and commerce, the lighthouse has a small museum and visitor's center. Visitors from all over climb the 200-plus steps and see the breathtaking view from the top. Surfers come to ride the waves beside the towering structure and a championship for surfers is held annually near the lighthouse. Buxton proves there is also a great deal of activities to enjoy.
Buxton also houses the largest maritime forest along the North Carolina coast. The dense forest, known as Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve, is located in the widest part of the Southern Outer Banks - three miles wide. There are many different restaurants and grocers in the area; it also has campgrounds, tackle shops and store for the influx of summer travelers. Buxton is definitely a place for vacationers to visit.
Buxton is in Dare County, in the Kill Devil Hills metro area in the State of North Carolina in the United States of America. It is located at latitude 35.267° North, longitude 75.542° West. The United States Postal Service has assigned Buxton the ZIP Code 27920.
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Buxton Attractions and Activities
Parks
Cape Hatteras National Seashore: Extending over 70 miles of barrier islands. Suitable for activities like camping, swimming, fishing, boating, kayaking, windsurfing, hiking, biking.
Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve: The largest remaining maritime forest in the Southeast consists of pine- and oak-covered dune ridges and maritime swamp forest. It's a rare ecosystem for a barrier island, and most visitors don't even realize it exists. The N.C. Division of Coastal Management maintains a 968-acre portion of the woods for research, education and recreation and offers some great hiking trails for the public to use to experience this amazing ecosystem. You might see one of 360 species of birds, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons, plus gray fox, white-tailed deer, mink, river otter, box turtles, salamanders or other creatures.
Museums
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was the first lighthouse built in the region, authorized by Congress in 1794 to help prevent shipwrecks. The original structure was lost to erosion and Civil War damage; this 1870 replacement is, at 208 feet, the tallest brick lighthouse in the world. Endangered by the sea, in 1999 the lighthouse was actually raised and rolled some 2,900 feet inland to its present location. It's now the Hatteras Island Visitor Center. In summer the principal keeper's quarters are open for viewing, and you can climb the 257 steps (12 stories) to the viewing balcony. Children under 42 inches in height aren't allowed in the lighthouse. Offshore lie the remains of the USS Monitor, a Confederate ironclad ship that sank in 1862.
Activities
Buxton at Cape Hatteras is the perfect destination for those who desire a seaside vacation in its purest form: pristine beaches, quaint villages, miles of undeveloped marine forests, and opportunities for some of the best fishing, kayaking, surfing, and other outdoor activities. Other family activities include miniature golf, pier or beach fishing, parasailing or banana tube rides, sport wall climbing, kayaking and even nightly entertainment (during the summer) in some restaurants.
Buxton Woods National Park Service Nature Trail.
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