Tucked away on a narrow stretch along the northernmost beaches of North Carolina´s Outer Banks lies a community so remote from everything else, that many people aren´t even aware of it´s existence. When driving north on the only road connecting towns and communities like pearls on a string, one finds an abrupt end of the tarmac at the northern edges of a town called Corolla. The road hits the beach, with a ten foot grate zone separating the asphalt from the sand. Grates on a roadway are normally used to keep animals from leaving a farm or a certain territory, that´s the case here too. Banker horses are being kept in a secluded area where they roam freely in roughly 1,800 acres (728 ha) of more or less protected land. This feral horse breed is descendant from spanish horses that survived shipwrecks in the 16th century, and the population is managed by adopting out yearlings. The stretch of beach from the end of Corolla to the Virginia state border, called Carova Beach, is approximately 10 miles (app. 16 km) in length. The really cool thing is, that it´s an unincorporated community without any commercialism whatsoever. There are no shops, restaurants, no infrastructure of any kind, not even roads. The tricky part of living there is the transport aspect. Since there are no roads, one is restricted to use the beach as a highway, and this is allowed only with a 4X4. Under normal circumstances not a big problem, but during the hurricane season the highway may shift daily, or on some days may not be there at all. Tricky indeed. The only other option is getting there by boat from the Currituck mainland. When visiting the Outer Banks this is a nice part to go and discover, it´s off the beaten path and in high season not as overcrowded as the central and southern parts. One can roam around between the sand dunes, spend a nice day on the beach (the beach is broad enough for the infrequent traffic and sunbathers alike), or even watch the wild horses. 

More pics of Carova Beach on the OBX