The Currituck Heritage Park Winter Education Series continues its 'Corolla In Retrospect ~ The Shipwreck Series' with Blackout! For years after the Currituck Beach Lighthouse was built (1875) the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" was a safer place for mariners but the torpedoes and submarines of the two World Wars changed that. Talk to local experts and listen to their stories of famous wartime shipwrecks and sunken U-boats off the coast of North Carolina:
- It is a little known fact that there were German submarines directly off the NC coast in WWII, much less in WWI. James Charlet & Linda Molloy from the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station Historic Site will dramatically present some of this history with an emphasis on the most highly awarded US maritime rescue, the Mirlo in 1918.
- Learn from Danny Couch, an Outer Banks historian and owner of Hatteras Tours what life was like for local residents during WWII.
- Why is this area called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic"? Nathan Henry, lead conservator with the Underwater Archaeology Branch's Kure Beach preservation laboratory, will share his knowledge gained from working on dozens of shipwrecks in the U.S.
The forum will take place at the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education in Currituck Heritage Park on February 9, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. Take Route 12 North to Corolla. The Park entrance is just past milepost 11 on the left. The event is free; donations are welcome to cover the cost of the refreshments. For more information please call 252-453-9040.
Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education