Roanoke Island Attractions, Performances & Events

All Summer Long Events around Roanoke Island

• Various locations around Roanoke Island
• Manteo

Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen – Roanoke Island Festival Park, (252) 475-1500. Wednesdays at 3 p.m. on June 3, 10 and 17 and August 5, 12 and 19.

Community Sailing Programs and Learn to Sail Camps – Roanoke Island Maritime Museum, (252) 475-1750.

The Diary of Adam and Eve – The Elizabethan Gardens Theatre, (252) 473-3234. Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m. in July and August.

Elizabeth R – Roanoke Island Festival Park Film Theatre, (252) 475-1500. Tuesdays at 3 p.m. on June 2, 9 and 16.

Family Fun Summer Series – The Elizabethan Gardens, (252) 473-3234. Wild Wednesdays (gardens photography show) and Discovery Thursdays (interactive activities). 2 to 4 p.m. from June 10 through August 5.

First Friday—Downtown Manteo, First Friday celebration and street festival, 6 to 8 p.m. from April through December.

The Lost Colony – Waterside Theatre, (252) 473-3414. May 29 to August 20, Monday-Saturday at 8 p.m. (Backstage Tours at 6 p.m.)

The Lost Colony Children’s Theatre presents Charlotte’s Web – Waterside Theatre, (252) 473-3414. June 18 to August 13, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m.

Manteo Farmer’s Market – George Washington Creef Park, Manteo Waterfront, Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon throughout the summer months.

North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island – Daily programs and special events, (252) 473-3494.

Shepherd of the Ocean, Roanoke Island Festival Park, (252) 475-1500. Thursdays at 3 p.m. on June 4, 11 and 18 and August 6 and 13.

Summer Children’s Performance Series—Roanoke Island Festival Park, Manteo, (252) 475-1500. June 23 to July 31, Tuesday through Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Tea with the Queen – Waterside Theatre, (252) 473-3414. Thursdays June 25, July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and August 6 and 13, 3 to 5 p.m.

Waterside Art Wednesday – Waterside Theatre, (252) 473-3414. Wednesdays June 17 to August 12, 2 to 3:30 p.m. Ages 7 -12.

Bloody Mary and the Virgin Queen

• Roanoke Island Festival Park’s Film Theatre
• Manteo
• (252) 475-1500 or (252) 473-1061

This outrageous musical farce is based on the fact that Queen Elizabeth I and her half-sister Mary Tudor absolutely loathed one another during their lives, yet they were buried in the same tomb at Westminster Abbey. The show, set in present day, begins when the tourists have left the Abbey, allowing the ghosts to start their vocal bantering and arguing. The dialogue is a blend of contemporary issues and political satire about world and Roanoke Island events. This production is recommended for ages 14 and up. Admission is included in the price of general admission to Roanoke Island Festival Park. The play is performed on Wednesdays June 3, 10 and 17 and on August 5, 12 and 19 at 3 p.m. and lasts about an hour. 

Dare County Arts Council Gallery

• 104 Sir Walter Raleigh Street
• Manteo
• (252) 473-5888

This great little gallery showcases the work of Dare County artists, and artwork for the General Member Art Shows is refreshed monthly. You’ll find paintings, prints, pottery and jewelry. There are bins of local artists’ unframed art too. You have to check out the cool Art-o-mat machine where you can buy cellophane-wrapped packages of original artwork by North Carolina artists. This is the place to get any information you need about the arts in Dare County, as it is also the office of the Dare County Arts Council.

Dare County Regional Airport Museum

• Dare County Regional Airport Museum, 410 Airport Road
• Manteo
• (252) 475-5570

The Wright Brothers weren’t the only famous pilots to fly on the Outer Banks. Located inside Roanoke Island’s airport is a small, two-room museum dedicated to the days when a Naval Auxiliary Air Station was based on Roanoke Island. In 1941, the U.S. Navy took over the county’s airfield, making it a training site for World War II aircraft. Check out the museum to learn about local heroes like “Kitty Hawk Kid,” Lt. Sheldon R. “Ray” Beacham. Beacham is credited for shooting down two Japanese Zeros in the South Pacific. Beacham and his VF-17 Squadron were one of the most famous Navy Fighter Squadrons, known for the skull and crossbones painted on the noses of their planes. You can also learn about Dave Driskill, who is credited with bringing aviation to the Outer Banks starting in the 1930s. The museum is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and admission is free.

Decoys by Nick Sapone

• 292 The Lane
• Wanchese
• (252) 473-3136

Local carver Nick Sapone welcomes visitors to his home/studio to have a look at his hand-crafted decoys. Sapone makes hunting-style decoys, as opposed to decorative decoys, in wood and in the traditional Outer Banks canvas style. Call ahead to make sure he’s there if you’re making a special trip to Wanchese just to see him.

Diary of Adam and Eve

• The Elizabethan Gardens’ Theatre
• Manteo
• (252) 473-3234

The Diary of Adam and Eve is a one-act play from the Broadway musical The Apple Tree. Performances are held in the air-conditioned theater at The Elizabethan Gardens on Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m. in July and August. Based on a short story by Mark Twain and set to words and music by the team of Harnick and Bock who created Fiddler on the Roof, this light comedy is the perfect story for a garden setting. Younger family members can enjoy a concurrent program, A Snake in the Grass, if they choose not to see the play. Admittance to the play is free with paid admission to The Elizabethan Gardens.

Elizabeth R

• Roanoke Island Festival Park’s Film Theatre, 1 Festival Park Drive
• Manteo
• (252) 475-1500

Miss Barbara Hird gives a commanding performance as Queen Elizabeth I in this one-woman, internationally acclaimed show. Hird is committed to authenticity in this interpretation of the character of Queen Elizabeth I. In the hour-long performance, the Queen spills the intimate details of her life, including her likes and dislikes, the reasons for making her decisions and information about her parents, her lovers and Sir Walter Raleigh’s colonies. This production is recommended for ages 14 and up. It runs Tuesdays June 2, 9 and 16 at 3 p.m. Admission is included in the general admission ticket price to the park. Tickets can be ordered in advance.

Endless Possibilities

• 105 Budleigh Street
• Manteo
• (252) 475-1575

This shop offers a truly unique concept in creativity and fund-raising. The goods sold here — rugs, purses, pillows, boas and more — are hand-woven and handcrafted out of recycled clothing that was donated to local Outer Banks Hotline thrift shops. The creations are amazing, colorful and original. The shop also offers the work of talented artists on consignment. The knitters, jewelers and sculptors who display their wares here all work with other found or recycled materials. Proceeds of the goods go to Outer Banks Hotline, a local nonprofit organization, to help local women and families on the Outer Banks.

Weavers are at work on the looms right in the store, and they welcome volunteer weavers. (They’ll teach you what to do.) You can also come in and pay a fee to make your own woven items. This is a great activity for young and old alike — just call ahead to check for loom availability.

First Friday

• Downtown Manteo
• Manteo

First Friday is a family-oriented downtown festival held in the evening from 6 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday of every month from April through December. Downtown Manteo’s sidewalks come alive and the streets are festive on these nights. Several shops and restaurants do an individual celebration of some sort, such as live music, special sales and hors-d’oeuvres, and the Dare County Arts Council Gallery usually has an opening reception during First Friday. It’s a great time to explore downtown Manteo.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

• 1410 National Historic Drive (off U.S. Highway 64)
• Roanoke Island
• (252) 473-5772

This national historic site commemorates and preserves the first English attempts at colonization and aims to help visitors gain a better understanding of the known elements of the settlement. To get the full story of the colonists straight, tour the museum in the visitor center. Educational exhibits, artifacts unearthed from the site, plus exhibits on the colonists and Elizabethan life are on display. A short film relates the story of both English attempts to establish colonies here. Also in the visitor center is the Elizabethan Room, with paneling from a 16th-century English house that is similar to the kind a colonial investor would have lived in. During the summer months there are interpretive programs. Outdoors, the Thomas Hariot Nature Trail winds through the wooded area between Roanoke Sound and the visitor center, making about a quarter-mile loop. Hariot’s descriptions of the New World are quoted on signs along the trail. You can also see a restored earthen fort. Also, you will find a Civil War marker that designates the park as part of the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, a nationwide program of sites that addresses the Underground Railroad story. This area was part of a Freedmen’s Colony where escaped slaves found refuge during and after the Civil War. Visitation to Fort Raleigh is free. It’s open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer; it closes at 5 p.m. during the rest of the year. Just by the parking lot is a great picnic site with tables under shady trees and a spacious lawn for kids who love to run.

Full Moon Art Gallery—Pure Island Art

• 208 Queen Elizabeth Street (on the corner with Sir Walter Raleigh Street)
• Manteo
• (252) 473-6666

This one-of-a-kind gallery features the finest of local arts and crafts — by Outer Banks artists only. Sharon Enoch, co-owner of the Full Moon Café & Grill next door, is a restaurateur by day and a potter by night (though we’re sure those timeframes interchange!). You’ll find her beautiful stoneware pottery creations in this funky shop along with local handmade jewelry, fused glass vases, sea glass earrings, prints, cards, textiles, original watercolors and garden art. Support the local artists and take home a true treasure from the Outer Banks.

Gallery 101

• 101 B Budleigh Street
• Manteo
• (252) 473-6656

Gallery 101 displays fine art and craft from local, regional and out-of-state artists. The focus is on ceramics, both functional designs and fine art pieces, but there are also paintings, art glass, jewelry and photography, including works by local photographers. New owner, Dee Isenhour, is a potter, and she displays her ceramics here along with the raku pottery and paintings of the former owner, Scott Stockdale.

John Sliver Gallery

• 105-A Fernando Street
• Manteo
• (252) 475-9764

John Silver Gallery provides an inviting and intimate setting for 12 American painters. The artists, including Roanoke Island resident John Silver, are plein air and studio painters working in oils, acrylics or watercolors. The owners and experienced staff are happy to assist you with a selection, and as art connoisseurs they are glad to share with you their love of painting and the artists they exhibit.

Manteo Farmers Market

• 104 Fernando Street, George Washington Creef Park, Manteo Waterfront
• Manteo
• (252) 473-2133

On Saturday mornings in the summer months, the Farmers Market features home-grown, home-baked and homemade goods for sale. Pick up fresh herbs, produce or flowers, buy some local artwork or sweets, all in a beautiful waterfront setting next to the Roanoke Island Maritime Museum. This makes a great family outing as there’s a playground next to the market area. The market is held from 8 a.m. to noon. For more information visit www.townofmanteo.com.

Nancyware Pottery

• 402 Queen Elizabeth Street
• Manteo
• (252) 473-9400

This is the potter’s studio as well as her exhibit space, so you can often see her at work at the wheel. Nancy’s functional ceramics are made of high-fired stoneware that is dishwasher, microwave and oven safe including pie plates, colanders, dishes, tumblers, vases and spoon rests. She also makes odds-and-ends jars, beaded jewelry, small collectible mirrors and tile murals. Nancy can create personalized, special orders, which make great wedding gifts or wedding favors! Ceramics classes are offered in the off-season.

North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island

• 374 Airport Road
• Manteo
• (252) 473-3494, (866) 332-3475

On a beautiful site overlooking the Croatan Sound, the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island is one of three state-operated aquariums on the North Carolina coast. The Aquarium on Roanoke Island features the 285,000-gallon Graveyard of the Atlantic saltwater tank exhibit, interactive exhibits, two touch tanks, a theater and a new exhibit, Oceans Revealed: Power of the Planet, an interactive way of viewing the Earth and its oceans.

Throughout the aquarium are exhibit tanks filled with fish of North Carolina coastal habitats, including sharks and rays. You will see eels, sea turtles and more than 200 fish in a shipwreck habitat displaying a 1/3-scale replica of the USS Monitor. In the Wetlands on the Edge sky-lit atrium, you will see river otters, alligators and turtles lazing on rocks in the sun. Each day at the aquarium there are educational programs, fish feedings and demonstrations.

The gift shop has a great selection of toys and gifts related to sea life and ecology. Snacks are available outside the aquarium from vending machines, and in the summer months there are food vendors on site.

The aquarium is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $6 for children ages 6 to 17 and free for children 5 and younger and Aquarium Society members.

You can rent the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island for special events, conferences and weddings. Located on the Croatan Sound, the aquarium accentuates any event for up to 1,500 guests! Caterers, DJs, bands, beer, wine and all the usual wedding services are allowed. A self-guided tour of the facility is included for all guests. All weddings must occur after operating hours. Call the Special Events Coordinator at (252) 473-3494 ext. 258 for information.

To inquire about special activities like Breakfast with the Rays, Snack with the Sharks, Aqua Tales for Tots, Behind the Scenes Tours, fish printing, crafts projects, birthday parties and the ever-popular Seafood Series, call (252) 473-3494 ext. 232 or visit the interactive calendar on the website. Special activities require a separate fee and advance registration.

Looking for a special place to send your children to summer camp? The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island offers four sessions of day camp each summer. Two sessions run for ages 7 to 9, and two sessions run for ages 10 to 12, with a maximum of 12 campers for each week of camp. Educational activities, programs and aquatic field trip outings are scheduled for these week-long camps, with a sleepover in front of the 285,000-gallon Graveyard of the Atlantic saltwater tank exhibit for the older campers. To find out more about Aquatic Adventures and Jr. Aquatic Adventures Summer Day Camps or to pre-register, call (252) 473-3494 ext. 232.

Outer Banks History Center

• Roanoke Island Festival Park, across from the Manteo Waterfront
• Manteo
• (252) 473-2655

The Outer Banks History Center, celebrating its 20th year in 2009, is a regional archives and research library administered by the North Carolina State Archives. Its holdings document the history, development and growth of the North Carolina coast. It’s a great place to find historic photographs of the Outer Banks. The public is welcome to use the center to research geneaology or any other topic related to the Outer Banks, and they have a great reading library of current periodicals. The center’s gallery features changing exhibits of topics about the Outer Banks.

Roanoke Heritage Art Galleries & Military Museum

• 543 Ananias Dare Street Ext.
• Manteo
• (252) 473-2632

This little museum and gallery is behind the home of the owner on Ananias Dare Street across the main highway from the downtown area. Herbert Bliven runs a small museum housing his collection Civil War artifacts that he found on Roanoke Island. You’ll also see World War I and II, Native American and Korean War memorabilia as well as antique decoys. He also operates a frame shop, offering custom framing and a variety of original artwork, photographs and limited-edition prints, all complemented by his handcrafted wooden frames. Call before you stop by.

Roanoke Island Maritime Museum / Creef Boathouse

• 104 Fernando Street, Manteo Waterfront
• Manteo
• (252) 475-1750

Originally a boathouse used to build world-record-holding speedboats, this building has seen a variety of boat-building uses in its day. The building’s double-wide doors and barn-like roominess create the perfect setting for this working boathouse museum. The Roanoke Island Maritime Museum is a treasure-trove of local seafaring history. Come inside for a look at some locally built boats and possibly to see boat building in the process.

Whatever you see, you’ll learn about the island’s traditional boats, what they were used for and how they were used. On the water, you’ll see a variety of traditional watercraft, the most noteworthy of which is the reproduction North Carolina shad boat, The Spirit of Roanoke Island, built by museum volunteers. Head over to the boathouse to see the Ella View, an original shad boat built in 1883 by George Washington Creef, the boathouse’s namesake.

The museum has a number of programs and workshops to celebrate maritime heritage. The Maritime Museum offers Build a Boat in a Day workshops once a month from June through October. They also offer boat rides in a traditional shad fishing boat once a week throughout the summer. Call to register in advance. The museum’s community sailing program and Learn-to-Sail camps for kids are very popular (see our Recreation section). It’s free to tour this museum and talk with the volunteers and staff. The museum is growing all the time, so check back often for new programs and events.

Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse / Manteo Weather Tower

• East End of Queen Elizabeth Street, Waterfront
• Manteo
• (252) 475-1750

Perched over the water along Manteo’s waterfront boardwalk, the picturesque Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse is perfectly suited to the town’s maritime setting. This Victorian stick-style lighthouse is a reproduction of the third Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, which never stood on the Manteo waterfront but in the Croatan Sound from 1877 to 1955. Out there in the sound, the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse keepers lived on the lonely lighthouse platform and operated the light to help mariners navigate safely. This replica was built by the Town of Manteo and dedicated in September 2004. Inside the lighthouse is an exhibit about the history of the first lighthouse along with some boat-related exhibits from the neighboring Roanoke Island Maritime Museum.

Also on this site, the Town of Manteo is keeping the century-old tradition of the Storm Warning Tower alive with the Manteo Weather Tower. This particular tower dates back to 1904, when the U.S. Weather Bureau set up its first Storm Warning Tower in Manteo. Using flags by day and lights by night, the towers provided a useful service to local residents, especially mariners and fishermen, but certainly for others as well. A. E. Drinkwater, the town’s telegrapher, was the weather observer, and the tower was located first at the downtown courthouse, then at a location on the waterfront and then at Drinkwater’s home, where it stayed for decades until the Town of Manteo obtained it in 2005. The tower on the Manteo waterfront today is the original 1904 tower with the original signal lights and a bit of refurbishing. The Town of Manteo’s dock master changes the flags and lights according to weather reports, and locals and visitors enjoy interpreting the signals. If you need to brush up on your weather-warning flag symbols, a legend for the flags is available at the base of the tower and also on postcards available at the Maritime Museum.

Shepherd of the Ocean

• 1 Festival Park Road, Roanoke Island Festival Park, Across from Manteo Waterfront
• Manteo
• (252) 475-1500

This whimsical comedy about the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Ralegh (“Ralegh” is actually the historically accurate spelling, say the show’s creators). The play premiered in 2006 at the international Sir Walter Ralegh Festival in Youghal, Ireland, receiving rave reviews during its three-week run. Set primarily in a time warp, the play is a flashback of Ralegh’s most cherished moments with Queen Elizabeth. The 50-minute show is best suited for ages 14 and older. It runs Thursdays June 4, 11, 18 and August 6, 13 and 20 at 3 p.m. Admission is included in the general admission ticket to the park.