"Finch is today’s best, most perceptive Cape Cod writer in a line extending all the way back to Henry David Thoreau." —Christian Science Monitor Weaving together Robert Finch’s collected writings from over fifty years and a thousand miles of walking along Cape Cod’s Atlantic coast, The Outer Beach is a poignant, candid chronicle of an iconic American landscape anyone with an appreciation for nature will cherish.

The classic nature memoir of Cape Cod in the early twentieth century, “written with simplicity, sympathy, and beauty” (New York Herald Tribune). When Henry Beston returned home from World War I, he sought refuge and healing at a house on the outer beach of Cape Cod. He was so taken by the natural beauty of his surroundings that his two-week stay extended into a yearlong solitary adventure. He spent his time trying to capture in words the wonders of the magical landscape he found himself in thrall to. In The Outermost House, Beston chronicles his experiences observing the migrations of seabirds, the rhythms of the tide, the windblown dunes, and the scatter of stars in the changing summer sky. Beston argued: “The world today is sick to its thin blood for the lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot.” Nearly a century after publication, Beston’s words are more true than ever.

Eighteen essays describe the author's experiences exploring the outer half of Cape Cod, and share his observations on nature, ecology, and the relationship between people and their environment.

Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks share an incredibly rich surfing history. Virginia Beach is home to major surfing institutions so iconic and long lasting they are simply referred to as "ECSC," "WRV" and "17th Street." Of course, the Outer Banks has the

Take a walk on the beach with three coastal experts who reveal the secrets and the science of the North Carolina shoreline. What makes sea foam? What are those tiny sand volcanoes along the waterline? You'll find the answers to these questions and dozens more in this comprehensive field guide to the state's beaches, which shows visitors how to decipher the mysteries of the beach and interpret clues to an ever-changing geological story. Orrin Pilkey, Tracy Monegan Rice, and William Neal explore large-scale processes, such as the composition and interaction of wind, waves, and sand, as well as smaller features, such as bubble holes, drift lines, and black sands. In addition, coastal life forms large and small--from crabs and turtles to microscopic animals--are all discussed here. The concluding chapter contemplates the future of North Carolina beaches, considering the threats to their survival and assessing strategies for conservation. This indispensable beach book offers vacationers and naturalists a single source for learning to appreciate and preserve the natural features of a genuine state treasure. Southern Gateways Guide is a registered trademark of the University of North Carolina Press

From the Civil War to the turn of the century, this is the true-life story of the original Coast Guard and one crew of African-American heroes who fought storms and saved lives off America's southeastern coast. 31 halftones.

North Carolina's Outer Banks are in constant motion, responding to weather, waves, and the rising sea level. Beaches erode, sometimes taking homes or sections of highway with them into the surf; sand dunes migrate with the wind; and storms open new inlets and dump sand in channels and sounds. A classic guide, The Nature of the Outer Banks describes these dynamic forces and guides visitors to sites where they can see these phenomena in action. In the first section of the book, Dirk Frankenberg highlights three major processes on the Outer Banks: the rising sea level, movement of sand by wind and water, and stabilization of sand by plant life. In the second section, he provides a mile-by-mile field guide to the northern Banks, and in the final section, he alerts readers to the dangers of overdevelopment on the Outer Banks. In a new foreword for this edition, Betsy Bennett documents the ever-more-critical situation of these shifting sands. Southern Gateways Guide is a registered trademark of the University of North Carolina Press