I suppose I should apologize for injecting so much "dry" information into my ramblings but the issues that brought the Seashore, island residents and the visitors to this amazing place are complex and I've yet to find a suitable "Cliffs Notes" way to present them. To understand where we are now, we have to look at the past which describes the road travelled to arrive at the present. Whats key here was the intent of Congress as this Seashore was established. That intent was/is clearly explained through the enabling legislation and various amendments passed by Congress since. All of this stuff is part of the "Organic Act" aka. Title 16 United States Code in its assorted manifestations. The bill that "established" the Seashore was passed by the 75th Congress and originated in the House as HR. 7022. Here Congress establishes for the Park Service a dual mandate for the Seashore that essentially divides this area into two parts; one for recreational purpose and the other to be "reserved" as primitive wilderness. To date, the vast majority of this place falls into the latter category leaving just the beaches for recreation. The villages that are surrounded by the Seashore of course were exempt as they were extant prior to the inception of this legislation and include (N.to South) Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo (~22 mile gap) Avon (~8 mile gap) Buxton, Frisco (~4 mile gap) and Hatteras. One must then cross an inlet by ferry to reach the Island of Ocracoke where on the far end is found the village by the same name. All in all, across the some 70 odd miles of islands only a couple thousand people call this place home. And whats happened to this place is nothing short of a world class travesty. We are being raped by the Park Service, the court of a judge who is clearly lost, by way of unwarranted environmentalist lawsuit(s).
Not wanting to emulate those that would rob us of our access to this seashore who prefer in their various legal ramblings, I present the pertinent portion of the enabling legislation in whole. Note the "except for" exemption that National Park Service and the assorted enviro groups would prefer you ignore as they do as often as possible.
Except for certain portions of the area, deemed to be especially adaptable for recreational uses, particularly swimming, boating, sailing, fishing, and other recreational activities of similar nature, which shall be developed for such uses as needed, the said area shall be permanently reserved as a primitive wilderness and no development of the project or plan for the convenience of visitors shall be undertaken which would be incompatible with the preservation of the unique flora and fauna or the physiographic conditions now prevailing in this area.

So that's where it started.

Tight Lines,

Wheat