Beacon Island, in Portsmouth Township,

Carteret County Carteret County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,686. Its county seat is Beaufort. The county was created in 1722 as Carteret Precinct and gained county status in 1739. It was named for ...

, North Carolina, is an island in the Ocracoke Inlet. The island was used as part of a trading port developed in the late 1700s, and during the American Civil War it was the site of the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

Fort Okrakoke. Erosion has steadily degraded the island, which measured about twenty acres in size in the 18th century but had shrunk to about 7.5 acres by 2014. As of 2016, Beacon Island was owned by

Audubon North Carolina The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

as a bird refuge—it was home to a large population of pelicans until Hurricane Arthur struck in 2014 and damaged the island to an extent that the pelicans left, leaving a population of herons, egrets, gulls, and terns.

References

Islands of North Carolina Islands of Carteret County, North Carolina Outer Banks {{CarteretCountyNC-geo-stub