Buxton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) on

Hatteras Island Hatteras Island (historically Croatoan Island, sometimes referred to as Hatorask) is a barrier island located off the North Carolina coast. Dividing the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound, it runs parallel to the coast, forming a bend at Ca ...

(part of the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separatin ...

) near

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. As a temperate barrier island, the landscape has been shaped by wind, waves, and storms. There are long stretches of beach ...

. It is located in Dare County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 1,181. Located at the widest part of Hatteras Island, it is the largest community on Hatteras Island both in terms of area and population, and is home to the island's schools and other major public buildings and offices. North Carolina Highway 12 links the community to other Outer Banks communities such as Avon, Frisco, and Hatteras. Buxton is most famous for being the location of Cape Hatteras Light and of the accompanied beaches; it is also the home of the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club. The residents of Buxton are governed by the

Dare County Board of Commissioners The Dare County Board of Commissioners is the governing body of Dare County, North Carolina. It runs in the manner of a county commission. It has seven seats held by elected officials called County Commissioners. The Commissioners are elected at ...

. Buxton is part of District 4, along with Avon, Frisco, Hatteras, Rodanthe,

Waves United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

and

Salvo A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute. As a tactic in warfare, the intent is to cripple an enemy in many blows at once and prevent them from f ...

. In addition to Cape Hatteras Light, the shipwreck was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2013.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,181 people, 572 households, and 405 families residing in the CDP.

Recreation

Watersports are common on both the

Pamlico Sound Pamlico Sound ( ) is a large estuarine lagoon in North Carolina. The largest lagoon along the North American East Coast, it extends long and wide. It is part of a large, interconnected network of similar lagoons that includes Albemarle Sou ...

side and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

side of the community. Proximity to the convergence of the Labrador Current and the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States, then veers east near 36°N latitude (North Carolin ...

result in some of the largest surf available on the East Coast. On the protected soundside of the island, watersports such as windsurfing, kayaking, kiteboarding, and swimming are all readily available and accessible.

Education

Residents are served by the new Cape Hatteras Elementary School, opened in 2001 (home of the Tropical Storms) and Cape Hatteras Secondary School of Coastal Studies, a combination middle school and high school (Home of the Hurricanes) newly rebuilt in 2007 on the NC 12 site of the original Cape Hatteras Elementary and Cape Hatteras Secondary Schools, in Buxton. Both schools are part of the Dare County Schools district.

British Cemetery

On May 21, 1942, the body of a British seaman, unidentifiable but presumed to be from the HMT ''Bedfordshire'', sunk by a German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

, washed ashore. The month prior, a British sailor from the sunken merchant ship ''San Delfino'' had been buried in Buxton. The ''Bedfordshire'' seaman was interred in an adjacent plot, resulting in a British Cemetery, formally known as Cape Hatteras Coast Guard Burial Ground.

Climate

According to the

Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC), or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC), is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köp ...

system, Buxton, North Carolina has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

with hot and humid summers, cool winters and year-around precipitation (''Cfak''). Cfak climates are characterized by all months having an average mean temperature > 32.0 °F (> 0.0 °C), at least eight months with an average mean temperature ≥ 50.0 °F (≥ 10.0 °C), at least one month with an average mean temperature ≥ 71.6 °F (≥ 22.0 °C) and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. During the summer months in Buxton, a cooling afternoon

sea breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

is present on most days, but episodes of extreme heat and humidity can occur with

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shade (shadow), shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the Shade (s ...

values ≥ 100 °F (≥ 38 °C). Buxton is prone to hurricane strikes, particularly during the

Atlantic hurricane season The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year, from June 1 through November 30, when Tropical cyclone, tropical or subtropical cyclones are most likely to form in the North Atlantic Ocean. These dates, adopted by convention ...

which extends from June 1 through November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September. During the winter months, episodes of cold and wind can occur with

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

values < 15 °F (< -9 °C). The

plant hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

in Buxton is 8b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 19.3 °F (-7.1 °C). The average seasonal (Dec-Mar) snowfall total is < 2 inches (< 5 cm).

Ecology

According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Buxton, North Carolina would have a dominant vegetation type of

Live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

/Sea Oats Uniola paniculata (''90'') with a dominant vegetation form of

Coastal A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

(''20'').

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in North Carolina Census-designated places in Dare County, North Carolina Hatteras Island Beaches of North Carolina Beaches of Dare County, North Carolina Populated coastal places in North Carolina