Stumpy Point 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 ...

Dare County Dare County is the easternmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 36,915. Its county seat is Manteo, North Carolina, Manteo. Dare County is i ...

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 ...

, United States. The community is located at the intersection of

US 264 U.S. Route 264 (US 264) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway System, United States Highway located completely within the U.S. state of North Carolina, running for . Its western terminus is located at Interstate 87 (North Car ...

and Bayview Drive; along the north side of Stumpy Point Bay. It is surrounded by the

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in eastern North Carolina along the Atlantic Coast. It was established on March 14, 1984, to preserve and protect a unique wetland habitat type—the pocosin— ...

. A post office called Stumpy Point that had been in operation since 1876 closed in 2018 due to lack of PO box holders The community takes its name from Stumpy Point Bay. The

North Carolina Ferry System The North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division is a branch of NCDOT that is responsible for the operation of over two dozen ferry services that transport passengers and vehicles to several islands along the Outer Banks of North Ca ...

maintains an emergency ferry terminal at Stumpy Point, used when a hurricane or tropical storm closes

North Carolina Highway 12 North Carolina Highway 12 (NC 12) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina, linking the peninsulas and islands of the northern Outer Banks. Most sections of NC 12 are two lanes wide, and there are also two ...

on 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 ...

. The town is mentioned in the sci-fi novel

Ender's Game ''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they ...

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. , he is the only person to have won a Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award in List of joint ...

, in which the little town is razed sometime in the future to build a

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

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 ...

, and the spaceport is unofficially named after Stumpy Point.

Education

Residents are zoned to Dare County Schools. Zoned schools include Manteo Elementary School, Manteo Middle School, and Manteo High School.

References

Unincorporated communities in Dare County, North Carolina Unincorporated communities in North Carolina {{DareCountyNC-geo-stub