Portsmouth began as a fishing and shipping hamlet on Portsmouth Island in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Carteret County is home to the town. Portsmouth was decommissioned in 1971, and its ruins are now part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Birth of a Port

During colonial times, Ocracoke Inlet was a well-known shipping lane. Following its establishment, Portsmouth town served as a lighting port. The cargo from ocean-going vessels could be transferred to shallow-draft vessels capable of traversing the lagoons along North America's East Coast, such as Pamlico and Core sound. In 1860, the town of Portsmouth had a population of 685 people. Portsmouth was a small town, but it was a vital port of entry along the Atlantic Ocean in post-Revolutionary America. Residents of Portsmouth village relied on fishing activities and other Maritime trades such as manning and piloting vessels, constructing a small man-made island, shell castle, and using oyster shells as a shipping depot.

Following that, the majority of the people worked as fishermen and clammers. African-Americans descended from slaves brought to the island made up the majority of the population. Most African-Americans emigrated from Portsmouth after the Civil War, but some families, including the Pigotts, remained. Pigott, Henry, and Lizzie Pigott's descendants were among the last to depart town. The black and white students couldn't lawfully attend the one-room schoolhouse on Portsmouth Island together. African-Americans who remained on the island received no formal education because the state never built a separate school for blacks. The occupants of the area did not have access to power or running water.

Unfortunate Portsmouth

Two powerful hurricanes struck in 1846, cutting the Oregon entrance and deepening the Hatteras inlet to the northeast. As a result, Ocracoke Inlet became unfavorable as a shipping path. The waters around Portsmouth Harbor began to shoal up, resulting in the port's rapid downfall. When union soldiers came to reside in the Outer Banks, many people migrated to the mainland, contributing to the decline. The majority of people did not return when the war ended.

Another powerful storm, the Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1933, drove even more people to flee. The decommissioning of the United States life-saving station in 1937 forced people to relocate, and the post office closed in 1959. Marian Gray Babb and Nora Dixon were the last two elderly residents to leave the island after Henry Pigott died in 1971. Portsmouth was abandoned after their migration. The National Park Service had already purchased Portsmouth Island and the village in 1967.

Portsmouth Historic District

In 1978, Portsmouth was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, 21 buildings and a few outer buildings remain. The Portsmouth Village Historic District manages these as part of the Portsmouth Village Historic District. During the summer, the one-room schoolhouse, Methodist Church, Henry Pigott's house, post office, and life-saving station are open to the public for viewing. Visitors are permitted to camp on the beach but not in the village. The area's facilities are limited, such as a compost toilet and a restroom in the visitors' center with no potable water, food, or electricity.