Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve

The vacation corridor of the Outer Banks runs right past this place without stopping. That's the point. Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve — more than 1,200 acres of maritime forest owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy, designated a National Natural Landmark in 1974 — protects one of the largest remaining tracts of this coastal habitat on the Atlantic seaboard. Over 150 bird species have been documented here across oak and hickory canopy, brackish marsh, freshwater ponds, and interdunal swales. The crowds stay on the beach. Go anyway.