See where Blackbeard met his death

Springer’s Point is a 120-acre coastal nature preserve with a notorious past. First settled in the early 1600s as a bustling shipping port, its flow of goods and barrier-island features attracted one of Ocracoke’s most famous visitors, Edward Teach. Better known as notorious pirate captain Blackbeard, Teach used the sound and ocean access of Springer’s Point to raid and plunder well-stocked cargo ships. The British Royal Navy closed in on the pirate paradise in November 1718, sealing Blackbeard’s fate in a bloody offshore battle at a spot now known as Teach’s Hole. Observe that fateful encounter with a stroll through the scenic preserve while keeping an eye out for the buried treasure (and ghostly lights) said to have been left behind on its shores.