# The Inner Banks *Blackbeard's sound country* The Inner Banks is a ~120-mile back-roads route from Washington to Ocracoke (via Swan Quarter ferry) on US 264, NC 92 and NC 94, driven in 1–2 days, that stays off US 64 bypass through the Atlantic Coast. - **Drive:** Washington → Ocracoke (via Swan Quarter ferry) - **Distance:** ~120 mi - **Days:** 1–2 - **Highways:** US 264, NC 92, NC 94 - **Avoids:** US 64 bypass - **Region:** Atlantic Coast - **Themes:** History & Markers, Oddities & Roadside Wonders, Natural Beauty, Local Tours & Outfitters The sound country behind the Outer Banks is the coast the crowds skip: Bath, North Carolina's first town, where Blackbeard kept his one legal address; Belhaven's famously peculiar small-town museum of pickled curiosities; Lake Mattamuskeet's winter armadas of tundra swans under a pumping-plant lodge; and then the payoff, a two-and-a-half-hour ferry across the Pamlico to Ocracoke, arriving by water the way the pirate's customers did. Chains straight onto the Outer Banks route at the dock. Markers: Historic Bath's state site carries the colonial layer; the refuge kiosks handle the swans. ## The drive, segment by segment ### Little Washington to Bath *Washington → Bath · ~15 mi* The estuary museum, then the 1705 town where the colony and the pirate both got started. Stops: - **North Carolina Estuarium** (Washington) · Natural Beauty — The Pamlico-Tar estuary explained on the waterfront of Little Washington, the original one, incorporated 1776. - **Historic Bath** (Bath) · History & Markers — North Carolina's first town (1705) and Blackbeard's home port in his brief respectable phase; St. Thomas Church, 1734, is the state's oldest standing church. ### Pungo Country *Bath → Mattamuskeet · ~45 mi* Belhaven's cabinet of wonders and the causeway across the great shallow lake. Stops: - **Belhaven Memorial Museum** (Belhaven) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — Eva Blount Way's famously peculiar collection, buttons to pickled oddments, enshrined above city hall; small-town museum-making at its most unfiltered. - **Lake Mattamuskeet** (Swan Quarter) · Natural Beauty — The state's largest natural lake, two feet deep and forty miles around; tundra swans raft here by the tens of thousands each winter under the 1915 pumping-plant lodge. ### The Ferry *Mattamuskeet → Ocracoke · ~60 mi* Swan Quarter's dock, the long Pamlico crossing, and Silver Lake harbor opening up. Stops: - **Swan Quarter ferry** (Swan Quarter) · Local Tours & Outfitters — The 2.5-hour sound crossing to Ocracoke, the Inner Banks' proper exit; gulls escort, phones die, nobody minds. - **Ocracoke arrival** (Ocracoke) · Small Towns — Blackbeard died in the inlet here in 1718, and Silver Lake harbor still greets boats first; the Outer Banks route takes over at the dock. ## Tips and best time to go - Reserve the Swan Quarter ferry, especially with a car; walk-up is a gamble. - Swan season runs roughly December through February; the causeway at dawn is the show. ## Worth a detour - **Aurora Fossil Museum** — Dig megalodon teeth from phosphate-mine spoil piles across from the museum; free, addictive, and everyone finds something. - **Pungo Lake** — The quieter refuge lake north of Mattamuskeet; snow geese by the tens of thousands in winter dusk. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is The Inner Banks and how many days does it take? The Inner Banks is about 120 miles and takes 1–2 days at a back-roads pace. ### Where does The Inner Banks start and end? It runs from Washington to Ocracoke (via Swan Quarter ferry). ### Which highways does The Inner Banks follow? It follows US 264, NC 92 and NC 94. ### Which interstate does The Inner Banks replace? It avoids US 64 bypass, using US 264, NC 92 and NC 94 instead. ### How many stops are on The Inner Banks, and what are the highlights? 6 stops are mapped, including North Carolina Estuarium, Historic Bath, Belhaven Memorial Museum, Lake Mattamuskeet and Swan Quarter ferry. ### When is the best time to drive The Inner Banks? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Swan season runs roughly December through February; the causeway at dawn is the show.” ## Connects with - [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) — Dismal Swamp → New Bern - [US 301: The Ghost Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us301-ghost-road) — Emporia → Santee - [US 58: The Last Capital Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us58-last-capital) — Martinsville → Suffolk --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/inner-banks Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05