# Tidewater & the Outer Banks A 4-day, ~430-mile Southern road trip from Richmond. It chains VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway and Outer Banks & the Sound Country. - **Days:** 4 - **Distance:** ~430 mi - **Starts in:** Richmond - **Themes:** History, Outdoors, Food - **Routes chained:** [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial), [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) Plantation row and the first peninsula, then across the Albemarle sounds to the barrier islands — colonial capitals, wild beaches, two free ferries and the backwater towns time forgot. ## Why this itinerary works Starting in Richmond, this 4-day itinerary connects VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway and Outer Banks & the Sound Country. It suits travellers interested in parks, coast, mountains & water; barbecue, boudin, oysters & tamales; battlefields, the movement & the past. The day-by-day bases let you split roughly 430 miles into a sequence of visits rather than trying to cover every linked route end to end. Use the daily highlights to decide which places deserve your longest stops. ## Day by day ### Day 1: Richmond → Williamsburg Down VA 5 past the James River plantations — Shirley, Berkeley, Sherwood Forest — to Williamsburg by afternoon. Walk Colonial Williamsburg's Duke of Gloucester Street, then a tavern supper by candlelight. Highlights to consider: - **Shirley** (Charles City) — A 1613 land grant still farmed by the same family eleven generations on, billed as the oldest family business in North America; the flying staircase has no visible support and no equal. [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial) - **Berkeley** (Charles City) — Claims America's first official Thanksgiving (1619), grew two Harrison presidents, and heard Taps first: the call was composed here during the army's 1862 encampment. [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial) - **Sherwood Forest** (Charles City) — John Tyler's home, said to be the longest frame house in America, and still owned by Tylers; the grounds walk past a president's actual privacy. [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial) - **Historic Jamestowne** (Jamestown) — The real 1607 site: the fort's rediscovered footprint, active digs, and the archaearium's recovered settlers, told bones-first. [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial) - **Colonial Williamsburg edge** (Williamsburg) — The Parkway tunnels directly beneath the restored capital; surface for Duke of Gloucester Street or save the full immersion for its own day. [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial) ### Day 2: Williamsburg → Edenton The Colonial Parkway to Yorktown's battlefield, then south across the line to the Albemarle. Edenton by evening: the 1767 courthouse, the waterfront cottages, the prettiest small town in North Carolina and few people to share it. Highlights to consider: - **Edenton** (Edenton) — The 1767 courthouse green running down to the sound — and the 1774 Edenton Tea Party, 51 women in organized political resistance, among America's first. Harriet Jacobs hid seven years in an attic here before her escape; her memoir told the world. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Dismal Swamp Canal** (South Mills) — The oldest continually operating man-made canal in America (opened 1805), surveyed by George Washington. The swamp's deeper history: maroon communities of escaped slaves who built free lives in its fastness. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Corolla's Wild Horses (spur)** (Corolla) — Colonial Spanish mustangs — shipwreck descendants — roaming the 4x4 beaches past the pavement's end. Fifty feet minimum; they enforce it better than the ordinance does. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) ### Day 3: Edenton → Nags Head US 64 through the inner-banks backwaters to Roanoke Island: the Lost Colony site and Elizabethan Gardens, then over the causeway to the beach. Climb Jockey's Ridge dunes at sunset; oysters and hushpuppies after. Highlights to consider: - **Edenton** (Edenton) — The 1767 courthouse green running down to the sound — and the 1774 Edenton Tea Party, 51 women in organized political resistance, among America's first. Harriet Jacobs hid seven years in an attic here before her escape; her memoir told the world. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Jockey's Ridge** (Nags Head) — The East Coast's tallest natural dune system — hang gliders by day, soundside sunsets that empty the beach by evening. The dune ate a mini-golf course in the '70s; it occasionally returns pieces. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Fort Raleigh & The Lost Colony** (Manteo) — Roanoke, 1587: Virginia Dare's birthplace, then 115 people gone, one carved word — CROATOAN. The waterside drama has run since 1937 (Andy Griffith spent five seasons in tights here). The 400-year-old Mother Vine scuppernong still fruits nearby. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Wright Brothers Memorial (spur)** (Kill Devil Hills) — December 17, 1903: twelve seconds, 120 feet. The four flight markers pace out the distances in the sand — shorter than a 747's wingspan, which is the whole point. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) ### Day 4: Nags Head → New Bern via Hatteras NC 12 down the thread of sand: Bodie and Hatteras lighthouses, the free Ocracoke ferry, the wild empty seashore. From Cedar Island the long ferry to the mainland, then in to New Bern — Tryon Palace and the birthplace of Pepsi to finish. Highlights to consider: - **Ocracoke** (Ocracoke) — Free ferry in; pirate history everywhere. Blackbeard fought his last at Teach's Hole (November 22, 1718 — head to a bowsprit). Islanders still carry the 'hoi toider' brogue; the British Cemetery holds four sailors from the 1942 U-boat war, forever England. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Birthplace of Pepsi** (New Bern) — Caleb Bradham's corner pharmacy still pours 'Brad's Drink' — invented 1893, renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898 — at the original counter. Tryon Palace's gardens and the 1710 Swiss-founded streets round out the oldest-feeling town in the state. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station** (Rodanthe) — The 1874 station of the surfmen who rowed into burning seas — the 1918 Mirlo rescue is the service's great epic. Summer beach-apparatus drills still fire the breeches buoy. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **Cape Hatteras Lighthouse** (Buxton) — America's tallest brick lighthouse (198 ft), famously moved 2,900 feet inland in 1999 ahead of the eating sea. Offshore: Diamond Shoals, the 'Graveyard of the Atlantic' — 600-plus wrecks and counting. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) - **The Cedar Island Ferry** (Pamlico Sound) — Two and a quarter hours across open sound — gulls drafting the stern, cars dozing, the best cheap boat ride in America. Reserve ahead; the schedule is the itinerary. [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks) ## Practical planning Budget an average of about 108 miles per day across the whole trip, or roughly 2.4–3.6 hours behind the wheel at an assumed 30–45 mph back-roads pace. This is a planning estimate, not a measured time for each leg: transfer days can be longer and rest days shorter. Add meal stops, tours, ferries, traffic and hikes separately; use each day's navigation link for current driving estimates. ### Overnight bases - Day 1: near Williamsburg, VA - Day 2: near Edenton, NC - Day 3: near Nags Head, NC - Day 4: Nags Head → New Bern via Hatteras ### Best season & route notes - [VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/va5-colonial): The Parkway bans commercial traffic and holds 45 mph; it is the point, not the delay. - [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks): Reserve the Cedar Island (or Swan Quarter) ferry the moment dates firm up; Hatteras–Ocracoke is free and first-come. - [Outer Banks & the Sound Country](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/outer-banks): NC 12 floods and occasionally breaches in storms — check NCDOT before committing to the Banks. ## Frequently asked questions ### How many days and miles is Tidewater & the Outer Banks? Tidewater & the Outer Banks is a 4-day trip of about 430 miles. ### Where does Tidewater & the Outer Banks start? It starts in Richmond. ### Which routes does Tidewater & the Outer Banks chain together? It chains VA 5 & the Colonial Parkway and Outer Banks & the Sound Country. ### Where are the overnight bases on Tidewater & the Outer Banks? Day 1: near Williamsburg, VA; Day 2: near Edenton, NC; Day 3: near Nags Head, NC; Day 4: Nags Head → New Bern via Hatteras. ## Related itineraries - [Sounds & Banks](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/sounds-banks-week) — 7 days, ~560 mi - [The Whole Hog](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/whole-hog) — 28 days, ~4300 mi - [Cradle & Surrender: Jamestown to Appomattox](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/cradle-and-surrender) — 3 days, ~260 mi - [US 17: Outer Banks to Florida](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/us17-end-to-end) — 8 days, ~820 mi --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/tidewater-outer-banks Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-04