The Town of Manteo wraps around Shallowbag Bay on the eastern side of Roanoke Island, part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Named the seat of government for Dare County in 1870, this waterfront community incorporated in 1899.
In those early days, every store lining the waterfront had two doors – one for those coming by boat, and the other for those coming from the courthouse or one of the inns on Water Street.
Today, county business still brings people to town, as well as many reminders of the island’s history, including the representative 16th century ship at Roanoke Island Festival Park, or the George Washington Creef Boathouse and Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, part of the North Carolina Maritime Museum. Each summer, the town welcomes singers, dancers, and actors back to Waterside Theatre, where they perform the nation’s oldest outdoor symphonic drama, The Lost Colony.
