Blackbeard's Cup and Stories of the Outer Banks by Charles Harry Whedbee

I picked up three collections of Outer Banks legends in the bookstore of the Maritime Museum in Beaufort, North Carolina, on a recent trip to the beach. I hoped they would be useful for my students' study of North Carolina history. As you may sense from my posts to date, historical legends are not my primary interest, so I started reading this collection more out of a sense of duty than pleasure. And I would say that I "worked" my way through the first few, especially since each one starts with historical context before diving into the tale at hand.

However, that work did have its reward as the stories began to grow on me. They definitely give the reader a sense of the salty flavor of life on the Outer Banks. There are stories of mysterious lights, famous pirates, colonists lost at sea, treasure maps, the hauntings of sailors' ghosts, and daring rescues. It's all history washed down with strong doses of mystery and adventure.

The teacher in me could see reading these to a class who would mark locations on a map, create a timeline, and add illustrations to really bring the stories to life. Or perhaps learning some of them well enough for dramatic storytelling. I'm not sure how many students would sit down and read these on their own, but they would lend some flavor to the study of North Carolina history.