Bodie Island - History

History

Bodie Island was originally known as Bodies Island or Body's Island since the area was originally settled by the Body family. Folklore, however, attributes the naming of the island to the dead "bodies" of the ships that ran aground and sunk off the Outer Banks in what is now known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

Inlets frequently open and close along the Outer Banks, making landform naming inconsistent. Bodie Island, when it was an island, extended more south than it does today. The island was originally formed around 1738, when New Inlet opened, separating Bodie Island from Hatteras Island to the south. The opening of Oregon Inlet in 1846 truncated the southern portion of Bodie Island, forming a new island situated between Bodie and Hatteras. The new barrier island was given the name Pea Island, but the wider, more powerful Oregon Inlet led to the eventual closure of New Inlet around 1933. Pea Island had thus become a part of Hatteras Island.

Near the North Carolina-Virginia state line, the Currituck Inlet once existed, which made the Currituck Banks an island of its own. This inlet served as the boundary between the two states in the early 18th century.

In the book A New Voyage to Carolina John Lawson (explorer) mentions Bodies Island just once when discussing fauna of North Carolina, in particular species of rabbits. He wrote the following: "I was told of several that were upon Bodies Island by Ronoak, which came from that Ship of Bodies;" This would indicate that Bodie Island was so named as early as 1709.