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122 free Outer Banks trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free Outer Banks trivia questions with answers. Netflix's Outer Banks turned a sleepy stretch of North Carolina coastline into Pogue territory, and this OBX trivia quiz covers all of it: the Royal Merchant gold, the Cross of Santo Domingo, the Pogues versus the Kooks, and every twist from John B's disappearing dad to the treasure hunts of later seasons. The questions run from easy ones any casual viewer will get (who plays John B, what the Chateau is) to hard ones for people who have rewatched every season: filming locations, character surnames, and the details of each season's finale. Every answer has been checked against the show's published record and carries a linked source, so you can settle arguments on the spot. Play it solo or use it for an OBX watch-party round.
30 of 122 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Near which Outer Banks town did the Wright brothers achieve their first successful powered flight?
Kill Devil Hills
The historic first successful powered flight by the Wright brothers took place on December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills, a small community south of Kitty Hawk.
Q 02Which Outer Banks light tower, at Buxton, is the tallest brick structure of its kind in the US?
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
At 198 feet of brick it is second in the world, and its black-and-white diagonal daymark makes it the region's most recognizable tower.
Q 03In what year did settlers under John White arrive on Roanoke Island to found what became the 'Lost Colony'?
1587
1587 marked the arrival of John White's settlers; a ship in 1590 found the colony abandoned.
Q 04Which northern Outer Banks town is famously home to a herd of wild Spanish Mustang descendants?
Corolla
The northernmost beaches of the Outer Banks, particularly near Corolla, are known for their wild horses, believed to be descendants of Spanish Mustangs brought to the Americas centuries ago.
Q 05Blackbeard, born Edward Teach, was killed in November 1718 fighting Lieutenant Robert Maynard's men off which Outer Banks island?
Ocracoke Island
Ocracoke Island's waters, at the spot now called Teach's Hole, saw Blackbeard's death in the 1718 battle with Maynard's forces.
Q 06What nickname do the treacherous, shipwreck-strewn waters off the Outer Banks carry?
The Graveyard of the Atlantic
The Outer Banks coastline, with its shifting sandbars, strong currents, and frequent storms, has caused thousands of shipwrecks over centuries, earning it the somber moniker 'Graveyard of the Atlantic.'
Q 07The Outer Banks chain of barrier islands extends southward from which U.S. state border?
Virginia
The Outer Banks are a long string of barrier islands that begin at the Virginia border and stretch southward along the North Carolina coastline.
Q 08Which community at the Outer Banks' northern tip is reached only by driving on the beach?
Carova
Carova, at the northern tip of the Currituck Banks, has no paved road; NC 12 ends north of Corolla and visitors reach Carova by four-wheel drive along the beach.
Q 09Which Outer Banks lighthouse is distinct for its unpainted red brick exterior?
Currituck Beach Lighthouse
Unlike other lighthouses in the region, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse was intentionally left unpainted, allowing its natural red brick facade to be a distinctive day marker and a testament to its construction.
Q 10Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge lies about 10 miles south of which Outer Banks town?
Nags Head
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge occupies the north end of Hatteras Island about 10 miles south of Nags Head; it shelters more than 365 bird species, including wintering snow geese.
Q 11What Coast Guard predecessor institution is preserved in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island?
Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station
Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, a US Life-Saving Service post at Rodanthe, is best remembered for the 1918 Mirlo rescue, when Keeper John Allen Midgett Jr.'s crew saved 42 sailors from a torpedoed British tanker.
Q 12North of Albemarle Sound, which sound parts the Outer Banks from mainland North Carolina?
Currituck Sound
Currituck Sound, the northernmost of the Outer Banks sounds, lies north of Albemarle Sound between the Currituck Banks (Corolla and Duck) and the mainland.
Q 13The economy of the Outer Banks is primarily driven by which industry?
Q 21What natural phenomenon is a major driver of beach erosion on the Outer Banks?
Sea level rise
The Outer Banks are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal erosion, with the effects of climate change compounding existing erosion issues.
Q 22Which channel joins Pamlico Sound to the Atlantic between Bodie and Pea Islands, spanned by the Basnight Bridge?
Oregon Inlet
Oregon Inlet is a crucial navigation channel connecting the Pamlico Sound to the Atlantic Ocean, and it is spanned by the Marc Basnight Bridge, a vital link in the Outer Banks road system.
Q 23The Wright brothers came to the Outer Banks from which Ohio city?
Dayton
Tourism
Tourism is the number one industry on the Outer Banks, generating billions of dollars in revenue annually and supporting nearly half of all jobs in Dare County.
Q 14Sailors from which country lie in the tiny WWII cemetery on the Outer Banks under a foreign flag?
Great Britain
The four sailors in the tiny Ocracoke British Cemetery came from Great Britain; their Royal Navy trawler, lent to help the U.S. hunt U-boats, was sunk in May 1942, and the plot flies the Union Jack.
Q 15Which prized Outer Banks surf catch did North Carolina name its official state saltwater fish in 1971?
Red drum
Red drum, also sold as redfish, became North Carolina's official state saltwater fish in 1971; males make a drumming sound with their swim bladders during spawning.
Q 16Which town is the county seat of Dare County?
Manteo
Manteo, located on Roanoke Island, serves as the county seat for Dare County, which encompasses a significant portion of the central Outer Banks.
Q 17Ocracoke Island lies in which North Carolina county?
Hyde County
Ocracoke Island belongs to Hyde County, whose seat Swan Quarter lies across Pamlico Sound on the mainland; Dare County's Outer Banks stop at Hatteras Inlet.
Q 18Off which Outer Banks cape did the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor founder in a storm?
Cape Hatteras
USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras on 31 December 1862 while under tow from USS Rhode Island; the wreck, found in 1973, became the first US national marine sanctuary in 1975.
Q 19Why was the 198-foot Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at Buxton hauled 2,900 feet to the southwest in 1999?
Coastal erosion
Coastal erosion, with the sea again encroaching, left the tower about 1,500 feet from the shoreline after the move; a steel skeleton tower had stood in for it once before, from 1935.
Q 20What are longtime Outer Banks residents, known for their distinct brogue, called?
Bankers
Longtime natives are called Bankers; their 'Hoi Toider' brogue, thickest on Ocracoke, sounds closer to English than American, and travelling Bankers are often taken for English or Irish.
Wilbur and Orville Wright ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio; they first camped at Kitty Hawk in 1900, drawn by its steady winds, soft sand and open space.
Q 24Which colonial governor dispatched the 1718 naval expedition that killed Blackbeard?
Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor of Virginia, financed and sent two sloops under Royal Navy officers into North Carolina waters in November 1718, where Blackbeard died at Ocracoke.
Q 25Which Outer Banks town is known for its upscale shopping, dining, and pedestrian-friendly village design?
Duck
Named for the waterfowl that crowd the area, it is the Outer Banks' newest town, incorporated only on May 1, 2002.
Q 26What was Hatteras Island called by its Native American inhabitants?
Croatoan
Their central village stood where Buxton is today, and they are the people the Lost Colony's settlers were told to seek out.
Q 27What nickname did the waters off Cape Hatteras earn from 1942's U-boat attacks?
Torpedo Junction
Torpedo Junction was the name given to the shipping lanes off Cape Hatteras in 1942, when German U-boats sank dozens of merchant ships within sight of the Outer Banks beaches.
Q 28What distinctive feature marks the Bodie Island Lighthouse?
Horizontal black and white stripes
Bodie Island Lighthouse is marked by horizontal black and white stripes, a daymark that distinguishes it from Cape Hatteras's spiral bands; the 156-foot tower, finished in 1872, is the third built near the site.
Q 29Jockey's Ridge State Park protects the tallest active example of what in the eastern US?
Sand dune system
Jockey's Ridge is the tallest active sand dune system in the eastern United States, rising roughly 80 to 100 feet; early mariners used its towering dunes as a landmark from miles at sea.
Q 30Which sound separates Roanoke Island from the mainland of North Carolina?
Croatan Sound
Croatan Sound separates Roanoke Island from the Dare County mainland; Roanoke Sound lies on the island's other side toward Nags Head and Bodie Island.