Nags Head

Nags Head, resort town, Dare county, eastern North Carolina, U.S. It is situated on Bodie Island (one of the Outer Banks barrier islands) between Roanoke Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Kitty Hawk. It was so named, according to legend, because unscrupulous shipwreckers tied lanterns to the necks of ponies (“nags”) and marched them along the high dunes to simulate the lights of boats at anchor—a ruse that tricked captains into running their...