Corolla, North Carolina
Encyclopedia
Poplar Branch, North Carolina
Poplar Branch is an unincorporated community in Currituck County, North Carolina. It lies at an elevation of ....
township, Currituck County
Currituck County, North Carolina
-National protected areas:*Currituck National Wildlife Refuge*Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 23,547 people, 6,902 households, and 5,204 families residing in the county. The population density was 70 people per square mile . There were...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
along the northern Outer Banks
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....
. It has a permanent population of approximately 500 people; during the summer vacation season, the population surges into the thousands. Corolla is home to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, one of the seven North Carolina coastal lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
s.
Corolla is home to about 119 feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
Banker horse
Banker Horse
The Banker horse is a breed of feral horse living on the islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament...
s. They are located on a 12,000-acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(49 km²) animal sanctuary
Animal sanctuary
An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and be protected for the rest of their lives. Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining each animal until his or her natural death...
situated north of the populated areas of Corolla. The Corolla Wild Horse Fund is a public charity whose mission is to protect and preserve the herd.
Pronunciation
The usual pronunciation of local residents stresses the second syllable like all (Kuh-RAH-Luh, /kəˈrɑːlə/), however many outsiders pronounce Corolla the same as they pronounce the name of the car, the Toyota CorollaToyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla is a line of subcompact and compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million...
, where the second syllable sounds like roe (Kuh-ROE-Luh, /kəˈroʊlə/).
Parks and nature preserves
Corolla is home to the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, located in Currituck Heritage Park. The park has a boardwalk through wetlands. It is listed as an eBirdEBird
eBird is an on-line database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, it was widened to include New Zealand in 2008, and was widened to...
hotspot, with at least 80 species recorded in the park. Less than a mile north of Corolla is the Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve
Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve
Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve is a component site of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve on the Currituck Banks, north of Corolla, North Carolina...
.
History
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an development on American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
hunting grounds. Tribes including the Chowanoke
Chowanoke
The Chowanoke, also spelled Chowanoc, was an Algonquian-language American Indian tribe. They were the largest and most powerful Algonquian tribe in present-day North Carolina, occupying most or all of the coastal banks of the Chowan River in the northeastern part of the state at time of the first...
and Poteskeet hunted along the barrier reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
.
The European-American town of Corolla was first called Jones Hill, after an early settler. It was also known as Whalehead or Currituck Beach. Early settlers made a living from fishing and hunting, as well as from salvage from shipwrecks and serving as guides to hunters.
Construction of the Currituck Beach Light
Currituck Beach Light
The Currituck Beach Light is a lighthouse located on the Outer Banks in Corolla, North Carolina. An example of Gothic Revival architecture, the Currituck Beach Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1973.-History:...
house resulted in a stabilization of the economy with a new influx of jobs.
Currituck was derived from an American Indian term, Carotank, meaning land of the wild geese. On the Atlantic migratory flyway, the area at the time had a large wild geese population. Overhunting in the late 19th century caused numbers to severely drop.
The town officially took the name Corolla in 1895 when a post office opened in the community. The name was chosen to refer to the botanic term for the petals of a flower.
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
s from Sandbridge, Virginia
Sandbridge, Virginia Beach, Virginia
thumb|250px|A view of a Sandbridge beach from a pierSandbridge, in the U.S. state of Virginia, is a coastal community of Virginia Beach, located along the coastline at the northern end of the Outer Banks. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east, the Back Bay of the Currituck Sound is to the west, and...
, put together an investment group to purchase undeveloped land. The first subdivision
Subdivision (land)
Subdivision is the act of dividing land into pieces that are easier to sell or otherwise develop, usually via a plat. The former single piece as a whole is then known in the United States as a subdivision...
plotted was Carova with 1,993 lots
Lot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
. The lots were originally priced in the early 1970's at $8,000; as of 2006, some of these lots are worth up to $500,000.
The investors planned for a road to come through from Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
, to allow access to the lots; however, these plans were abandoned in 1973 when the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Virginia is located in the independent city of Virginia Beach. Established in 1938 in isolated portion of Princess Anne County, it is managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service....
south of Sandbridge was closed to all vehicular traffic, except by permit. Development pushed south through the 1970s, creating well over 1,000 additional lots in several subdivisions. In 1984 the residents of Corolla succeeded in their attempts to gain a public access road from the south. The state began paving the extension of NC-12
North Carolina State Highway 12
NC 12 is a North Carolina state highway that traverses the northeastern shoreline of North Carolina, linking the islands of the Outer Banks. It is a popular route for visitors touring the Outer Banks...
toward the north.