Barden Inlet is the southernmost of the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separatin ...

water

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

s. Located just northwest of Cape Lookout in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, the inlet connects Onslow Bay of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

with Core Sound. It separates the

Shackleford Banks Shackleford Banks is a barrier island system on the coast of Carteret County, North Carolina. It contains a herd of Banker horse, feral horses, scallop, crabs and various sea animals, including summer nesting by loggerhead turtles. It is a tourist ...

from the

Core Banks The Core Banks are barrier islands in North Carolina, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Named after the Coree tribe, they extend from Ocracoke Inlet to Cape Lookout, and consist of two low-relief narrow islands, North Core Banks a ...

. Barden Inlet was opened by the

1933 Outer Banks Hurricane The 1933 Outer Banks hurricane lashed portions of the North Carolina and Virginia coasts less than a month after 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane, another hurricane hit the general area. The twelfth tropical storm and sixth hurricane of the 19 ...

, separating the Shackleford Banks from South Core Banks.Barrier Island Ecology of Cape Lookout National Seashore, NPS Scientific Monograph No.9, Chapter 3
/ref> The new channel gave

Harkers Island Harkers Island is a census-designated place (CDP) in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population of Harkers Island was 1,207 at the 2010 census. Harkers Island is unincorporated and receives most public services, including la ...

fishermen a new, direct access route to offshore fishing grounds. It was named Barden Inlet after US Congressman Graham Barden, who sponsored legislation to require that the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

use

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

equipment to maintain the new channel.Prioli, Carmine and Martin, Edwin (1998). ''Hope for a Good Season: The Ca'e Bankers of Harkers Island''. John F. Blair Publisher, July, 1998.

References

Bodies of water of Carteret County, North Carolina Inlets of North Carolina Outer Banks {{CarteretCountyNC-geo-stub