Drum Inlet and Ophelia Inlet are

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 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 ...

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 ...

. They connect the

Core Sound The Core Sound is a sound in eastern North Carolina located between the mainland of Carteret County and Core Banks, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It lies between the large Pamlico Sound to the northeast and the smaller Back Sound ...

with 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 ...

and separate North Core Banks from South Core Banks. The exact inlet locations and names have changed with time, as new inlets open, merge, or close. Conversationally, the inlet or inlets between mile 19 and 23, as measured from

Ocracoke Inlet Ocracoke Inlet ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

, are typically called Drum Inlet even when, geologically, they have other names. Core Banks - New Old Drum Inlet

Drum Inlet initially opened at mile 19 in about 1899, but closed naturally by 1919. It reopened during 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 ...

, but closed by 1971 when the

U.S. 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 wor ...

dredged and blasted a new inlet, called New Drum Inlet, at mile 22. The purpose of New Drum Inlet was to allow commercial fishing vessels to access ocean from several small coastal communities; however, the inlet

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

ed before any commercial vessels used it. In August 1999

Hurricane Dennis Hurricane Dennis was a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that briefly held the record for the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever to form before August. Dennis was the fourth named storm of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane sea ...

reopened the original Drum Inlet, at mile 19, which become New Old Drum Inlet, but it has again closed around 2008. In September 2005 Ophelia Inlet was opened by Hurricane Ophelia, just south of New Drum Inlet, at mile 23. page 12Barrier Island Ecology of Cape Lookout National Seashore, NPS Scientific Monograph No.9, Chapter 3
Over the winter of 2008-2009, all of Drum and New Drum inlets shoaled and closed up, leaving only Ophelia Inlet. In September 2011,

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth tropical cyclone naming, named storm, first hurricane, and first major ...

reopened New Drum (mile 22) and Old Drum inlets (mile 19) and widened Ophelia Inlet (mile 23). Part of the North Core Island between Old Drum Inlet (mile 19) and New Drum Inlet / Ophelia Inlet (at mile 22/23) is referred to as Middle Core Island in the years when Old Drum Inlet is open. Similarly small section of Core Bank between New Drum Inlet and Ophelia Inlet, which existed in years 2005 to 2008, was referred to as New Core Island.

References

{{Outer Banks inlets Bodies of water of Carteret County, North Carolina Inlets of North Carolina Outer Banks