In the past few years, Tim Hatcher has lived on the North Carolina coast with several beach cats, working on Time and Tide: The Vanishing Culture of the North Carolina Coast.He has traveled the world as a quality inspector, and later in life, taught in the field of human resources at NC State and elsewhere. He was also the editor of the Human Resource Development Quarterly.He is an avid saltwater angler, and a semi-professional, still-looking-for-that-big-break musician—a rock, country, Latin, and blues percussionist.Since the first time he drove from his home in East Tennessee to the Outer Banks and saw the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, some five decades ago, Tim Hatcher has had an affection and respect for the NC coast and its people. He has studied and written about its tough people and its fragile environment for the better part of his adult life. This, his first book about the coast’s nature and culture, is the result.

• PrefaceIntroduction Chapter 1: “The Goodliest Land”A Long and Diverse Coast Line: From the Outer Banks to Down East and BeyondThe Inner Banks, Southern Banks, and the Crystal CoastSand: Forever ShiftingThe Landscape for The First FlightMove of the Millennium: Rescuing the Cape Hatteras LighthousePocosins, Swamps, Quagmires, and Refuges Chapter 2: Aqua Vita Est, Water is LifeThe Shapes of Water: Sounds, Inlets, and RiversAmerica’s Intracoastal Waterway: Safe Passage for MarinersThe Gulf Stream: The Great Blue Engine of NC’s CoastThe Atlantic Ocean: Architect and Matriarch of Coastal NC Chapter 3: The Weather, "Red Sky at Night"A Weather of Wind and ChangeA Fisherman’s NightmareStorms Through History in North CarolinaRating StormsHurricanes in the Busy 1950s and 1960s1970s and 1980s: Relative QuietThe Active 1990sA New Century Brings More StormsMost Recent Storms Chapter 4 - Shaping a CultureA Different Way of LifeThe Allure of the Ocean Chapter 5: The Past Shapes the FutureEarly Inhabitants: The Coast's First PeopleEuropeans’ First Explorations of the North Carolina CoastFrom First Contact to First Colony Privateers, Pirates, or Pyrates? Chapter 6: Saving Lives in Dangerous WaterDanger, Destruction, and Death: The Graveyard of the AtlanticSaving Lives on a Treacherous CoastSaving Lives with Light: Lighthouse Keepers Chapter 7: Commerce and Tourism"Red and White" Commerce: 155 Years and CountingThe “Flipper” Factory Beach Cottages of Old Nags Head: Unpainted Upper CrustMore Old Houses and Old Money: Wilmington and BeyondPortsmouth Island: Bugs, Fish, and HeathensBuffalo City: Good Water, Good Wood, Good Whiskey, Good-Bye Chapter 8: Planes, Piers, and BoatsMore than Sand and Wind: The Bankers’ Connection to the Wright BrothersThe North Carolina Ferry System: Lifeline for ThousandsThe Carolina Flare and the Long Tradition of BoatbuildingLiberty City: Ugly Ducklings and the Mothball FleetPiers: Another Legacy Lost Chapter 9 – Controversy, Conflict, and Water Access Disputed Lands and WatersWater Access: Drawing Lines in the Sand Chapter 10 – Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Recreation Area: The Long (Winding,  Confusing, and Difficult) Road from Idea to RealityEarly Concepts and Initial Government InvolvementEstablishment of the Park and the First Seashore CommissionWorld War II-Era DevelopmentsA New Social ContractThe Seashore Park Becomes a Reality Chapter 11 – Trying to FishBluefish, Bluefin, and the BluesThe Unwinnable Battle for the Atlantic Bluefin TunaNorth Carolina’s Menhaden: The Unsavory Smell of Success Chapter 12 – Plovers, Politics, and PlutocratsSurf FishersLittle Birds on the BeachPlover PoliticsMixed Results Chapter 13 – Legacy of Black North Carolinians on the Coast The Roanoke Freedman’s ColonyThe 1898 Wilmington Coup d’EtatBlack Resorts, Beaches, and New MusicBeaufort’s 21st Century Land Grab Chapter 14 – To Build or Not to BuildThe Saga of the Bonner and Mid-Currituck BridgesThe Megaport Project: Unveil or Unload?Nutmeg: A Tasty Spice or a Just a Bad Idea?Rockets, Fuel, Oil, and Gas: Odd Coastal CousinsBeach “Nourishment” Chapter 15: On the HorizonGlobal Warming and Sea Level RiseScientific Initiatives to Measure Sea Level and Coastal ChangesThe Horizon Appendix: NC DOT Maps of the North Carolina CoastBibliographyAcknowledgements