Buxton, North Carolina

Buxton is about 240-miles southeast from Raleigh on Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands along N.C. 12, which are part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, a United States national seashore of 70 miles (110 km) which preserves the portion of the Outer Banks of North Carolina from Bodie Island to Ocracoke Island. Cape Hatteras National Seashore is managed by the National Park Service.

In the precolumbian era the central village on Hatteras island was called Croatoan (council town, which is modern day Buxton), which is why the Native Americans and the island were referred to by the English as Croatoans from Croatoan.^[5]

On May 21, 1942, the body of a British seaman, unidentifiable but presumed to be from the HMT Bedfordshire, sunk by a German U-boat, washed ashore. The month prior, a British sailor from the sunken merchant ship San Delfino had been buried in Buxton. The Bedfordshire seaman was interred in an adjacent plot, resulting in a British Cemetery, formally known as Cape Hatteras Coast Guard Burial Ground.^[6]

From 1956-1982 Naval Facility Cape Hatteras occupied Cape Hatteras, for secret monitoring of submarines. As of 2013 the 12 buildings had been torn down but the soil underneath not been cleaned up ith its benzanthracene, benzopyrene, heavy metals ( arsenic, chromium and mercury) and other contamination. The National Park Service did not want to take on liability. ^[7]

Watersports are common on both the Pamlico Sound side and the Atlantic Ocean side of the community. Proximity to the convergence of the Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream result in some of the largest surf available ^[10] on the East Coast. On the protected soundside of the island, watersports such as windsurfing, kayaking, kiteboarding, and swimming are all readily available and accessible.

Residents are served by the new Cape Hatteras Elementary School, opened in 2001 (home of the Tropical Storms) and Cape Hatteras Secondary School of Coastal Studies, a combination middle school and high school (home of the Hurricanes) newly rebuilt in 2007 on the NC 12 site of the original Cape Hatteras Elementary and Cape Hatteras Secondary Schools, in Buxton.^[11] Both schools are part of the Dare County Schools district.^[12]

According to the Trewartha climate classification system, Buxton, North Carolina has a humid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers, cool winters and year-around precipitation (Cfak). Cfak climates are characterized by all months having an average mean temperature > 32.0 °F (> 0.0 °C), at least eight months with an average mean temperature ≥ 50.0 °F (≥ 10.0 °C), at least one month with an average mean temperature ≥ 71.6 °F (≥ 22.0 °C) and no significant precipitation difference between seasons. During the summer months in Buxton, a cooling afternoon sea breeze is present on most days, but episodes of extreme heat and humidity can occur with heat index values ≥ 100 °F (≥ 38 °C).

Buxton is prone to hurricane strikes, particularly during the Atlantic hurricane season which extends from June 1 through November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September. During the winter months, episodes of cold and wind can occur with wind chill values < 15 °F (< −9 °C). The plant hardiness zone in Buxton is 8b with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 19.3 °F (−7.1 °C).^[13] The average seasonal (Dec-Mar) snowfall total is < 2 inches (< 5 cm).

According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Buxton, North Carolina would have a dominant vegetation type of Live oak/Sea Oats Uniola paniculata (90) with a dominant vegetation form of Coastal Prairie (20).^[16]