We love the beach, even for short three-day weekend trips! About 9 years ago we started visiting Nags Head, NC with dear college friends for the Yuengling 5k race and it has turned into an annual trip that we look forward to each spring. The race is always in early May, so it’s the perfect time to visit when rental prices are low and it’s not too busy. This year as another fantastic weekend was coming to an end, we decided to stop at Whalebone Park on the way out of town. It’s a park we’ve passed by several times when in town and finally made time for a visit, which was a quick and fun final stop before heading back to Raleigh.
Whalebone Park is located across from Jennette’s Pier and next to Sam & Omie’s restaurant at 7300 S. Virginia Dare Trail. It has a large ship-themed playground for ages 5-12 with several ladders, hanging bars, monkey bars, and slides. The playground ship is called the Theodosia Burr, named after the daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr who was supposedly murdered on board the Patriot pilot boat at Nags Head around 1812. More information is included in a small informational board at the playground.
There is also a smaller playground for ages 2-5 with monkey bars, teeter totters, climbing ropes, and a small climbing wall. It also has some musical toys that are a great height for early walkers, one tot swing, which was broken, and one handicapped-accessible swing.
All of the play areas at this park are situated on the rubberized surface, but unfortunately there isn’t any natural shade, so on warm days like this one the heat was beating down on us and we couldn’t even put Claire down to play. Ashley seemed pretty worn out from the weekend so she spent most of her time swinging.
Next to the playgrounds are some additional features: picnic tables with removable shade tarps (not up on this hot day), sand volleyball court, bocce ball, horseshoes, trash can covers with interesting art and funnel ball game. So, while it was fun to explore a new park at the beach, it seems like this park would be better appreciated by year-round residents than tourists busy with all the other myriad beach activities.
Resources: previous posts on Nags Head featuring Manteo, Roanoke Island, Jennette’s Pier, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and NC Aquarium
Thumbs up: having a playground option at the beach, interesting trash can lid art, nautical-themed playgrounds, walkable from Jennette’s Pier or Sam & Omie’s or Dune Burger restaurants
Thumbs down: lack of shade, poor landscaping
After some playground time we busted out our princess kite in the nearby open space. We had the park to ourselves this morning which proved to be crucial when giving a 3-year old a kite – she ran all over the place instructing her kite to “C’mon on, kite!” It was super cute watching her fly the kite, until she ran into some small, unnecessary stumps located in the middle of the open space.
So, for our hike we headed out to the 
So we set off and hiked for a mile until we came to the creek. Before heading across the bridge we walked down some steep rocks and had a snack along the creek’s edge near the remnants of the old mill wall. According to an information board near the parking lot, Company Mill was built in 1810 by Anderson Page and was used for grinding wheat and corn. It was also a popular spot to have fish fries, weddings, and social gatherings before being washed away by a flood in the 1930s. There are several flat spots below the old wall and near the water that are great for stopping. A friendly photographer took our picture for us and then warned us of some water snakes he saw (luckily we didn’t see any). After our snack we headed across the bridge and turned right to join the few crowds on the large rocks near the opposite side of the creek bank. Ashley loved scooting down to the water and got tickled when I told her she could take her shoes and socks off and soak her piggies in the water. This child was in heaven! And, after a short while later we hiked the one mile route back to our car. She was pretty exhausted for the last half of the hike home, but stayed in good spirits and finished on her own…I was so proud of her!
MacDonald Woods Park has playground areas for the 2-5 and 5-12 age groups with two swings for both groups. The 5-12 age playground is rather large with several ladders and slides, monkey bars, and climbing wall with rope. The loop-shaped ladder was by far a challenging favorite for this duo. The younger playground is very small with only 2 slides, steps and a platform ladder. There are a few bouncy rides and a small low-to-the-ground structure for early walkers. A small elevated sandbox is located between the two playground areas. But, by far, the best feature of this park is the merry-go-round. Yes, that’s right…they have a merry-go-round! Go Cary! Of all the parks we’ve been to this was a first so you can imagine the confusion when the girls first saw it. Having never been on a merry-go-round they watched several groups of people get on and off before getting on with a group of toddler girls. These sweet maniacs quickly caught on as to why you hold on to the bars but also moved into more challenging feats such as dangling their feet over the edge. That proved to be rather anxiety-ridden for us but they had fun and no one went flying off the thing, so it was a success!
