Hurricane Sandy came as a rude shock to many waterfront residents of New York and New Jersey: Houses in Staten Island, Bay Ridge, and even Red Hook in Brooklyn were torn apart by high winds and tide. Living in a metropolis does not guarantee immunity from a storm of epic proportions like Sandy. In fact, it creates a false sense of safety. Yet everyone wants to live on the waterfront. It’s the front row in the playhouse of man against nature.
These small houses at Salterpath, NC, have survived hurricanes far more severe than Sandy. Fishermen built these houses,whose families have lived on the Bogue Banks for generations .They understood severe weather on the oceanfront, so they built their house in a valley behind the oceanfront sand dunes. The live oaks sheltering the houses have been there for over 100 years. So have the houses. They were built with nature in mind.