Celebrate the Grand Opening of Jennette’s Pier on Saturday, May 21st and enjoy fishing, family and fun! The newly constructed, 1,000 foot concrete pier is part of the North Carolina Aquariums system and comes complete with a 16,000 square foot pier house with snack bar, tackle shop and gift shop. There are also classrooms and educational displays and programs that explore the North Carolina Aquariums’ mission to inspire appreciation and conservation of the state’s aquatic environments.

It is all about fishing, family and fun at the new Jennette’s Pier, located in south Nags Head near Whalebone Junction. Be sure to stop by on the way to your Hatteras Island vacation! Admission is free on Saturday, May 21st for the grand opening celebration. Free fishing will be available all day and night following the opening ceremonies. Bring your fishing poles or just stop by for a stroll on the pier, with unbelievable views overlooking the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Parking will fill up fast, so look for satellite parking with shuttle service at designated places nearby, such as the town of Nags Head municipal complex and the grass area south of the Dunes Restaurant.

On Sunday, May 22, Jennette’s Pier will launch the summer season with fishing 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are also working on summer programs and activities for all ages. For more information, visit Jennette’s Pier online or call 252-255-1501.

Jennette’s Pier and the North Carolina Aquarium- a New Chapter of Outer Banks History

Originally built in 1939, the pier was 754 feet long and 16 feet wide, with a 28-foot-wide “T” on the end. From the deck of the pier anglers cast their lines for more than sixty years, though numerous hurricanes and nor’easters battered the structure and caused it to be repaired and rebuilt from time to time.

The pier house was reconstructed on several occasions, later becoming a much larger facility with a restaurant, tackle shop, and arcade. Eventually, the Jennette family sold their interest in the pier. Years later in 2003, the pier was sold again to the North Carolina Aquarium Society so that it might be developed into an educational outpost for the Aquarium. But in September 2003, Hurricane Isabel swept the North Carolina coast, knocking down about 540 feet of Jennette’s Pier and practically shutting down an Outer Banks institution. It then became time to rethink the fishing pier concept, with the Aquariums taking the lead to rebuild Jennette’s as an all-concrete, 1,000-foot-long, educational ocean pier. On May 22, 2009, Governor Beverly Perdue led a gathering of legislators, local officials, and Aquarium leaders for a “sand-breaking” on the site of the new $25 million Jennette’s Pier, seventy years to the day from the first construction. Now, two years later, the pier will be opened to the public and an Outer Banks history lives on for many more generations to come.