The quaint fishing village of Wanchese has quite a different, more isolated, feel than Manteo. It operated as a fishing port for years and fishing and boat building are still an important part of the village˙s community life. Many of the 1,527 Wanchese residents can track their family histories to the times when mariners navigated solely by the stars. Many become commercial or sport fishermen or boat builders today continuing this tradition. Fishing trawlers and boats from up and down the East Coast still use Wanchese Harbor today and this is where fish is shipped from to all over the country, with most of seafood caught in Dare County going through here as well. Seafood and marine-related industries are based in the state-owned Wanchese Seafood Industrial Park that also features boat-maintenance facilities, seafood plants, boatbuiders and state fisheries operations.
