Scarborough Inn, Manteo, NC

Scarborough Inn sits right on US-64 in Manteo, the small waterfront town that anchors Roanoke Island's history and culture. It's a quiet, straightforward place to stay for exploring the island's north-end sites, well away from the beach-town strip malls across the Washington Baum Bridge.

The inn's office keeps a steady schedule, open 8am to 5pm daily, so plan your check-in within that window.

Roanoke Island's north end holds a cluster of related but separate historic sites. Fort Raleigh National Historic Site marks the ground of the 1580s Roanoke Colony — the "Lost Colony," whose fate remains an unresolved mystery rather than a settled one — and sits beside Elizabethan Gardens, an adjoining but independently run botanical garden. Fort Raleigh is also where you'll find the Freedom Trail, a short path commemorating the Freedmen's Colony, a self-governing community of formerly enslaved people during the Civil War. Roanoke Island Festival Park, with its recreated 16th-century ship and hands-on museum, is a separate site altogether — across the water in downtown Manteo, not part of the north-end cluster.

With Manteo's walkable waterfront around Shallowbag Bay just a short drive away, the inn works well as a base for a slower, history-focused visit to the island.