Teaching suggestions: Graveyard of the Atlantic

These suggested activities will help your students develop a deeper understanding of the information in the article "Graveyard of the Atlantic."

A lesson plan for grade 8 Social Studies

By Pauline S. Johnson

Learn more

• Graveyard of the Atlantic The waters off North Carolina's coast have been called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because of the great number of ships that have wrecked there -- thousands since the sixteenth century. Geography, climate, and human activity have all played roles in making this region unusually treacherous to shipping.

Related pages

• Graveyard of the Atlantic: The waters off North Carolina's coast have been called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" because of the great number of ships that have wrecked there -- thousands since the sixteenth century. Geography, climate, and human activity have all played roles in making this region unusually treacherous to shipping.
• Lighting the maritime path: The geography of North Carolina's lighthouses: In this lesson students will examine images of North Carolina lighthouses from the Built Heritage Collection at North Carolina State University and explore various websites to determine the relative location of eight North Carolina lighthouses and develop an understanding of maritime activities and coastal living.
• Of the inlets and havens of this country: Excerpt from John Lawson's 1709 A New Voyage to Carolina detailing the geography of North Carolina's coast. Includes historical commentary and notes about how the coastline has changed since the colonial period.

Related topics

• Learn more about Atlantic Ocean, North Carolina, Outer Banks, geography, history, hurricanes, pirates, and shipping.

Help

Please read our disclaimer for lesson plans.

Legal

These suggested activities will help your students develop a deeper understanding of the information in the article “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

1. Ask the students to design a political cartoon that illustrates the reason(s) the area off the coast of North Carolina was called the Graveyard of the Atlantic and how that affected the development of North Carolina settlement.
2. Given a map of the coastline and sounds of the North Carolina coast, have the students indicate areas of the coast that would have made for good hiding places for pirates and areas that would have been particularly susceptible to changing sandbars.
3. Ask the students to write a fictional account (diary entry, letter, testimony, etc.) concerning wreckers from the point of view of any of the following:
   • a wrecker
   • a sailor or ship captain
   • an officer of the law
   • a citizen that bought items from wreckers
   • ship owners
4. Place the students in five groups. Have each group design a short scene from one of the above points of view (from suggestion 3) chosen randomly. Then have each group share their act-it-out with the rest of the class. After all have presented, lead a discussion about the different positions of these individuals. Examining multiple perspectives in this activity will be good practice for later discussion.
5. In a traditional essay, ask students to explain why the Graveyard of the Atlantic adversely affected settlement in the northern part of the Carolina Colony before 1729 and the North Carolina Colony after 1729.
6. Have the students individually or in groups research one of the North Carolina lighthouses. One resource that may help students is the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society website. The students should include a drawing of the design of the lighthouse or light station. Ask them to consider why the lighthouses were of different designs. The following lighthouses may be studied:
   • Currituck Beach Light Station
   • Bodie Island Light Station
   • Cape Hatteras Light Station
   • Ocracoke Lighthouse
   • Cape Lookout Lighthouse
   • Bald Head Lighthouse
   • Oak Island Lighthouse