Which site became the first official U.S. national seashore?

Cape Hatteras National Seashore became the first official U.S. national seashore in 1953.

The seashore protects a long stretch of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, including portions of Bodie Island, Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island. Congress authorized the area in 1937, but it was officially established as the first national seashore on January 12, 1953.

Its landscape combines beaches, barrier-island habitats, maritime vegetation, migrating birds, and a history shaped by storms, shipwrecks, lighthouses, and lifesaving stations. The waters around the Outer Banks became known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

Cape Cod and Padre Island are also historically important national seashores, but they came later. Cape Cod was established in 1961, while Padre Island received national seashore status in 1962.