By Daryl Law / Jennette’s Pier
March 5, 2021
A newly launched North Carolina initiative provides free wireless internet access in the parking lot of Jennette’s Pier thanks to the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The Park and Learn project is part of a broader NC Student Connect program that aims make the internet more accessible to students in rural areas. Just look for the blue and gold Student Connect placards. The free Wi-Fi can also be accessed at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.
“It’s important to be as supportive as we can at a time when students need resources during this pandemic,” said Larry Warner, the aquarium’s director.
“This is exactly why Jennette’s Pier is here,” said pier Director Mike Remige, “to help educate the public”
In another venture created to build connections for children to fishing, 60 young anglers will receive their First Fish Certificates in the mail from their 2020 catches on the pier. The program is run by Jennette’s visitor services team and administered by Lynn Fox.
This spring, visitors may notice new blue fish replacement tiles embedded in fresh planks on the pier’s north ramp. Maintenance tech Sammy Thornton has kept busy rotating out the old cracked and broken tiles. A host of additional maintenance projects are also underway with hopes of having them completed by May 21, when Jennette’s recognizes its 10th anniversary since its 2011 “rebirth.”
out the old cracked and broken tiles at the pier. Courtesy photo
The pier dates to 1939. Battered by storms over the years it was rebuilt several times but was more or less destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in 2003 when the storm roared through the Outer Banks, lopping 500 feet off the wooden pier’s end. Jennette’s was rebuilt to the tune of $25 million and reopened in 2011, longer, taller and wider.
In April, the pier’s partners at Coastal Studies Institute plan to conduct a deployment of a mock wave-powered desalination device with a crane in preparation for the Waves to Water DRINK stage competition to be hosted at Jennette’s in 2022. Sponsored by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, this Made In America Challenge pits innovative designers in a cash competition to create a device that uses wave action to produce drinking water.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary since reopening in 2011, Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head offers year-round world-class fishing and educational opportunities along the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. The pier is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day during the winter season. Jennette’s is the fourth facility in the N. C. Aquarium Division of state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.