Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Crippled Jennette's Pier Reopens Eight Years Later

Jennette's Pier reconstructed, aquarium, coast,
NC Aquariums

  A historical fishing pier reopens Saturday in Nags Head after Hurricane Isabel destroyed it nearly eight years ago. Jennette's Pier was absorbed by the state Aquariums soon after the storm leveled it in 2003. The General Assembly approved an $25 million reconstruction in the 2009 budget. Aquariums director David Griffin says the new structure hardly resembles its old self. He says it now stands higher above sea level than most piers.

David Griffin: "We've elevated this

 thing up, we've built it incredibly strong with concrete pilings and beams, and we did maintain the wooden decking and railing to give it the historical cultural feeling of an old pier. The pier house itself - incredibly built to withstand 130 mile per hour winds, so yeah, we think it's going to be here a long time."

The facility features classrooms, marine life exhibits a 1,000-foot-long fishing pier. Opening ceremonies begin with a jump by the U.S. Army Parachute Team. Governor Bev Perdue is expected to launch the pier by breaking a ceremonial bottle of champagne.

Will Michaels is WUNC's Weekend Host and Reporter.
More Stories