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History · Duck

Duck’s post office opened in 1900, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Duck was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Its Register listing is the Caffeys Inlet Lifesaving Station. Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1940 on.

1900first post office
1on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Duck’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Duck began

When was Duck founded?

1900

The Duck post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 2002.

2020 census: 742126 years
Founding year: the first Duck post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 2002.The full story ↓

What stands out about Duck’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages24 hamlets and corners are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Duck had its own post office from 1900 to 1941.

Duck
1900–1941
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bayberry BluffsCaffys Inlet HamletCarolina DunesGeorge Town SandsGulls FlightJay CrestNorth PointOcean DunesOcean PinesOspreyPort TrinitiePoteskeet VillageSaltaireSand Dollar ShoresSanderlingSandy RidgeSchooner RidgeSea HawkSea RidgeSnow Geese DunesSnow Geese SouthThe TidesTuckahoeWild Duck Dunes

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Duck came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Duck.

Read it all →

On March 28, 2001, state representative William T. Culpepper III introduced the Duck Incorporation Bill in the North Carolina House of Representatives. The bill was passed on August 29, 2001. On November 6, 2001, voters voted in favor of incorporation, and Duck was incorporated as the sixth town in Dare County on May 1, 2002.

The Caffeys Inlet Lifesaving Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in January 1978.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Duck, 1897 to 1941

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1897BuiltCaffeys Inlet Lifesaving Station is built
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900Post officeThe Duck post office opens
  5. 1933In the archiveHABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12…
  6. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1941Post officeThe Duck post office closes
By decade

Duck, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s6 items
HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12001933HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet,…HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12001933HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet,…HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12001933HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet,…HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12001933HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet,…HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12001933HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet,…HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 12001933HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet,…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Duck on the map, 1940 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Duck. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Duck on the 1940 USGS mapDuck on the 1982 USGS map1940Powells Point sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Duck.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

HABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 1200
Retake this viewHABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Caffey's Inlet, Life-Saving Station, State Route 1200, 1933

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Duck’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Duck

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Caffeys Inlet Lifesaving Station
Caffeys Inlet Lifesaving Station, built 1897
Buildings
Caffeys Inlet Lifesaving StationBuilt 1897

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Duck

Nobody well known was born in Duck itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Edward SnowdenAmerican whistleblower and former NSA contractor · b. 1983
John PoolAmerican politician · b. 1826
Lee J. CarterAmerican politician · b. 1987
John DearCatholic priest from the United States · b. 1959
Kenny WilliamsAmerican basketball player · b. 1969
Scott SandersAmerican film director · b. 1968
Help out

Finish Duck’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHABS NC,27-DUCK.V,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - C…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Duck’s history

What year was Duck founded?

The Duck post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 2002.

What is on the National Register in Duck?

One place: the Caffeys Inlet Lifesaving Station (listed 1978).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.