Sarah Downing: 13 books

The history of North Carolina's Outer Banks is as ancient and mesmerizing as its beaches. Much has been documented, but many stories were lost--until now. Join local author and historian Sarah Downing as she reveals a past of the Outer Banks eroded by time and tides. Revel in the nostalgic days of the...

In this never-before-assembled collection of lost landmarks, historian Sarah Downing evokes the Outer Banks of yesteryear. Drawn from the vast collections of the Outer Banks History Center and from locals mourning the forever changed character of the area, these vintage images reflect the hotels, stores,...

Established in 1680 near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk is a maritime jewel of the East Coast. During the American Revolution, British ships shelled the city on New Year's Day 1776. The first battle of the ironclads--Monitor versus Merrimack--took place off Norfolk's shore in 1862. Walter...

The Outer Banks is much more than an idyllic vacation destination. A day at a time through history, it has claimed its place as a colorful region of the Old North State. Author and historian Sarah Downing offers a daily look at the quirky and fascinating stories from the region's four-hundred-year history....

The Outer Banks has a long history of unconventional characters and curious occurrences. Did you know that escapees from an escargot farm keep the snail police on their toes? A larger-than-life likeness of Sir Walter Raleigh was once beheaded in Manteo, and the town gave itself a royal makeover in...

Nags Head boasts a plethora of natural wonders. From an ecologically unique maritime forest to breathtaking coastal dunes, the dynamics of the area corroborate the sentiment Thomas Nixon expressed in his 1964 classic. Indeed, as early as the 1830s, merchants and planters from the Albemarle region of...

Tamaran mercenaries have guarded the kings and queens of Mocene for the last two hundred years. When they allow an assassin close to Elam and his brother during a banquet, Elam is finally able to convince his brother of the threat they pose. A simple mission to return the Tamarans to their border...

When the ship she is travelling on is caught in a storm, former slave-girl Coiran finds herself being offered up by the crew in sacrifice to the sea god. Hunted by temple constables and the ship’s captain who tried to sacrifice her, Coiran finds sanctuary in the household of former crown prince...

War-King Elam is dead. Or that is what his enemies want his companions to think. Stuffed into a box, transported across the country, all Elam knows is that he is to be delivered to some unknown buyer, his continuing existence a threat to his beloved homeland. Haunted by his death, Coiran is grateful...

The broader Regency period 1795 to 1820, stands alone as an incredible moment in fashion history, unlike anything that went before it. For the first time England became a fashion influence, especially for menswear, and became the toast of Paris, as court dress became secondary to the season-by-season...

Garments and accessories are prominent in almost all of William Shakespeare's plays, from Hamlet and Othello to A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. The statement 'Clothes maketh the man' was one that would have resonated with their audiences: the rise of England's merchant class had made...

The source of tremendous power and the focus of incredible devotion, throughout history notions of beauty have been integral to social life and culture. Each age has had its own standards: a gleaming white brow during the Renaissance, the black eyebrows considered charming in the early eighteenth...

Bishop's Stortford was a small town in the Edwardian period. However, over 1,500 men and women from the town were on active service at some point during the First World War. Stortford had a munitions factory, many land girls, a VAD hospital, a POW camp and a very active Volunteer Corps. It also billeted...