Living In Colington Harbour (KDH) in Outer Banks of North Carolina | What’s it Like?

In a somewhat shocking turn of events, we now call the Outer Banks of North Carolina our home. We packed up our cabin in the mountains of Utah and drove the Uhaul box-truck east until we reached the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Looking for an escape from the relentless, albeit beautiful Utah winters, we’d finally found a new house. The access to water is what lead us here, to Colington Harbour neighborhood technically a part of Kill Devil Hills. With dreams of surfing, sailing, fishing, and warm temps, we couldn’t have been more excited for the next chapter in our life in the Carolinas. 

Colington Harbour is a largely unknown section of the Outer Banks, even though it is the largest subdivision in OBX. If you drive into the heart of Kill Devil Hills (KDH), turn west, passing by the Wright Brothers National Monument, a curvy 4 mile road puts you on Colington Island at the gated community of Colington Harbour. From the outside, it looks like another development of vacation homes and beach box style rentals, but it’s much more than that. Filled with mostly the year round residence, the neighborhood is packed year round with people. And though the main strip of the Outer Banks is less than a mile from the ocean side to the sound side, Colington is way back in the sound-side, surrounded by amazing water access and tons of opportunities to be out on the water. Plus, a short drive to the beach makes it an incredible place to visit, and obviously our new home.

The decision to move here didn’t happen overnight. The Outer Banks was my family’s vacation spot for over a decade when I was a kid. With that in the back of my head, my wife and I made our first visit here together over the winter in 2023 followed by a 2 week stay in the late summer of 2024. Throughout that entire time, we were glued to Zillow waiting for the perfect home to come up. Even at one point being under contract on a house, driving across the country to see it, ultimately realizing it was a money pit and we backed out. But on the last day of our September visit, a house came down into our price range, we saw it, and got an accepted offer a few days later. We were OBX Bound!

With a lot of work ahead of us back in Utah, we had to reflect on what made the Outer Banks, and more specifically Colington Harbour special. Our criteria was to be on the water in anyway, and also close to the beach. Ideally, be south of Virginia to have mild winters, but too far south would result in some unbearable summers. Additionally, the surf starts to degrade below South Carolina. Affordability of both the town and house was a major priority. And lastly, a place that we could explore and use as a jumping off point for new, water-based adventures. And Colington Harbour checked these boxes, with pretty much the only “affordable” place that you could live on the water from the high $300s to, well, as much as you want to pay. 

The neighborhood, beyond the gate manned by a security guard 24/7, is shaped like a backwards letter “C”, with 6 different peninsulas extending from the center of the “C”. Each peninsula has a deep water canal on either side of it, giving most of the residents fantastic water access. And far from flat, Colington Harbour is probably the hilliest section on the Outer Banks, which isn’t saying much. And at the far Northwest corner of the neighborhood, there is a large protected harbor, boat launch, tennis court, swimming pool, play area, yacht club, dog run area, and even beach access to the sound. Admittedly, I don’t make it up here too often, but really enjoy it when I do. The protected harbor is a great place to paddle around or access the open sound from.  Plus, the beaches on the sound-side are always empty compared to the beaches in KDH at the ocean.

Access to town is not as bad as one might think. For perspective, since Colington is farther out on the sound-side, most places within the neighborhood can reach the ocean in 4.5 miles, or 11 minute drive. And the nearest Food Lion is just a bit further at 5.8 Miles, or a 13 minute drive. Once on the main strip of the Outer Banks, everything is easily accessible. But we’re not out in the middle of nowhere needing to leave for everything. On Colington Road, you have some great pizza at Harbour Grill & Pizza, easily the best dive bar in OBX at the Blue Crab, Higher Grounds for coffee and ice cream, one of the best high-end restaurants in OBX at The Colington Cafe and Salt Box Cafe, and last but not least, the go-to for anything you need at TJ’s Gas & Convenient store. Plus, TJs makes a helluva good breakfast at their grill. And unlike Croatan Highway or South Virginia Dare Drive, the road to Colington does not turn into gridlock traffic during the summer change-over days. 

Unlike the rest of the Outer Banks, most homes in Colington Harbour are not all just vacation rentals. The Harbour is home to most of the year-round folks that call the Outer Banks their home. The other half is the 2nd home to most of the nearby region, which is drastically different than a weekly rental place. Sure, there are a handful of short term rentals, but not like 90% of homes near the beach road. And with that being said, you tend to see the same people year round in the neighborhood. With that being, you don’t see too many people outside year round. For a place that has a super busy beach season, the rest of the time, there isn’t much activity out and about in the neighborhood or even out on the surrounding waters. And being frank, you will find a lot of people have lived here their whole lives, and some are even multi-generational, which can put a newcomer in an “outsider” position we’ve learned. 

Not specific to Colington Harbour, but the weather here is overall very temperate most of the year, excluding summer. All winter-long, with the exception of a couple of snow storms that froze some of the sound over, it was a reasonable temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s. The fall and spring temps are fantastic in the 60s and 70s. And last but not least, summer here regularly sits in the 80s and 90s with some incredibly strong sun. The water temperature in the bay follows close behind the air temperature outside by about 5-10 degrees. So yes, in summer, the sound has been in the 80s and very enjoyable to hang out in. Speaking of the sound, it is slightly different than other parts of the east coast, being that it is very brackish, leaning more towards fresh water. And unlike most other bays, it is not tidal, instead the water height is driven by the eastern winds either pushing water towards the mainland, dropping the water level, or the western winds pulling water out of the rivers and rising the water levels. Still getting used to it, but overall, the sound stays pretty consistent water level outside of the very windy winters.

If you’re looking for your beach house paradise or your future home, Colington Harbour might be the place for you. A sort of hidden gem on the Outer Banks, mixing affordability, water access, boating opportunities, and quieter life than on the main strip of the Outer Banks like in Kitty Hawk or Nags Head. If you don’t mind driving to things, which we definitely don’t after having to travel down a mountain for the past 4 years to leave our house, this was super easy. Plus, it’s a great place to live if you don’t want new vacationers every single week partying all night long like you get in most of the Outer Banks. If you’re looking for a community of active, outdoors people paddling, running, and biking, Colington is not that place. If you’re looking for a laid back community that loves fishing, drinking beers, enjoying the beach vibes, and a little bit of boating, then Colington is your perfect place.