 It is one of the few remaining maritime forests on North Carolina's barrier islands.A historic marker stands at the corner of N.C. 58 and Pine Knoll Boulevard (at mile marker 7), noting the spot of the first landing of Europeans on the North Carolina coast.Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator in the service of France, explored the state's coast from Cape Fear to Kitty Hawk in 1524.