From the National Park Service's observation deck, you can catch views of Ocracoke's formerly 'wild' ponies, which have been penned in here since the late 1950s and cared for by the NPS. The horses that remain in the herd are said to descend from feral Spanish mustangs abandoned by shipwrecked explorers in the 16th or 17th century.
The pens are located 6 miles along Hwy 12 from the Ocracoke–Hatteras ferry landing.