I’ve been to Ocracoke many times, both on season and off-season. And I’m here to tell you that this article is very much exaggerated in terms of the local people’s “dialect”.
Locals sound like standard North Carolinas or at least the down east accent that is prevalent through Carteret County and that general area
I agree,”use-ta-be” Outer Banks still had a little of that lost island flair in the 60’s, but built up and zillions of us tourists have changed that. I wonder about those further down the barrier chain, beyond the causeways.