Modern visitors have found Nags Head to be the ideal vacation spot, but they are simply carrying on a tradition that began over 160 years ago when a North Carolina plantation owner first set foot at Nags head and discovered the charms of the area. In those days, planters from inland counties longed to escape the long, hot and humid summer, which they believed fostered malaria and other diseases. In the 1830's, the first of these genteel plantation owners came to Nags Head and purchased 200 acres of land where he built the very first beach cottage.