How an Outer Banks Vacation Home Became the Center of a Growing Tradition

Three Years and 30 People— basically, people are all the same

After playing tour director, host, or organizer for about 30 people at a Carolina Designs beachfront home in Kill Devil Hills, Steve Da’Mes is hurting… physically.

“My knee is killing me every time I just bend it or move it,” he said. “I’m in pain still from when I was doing that stupid…limbo contest. I hadn’t even had that much to drink at the time.”

2025 was the third year Steve had played host to what is really a random gathering of people who have found they have become friends. The formula seems simple enough.

“It’s a time to enjoy other people and appreciate other people and not focus on the little things,” he said.

The idea of gathering a random group of people, renting a beach house, and taking the time to simply enjoy each other was, Steve admits, born of necessity.

“I was a couple of years out of my divorce, hating the dating apps, not really meeting any new people. And I was like, there’s got to be some way to meet people,” he said.

And, as he said, “I wasn’t even a matter of dating people. It was just making friends and meeting people.”

He started thinking about the things he had enjoyed in the past and was no longer doing, and he realized, “I hadn’t been to the beach in years, and I love the Outer Banks.”

Steve, who doesn’t believe in doing things halfway, figured he would “just post an event down at the beach and see what I can get out of it.”

Which was not much at first. There was skepticism.

“I started to post it in more national type groups. But I had to overcome the objection that people think it’s a scam or something. They don’t know me, and I’m asking them to send me money,” he recalled.

Which is where Maria Hammond stepped in to help.

“Maria was the first who really thought it was a great idea, and she helped me a lot,” Steve said. “Especially with wording and things like that.”

For Maria, it was a chance to get back to the Outer Banks. She hadn’t been there for some time, remembering that “when our kids were little, we used to go down to Corolla and Duck every year.”

Organizing a house to bring 30 or 40 people together was certainly different than a family vacation, but the two of them working together were able to reach out to a wide variety of groups. Maria, especially had contacts that were able to move the idea along.

“I’m involved in a bunch of travel groups. So I sent some to my groups (messages),” she said.

That first year, it was surprising how widespread the interest was. Much of that diversity was because of the people Maria knew.

“We do have quite a diverse group, you know. And from different countries and different areas of the United States and all different income levels,” she said. “A lot of my people from my international travel group came the first year.”

It was not just an international and transcontinental group. Outer Banks native Anita Twyne has been part of the gathering for the past three years.

“I was looking for a group to go hiking with,” she explained, “I wanted to get out and meet people. I saw…the OBX extravaganza.”

She followed a link to contact Steve and asked, “Could I just be a part of their outings, to get to know them a little better?”

Steve, who talks better than he writes, convinced Anita it would be a great chance to meet people and have a good time.

“I committed, and then I went in with the group,” she said.

That first year, everyone agrees, was special.

“That very first year was magical because we really came together as a family. People really bonded,” Steve said.

He’s been renting from Carolina Designs for the three years he’s been hosting the week, and that probably won’t change.

“They have probably more of the larger houses than anybody else, so it’s easier to go through on their website,” he said.

That first year was so successful and enjoyable that Steve, especially, decided to go all in for the second year, and he and Maria brought 80 people together at two beachfront homes.

There was a lesson in that.

Steve, who does much of the organizing of trips and outings, admitted “it ran me ragged by the end of the week. And the other thing was, is the group, with it being that big, it wasn’t as intimate. People didn’t get to know each other as well.”

Anita agreed, saying, “It wasn’t as personable.”

This year, it was back to one house and 34 people, and much more like that first year. One of the things that Steve, in particular, believes makes the week so special is sitting down to meals together—especially dinner, which can be a marvelously confusing time of food and camaraderie.

“I think when you’re cooking with people and eating with them, you just get to know them so much better,” Steve said.

Then there are the activities—the times when people gather together and do things they may never have done before.

“I went and saw the (Corolla Wild) horses. I’ve never done that my entire life,” Anita said. “Even though I live here, I don’t get to go to the beach that much. I don’t get to go places because I work.”

And, she added, “It’s just fun to be able to be with friends and have a good time.”

Which, Maria pointed out, is really what it’s all about.

“No matter who you are, how wealthy you are, how poor you are, which nationality you are, where you’re from, basically, people are all the same,” she said.