Poguelandia is not a place. It is the name the Pogues give a deserted island in the Season 3 premiere of Netflix’s Outer Banks — the episode is called “Poguelandia” — after they wash up on it with nothing and decide to make it theirs.
Two things people are usually looking for when they search it: where that island actually is, and whether there is anywhere real like it. The answers are Barbados, and yes — but the real one is a great deal stranger than the invented one, and it is a boat ride from Ocracoke.
Poguelandia was filmed in Barbados
Season 3 was shot predominantly in Barbados, jungle scenes included. The show has never filmed on the real Outer Banks at all: the coast you see in the first two seasons is Charleston, South Carolina, and later seasons moved between Charleston, Fort Fisher in North Carolina, and Morocco. The full breakdown is on our page on where the show actually films.
The real empty island is on the Outer Banks
Cross Ocracoke Inlet off the south end of Ocracoke and you land on Portsmouth Island, at the northern tip of North Core Banks. It is an island in the way the show means it: tidal flats flood behind it and cut it off from everything else. And there is a whole town on it that nobody lives in.
Portsmouth was founded in 1753 by an act of the North Carolina colonial assembly, and in under twenty years it was one of the largest settlements on the Outer Banks. It made its money lightering — moving cargo off deep ships that could not clear the shoals. By 1842 more than 1,400 vessels and two-thirds of North Carolina’s exports were passing through Ocracoke Inlet.
Then the coast did what this coast does. A hurricane in 1846 opened a deeper inlet up at Hatteras, and the shipping simply went there instead. Railroads took more of it. When the Union Army came down the banks in the early 1860s the residents left for the mainland, and a lot of them never came back. The village emptied out slowly for a hundred years after that.
It ended in 1971. Henry Pigott died early that year, and the last two residents — Elma Dixon and Marian Babb — left for the mainland. The 250-acre historic district went on the National Register in 1976. More than two dozen buildings and the cemeteries are still standing, and six are open with exhibits inside.
Getting to Portsmouth Village
Boat only. There is no bridge and no car ferry to the village; the Park Service keeps a list of authorized ferry services, and you book one of those. The village is open mid-April through late October.
Take everything with you. There is no food and no drinking water on the island. Restrooms are in the Theodore and Annie Salter House, with composting toilets past the Life Saving Station, and that is the extent of the facilities. Bring insect repellent and mean it — the Park Service calls the mosquitoes notorious, which is the National Park Service being restrained. Sturdy shoes, sun cover, and water.
Give it time. A walk around the village is 2 to 3 miles and three hours at a minimum; if you are going through the Salter House and the Life Saving Station properly, plan on four or five. Trails hold standing water and soft sand, the buildings are not wheelchair accessible, and camping is allowed on the open beach only, never in the historic district. The park’s number is 252-728-2250.
The other Poguelandia, in California
Some people searching the word want this one. Netflix ran a real event called Poguelandia on Saturday, February 18, 2023, in Huntington Beach, California — thousands of fans, a nine-minute preview of Season 3, sets built to look like The Wreck and the Boneyard, and music from Khalid, Lil Baby and alt-J. The cast used the stage to announce that the show had been renewed for Season 4. It was a one-off; there is nothing standing there now.
Questions people actually ask
Is Poguelandia a real island?
No. No island carries that name. It is invented for the show, and the Pogues name it themselves in the Season 3 premiere.
Where was Poguelandia filmed?
Barbados. Season 3 was shot there almost entirely, and none of it was filmed on the real Outer Banks.
Can you visit the island from the show?
Not as Poguelandia — it was a filming location in Barbados, not a public attraction. If what you want is an empty island with a town on it, Portsmouth is open to anyone who can get a boat across Ocracoke Inlet.
Why did everyone leave Portsmouth?
The inlet shoaled up and a hurricane opened a better one at Hatteras in 1846, so the ships stopped coming. The Civil War emptied the village, railroads took the rest of the trade, and the last two residents left in 1971.
Checked against the sources
Portsmouth Village — the 1753 founding, the lightering trade, the 1842 shipping figures, the 1846 Hatteras Inlet hurricane, the Civil War departure, Henry Pigott’s death and the departure of Elma Dixon and Marian Babb in 1971, the 250-acre historic district listed in 1976, and the visitor practicalities (boat access only, mid-April to late October, restrooms, no food or water, mosquitoes, walking times, camping rules) are from the National Park Service’s own Cape Lookout National Seashore pages, read in September 2026.
The show — that Season 3 filmed predominantly in Barbados, and that the series has never filmed on the real Outer Banks — is from Netflix’s own Tudum filming-location guide. The Poguelandia event of February 18, 2023 in Huntington Beach, its Season 4 announcement and its lineup are from Netflix’s own press release.
We are not affiliated with Netflix or the Outer Banks series.
While you are on Ocracoke
Blackbeard really did die in the water off Springer’s Point, and his gold has never been found. Blackbeard’s Gold is a self-guided hunt of ours that you play on the island itself, $29 a team.
See the hunt