KITTY HAWK, N.C. -- The Outer Banks of North Carolina are a string of long, narrow barrier islands that extend southward from Virginia down to Cape Hatteras, where they turn sharply southwest and continue until they reconnect to the mainland near the South Carolina border.

With broad, sandy beaches, a mild climate and ocean waters warmed by the Gulf Stream, the Outer Banks have become one of the Southeast's prime vacation destinations, and its year-round population is swelling with newcomers.

What draws them here?

Part of it is the physical climate, of course, but that can't be the whole story because, until recently, very few people lived here, or even visited.

England's first New World colony was planted here, on Roanoke Island in 1587. It was not a success and has become known to history as "the lost colony." The Outer Banks were still barely inhabited in the first years of the 20th century, when the Wright Brothers came here for the sands, the wind and the isolation to experiment with their flying machines.

I first came to this area on a family vacation with my parents in 1973, and even then, long after the invention of the automobile and the air conditioner, not much had yet been built. There were a couple of motels, some seaside cabins to rent, a handful of restaurants and a single general store, called the "Trading Post," as if it were located in some frontier settlement. The birthplace of aviation was marked by a large monument and small museum.

Now, more than 30 years since my first visit, the area is substantially built up, and it continues to grow with astonishing vigor. New bridges have been built. What was once a two-lane road coming here is now a five-lane highway.

There is now a Wal-mart, a Kmart and several other department stores. There are scores of dining options, ranging from discount buffets to fancy, linen-tablecloth gourmet restaurants. There must be at least a dozen new hotels, and vast numbers of seasonal homes are available to buy or rent.

Some of this growth is, frankly, unattractive. Windswept sandy lots covered in wild grasses and scrub pines have an austere beauty that strip malls and fast food joints do not. But much of it has been intelligently planned. There are new schools as well as new stores, and bike paths and recycling centers have sprung up alongside the new homes and golf courses. The beaches are all publicly accessible and substantial areas have been preserved as parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

All this has happened because the people here have genuinely embraced growth.

That is what I have found to be the most striking difference between the Outer Banks and any of the other places I have lived: This place really wants to grow, and it welcomes newcomers with open arms.

By contrast, New England seems to live in the shadow of its past. Friends and neighbors tell me about what Waterville used to be like, before the mills closed, or when commercial flights came to the Waterville airport, or back when Levine's was open. For my job interview, I was told to meet "at the place that used to be called The Nook," as if I, a visitor, should have known where that was.

When there is a plan to bring any sort of new development in Maine, whether it is wind power to the western mountains or a resort community to Moosehead, we hear about why it can't or shouldn't be done.

In the Outer Banks, by contrast, there is enthusiasm for what is new. More activists encourage than fight new infrastructure and development projects. When there is talk about what used to be here, it is to praise the businesspeople who had the luck and foresight to take advantage of the area's increasing prosperity. The businesses, like the old Trading Post, that failed to grow are not so much lamented as pitied.

Newcomers, like my parents, are settling here because they are welcomed. After 20 years of living in the same town on Long Island, my parents were still treated as if they were "from away" and therefore vaguely suspect. They've been living here full time for only a few years but have been embraced and encouraged to join with the old-timers to become active participants in community and church life.

To achieve growth such as the Outer Banks has seen, it may not be sufficient to welcome newcomers and embrace change, but it is certainly necessary.

Joseph R. Reisert is associate professor of American Constitutional Law and chairman of the Department of Government at Colby College in Waterville.