I spent a night on Portsmouth Island to do a photoshoot of the Milky Way rising behind the island. Portsmouth is an abandoned island in the Southern Outer Banks/North Core Banks of North Carolina. The last two residents of the island moved to the mainland in 1971 after Henry Pigott--the last male resident and their caretaker--passed away. The village remains mostly intact to this day. The nearest village today is Ocracoke which is another small island across the inlet from Portsmouth. These conditions create a sky free of light pollution, one of the darkest skies you can find in the country which is perfect for shooting the night sky. This is part 1 of the behind the scenes tour of the island.