Agnes Scott Garrish

Just across the lane from Village Craftsmen is the final resting place of Agnes Scott Garrish, the wife of native Ocracoker, Captain Myron A. Garrish. Over the years several people have asked me if this is the same Agnes Scott for whom Agnes Scott College in Atlanta is named.

Agnes Scott College was founded in 1889 by Col. George Washington Scott, and named in honor of his mother, Agnes Irvine Scott, who was born in 1799 in Ireland, and died 1877 in the United States.

Agnes Scott Garrish is the great-granddaughter of Agnes Irvine Scott. She and other members of her family discovered Ocracoke in the early 20th century, and several of their descendants live on the island today.

Agnes Scott Garrish died August 30, 1919 in Galveston, Texas. This spring a visitor asked if she died in the great Galveston hurricane. The answer is no. The Galveston hurricane struck September 8, 1900, and is still considered one of the deadliest weather disaster in United States history. An estimated 8000 deaths occurred in that storm.

However, another major hurricane (dubbed the Atlantic-Gulf Hurricane) hit Corpus Christi, Texas on September 14, 1919. Agnes Scott Garrish had been dead two weeks when that storm hit. Captain Garrish died on Ocracoke ten years later.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the wreck of the Victoria S, and Ocracoke's first automobile accident. You can read it here.