Last Names?

Tuesday evening's program after our Ocracoke Preservation Society fall membership meeting was a delightful showing of vintage island photographs that OPS has been digitizing and cataloging.

As the images were projected onto the screen old timers identified the people, and shared stories about island life and interesting characters.

Unfortunately, no one present could identify this individual.

From the Ellen Marie Fulcher Collection

However, I remember well having an identical bathtub when I was a youngster!

After the meeting I visited with Barry & Karen who moved to the island recently. I commented that they were good sports to sit through an hour of old photos even though they didn't know any of the people in the images.

"Oh, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pictures," Barry said. "But the most interesting part of the evening was that you all identified the people only by their first names. 'Oh, that is Elizabeth'...and 'there is Wahab'...and 'that must be Oscar; you can tell by his sailor hat'...and 'that's Lindsey on the horse,'...and everyone knew who you were talking about. No last names necessary."

I guess that's one of the appeals of living in a small, close knit community. And something that appeals to folks like Barry & Karen. When we parted I realized I didn't have any idea what Barry & Karen's last names were!

 Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a brief history of the Soundfront Inn, one of the oldest structures on the island. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news102113.htm.