Rodanthe

Two years ago I wrote a short post about the village of Rodanthe on Hatteras Island.

I mentioned that Rodanthe was re-named by a post office official when the first post office was established there in 1874 (presumably, and ironically, because it would be easier to spell and pronounce than the historic name, North Chicamacomico). The village (pronounced Roe-DAN-thee) is also a traditional Greek girl's name (pronounced Roe-DAANTH, meaning "rose bud").

I recently discovered that Rodanthe (apparently, both the girl's name and the village) were named after a yellow flower with pink and white florets, Rhodanthe manglesii. This flower is native to western Australia. According to Jan DeBlieu in her book, Hatteras Journal, "It has never bloomed on the Outer Banks.".

Just a bit of Outer Banks trivia today.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about the almost forgotten 1890 "Oyster Wars" that pitted islanders against outside business interests. You can read the article here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news012115.htm.