20th Century Entrepreneurs, Continued

More from Ocracoke's Register of Historic Places, United States Department of the Interior:

"A number of enterprising [Ocracoke] residents were able to make a good living [in the early 20th century] by combining service-related jobs with nontraditional maritime occupations. "The John Wilson McWilliams family, for example, owned livestock at free range 'down below,' in the marshes between the village and Hatteras Inlet to the northeast, and had such products as sheep wool for sale to markets in Newport News." (See our blog post for September 07, 2016.)

Cows being herded "Down Below"

"Will and Sigma Willis had a store on Cockle Creek and operated a mailboat. Walter O'Neal built a second house in 1918 which was an elaborate foursquare style. O'Neal was a fisherman, a hunting guide for visiting mainlanders, and operated a freight boat and a mail boat to Hatteras."

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm.  

20th Century Entrepreneurs

From Ocracoke's Register of Historic Places, United States Department of the Interior:

"By the early 20th century Ocracoke's fish houses were major suppliers to such east coast fish markets as the Fulton Fish Market in New York City, bringing considerable revenue to the island. During the first two decades of the 20th century prosperous merchants such as Amasa Fulcher, who operated a store on Cockle Creek [Silver Lake Harbor], and freight boat captains such as Isaac O'Neal had substantial houses constructed."

Amasa Fulcher

Although most people think of Ocracoke as a traditional fishing and seafaring community, many islanders were entrepreneurs and/or were closely aligned with off-island merchants, especially those in Virginia, Maryland, and New York. Even the island's 18th century European residents settled here to work as pilots guiding merchant vessels through Ocracoke Inlet and across the Sound to markets on the mainland.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm.

Al Smith, 1928

In the interest of sharing Ocracoke Island history, and at the risk of inflaming partisan political polemics (there are plenty of other sites for that, please), I have decided to post this news article from the Journal and Republican and Lowville Times (Lowville, NY), September 27, 1928, about that year's presidential election:

Dry, Methodist Island is Counted for Smith

Norfolk, Va., Sept. 25 – Alfred E. Smith will carry Ocracoke Island, “the most religious spot on earth,” by a unanimous vote, according to John G. Dawson, former state Democratic chairman in North Carolina, and the Rev. C. M. Pollard. Ocracoke is in the Atlantic Ocean on the North Carolina coast. It has 750 inhabitants, all Methodists. The place has been dry for thirty years and there is not any officer of the law there. “Ocracoke is the strongest Al Smith center in America not excepting New York,” said Mr. Dawson. “I don’t know why, but I believe it is because he is being abused by people who do not stand well on the island. There will not be a Republican vote cast on the island.”

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I am not sure how Ocracoke actually voted in 1928, but the above article is a bit curious. Although Ocracoke township has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold (of course, there were also Republicans on the island), Smith was a vocal opponent of Prohibition. He was also the first Catholic nominee for President.

Harris & Ewing collection, Library of Congress

I wonder why the North Carolina state Democratic chairman thought Methodist teetotalers would vote unanimously for a strong anti-Prohibition Catholic. Did they? And who were the "people who do not stand well" who were abusing Al Smith? Maybe some old-time O'cockers know the answers.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm.

The Wreck of the Steamboat Home

"In October of 1837 the Steamboat Home wrecked on Ocracoke Island. It was the worst sea disaster ever to occur on Ocracoke. Ninety persons lost their lives that Monday night, October 9, as the 550-ton wooden, sidewheel steamer broke apart in the surf.

"The Home was a 198 foot luxury vessel which, although it had made two previous voyages from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, seems not to have been designed or constructed to endure the vicissitudes of the often unpredictable and violent weather in the North Atlantic, especially near the dreaded Cape Hatteras. This harsh lesson was learned only through unspeakable tragedy."

From Steamboat Disasters & Railroad Accidents
in the United States by S.A. Howland

So begins Chapter 12 of my 2008 book, Digging up Uncle Evans.  It is a harrowing story, and it was best told by old Arcade Williams and passed on to Walter Howard. I include an abridged version of the story in my book, along with other stories, ghost tales and history. The full version of the story is available at http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news100104.htm.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm.

Whales

In case you missed it, our August, 2015 Ocracoke Newsletter recounted the story of whale and porpoise fishing on the Outer Banks. Most North Carolina whaling was based at Cape Lookout and Shackleford Banks, although it extended throughout the region from Hatteras, southward.

Cutting up Whale Blubber

Two mentions in The Weekly Record (Beaufort, NC) in February, 1888 indicate the importance of whale and porpoise fishing to interests in eastern North Carolina:

"A medium size whale was captured near Cape Lookout last week by Capt. Tyre Moor's whaling crew. His whaleship measured about 37 feet in length and will pay the captures about $1,500." (February 17, 1888)

"The whale and porpoise factory of Bell, Daniel and Watson are in full blast with 30 operations in the various departments of work." (February18, 1888)

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm. 

Wizard Oil

Ellen Marie Cloud has collected and published a booklet of "Abstracts from Miscellaneous Newspapers Published in Beaufort, NC 1876-1893." In the Weekly Record, February 3, 1888 we learn that "Russia and Germany both continue active war preparations," that there was "a bill introduced to the U.S. Senate by Senator Ransom to appropriate $500,000 to build a light house on Hatteras Shoals," and that "Wizard Oil is for sale by Allen Davis."

Of course, we know that Europe erupted in war a quarter century later. In other news, as it turned out, in spite of the half million dollar appropriation, a lighthouse was not constructed on Hatteras Shoals until 1966! So that leaves "Wizard Oil"? I wondered what that was.

I soon learned that Hamlin's Wizard Oil was a patent medicine sold in pharmacies and medicine shows (and apparently by individuals) as a cure-all for everything from headache to cancer. Their slogan was "There is no Sore it will Not Heal, No Pain it will not Subdue."

More than one half of its volume was alcohol (no wonder it subdued pain). Other ingredients included camphor, ammonia, chloroform, sassafras, cloves, and turpentine. No doubt many an Ocracoke Islander ingested or applied Wizard Oil to cure various ailments.

From what I gather in my reading some forms of "Wizard Oil" are still around seducing gullible consumers.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm. 

U-576

On July 15, 1942, a convoy of nineteen allied merchant vessels and five escorts were steaming around Diamond Shoals when they were attacked by the German type VIIc submarine, U-576. The Nicaraguan ship, Bluefields, was sunk immediately. Two other ships were damaged. When the U-Boot unexpectedly surfaced in the midst of the convoy she was attacked with deck guns, aircraft, and depth charges. The U-576 sank to the bottom.

US Government Document

Since 2009 several research, educational, and governmental agencies had been searching for the sub. In 2014, with the aid of sonar, the wreck (along with the wreck of the Bluefields) was located 721 feet below the surface, about 35 miles east of Ocracoke. However, it was only on August 24 of this year that researchers got their first look at U-576. She was lying on her side with all hatches sealed, presumably entombing all 45 crewmen. The oldest sailor was 29 years old.

According to NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), an estimated 90 vessels, including U-576 and three other subs, were sunk off the Outer Banks between January and July 1942. 1,600 men (1,100 of them merchant seamen) were killed.

You can read more of this story here.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is about earthquakes that have affected Ocracoke and the Outer Banks. You can read the newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm.

Newsletter

We have just published our latest Ocracoke Newsletter. This month I write about earthquakes (yes, earthquakes) that have affected the Outer Banks. You can read the Newsletter here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092116.htm.

Agnes Scott

Yesterday I wrote about my recent visit to western North Carolina and Howard's Knob. While in the area, I also made a day trip to Decatur, Georgia. In 2014 I wrote about the connection between Ocracoke Island and Agnes Scott College in Decatur.

If you walk through the small cemeteries on Howard Street you may notice the grave of Agnes Scott (1898-1919), great granddaughter of Agnes Irvine Scott (1799-1877), for whom the college was named. Her family discovered Ocracoke in the early 20th century, and Agnes married Ocracoke native, Captain Myron A. Garrish.

My granddaughter, Zoe Howard, is presently a Junior at Agnes Scott College. She took me on a tour of the beautiful campus. When we passed a portrait of the college's namesake I knew I had to take a photo.

It is always fun to notice connections between Ocracoke Island and prominent people or places elsewhere.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.

Howard's Knob

Earlier this month I was enjoying spending time in the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina. While visiting friends in Boone we made a short trip to Howard's Knob.

Philip Howard on Howard's Knob

 

Back home I decided to do some research to find out how the peak got its name.

According to Boone by Donna Akers Warmuth and Donna Gayle Akers, "Howard’s Knob, a prominent peak above Boone, was named for Ben Howard, a frequent visitor to the area from 1739 to 1769, who brought his cattle up from Yancey county to graze. Daniel Boone, for whom the town was named, passed through the area in 1760 on a hunting expedition. Daniel Boone and his hunting companions used Ben Howard’s cabin as a base for their long hunts."

So, who was Ben Howard? And was he any kin to the Ocracoke Howards?

Wikipedia claims that "Benjamin Howard [was] a British loyalist, contemporary of Daniel Boone, and early settler of the area. According to local legend, Howard hid from Whigs on the knoll which was to be named after him."

However, findagrave.com says that "Howard's Knob in Watauga County, NC was named [for] Benjamin Howard [1742-1828], who fought in [the] American Revolution [USA Pvt 1st Maryland Reg Rev War]." 

Was Ben Howard a patriot or a loyalist? We may never know. However, Warmuth and Akers point out that most of the earliest settlers to Watauga County were English and Scotch-Irish who came from the lowlands and foothills of North Carolina. 

Although I haven't been able to find any firm connection between the Ocracoke Howards and Benjamin Howard of Howard's Knob, Benjamin had a son named Cornelius Howard (1782-1860). It is intriguing that William Howard, Sr. (ca. 1700-1794), one time owner of Ocracoke Island, also had a son Cornelius (1767-1803), and Cornelius had a son named Benjamin (1795-1842).

There may or may not be a connection. At any rate, the mountains of North Carolina are beautiful, especially this time of the year. If you are out that way, I recommend a visit to Howard's Knob!

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.  

Flat Bottom Skiff

Traditional flat-bottomed wooden skiffs were used for generations by Outer Banks fishermen.

Henry Pigott Meeting the Mail Boat

These boats were generally built upside down. The sides were built first; then the bottom planks were attached. These utilitarian boats were characterized by a sharp angle, called a chine, where the sides met the bottom.

Outer Banks boat builders laid the bottom planks transversely (from side to side). The photo below is of a skiff lying in a yard on Howard Street.

Today, most island fishermen work from fiberglass boats.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.

Dapper

Ocracoke has a reputation (often deserved, of course) for being an unpretentious, laid-back place. With that said, islanders of past generations also knew how to dress for more formal occasions.

In the 1941 photo above, Homer (1868-1947) and Aliph (1876-1950) Howard are attired in their Sunday best. Their granddaughter, Becky, is beside them. Even today you will sometimes see islanders gussied up for special occasions.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.

Storms & Shipwrecks

According to Richard W. Lawrence in his Research Report accompanying the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project, "The most continuously stormy period for the North Carolina coast is in the winter and early spring when well developed high and low pressure cells pass through the area with frequently shifting wind direction often of gale force. March is usually the month with the greatest number of storms with wind speeds over 45 miles per hour..."

Detail, Rembrandt
Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee

Lawrence gives the total number of shipwrecks on the North Carolina coast as 2,482.

In a table listing shipwrecks by month, he notes "a noticeable correlation between the storm seasons...and shipwreck loss." Here are the figures for shipwrecks on our coast by month:

January..........300
February........203
March............273
April..............219
May...............110
June...............100
July................108
August...........197
September......261
October..........239
November......228
December.......244

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.

Roanoke & Ocracoke

Calvin O'Neal, Alice Rondthaler, and Anita Fletcher include this paragraph in their book, The Story of Ocracoke Island:

"...Roanoke Island, with its claim to first English white settlers on American soil, must share honors with Ocracoke Island [Wokokon] for, just as the Pilgrims of old disembarked at Provincetown on Cape Cod before finally settling at Plymouth, Massachusetts, so at least one, and possibly more, of the Raleigh expeditions made a landfall at Woccocon [or Wokokon, now Ocracoke] before proceeding on to Roanoke.

"Hakluyt's history of the Raleigh expeditions testifies to this fact in the following statement: 'At length, the preparations being completed, a fleet of seven vessels, all small however, and capable of entering the inlets of the Virginia Sounds...set sail from Plymouth, England, April 2, 1585, and after various adventures that caused delay the fleet passed the Cape Feare on June 23rd and days later came to anchor at Wokokon southwest of Cape Hatterask."

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm. 

Ocracoke As I First Knew It

Following is the beginning of chapter 11 in Carl Goerch's book, Ocracoke.

"The first time I visited Ocracoke was during the summer of 1915.

"In those days there were sailing vessels (sharpies) with auxiliary motors that operated on a regular schedule between Washington [NC] and the island. One boat left Washington Wednesday evening at eight o'clock, the other left Saturday evening, same time.

"It was an all-night trip. Nobody thought seriously of going to sleep, although some folks spread blankets on the deck and managed to get in several naps of short duration.

"You couldn't do much sleeping, however, with a constant jabbering of conversation going on throughout the night. Then, too, there were no rules or regulations against taking a drink, and this helped enliven things considerably.

"As a general thing, it was a bedraggled looking bunch of passengers when they finally arrive at Captain Bill Gaskill's wharf at 6:30 in the morning.

"Captain Bill would be on hand to help dock the boat and see that baggage was taken care of.

"His hotel was known as Pamlico Inn. In those days there was no inside plumbing. This also was true of the Bragg house and other boarding houses. Rough boards comprised walls and ceilings of the guest rooms. Furniture was of the simplest kind. There was no electricity."

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.  

Surfmen

In the past I have written about the men who served in the United States Life-Saving Service.
 

Today I share several quotations from the book, The U.S. Life-Saving Service, by Ralph Shanks and Wick York:

• The surfmen had a remarkably high success rate and once they were on scene the odds of mariners' survival approached ninety-nine percent. [In its 44-year history, the men of the USLSS responded to more than 28,000 ships in distress, and saved the lives of more than 177,000 people.]
• Sometimes the surfmen would be at sea for hours rowing, enduring cold, hunger and exhaustion.
• Except for the tremendous reward of saving lives, it was a wonder that anyone ever became a surfman. The job was extremely dangerous, poor health too often resulted from the long hours and there was no health care program or long term disability coverage. On top of that the pay was low and pensions lacking. Yet the quality of most USLSS men was high.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm. 

An Innocent Time

The little girl sitting on the weathered plank fence in the late 1940s is visiting her grandmother on Ocracoke Island. A cousin's "story-and-a-jump" cottage is in the background. Beyond, and out of view, is Cockle Creek (now called Silver Lake). Between the girl and the house is just sand and a few sea oats. A small toy boat lies near her feet.

Today, the area between the girl and the house is covered with cedars, myrtles, oleanders, pines and live oaks, as well as a house, a garage, and a business. I am sure the girl (now, of course a grown woman) yearns for the days when Ocracoke was simpler and more innocent. I know she reads this blog. Maybe she would like to identify herself.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.  

Cows

Most people familiar with Ocracoke know about the hundreds of wild ponies (now reduced to a remnant herd confined to a large pasture about seven miles north of the village) that roamed freely over the island many years ago.

But far fewer folks know about the other livestock islanders kept "down below" (the area north of the village). Just the other day I came across the following photo in a stack of family pictures, most of them taken in the 1930s or 1940s. 

I know this photo is small, blurry, and difficult to see clearly.  At first glance I thought it was another picture of the wild ponies, but on closer inspection I realized it shows two Ocracoke cowboys and at least one person on foot driving a herd of about two dozen cows. If you enlarge the photo you will have a better view.

Early European settlers in North Carolina found the Outer Banks the perfect place to raise livestock. The Sound and Ocean served as fences, and there was no need for horseshoes in the soft sand. Riders often rode bareback and barefooted. Yearling calves were rounded up in the summer and taken to Norfolk on barges. Several folks in the village kept milk cows, and a few heads of cattle were slaughtered in the fall for meat.

In the 1930s the government demanded that cows and other livestock be herded through dipping vats (six-foot deep pools of water and insecticide) to combat Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Later, North Carolina officials insisted on the removal of most livestock in order to protect the sea oats and other beach grasses which were stabilizing the man-made dunes between NC Highway 12 and the ocean.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.  

Fort Ocracoke

In the past I have written about Fort Ocracoke, a Civil War fortification in Pamlico Sound. Below is an engraving of the destruction of the fort on Beacon Island in 1861.

Today, little is left at the site of the fort, although divers with Surface Interval Diving Company (SIDCO), a non-profit Marine Archaeology and Exploration company, have been exploring the site for several years. Robert K. Smith documents their work in his book, The History of Fort Ocracoke in Pamlico Sound.

Aerial Photo of Beacon Island by GWBrown, 2011

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm. 

Bus Service

The first bus line to Ocracoke Island was established ca. 1938 by Stanley Wahab to serve guests staying at his Wahab Village Hotel (now Blackbeard's Lodge).

Photo Courtesy OPS

Earl O'Neal, in his book, O'Neals of Ocracoke Island, Their Ancestors and Descendants, explains that the bus "was operated by Van Henry O'Neal [pictured on right]. Much of the time he picked people up at their homes, transported them to Hatteras Inlet Coast Guard Station [located on the north end of Ocracoke], then carried the passengers on a small boat without the vehicle, to Odens Dock in Cape Hatteras." Once on the other side of the inlet, passengers rode with the Midgetts [Anderson, Stockton or their dad] to Manteo, NC, where they met the Trailways bus to Norfolk, VA.

Earl points out that there were no paved roads on Ocracoke at that time. The "bus" had to negotiate rutted and bumpy soft sand trails or, when the tide was out, enjoy a smoother ride on the hard-packed beach just above the tide line.

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm. 

Ocracoke Reopened

Hyde County announced this morning that Ocracoke is open to everyone, including visitors starting today. All ferries have resumed normal operations.

Storm Update

Tropical Storm Hermine is expected to pass over or near the Outer Banks later today and early tomorrow, bringing rain, higher than normal tides, and moderate wind.

Unfortunately  I am experiencing problems with Internet access (unrelated to the approaching storm). Please check the Ocracoke Preservation Society Facebook page for current information about storm conditions.

Of course, we are hoping for few repercussions from Hermine, and a speedy return to beautiful fall weather on Ocracoke Island.

A Soldier's Life

In his book, The History of Fort Ocracoke in Pamlico Sound, Robert K. Smith quotes William Augustus Parvin, a private in the Washington Grays, a Confederate Heavy Artillery Company, who was sent to Portsmouth Island in the spring of 1861. Parvin writes:

"We went aboard the steamer and arrived at Portsmouth all right and landed and marched up to the United States Marine hospital and took charge of it...and there it was where I commenced to see what a soldiers [sic] life was. [Here Smith interjects, "A soldier's life indeed -- with adversaries like boredom, mosquitoes, disease, weather and the lack of the 'glories' of war, it seems that one had quite a battle without the Yankees. Still, they seemed to get along well:] We drilled twice a day, target practice once a day, also guard duty to do. But we had a fine time. Plenty of good fishing and plenty of fish and plenty of game birds such as cerlew [sic] and willet [sic], sea plover and yellow shanks and fine salt water bathing and surf bathing. We could catch all the oysters and clams that we wanted and we got so much rations and the people of Washington [NC] sent us so much provisions that we traded off some for watermelon and peaches and figs."

Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.