Friday, December 08, 2017

Business Directory, 1877-1878

Below are some interesting Hyde County statistics gleaned from Branson's North Carolina Business Directory for 1877 and 1878.
  • Ocracoke is listed as having the following organizations & services: 
    • 1 magistrate (there are 4 on the mainland)
    • 1 church (10 on the mainland)
    • 3 merchants (55 on the mainland)
    • 1 mill (11 on the mainland)
    • 1 post office (8 on the mainland)
  • The mainland has the following; Ocracoke has none:
    • county offices
    • hotels (5 on the mainland)
    • lawyers (3 on the mainland)
    • physicians (12 on the mainland)
    • schools (3 on the mainland; all private)*
    • farmers (52 on the mainland)
 *There actually were several small private schools on Ocracoke Island between the early 1800s and 1901, at which time a school was established in the building now known as the Island Inn. Perhaps there was no school on Ocracoke in 1877-1878.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is my analysis of a sentence penned by surveyor Jonathan Price in 1795. The sentence reads, "Occacock was heretofore, and still retains the name of, an island. It is now a peninsula; a heap of sand having gradually filled up the space which divided it from the bank."  You can read my analysis here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/description-occacock-1795/

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:57 AM

    NCpedia a resource for information cites 1839 as the year the common school law passed. Funding was to be state and local. The business directory lists many a taxable entity to generate funds for a public school in Ocracoke. What was the school age population back then I wonder, AND why is the start of school geared to planting seasons, this is the 21st century and children do not work in the fields to provide sole income for a farm family. If part time they can enroll in online classes or correspondence courses -- the needs of the preponderance of the children should be met.

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