To All of our Faithful Readers

During the last fifteen years I have written and published more than 4,500 articles on this site celebrating Ocracoke Island history, culture, traditions, and people. It has been a labor of love for this special place. Now it is time to take a rest.

I will no longer be publishing blog posts five days per week. I may occasionally post stories or interesting island historical facts as they occur to me. To be notified when I publish a post simply add your email address in the box at the top right and click "submit."

Also, all past posts will remain in the archives. Simply click on any year in the archives to find posts that you may have missed or have forgotten about.

It has been a joy and a pleasure to share so many fascinating stories with interested visitors, Ocracoke residents, and native islanders. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all of our faithful readers. I hope this blog has enriched your understanding of Ocracoke Island, and helped connect you with the fascinating and colorful history that makes our community so special.

Be sure to follow Village Craftsmen on Facebook. Our Facebook page will continue to share island news, photos, stories, and information about storms and hurricanes as they unfold.

Richard S. Spofford

On December 27, 1894, the three-masted schooner Richard S. Spofford wrecked at Ocracoke. The 488-ton vessel was built in 1890 at Newburyport, MA. She had sailed from Boston, MA, on December 22, en route to Darien, GA, under the command of Captain Richard R. Hawes with a crew of seven.

On the day after Christmas, after passing Cape Hatteras, the Spofford encountered gale force winds that quickly increased to hurricane strength. At 3:30 a.m. the next day the ship struck on the shoals just offshore of Ocracoke village. When her centerboard became wedged in the sand, the schooner swung around like a weather vane, leaving the vessel at the mercy of the storm.

The Spofford was named for Richard S. Spofford, (1833-1888), Boston lawyer and sometime author

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.
 .

The Sheltering Cedar

Anne Runyon has a long and passionate connection to Ocracoke Island. Her father, Charles, discovered this special place in the 1950s, and Anne's mother, Robbie, and Charles bought an historic home some years later. They made Ocracoke their permanent home at retirement. Anne spent many pleasant times visiting her parents here.

In 2007 Anne wrote a delightful holiday children's book, The Sheltering Cedar, based on her love of Ocracoke. 

A sturdy tree shelters small animals during a storm on Christmas Eve, allowing peace and joy to reign as the tempest clears. Filled with beautiful illustrations of birds, animals, water, and sky, The Sheltering Cedar is a gift of nature, illuminating and delightful. For ages 3-7.

Eileen Heyes, author of the O'Dwyer and Grady mysteries reviewed the book: "To say The Sheltering Cedar is a lovely book doesn't do it justice. The spare, evocative text and warm, detailed watercolors bespeak Anne Runyon's love for Ocracoke Island. She knows this special place well, has studied its intricately balanced ecosystem with all her senses and now takes the rest of us there with all her heart. The quiet story of a coastal tree sheltering wildlife from a Christmas Eve storm will be bedtime favorite for toddlers, while the author's explanatory note and activities will make this a fun addition to school libraries and classrooms. 

Anne Marshall Runyon was born in Washington, DC. Quiet summers on Ocracoke Island nurtured a lifelong interest in the natural world. Anne studied printmaking at Carleton College, and design at the University of Minnesota. She and her family live in Garner, North Carolina. She belongs to the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Anne writes and illustrates articles for WILD Notebook, and the children's section of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine. Ms. Runyon's artwork is also featured throughout North Carolina, in many conservation publications, and in permanent environmental education exhibits. 

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

Ocracoke's Pacific Coast

In 1524 Francis I, King of France, financed a voyage to the New World by Giovanni da Verrazzano. He explored the coast of what became North Carolina, from south of Cape Fear to Cape Hatteras, seeking “some strait to get through to the Eastern Ocean.” On the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25, 1524), he reached the area of the Outer Banks near Portsmouth and Ocracoke islands. He believed this was an isthmus separating the Atlantic Ocean from an arm of the Pacific Ocean. 

Verrazzano wrote, “We…found there an isthmus one mile wide and about two hundred miles long, in which we could see the eastern sea from the ship, halfway between west and north. This is doubtless the one which goes around the tip of India, China, and Cathay. We sailed along this isthmus, hoping all the time to find some strait or real promontory where the land might end to the north, and we could reach those blessed shores of Cathay.”

For about a century what we today know as Pamlico Sound was called Mare da Verrazzano, or the Sea of Verrazzano, and was considered an arm of the Pacific Ocean! 

Michael Lok May, 1582

Michael Lok May, 1582, Detail

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

Chance for Tavern

The first Tolson on the Outer Banks was John Tolson who purchased lot #1 on Portsmouth Island in 1756. However, it was not until  1830 that any Tolsons (William and Thomas) appeared in the federal census of Ocracoke.

By the mid-nineteenth century Daniel Tolson (1826-1879) had become a prosperous antebellum Ocracoke merchant. In 1855 Tolson, just shy of 40 years old, was appointed postmaster. In that same year he purchased a large tract of land which later became known as Springer's Point. Daniel Tolson served as postmaster until 1866, at a weekly salary of $9.17. In 1857 he was half owner of the the five year old, 55' long schooner, Patron. During his life he had owned 22 slaves. Daniel Tolson is buried in a secluded spot at Springer's Point.

On October 8, 1856, shortly after his purchase of Springer's Point, which included a number of houses and other buildings, Daniel Tolson ran an advertisement in a Washington, NC, newspaper.

Tolson House at Springer's Point

The ad was titled,

"Chance for Tavern," and read:

"On Ocracoke, Hyde Co. N.C. I have three or four commodious and convenient buildings with necessary out houses. A garden and pasture requisite for support of a hotel for which purpose, I will rent them for a month, or any number of months -- Close at hand can be had oysters clams and fish. Here we can view the egress and regress of ships, the bar and Portsmouth, snuff the ocean's salubrious breeze which renders it highly pleasurable and pleasant, as a summer resort. WHO WILL TAKE THE OFFER?

Daniel Tolson"

Today Springer's Point is a nature preserve managed by the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust.

Springer's Point

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

1837 Shipwreck and Robbery

The following letter was written by John Pike, Esq., of Ocracoke, N.C., to James Bergen, Esq., of  New York City – Published in the N.Y. Express

 

Ocracoke, Nov. 2, 1837

To the Public: -- A statement has been published throughout the United States, from a New York paper, purporting to describe circumstances relating to the wreck of the Home. The libelous slanders it contains have aroused the indignation of every person here, for there never was a more gross and wanton calumny propagated, or a greater imposition practiced upon the public, already extremely excited as to every thing relating to this unfortunate vessel. I became acquainted with Hiram Force at the wreck. His supporters I do not know, but if respectable men they are imposed upon by Force; or if they undertake by their own knowledge to endorse Mr. F’s narration, they are as unworthy of respect as he is, and have perhaps joined him in his frauds. Mr. Force was introduced to my acquaintance on the day after the wreck, under two charges, viz., -- First, for stealing a gold watch and chain from the dead body of the lady of Mr. B.B. Hussey of Charleston, S. C. The second charge was, for claiming and breaking open the trunk of a missing passenger, Mr. L. S. Benedict, and stealing therefrom part of its contents, and destroying papers to cover his villainy. He presented himself to be a gentleman passenger. The fact of stealing the watch from the body was not clearly proved; but one was seen upon the body before he approached it, and immediately after he was seen to have a gold watch, and that on the body was missing. The charge of stealing the clothes and destroying the papers was clearly proved. He could offer no defense, but stated that he was occasionally insane from once having fallen from a cherry tree, and he thought he must have been insane when he committed the larceny. Perhaps his newspaper narration was made under the same influence. At the time of his examination he was completely dressed, with the exception of a hat, in a very fashionable suit of the clothes he had stolen from the trunk, and it came out that Mr. Hiram Force was the barber of the Steamboat Home. His guilt and impostures were so glaringly apparent, that nothing but the multiplicity of business pressing at the moment, and the fact that the nearest gaol was sixty miles from the beach, saved him from a residence in the North Carolina States Prison. Some of the humane persons on the beach urged in his behalf, the miserable condition of the culprit arising from the ship wreck, and induced the magistrate to grant his release upon his giving up all the stolen property and leaving the place forthwith which he consented to do: but whether he gave up- all, is and will be a secret; but this extraordinary gentleman, culprit, barber, quickly decamped for your city to revenge himself.

John Pike

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

1837 Controversies

On November 7 of this year I wrote about Ocracoke Island resident John Pike (he is listed in the federal census in 1830, 1840, and 1850). Although a prominent citizen during his residency on the island, he seems to have been involved in several controversies. In 1837 Pike was the Notary at the Port of Ocracoke, Justice of the Peace and Wreck Master.

On March 1, 1837, Ocracoke's former Justice of the Peace, and upstanding citizen, Jacob Gaskill, was involved in an argument with his neighbor and first cousin, Willis Williams. In the ensuing altercation Jacob Gaskill shot and killed Willis Williams. It was Ocracoke's first murder. In the spring of 1837, in Hyde County, Jacob Gaskill was tried and convicted of “felonious slaying.” He was not found guilty of murder. Nevertheless, as punishment he was branded on the palm of his hand with the letter “M”. He was never sent to prison. (See https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/murder-on-ocracoke/ for more information.)

Just months later, in October, the steamboat Home wrecked on Ocracoke during "Racer's Storm" (see......). William Howard appears to have been the acting Wreck Master at that time. In a dispute with John Pike over their respective actions during rescue and salvage operations William Howard accused John Pike, “through his influence and money” of rescuing “a murderer from the gallows merely for the sake of gain.” Presumably this refers to John Pike’s involvement in the murder trial of Jacob Gaskill.

At the same time John Pike petitioned the court to have William Howard release money and personal articles found on the body of James M. Rolls who lost his life when the Home wrecked. Howard buried Rolls' body, then claimed the money and personal belongings that were recovered from Rolls' trunk as payment for "washing, dressing and giving him a decent burial."

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

At 210 feet tall, the distinctive "candy striped" black and white lighthouse at Cape Hatteras is among the tallest beacons in the United States. It was the second light tower to guard the dreaded shoals at Cape Hatteras, and was built and lit in 1870.

The present lighthouse replaced the original lighthouse at Hatteras which was first lit in 1803.

1803 Cape Hatteras Light

Capt. David D. Porter described the original beacon in an 1851 letter to the Lighthouse Board:

"Hatteras light, the most important on our coast is, without doubt, the worst light in the world. Cape Hatteras is the point made by all vessels going to the south, and also coming from that direction; the current of the Gulf Stream runs so close to the outer point of the shoals that vessels double as close round the breakers as possible, to avoid its influence. The only guide they have is the light, to tell them when up with the shoals; but I have always had so little confidence in it, that I have been guided by the lead, without the use of which, in fact, no vessel should pass Hatteras. The first nine trips I made I never saw Hatteras light at all, though frequently passing in sight of the breakers, and when I did see it, I could not tell it from a steamer's light, excepting that the steamer's lights are much brighter. It has improved much latterly, but is still a wretched light. It is all important that Hatteras should be provided with a revolving light of great intensity, and that the light be raised 15 feet (4.6 m) higher than at present. Twenty-four steamship's lights, of great brilliancy, pass this point in one month, nearly at the rate of one every night (they all pass at night) and it can be seen how easily a vessel may be deceived by taking a steamer's light for a light on shore."

Sixty feet was added to the original lighthouse in 1853.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

Edward Farrow

Edward Farrow (1839 - 1878) was the son of Wilson Tilmon Farrow, Sr. (1798-1880), Ocracoke resident and member of the state legislature. Ed Farrow married Lucretia Credle Wahab (1848 - 1930). Their home was located where Berkley Manor is today. Sam Jones, owner of Berkley Machine Works in Norfolk, Virginia, bought the house more than a half century ago, and built the newer part around the old house. Edward Farrow is buried in the front yard.

Edward Farrow's epitaph reads simply, "Farewell, Ed."

Among Ed and Lucretia Farrow’s children, one son married and moved to Pennsylvania, a daughter married Ocracoke’s Methodist preacher, Rev. West, and moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and another daughter married a lawyer from New Bern, North Carolina. After Ed Farrow died his widow moved to mainland Hyde County where she met a traveling salesman, Michael Lawrence Piland (1861-1920). They moved to Ocracoke where Mr. Piland ran a store and ice cream parlor, served as choir master in the Methodist Church, founded Ocracoke's Odd Fellow's Lodge, and was appointed post master. (Read more about Michael Lawrence Piland here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/island-inn-lodge-no-194-independent-order-odd-fellows/.)

Lucretia Credle Wahab Farrow Piland moved to Washington, North Carolina, where she is buried.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.

Hurricane Season

The official Hurricane Season begins on June 1, and ended this past Friday, November 30. The peak of the season is mid-August to late October. Some of the most devastating storms to strike the Outer Banks were the San Cirioca Storm in 1899, the unnamed 1933 hurricane, and the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944. Recent hurricanes that brought strong winds and tidal flooding to Ocracoke were Hurricane Alex in 2004 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Tide Markers at Village Craftsmen

Although hurricanes Florence and Michael threatened Ocracoke Island in 2018, little damage occurred, and there was only insignificant tidal flooding.

I recently wondered what other major hurricanes have struck Ocracoke, and learned about the "1775 Independence Hurricane." This is what I read on Wikipedia:

"On August 27, 1775, a hurricane hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It turned northeastward and left the state on September 2, bringing heavy wind and rain to southeastern Virginia. A letter from New Bern, North Carolina, recounted, 'We had a violent hurricane...which has done a vast deal of damage here, at the Bar, and at Matamuskeet, near 150 lives being lost at the Bar, and 15 in one neighborhood at Matamuskeet.'

"The September 9, 1775, edition of The Virginia Gazette reported: 'The shocking accounts of damage done by the rains last week are numerous: Most of the mill-dams are broke, the corn laid almost level with the ground, and fodder destroyed; many ships and other vessels drove ashore and damaged, at Norfolk, Hampton, and York. In the heavy storm of wind and rain, which came on last Saturday, and continued most part of the night, the Mercury man of war was drove from her station abreast of the town of Norfolk, and stuck flat aground in shoal water.'"

Apparently Ocracoke, with fewer than 150 residents, was too remote to make the news. I wonder how much damage the Independence Hurricane did. We may never know, but we do know the community survived and flourished.

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is a chapter from Philip Howard's book, Digging up Uncle Evans, about the 1837 wreck of the Steamboat Home, one of the most horrific wrecks ever on the North Carolina coast. You can read it here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-1837-wreck-of-the-steamboat-home/.