The following selected items, gleaned from the eight-page mimeographed 1957 “Ocracoke Island News” provide a rare glimpse into island life more than half a century ago. Items include mention of Creekers and Pointers, and mosquitoes! Also, problems with the ferry, a fishing report, unusual cargo on the mailboat, mention of the wreck of the Charlie Mason menhaden boat, the Wikstrom’s Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house near Northern Pond, and a hurricane report.
- Annual PTA Carnival
“Doris Balance and Mildred O’Neal on the ‘Creek Side’ and Alice Belle Williams and Dora Jane Gaskill on the ‘Point side” are selling chances on a 15-lb HAM.” Each chance was 25 cents.
[Creekers live “‘around creek” or on the north side of Cockle Creek (renamed Silver Lake as early as the 1890’s, but still referred to as “The Creek” by Ocracokers). Pointers live “down point” or on the south side of Silver Lake. To understand the difference between Creekers and Pointers read about the two “guts” here: https://www.villagecraftsmen.com/the-big-gut-and-the-little-gut/]
“Doors open at 7 p.m. sharp. Don’t come before then or you may be eaten up by mosquitoes!”
- 1957 Washington D.C. [and New York] School Trip
“We left home 7 a.m. on Oct. 10th…. Plan was to drive as far as Kill Devil Hill and leave the cars there with Mrs. L, and board the bus for Norfolk. But the ferry got stuck before it even got started, and half of the 18 cars had to be taken off and reloaded, and we lost 1 ½ hours so missed the Norfolk bus, and there wasn’t another until 5 p.m….
“At Great Bridge Mrs. Rondthaler phoned Sam Jones’ office and got permission to leave our cars at his place. We had a hard time finding the way to it, but suddenly David recognized the waterworks and some cows, and said, ‘This is the right way,’ and sure enough it was. …We found Miami cooking chicken with word that ‘Mr. Jones expects you for supper.’”
They visited a “gun shop” in Rockville, where all the boys “bought shells” for their shot guns.
They took taxis to Sam Jones place. Mrs. Rondthaler’s truck wouldn’t start at first, but the boys finally got it started by pushing it.”
- October Fishing
Capt. Stacy Howard, owner of the Blanche, reported one of his clients caught a 53 lb. and a 59 lb. red drum. The latter was “entered in a Field & Stream contest.”
Capt. Thurston Gaskill, owner of the South Wind, reported catching about 75 channel bass in October.
“Beach fishing – surf casting, has been fair – flounders, sea mullet, and small channel bass.”
“Several fishing parties in jeeps that camped out on the beach, reported good catches of channel bass.”
- Other News
“Among the many cars coming to Ocracoke these days, Ed Gray’s little German make – the Isetta [an Italian-designed microcar manufactured in 1957 by the German company, BMW] – aroused much interest. He brought the little car with him on the Mailboat, getting 8 men to lift it up and put it on there, and another 8 to lift it up and take it off here. Several Ocracokers enjoyed riding in it while he was here. He made the trip back to New Bern via the Hatteras Ferry route.”
- Who’s Who at Ocracoke
Lum Gaskill “retired from the USCG after serving 20 years, three months, and three days…. During World War II…he helped pick up dead men and survivors who were hanging on boards and other things after ships were torpedoed by German submarines. One day they picked up six men burned in a tin boat.
“After the war Lum was stationed at Ocracoke and was in charge here. A menhaden boat was ground[ed] here on the beach and the Coast guard signaled the men to stay on the boat until they could get to them. One tried to swim ashore and was drowned but the rest were saved.” [You can read about the wreck of the Charlie Mason pogie boat and the lyrics to the song, Charlie Mason Pogie Boat by Charles Stowe of Hatteras, here: https://www.raisingthestory.com/blog/2020/3/8/a-bluebird-day-milton-styron-recalls-the-charlie-mason-menhaden-steamer.]
- New Summer Home to be Built
“A.S. Wikstrom of Skeneateles, N.Y. …is making plans to build a summer home here,… on land northeast of Northern Pond…. The lodge will have about 8 rooms and 4 ½ baths…. All windows and doors are made of aluminum…. Mr. Wikstrom…is a bridge and road contractor.” [The house, often described as “Frank Lloyd Wright – inspired,” was described in the article as designed by architect Rider; the contractor was named as Nyborg…. On January 12, 1976, Mr. Arve S. Wikstrom, pilot, was killed shortly after takeoff from the Skaneateles airport, on his way to Ocracoke.]
- PTA Meeting News
“Lindsay B. Howard received a nice letter from Tom Cunningham, Jr., son of the Lt. Cunningham who is buried in our British Graveyard…. Tom is now 15 years old and is at Mount St. Mary’s College in Sheffield, England.”
October 5th Storm: “It was a bad one, but there was no great damage…. Some sand fencing was knocked down. There was lots of water around homes in the village. Some small boats sank. The mailboat didn’t run for a day or so, and the Hatteras Inlet ferry only got in one trip on Saturday…”
“The sudden death of [81-year-old] ‘Aunt Mame” Harris on October 11th while en route by mailboat to Atlantic came as a great shock and saddened everyone.”
- Advertisements
Willie Hunnings advertised to paint whatever “needed to be done.”
Theodore Rondthaler was selling an “old-time ice chest, capacity one half cake of ice, top opening” for $5.
Mrs. William Williams gave notice that propane gas will no longer be delivered on Sundays. “If you are getting low, order your new tank delivered on Saturday, please.”