Effingham Tuthill (1834 – 1917) and his wife, Clarissa Catherine Brown (1836 — 1876), moved from Suffolk County, Long Island, New York, in about 1872, and settled in South Creek, Beaufort County, North Carolina.

Effingham Tuthill was a former carriage maker in Port Jefferson, New York. It is probable that Effingham, like so many other northerners who relocated south after the Civil War, moved to South Creek seeking economic opportunity.

The Tuthills had five children, Luther (1859-1930), Gilbert (1864-1933), Alice (1865-1908), Myron (1867-1878), and James (1872-1952). After Clarissa Tuthill died in 1876, Effingham married Margaret Hill (1854-1886). Effingham was one of the founders of South Creek Baptist Church, built in 1884. After Margaret died, he married Agusta Fowler (1848-1915).

The Tuthill family soon became close friends of the Springer family who left Cape May, New Jersey, and also settled in South Creek soon after the war. Samuel Springer (1800-1877), sheriff of Cape May County and a mechanical engineer, had been sent south during the Civil War to clear the harbor at New Bern. He was captured and spent time in a Confederate prison. After the war, Samuel Springer and two of his seven children, Edward Delevan (E.D.) and Whilden, established a saw mill/grist mill, and a dry goods, grocery, and hardware store at South Creek. E. D. Springer was appointed postmaster at South Creek in 1869.

E.D. and Clara Springer’s daughter, Edna, married James Tuthill.

Whilden Springer’s daughter, Eliza, married Luther Tuthill.

Whilden Springer’s son, Samuel Springer, married Alice Tuthill.

In 1883 E.D. and Clara Springer purchased the “Point” on Ocracoke Island. The Point soon came to be known as Springer’s Point. At about the same time, Effingham Tuthill also purchased land on Ocracoke, not far from the Point. There he built a “hotel” (several interconnected buildings and apartments) that he named the Tuthill House (also called Sunset Inn).

In 1895 Effingham Tuthill advertised his establishment.  “The reputation of this house for good food, well prepared, and general comfort of guests goes without saying. Rates Reasonable,” he wrote.

The following photo of the Tuthill House Complex is a detail of a panoramic photo taken from the top of the lighthouse, ca. 1917:

Tuttles (sic) Lane, on the western shore of Ocracoke village, adjacent to Pamlico Sound, is named for the Tuthills and their establishment. We do not know when or why the Tuthill House was demolished or destroyed, perhaps in the 1933 hurricane; however, nothing of the hotel remains today except the remains of the water cisterns located on the Van Nostrand property.