1524-1954; Before “Pine Knoll Shores”
As Pine Knoll Shores looks forward to our 50th Anniversary celebration, the
History Committee will post a series of stories that describe some of the milestones
leading up to town incorporation in 1973. Last month, we began our series with
the adventures of Giovanni da Verrazzano, who sailed along the NC coastline in
the 1500s, possibly even coming ashore here in Pine Knoll Shores. Next month, we
will fast forward to the late 1800s, with a fascinating article containing recently
discovered information about a significant but somewhat unknown Pine Knoll,
Shores founding father, John Allen Royall.
To put these and future events into perspective, this month we will feature an
annotated timeline, highlighting Pine Knoll Shores milestones in context with other
local and world events. '
1524—Giovanni da Verrazano sails along the coast of Bogue Banks. See
article in the February 2022 issue of The Shoreline (townofpks.com/The
Shoreline/Past Issues).
1663—King Charles II of England grants Province of Carolina to eight Lords
Proprietors. Sir George Carteret, for whom the county is named, was one of the
eight.
1800—Census lists Jones Meginnis as living on Bogue Banks. He was assumed
to be a squatter living where McGinnis Point was later developed on the sound.
1826-34—Fort Macon is constructed. Fort Hampton, built in 1808-09 to
guard Beaufort Inlet, was abandoned after the War of 1812. Shore erosion and a
hurricane in 1825 swept it into Beaufort Inlet.
1860— John Allen Crosskeys Royall is born in Savannah, GA.
1861— The American Civil War begins when Southern forces fire upon Fort
Sumter in South Carolina.
1862— Alice Green is born in New York City to a prominent, wealthy family.
George Vanderbilt is born in Staten Island.
1864— The SS Pevensey, a Confederate iron steamer blockade runner, is
chased ashore by a Union ship and sinks 220 yards offshore. The remains lie
just beneath the surface where the former Iron Steamer Pier was located.
1865— The American Civil War ends.
1890s—Shackleford Banks residents leave Diamond City. A series of storms
and the decline in whaling force Diamond City “bankers” to move to Salter Path
on Bogue Banks, Harkers Island and the Promise Land in Morehead City.
1895—George Vanderbilt opens Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, to friends
and family.
1901-1909—Theodore Roosevelt serves as the 26th US President. Later, his
grandchildren develop Pine Knoll Shores.
1903—The Wright Brothers make their first controlled, sustained flight of a
powered, heavier-than-air aircraft.
1905—Alice Green (age 43) marries John Ellis Hoffman.
1908—Oscar Kissam of Huntington, NY, buys 82 acres in the central section
of future Pine Knoll Shores and names the property Aibonita. He subdivides
the property and sells lots to his friends and neighbors in New York, who build
winter retreats.
1910— John Allen Crosskeys Royall of Boothbay, Maine, buys 8,000 acres of
land on Bogue Banks, roughly 4/5 of the island. In todays measurements, he
bought from mile marker #5 to the western end of the island.
1911— Alice Green Hoffman and John Ellis Hoffman divorce.
1912— RMS Titanic sinks in the Atlantic on her maiden voyage after collision
with an iceberg.
1914- 1917—World War 1. Alice Hoffman leaves Paris as the German Army
approaches.
1915— RMS Lusitania is torpedoed by German U-boats and sinks.
1917- Alice Hoffman buys a 2,000-acre tract of land from John Royall. The
property extends into current-day Atlantic Beach on the east and through Salter
Path to the west. Hoffman resides in a remodeled and expanded cottage built by
John Royall for his physician. She initially rents and then buys the cottage with
the land purchase.
1918- 1919—The Influenza Pandemic of 1918, also known as the Spanish Flu
Epidemic, kills an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
1919- 1926—U.S. Post Office is established at Alice Hoffman’s house and
named Bogue Banks Post Office.
1922—John Royall sells his remaining property west of Salter Path to
Pennsylvania businessman Henry K. Fort for $70,000. Royall left Bogue Banks
and bought Standard Sand & Gravel in Lillington, NC.
1928—First bridge from Bogue Banks to the mainland opens, connecting
Atlantic Beach to Morehead City.
1935-38—Alice Hoffman’s financial difficulties cause her to lose control of
her property. In 1935, all of Hoffmans NC property was up for sale at auction,
and her NC attorney, Llewellyn Phillips, bought it for $17,000 to hold and satisfy
her debts. Many court cases ensued.
1938—Depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) program
builds Salter Path Road.
(Continued on page 29)
22 The Shoreline I March 2022