Shoreli
The
July 2006 • Vol. 3, No. 1
A Shoreline Community, Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.
Town Hall 247-4353
Marking the Spot: Taking part in the ceremonies dedicating the Iron Steamer historical marker were
(I to r) Janet Eshleman, president of The History Place; Mayor Joan Lamson; Shelby Freeman; Michael
Hill, research supervisor with the state office of archives and history; Ansley Wegner, research assistant;
County Manager John Langdon, and developer Gerald Barfield.
Marker Commemorates
Shipwreck Site
By Bill White
Will Consider
Change in Form
Of Government
The members of the Pine Knoll Shores
Board of Commissioners have made known
their intent to consider changing the Town’s
form of government from mayor/council to
council manager.
A resolution to consider an ordinance
amendment to the To wn Charter to bring about
such a change was unanimously passed by
the board at its regular monthly meeting June
13. The resolution calls for a public hearing
on the proposed ordinance amendment to be
held at 2 p.m. July 11 prior to the next regular
monthly meeting.
A second charter change is also included
in the resolution of intent. It would provide that
persons appointed by the commissioners to fill
vacancies on the Town Board would generally
serve until the next municipal election. At
present appointees are named to serve the
remainder of unfinished terms in office.
(Government) Continued on Page 4
Unity Equals Strength: Clint Anderson, a member
of the PKS Community Appearance Commission,
checks on two oak trees and a bay tree that have
seemingly grown together to form a united front
against the vagaries of weather that beset the
maritime forest. See story on page 12.
The Iron Steamer Pier is gone. But the pier
and the shipwreck from which it derived its
name will not soon be forgotten, thanks to a
North Carolina Highway Historical Marker
dedicated in Pine Knoll Shores June 9. The
marker is at milepost 7 on Route 58 (Salter
Path Road).
The timing of the dedication was appropriate,
coming 142 years to the day after the
Confederate blockade-runner S.S. Pevensey
was run aground on June 9,1864 and scuttled
by her crew to prevent capture by the Union
gunboat New Berne, which was in hot pursuit.
The Pevensey’s crew scrambled ashore and
became prisoners of the Union.
The Pevensey was an iron-hulled sidewheel
steamer with one deck and two masts. Built in
London in 1863, she had a short but eventful
life, successfully running the Union blockade
of Wilmington four times before being lost.
For years part of her wreckage, lying about
100 yards off shore, was clearly visible at low
tide and the ship became familiarly known
locally as The Iron Steamer.
In 1959 Shelby Freeman, a local entrepreneur,
built a fishing pier from which visitors could
look down and view the wreckage. He named
the pier The Iron Steamer and capitalized on
the historic aspects of the site to successfully
promote his enterprise. The pier, which passed
through the hands of a succession of owners,
was dismantled last year to make way for a
subdivision of 10 ocean front homes now being
built. The saga of the Pevensey and the pier
was covered in detail in the July, 2005 issue
of The Shoreline.
Although the historical marker does not
mention the pier, concentrating on the
shipwreck that remains off shore, the pier is
indelibly linked to the site and Freeman had
the honor of unveiling the marker.
He regaled the spectators with highlights
of the pier’s early days, noting that he was
selling real estate at the time and acquired the
300 feet of ocean front that became home to
the pier and subsequently an adjoining motel
only because he couldn’t sell the property to
anyone else.
Freeman not only found himself with the
advantage of an historic attraction literally
under his feet, but benefited, he said, from
a little early help from Mother Nature^ His
new pier opened just before Hurricane Donna
roared up the coast, wiping out four other
fishing piers on the island and badly damaging
The Iron Steamer installation. Freeman had
his fledgling enterprise up and running again
in short order and for some time reaped the
rewards of being the only game in town,
proving, he said, that an ill wind can do
someone some good.
The importance of remembering events
of the past was a recurring theme of all
the speakers at the dedication ceremonies,
including PKS Mayor Joan Lamson, The
mayor had suggested installation of the marker
to the North Carolina Office of Archives
and History, which administers the highway
marker program.
“This area of the coast is rich with visible
history, both underwater and on land,” said
Lamson. “With so much development and
redevelopment upon us it is important that we
(Shipwreck Site) Continued on Page 4
There It Is! Shelby Freeman unveils the historical
marker noting the site of the wreck of the S.S.
Pevensey.
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