Hard Work Pays Off—
Sunset Is The Newest
Beach In Brunswick
By EUGENE FALLON
The southernmost beach in
North Carolina is also its newest.
Just three years ago, in the
early spring of 1958, Mannon C.
Gore, a 50-year-old Brunswick
County native, started a beach
development—practically with the
sweat of his own brow- and called
it Sunset. There are many who
think Sunset the finest strand
along the coast of both Carolinas.
So hard did Gore labor that in
the middle of his Herculean task
he broke physically and had to
spend almost two months in a
hospital.
“The name I gave the beach,”
he says wryly, “was too appro
priate. I thought I'd approached
my own sunset.”
But it takes a lot to keep down
a man with Gore’s drive. He
snapped out of his temporary ill
ness to continue development of
his beach — which, Topsy-like,
“just grows and grows.”
Gore’s giant project was not his
first tussle with sand and sea.
Before 1958 he had been involved
in an earlier beach promotion,
but Hurricane Hazel came along
and Gore sold out his interest.
"I had my own ideas of how
to build a beach,” he says, “and
I had a strong desire to go it
alone”. That’s just exactly what
Mannon Gore did.
Purchasing 2,200 acres of pine
barrens and sand dunes, Gore
found it necessary to sell his farm
to raise the cash. Committed, he
lost no time. In May of 1958 he
began to carve a road from N. C.
highway 904, the Grissettown
Seaside road, through his new
property to the Atlantic. Even
I tually he reached the inland wa
I terway. Here was a problem
which many builders would have
solved merely by sitting down and
waiting for the State to build a
bridge. But Gore went ahead and
threw together his own dredge.
A pretty good dredge it was, too,
sixty thousand dollars worth to
be exact. And the incredible Mr.
j Gore, making like the engineer
| he was not, threw a bridge across
I the waterway. A good, stout
bridge pontoon-type, with draw
for boats.
In May of 1960, help came when
the State paved Gore’s road. A
year later, they paved two and
one-half miles of beach frontage
on Sunset.
Another phase of his develop
; ment was a dam across a salt
water slough and the creation of
two fresh-water lakes, each cov
ering about 35 acres. Gore
promptly christened these “Twin
Lakes” and stocked them with
bass and bream, and today has
six boats awaiting hire by those
who prefer flycasting to surfcast
ing.
A peculiarity of Twin Lakes is
that several varieties of salt wa
ter fish survived the transition.
According to Gore, popeye mullet
rise on the lakes to hook and
line.
Next on the construction agen
da for Sunset Beach was an
ocean fishing pier. This extends
out into the Atlantic for 1,100
feet. Fishermen who use Sunset
Beach fishing pier may wonder at
the name “Vesta” which appears
painted on its elongated timbers.
Beneath this very pier in 1864
the Confederate blockade runner
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"Vesta” came to a sad and un
timely end.
Residential sections are laid out
along both the beach and Twin
Lakes. Some forty houses are al
ready up and occupied, with five
more presently under construction.
There's a restaurant and a motel
at Sunset Beach, and at the
pavilion-end of the fishing pier,
Billy Gore, crimson-thatched son
of Mannon Gore, holds forth and
purveys refreshments, postcards
and bait, while his father sits
across the waterway in a com
fortable real estate office, ready
and willing to dispense advice
and choice seaside lots to all who
are interested.
Black drum and sheepshead are
running good at the pier at Sun
set Beach according to Billy Gore,
who said that recent catches run
from three and one-half pounds
to eight and one-quarter pounds.
The fish are being taken on sand
fleas and fiddler carbs, he added.
Mannon C. Gore is that rarity,
an active philosopher. His think
ing has been done on the run so
as to speak. Here are a few of
his observations.
“For too many years the em- '
phasis on beach property fell al- -
most wholly on the beaches of
Dare County; there was hardly a t
beach south of Manteo, with the 1
exception of Wrightsville. Then j
South Carolina got busy and de- i
veloped its Grand Strand—proving ;
that being close to Norfolk gave
no section of the southeast coast
a corner on fine beaches. Bruns
wick is on the Way up. There’s j
one thing fairly certain: No one
is going to develop a better beach
than Sunset is, and still be so
close to that same Grand Strand!”
Another Goreism, related with
a slow smile, is "any man who is
not willing to drive himself hard
is not worth his salt!”
In a salt-caked world along the
bottom coast of North Carolina,
Mannon C. Gore, proprietor of
Sunset Beach, qualifies as a pret
ty salty individual.
During his familiar chant, the
tobacco auctioneer speaks at
more than 400 words a minute,
i The average person speaks at
I about 175-200 words a minute.
Strand At Sunset Beach
FISHERMAN—Sunset Beach boasts one of the widest strands to be found at
any point on the Atlantic Seaboard, and in the above photo a lonely fisherman
is shown trying his luck at surf-casting. This is a favorite sport for those who pre
fer this kind of,fishing to that from a pier or on the two freshwater lakes which
combine to give this resort an all-round attraction for the angler.
Barley Record Seen
A record-breaking North Caro
ina barley crop of 2,911,000 bu
shels is in prospect, according to
;he July 1 forecast of the North
Carolina Crop Reporting service,
rhe current estimate of produc
:ion tops the 1960 crop by 38
lercent and is about 14 percent
ibove the previous high produced
n 1959. There are an estimated
11,000 acres for harvest with an
ixpected yield per acre of 41.0
jushels, also a record. Last
gear's yield per acre was 34.0
sushels, and the previous high
vas 37.0 bushels produced in
L956. Harvest to date is behind
schedule, and favorable weather
in July will be required if ex
pected production estimates are
to be reached.
Use State Port Pilot Want Ads !
Waterfront
:Si::
I
Last week, in the wake of our
trip to the mountains, we devoted
:his column to a discussion of our
reed for an All-Seashore High
way, particularly a Brunswick
eounty link in this proposed route,
rhere are other conclusions reach
ed as a result of our travel.
One of these is the great need
'.or improved highways running
:rom the more populous sections
of North Carolina to the coastal
ureas. An inspection of maps
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showing our highway system will
reveal the fact that practically all
of our super highways run in a
North-South direction. These are
all very fine for the purpose they
serve, but unfortunately their im
provement has done nothing to
make it easier for people from the
Charlotte, Winston-Salem and
Greensboro areas—to name a few
—to make a fast, traffic-free trip
to the coast. Paradoxically, it is
much more convenient for them
to get to some of the beach areas
in upper South Carolina.
In numerous conversations with
residents from these cities during
our recent trip we found that
there is a growing interest inj
North Carolina beach resort areas, j
particularly those here in Bruns
wick. We had several opportuni
ties to point out that with the
completion of Highway No. 211
through the Green Swamp, Long
Beach, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle
and Sunset Beach now can be
reached at a saving in mileage
over several others that have in
years gone by been more popular
with upstate residents.
Right now we need to bear
down on this business of highway
improvement with regard to East
West travel. To this point we
have mentioned only the import
ance of tourist or vacation travel.
There also is the very practical
value of having direct communica
tions from North Carolina ports
to the industrial sections of the
Piedmont. And in the event of
war, it would be of great strate
gic value to have direct lines of
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communication with Fayetteville
and Fort Bragg—and we do not
mean over the torturous route of
Highway No. 87.
These need not be duel lane
truck routes- although there may
be justification of asking for
these. But there should be high
ways running East and West
which are comparable to those
in our State which run North and
South.
When the day comes that we
consider the first link of the All
Seashore route, we have a sug
gestion to make: That is that
this NOT be a limited access
road. We said last week—and we
say again—we want to get people
into our area to spend some time
and spend some money, not just
to speed through.
This may seem to be a matter
for future consideration, but the
fact is that conditions indicate
that we may be closer to the All
Seashore route than we realize,
and when the opportunity does
arise, we hope that our people will
be ready to take full advantage
of it.
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