Newspapers / The Coastland Times (Manteo, … / Jan. 28, 1955, edition 1 / Page 1
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JLUME XX NO. 31 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IS DULY ORGANIZED ON NAGS HD. BEACH St. Andrews By-The-Sea Becomes A Full Fledged Church After 45 Years St. Andrews-by-the-S ea, an Episcopal mission built largely through the efforts of the late Dr. R. B. Drane of Edenton on Nags Head, has become an organ ized Church of the Diocese of East Carolina. The Rev. Alex. C. D. Noe, once vicar and later rector of St. Thomas Church in Bath, the oldest religious edifice in North Carolina is rector of St. Andrews and it was through his efforts, with the cooperation of Theodore Hampton Noe and Dare Coast Episcopalians that the Church has been orgahized with regular services. The organization has taken place under the sanction of the Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Wright, D. D., Bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina and the Rev. Daniel W. Allen, Diocean executive secretary of Wilmington. In the beginning St. Andrews had 35 communicants but additional members, most of them already Episcopalians, or coastal residents who have chosen this faith as their choice, have been added to the rolls weekly and the Rev. Mr. Noe is conducting regular confirmation classes. Many persons will be confirmed into the Church when Bishop Wright makes his February visit to St. Andrews. The present structure, built some 45 years ago was financed by funds awarded the Diocese by the Government in payment for a church destroyed nearby by Fed eral soldiers during the Civil War. Originally built in the center of the beach to serve equally ocean side and soundside residents, it was moved out near the new high way a few years ago. Hampton Noe. a nephew of the Rector and native of Wilmington, was named Senior Warden of the Vestry at the organization of St. Andrews recently. He had been a resident of Dare County for two years serving as District Sanitar '-»n for the Board of Health. Dur .. the past week he left Dare to :e his home in Madison, Wis .sin. Succeeding Noe as Senior War den of the Vestry is Dewey Hay man of Nags Head. Gordon Kel logg of Manteo has been named junior warden and members of the Vestry include R. S. Smith, secre tary-treasurer, John Earle and Charles Marshall, lay readers, and W. P. Gray, Martin Kellogg, Jr., Aycock Brown and P. J. M. Payne, See CHURCH, Page Four MORE BOATS SOUGHT FOR OREGON INLET FERRY Bonner and Park Service Working With Highway Department to Procure Additional Landing Craft For Summer Duty Early conferences have been scheduled in Washington to obtain additional landing craft from the Navy Department for conversion into ferry boats for service across Oregon Inlet. Three boats have al ready been obtained in this man ner. A. C. Stratton, who was in Manteo this week with E. M. Lyle, Assistant Regional Director of the NPS said that it is hoped one or more of these craft may be ob tained for this purpose. The boats now in service at Ore gon Inlet are the Governor Um stead, the Lindsay Warren and the Conrad Wirth. Two of them were put into service in 1953. , While in the area, the park offi cials looked over the projected de velopments at Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras. The use area at Bodie Island is now in process of improvement. John E. Ferebee, Manteo house mover is moving the older Bodie Island Coast Guard station some distance away from its old location to a point north ward of the newer station build- •». The latter is used as Park C dquarters. The space vacated .1 be the site of the new Park service buildings. Some distance away, across the beach, a museum is being develop ed at Bodie Island Lighthouse in the former keepers’ quarters. Funds are available for construc tion of a hardsurface road over to the area. FINE FOR ASSAULT WITH KNIFE ON COLORED GIRL George Albert McClease of Manteo was fined for assaulting a young colored girl with a knife in Recorder’s Court this week. The fine v as $25 plus the court costs, and suspended sei.tjnce of 60 days in jail. The girl, Sylvia Mackey. THE COASTLAND TIMES PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTEREST OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA GREAT ENTHUSIASM IS REPORTED FOR ALLIGATOR BRIDGE Williamston Meeting Attended By 40 From Counties of Area; Also Highway Engineers “One of the most enthusiastic and promising meetings we have ever held,” says Melvin R. Dan iels, who with Lawrence Swain of Manteo and five others from Dare attended a meeting held in Wil liamston Wednesday in the in terest of a campaign to obtain a bridge over Alligator River. Mr. Daniels said about 40 peo ple from the six counties of the Southern Albemarle attended, in cluding representatives from Nash and Edgecombe. This was not a quarterly meeting of the Southern Albemarle Association, although it was called by A. Corey, the As sociation President of Jamesville. Attending this meeting were Highway Commissioner Emmett Winslow of Hertford, and Division Engineer Bill Spruill of Ahoskie. The group voted to organize and go forward with a campaign to seek the building of the bridge over the river, thereby completiing U. S. 64, which is a transcontinen tal highway, beginning on the west coast and continuing to Nags Head. The party was served a turkey dinner, and left with great hopes for launching a program while the Legislature is in session. Mr. Corey stated that quarterly meeting of the SAA executive committee would be called early in May. Attending from Dare County were Melvin and Mrs. Daniels, Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Daniels, Jr., Mr Swain, Mr. and Mrs. M. K. Fearing. Jim and Love Mor+on Use Plane To Prove Distance No Barrier to Enjoying Coastland A Pennsylvanian, Now A New York Newspaperman and a Tar Heel Booster, Flies With His Wife to Manteo Airport for Quick Enjoyment of Their Nags Head Home. By DON BISHOP New York. —Second only to Texans, North Carolinians living in New York talk more about their home state than anyone. But Lone Star Staters, Tar Heels and every one else must take a back seat to a fellow,named Jim Morton. Morton is a native Pennsylvan ian who has lived most of his 38 years in New York. But on the basis of his part-time residence at Nags Head, N. C., some 25 or 30 week ends a year, he has become ene of North Carolina’s most vocal boosters in New York City. What makes this all the better for his adopted state, Morton is in a key position on the influen tial New York Journal American. If he has occasion—and he often does—to decide on giving the nod to a picture or story from, say, Idaho, or North Carolina, the Western state hasn’t a chance. For that matter, neither would any other state. “I’ve been in all 48 states and 12 foreign countries,” said Mor ton. “North Carolina has them all beat.” Flies to N. C. He and his wife, the forme! Love Brice of Staunton, Va., have a beach cottage at Nags Head. He flies his Bellanca Cruisair there every week end, holiday and vaca tion possible. Since the Mortons “discovered” the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1948, they have become such constant residents of Nags Head that other less fre quent visitors regard them as part of the year-round citizenry. Morton first became acquainted with North Carolina when he was a student at The Citadel in Char leston, S. C. As captain of the track team, he often ran at meets at Davidson, Duke and the Uni versity of North Carolina. But be ing an exceptionally fast runner —his state two-mile record has never been equalled—he got only fleeting glimpses of the country side. A few years after his gradua tion in 1938 he was getting verti cal views of North Carolina as a paratrooper, making about 20 practice jumps at Camp MacKall, Fort Bragg and Hamlet. He liked the state even from that vantage point. Has Decorations He went overseas with the 101st Airborne Division, broke a leg in a practice jump in England, won a battlefield promotion to captain in Europe, and was hospitalized two years by shrapnel wounds re ceived at Bastogne. He was deco rated four times and also received NEW RURITAN PRES T MANNS HARBOR CLUB IHII, JU t MM The Manns Harbor Ruritan Club which meets the third Wed nesday at 7:30 p.m., held its reg ular monthly meeting at the club building January 19th. Stanford White, well known Manns Harbor business man was installed Presi dent, succeeding Sherman Twi ford. Wallace Taylor is the new Vice President; Will Mann, Treas urer; John Midgett, Secretary and Henry Armstrong was chosen the new drector for three years. The officers were installed by the Rev. A. L. G. Stevenson. This was one of the best meetings of the year with 22 members present The Wo man’s Club served a chicken din ner. Much interest is being shown in the club and as the officers be gin their new year of work in helping to make the community a better place to live, new projects are soon to be started. Mr. White has previously serv ed as president of the club and also district president. He is one of the most tireless workers in Ruritan National in this area. A REGULAR AIR COMMUTER FROM DARE TO NEW YORK _■ v, ; •TIM MORTON, executive at the New York Journal American who has become a North Carolinian by adoption, is a part-time resident of Nag-s Head, N. C. He was grad uated from The Citadel, Charles ton, S. C„ where he was captain of the track team. the Conspicuous Service Cross for valor from the state of New York. Morton returned to his old job at the New York Journal Ameri can after the war, his byline be coming, as it still is, a standard feature in the newspaper. As a Journal American Executive, he has directed such special projects as an overseas airlift of $300,000 in Christmas presents to wounded veterans in Korea, fund raising for a chapel for veterans of all faiths at a Veterans Administra tion hospital, etc. He and Mrs. Morton were en route to a vacation in Florida in the late spring of 1948 when they stopped overnight at the newly opened Carolinian Hotel at Nags Head. He recalled that Mrs. Lu cille Purser and the hotel staff, is well as other residents of the community, made them feel so much “at home” that they stayed six weeks. Forget Florida Florida was put out of their thoughts—and in 1951 they bought some ocean front property for a cottage which was completed in August 1953. The cottage, named "The Screaming Eagle” in honor of the shoulder patch of the 101st Airborne Division, was See MORTON, Page Four MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1955 OLD COAST GUARD "CHAPLAIN" HEARS HIS FINAL ORDERS Rev. George R. Willis Once Had World's Longest Circuit, Dies Saturday in Manteo Death ended the career Satur day morning of a preacher who once claimed to have the world’s longest circuit. Rev. George R. Willis died at 4:05 a.m. Saturday in Manteo at the age of 76. In the hay-dey of the shore-stations of the Coast Guard. He was unoffi cial “Chaplain” for the men of the service, and he travelled the Coast Line of the Atlantic with its seven districts, from the Bay of Fundy to Key West, and the three dis tricts of the Great Lakes. Mr. Willis was born at Hatteras October 8, 1878, the son of the late Joe and Olivia Styron Willis. He had lived on Roanoke Island about I ten years, and was a member of the Wanchese Methodist Church. Mr. Willis died at the home of his sister, Mrs. Louise McCleary in Manteo. He is survived also by a brother, Willie P. Willis of Hat teras. By two daughters, Mrs. Annie Petronie of New York and Mrs. Pearl Slade of Oriental; by a son, Ernest of New York and 13 grandchildren. At the age of 16 he delivered his first sermon at the Old Creeds Hill Life Saving Station some six miles southwest of Cape Hatteras. Along in the mid-nineties a rug ged old seafaring man, Capt. Homer Styron was in charge then. Back in those day, before the automobile or roads, and when travellers came seldom to these lonely stations, any visitors was highly welcome. Opportunities then being few for the religious minded surf men to attend church. Rev. George Willis relieved the monotony as he made his rounds up and down the coast. He would spend a day at each station, if they were far apart, and less time if they were close together. The men developed a habit of each giv ing him a d011ar.... he got his meals and bed, and transportation o the next station up or down the See WILLIS. Page Four ! ELLIS H. MIDGETT, 70, EX-COAST GUARD DIES Ellis Howard Midgett, 70, re tired surfman of the Coast Guard, and husband of Mrs. Lotta S. Midgett of Manteo, died Monday morning at 1:15 at the Marine Hospital, Norfolk. He had been ill for five months, and had been re tired from the service after 20 years, through disability May 1, 1939. Mr. Midgett had lived in Manteo 52 years. He was born at Salvo May 23. 1884. the son of the late Jesse T. and Elvaria Jennette Midgett. His first wife, was Mrs. Lavenia O’Neal Midgett who pre ceded him in death several years ago. Beside his wife he is survived by eight children: four sons: Wil bur of Blue Anchor, N. J., Willard of Palm Beach, Fla.; Ellis Jr. of St. Simon’s Island, Ga.; and Edwin of Manteo; four daughters: Mrs. Wayland Baum of Wanchese; Mrs. Caleb Brickhouse, and Mrs. Anita Jessen of Manteo; and Mrs. Effi rania Thomas of Belmont, N. J. Two brothers, Willie E. Midgett of Manteo and Ervin Midgett of St. Petersburg, Fla. Two sisters: Miss Eulalia Midgett of Manteo and Mrs. Dwight Andrews of Raleigh. There are 14 grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren. He was a highly regarded citi zen of Manteo and had been cheer ful and uncomplaining during his long illness. He was a member of Mt. Olivet Methodist Church, and funeral services were conducted Wednes day afternoon at 2:30 from the church by Rev. H. R. Ashmore, the pastor, assisted by Rev. H. V. See MIDGETT, Page Four FIRST MAN INJURED WEDNESDAY ON BRIDGE Jim Bethea of Manteo, a colored man in his early 30’s, got a leg painfully byuised Wednesday while working on a barge of the T. A. Lovdng Co. which is engaged in driving the piles for the Croatan Sound bridge. According to one of the com pany men, Bethea was caught be tween two of the concrete pilings <>n the deck of the barge when they rolled together. He was tak en to Elizabeth City hospital for treatment and is expected home in a couple of days. No bones were broken. This is the first injury re ported on this big job which is ex pected to take nearly two years to complete. A number of the pilings have been driven. These were of con crete, octagonal in shape, diameter ranging from 20 to 22 inches. They are allowed to cure 18 days before going under the hammer. ANCIENT MONSTER'S JAWBONE ALONG WITH OTHER MARINE ANIMALS DREDGED UP AT MANNS HARBOR " Some beast, the like of which has not walked the earth since millions of years back, came to light in the Mann’s Harbor marsh es Tuesday morning when the dredge piling up the approaches to the new Croatan Sound Bridge turned up his jaw bone and was promptly paralyzed by what might be called a pump-ache. This fragment of what might have been a mastodon or some thing had all its teeth missing, but when he had teeth they were teeth, set into sockets five inches deep. No scientific opinion has yet been available as to the precise nature of the critter but, despite the hopes of naturalists and such, the dredge people hope no further fragments will show up. The cutter-head of the dredge was working 38 feet below the surface of the marsh when the pump started pounding and then just stopped. The machinery was halted and the chambers of the pump opened. From it was taken the somewhat battered fragment FURTHER DELAY IN PLANS FOR BEACH TOLL ROAD Later advice this week is that there has been an indefinite post ponement of the meeting of the bond brokers and the promoters of the toll road between Nags Head and Virginia Beach, which meet ing was to have been held in Ra leigh Wednesday. Some observers 'hink that due to various unset tled conditions, threats of war, public opposition to tolls in N. C., that it is being difficult to interest investors in buying bonds in a project of this type. Investment houses which had contracted to sell the bonds had "ailed to do so by the 19th, the deadline set. Previously the back ers of the toll road had notified them that unless something was done by the 19th, to close the deal, it would be called off. A meeting was called Wednesday of last week for this purpose. But announcement later said that because of the bad weather prevailing on the 19th, travel was rather difficult, and the meeting was postponed to Wednesday of this week. North Carolina’s Carolina-Vir ginia Turnpike Authority and Vir ginia’s Coastal Turnpike Author ity met with the bond-buyers in Raleigh Wednesday either to clinch the deal or call it off. State Highway Chairman A. H. Graham, an ex-officio member of the North Carolina group, and other members of the two author ities told the bankers in Virginia Beach earlier this month that if definite proposals were not ready by Wednesday’s meeting the con tracts would be considered termi nated. The road would run from a point just north of Nags Head to a point just south of Virginia Beach. Although the North Carolina and Virginia authorities are coordinat ing plans and preparations, all contracts and agreements are made separately to avoid possible legal snarls. The construction contractors were designated last September, pending sale of the bonds, and the bonds were to have been sold within 30 days. All told, approximately $3,500, 000 worth of revenue bonds were to be issued—part in the name of the Carolina-Virginia Turnpike Authority and part in the name of the Coastal Turnpike Authority. Rgkt 'Potifr ub '55! of a jawbone of something. Opera tions continued. At that level, which is the deep est a dredge has ever reached in Dare County, the pump had been bringing up for several days a fine grade of sand, some rocks, and every known variety of sea shells, including two not hitherto seen in this latitude. They come from the tropics. Later in the morning the object which is 22 inches long and weighs about 25 pounds, was given to Ben Dixon Mac Neill who was visiting the operation in company with Division Engineer W. N. Spruill and Resident Engineer E. H. Bagg’s, and by him turned over to Allyn Hanks, superintendent of Cape Hatteras National Seashore for preservation in the Marine Museum on Bodie Island. Shown with the bone held be tween them in the picture are ( apt. Lund Gillikin, skipper of the dredge and L. P. Josenhans, State Inspector for the dredging operation. ! ALL SEASHORE HIGHWAY GROUP NAMES OFFICERS AT MOREHEAD CITY MEET Wahab Says Ocracoke Island Is A Mere Orphan of The Seacoast Ignored By Officials of Its County Stanley Wahab of Ocracoke was elected vice-president of the All- Seashore Highway Association's first division at the annual meet ing in Morehead City on Tuesday. He succeeds Aycock Brown who had held the office during the first year’s operation of this organiza tion which has as its primary ob jective highways on or near the ocean’s edge along the entire coast of North Carolina. At the meeting this week the group also endorsed a movement to secure mosquito control legisla tion and beach erosion projects. There were about 40 representing most of the coastal counties. Rep resenting the Dare Coast region were W. H. McCown and P. B. Zevely of Nags Head and Aycock Brown of the Tourist Bureau. Upon the recommendation of the first division’s new vice-president, a five-man board of directors from this area was named including Ir vin Garrish, Ocracoke; Frazier Peele, Hatteras; W. H. McCown, Nags Head; L. L. Swain, Manteo; and Wilton Walker of Currituck. There are three divisions, each headed by a vice-president who names his five-man board of di rectors. Succeeding Alvah H. Ham ilton as president of the associa tion is Glenn Tucker of Carolina Beach who has called a steering committee meeting in Wilmington for February 15. Re-elected to ihc See HIGHWAY, Page Four MRS. LOVIE B. WILLIAMSON ROANOKE ID. NATIVE DIES Mrs. Lovie Berry Williamson, 79. widow of George Thomas Wil liamson and daughter of Esau and Mrs. Frances Etheridge Berry, died at the residence, 9317 Grove Street, Norfolk, Friday. She is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Alfred B. Male of Portsmouth, and Mrs. Richard H. Miller, of Norfolk; two sons, Russell H. Wil liamson and George N. William son, both of Norfolk; eight grand children; 10 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Mrs. Williamson was a native of Roanoke Island, and had been a resident of Norfolk for 60 years. She was an aunt of Mrs. U. S. Midgett of Manteo, and was a sis ter of the late J. E. Berry, for many years a surveyor in Dare County. The body was taken to Central Baptist Church, of which she was a member for funeral services Sunday at 2 p.m. Burial was in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Norfolk. Single Copy 70 MARCH OF DIMES DARE CAMPAIGN LASTS THRU FEB. I Community Directors Named This Week; Same Group Headed Last Year's Successful Campaign The March of Dimes campaign in Dare County will continue through the month of February according to Mrs. Helen Baum, County director. This is due to a late start in launching the coun tywide campaign. In order to raise Dare County’s quota, Mrs. Baum has called on almost the same entire group of community directors who served so successfully last year. Mrs. Ralph Marks of Kitty Hawk will work that community through Nags Head, and some other areas of the Dare Beaches. Other directors follow: Manteo, Mrs. Raymond Wes cott; Hatteras, Mrs. Byron Byrd; Buxton-Frisco, Mrs. L. L. Gibbs; Avon, Mrs. H. K. Barnette; Stumpy Point, Mrs Woodrow Best and Mrs. Jasper Hooper; Manteo Colored, Mrs. Lonnie Gray, Kill Devil Hills. Mrs. Elton Twiford; Manns Harbor, Mrs. Dorothy Taylor; Mashoes, Mrs. W. H. Mann and Rodanthe-Waves- Salvo, Mrs. Asa Gray Jr. Half the net receipts will re main with the Dare County Chap ter for aid to needy polio patients of the county. Half will go to the National Chapter. TRUCK ROLLS OFF FERRY IN MIDDLE OF OREGON INLET Friday of last week a road oil tank truck of the State Highway Commission, northbound on the 3:30 p.m. ferry, ran overboard off the stern of the boat in about seven feet of water in the middle of Oregon Inlet. The driver of the truck had gotten out a few min utes before and was walking about the deck of the boat. The ferry was dragging bottom shortly be fore the mishap, and caused the truck to take a short jolt. It is believed the truck had no emer gency brake set, and the ignition was on, causing the motor to start and run it all the way over the stern, clear over the two safety chains across the end of the boat. The tank being empty, the wheels did not set firmly on the bottom and a rough sea kept the unit bobbing up and down. The men of Oregon Inlet Coast Guard station went to the scene in a Duck, and taking the truck in tow, dragged it over to a shoal, and left it for the night. Next day, Selby Gaskins the station engine man also took hold with a boat and the truck was finally dragged ashore near the southside ferry slip. Coastguards have many times been called out to drag automo biles ashore from the surf when motorists were bogged down and caught by the incoming tide, but this is the first instance of a ve hicle being towed ashore by boat from the middle of the inlet. And this ought to be a pretty good reminder of what might hap pen to an automobile and a man’s See TRUCK, Page Four WANCHESE RURITANS PUT NEW OFFICERS ON JOB Dick Jordan on Program; Dij+rict Pres ident Davis to Represent Club This Week in Washington The Wanchese Ruritan Club Friday night in regular monthly meeting installed their newly elected officers. Melvin R. Daniels, returns to the Presidency of the club. Clifford Wagstaff the school principal is the new Vice-Presi dent; Chesley Midgett, Secretary and J. W. Davis, Treasurer. Wil lis Daniels, Ralph Meekins and Mcßae Etheridge are Trustees. J. W. Davis, retiring president, installed the new officers. Mr. Davis, who is still District Gov ernor was designated to go to Washington, D. C. this week to represent the club at the Ruritan National convention at the Statler Hotel. The club viewed with much in terest a program of slides in color depicting the Lost Colony and presented by Manager Dick Jor dan. President Daniels named each of the 25 members of the club to one or more committees, made a report on club activities and called on all hands to join in making the coming year one of great success on behalf of the community. The club made plans to buy some equipment for the kitchen at the school, where a fine dinner was served by ladies of the com munity.
The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.)
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Jan. 28, 1955, edition 1
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