Newspapers / The Coastland Times (Manteo, … / June 28, 1957, edition 1 / Page 1
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VOLUME XXII NO. 52 BIDS OF $951,C00 RECEIVED FOR NEW U. S. 158 PROJECT Kill Devil Hills Board Reaches Agreement on Payment of Town's Right-of-Way Costs Low bids for the relocation of Highway U. S. 158 down the Dare beaches of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head were includ ed among those for 30 projects that were opened Tuesday by the State Highway Commission in Raleigh. The project calls for 15.3 miles of grading and paving from a point 1.4 miles east of Currituck Sound Bridge to Whalebone. F. C. Cline Paving Co. of Ra leigh was low bidder for the road way with a figue of $888,777.77. For moving the buildings, Crouch Bros, of Mooresville was low with $62,650. Right-of-Way Approved The Kill Devil Hills town board last week approved the town’s en tering into an agreement with the highway commission for the pay ment of the town’s portion of the cost of the right-of-way for the project. Right-of-way costs through Kill Devil Hills have been estimated at $190,000, making the town’s share (29 per cent) $38,000. The commission has agreed that the town will get credit for $20,- 000 in right-of-way already do nated and for any additional right of-way to be secured free, either by the state or the town. The commissioners authorized Mayor Robert A. Young to enter into an agreement providing that the town pay whatever is left on an installment plan, not more than $2,000 a year. The town expects to make its payments from Powell Bill funds. Also included in the agreement drafted by the town board was a provision that the commission put in as many laterals connecting the new and old roads as any other five-mile area would get, with a minimum of six. S. NORFOLK YOUTHS ARE BOUND OYER ON ROBBERY CHARGES Eight teen-age South Norfolk boys have been apprehended by Sheriff Frank Cahoon and charged in several recent cases involving breakins on the Dare Beaches. Six of the boys waived preliminary hearings in Dare Recorder’s Court before Judge W. F. Baum Tues day afternoon and were bound over to the October term of Su perior Court, with bond for each set at $4,000; the other two boys are under sixteen years of age and their cases will be handled in juvenile court, which is under jurisdiction of Clerk of Court, C. S. Meekins. The boys who have been charged are Ralph Lewis Jr., Robert Lee Garrett, Paul Burk Dunlo Jr., Ronald Ainsley, Goldie Bryant Jr., Frank McLendon; Donald Massey, and Ray Brick house. The last two listed are age 15. Lewis, Garrett, Massey, Dunlo, and Ainsley were all charged in three different warrants involving thefts that occurrd the night of June 7th. The first warrant' charges them with breaking and entering the home of Hazel V. Warmack Tayloe “other than by burglarious breaking, with intent to commit a felony,” the theft of property in the house. The second warrant charges them with steal ing a 25-hp. Evinrude outboard board valued at S2OO, the property of George T. Stronach. The same five boys are charged in the third warrant with stealing a Mercury outboard motor v.ilued at $657, the property of Robert H. Cotton. Another warrant charges Bryant, Lewis, Garrett, and Dunlo with entering the home of George W. Long and wife and stealing two outboard motors, an Evinrude val ued *t $350 and a Mercury valued at S3OO. Brickhouse, McLendon, and Massey, in another warrant, are charged with breaking and entering George W. Long’s home and stealing one small radio val ued at S3O. In all other cases which came before Judge Baum Tuesday, the defendants pleaded guilty as list ed: Robert Gerald Bennett, Eliza beth pity, speeding 55 m.p.h. in a 35 m.p.h. zone and driving to the left of the center line. $25 fine and costs. Orville Tillett, Wanchese, care less and reckless driving, $25 fine and costs. Elwood .Lee Cutrell, Manteo, driving to left of center line, $5 fine and costs. ourn idette Rosemary W yatt, Newport News, failing to stop at stop sign, $5 fine and costs Raymond Earl Gibson, States ville, failing to stop at stpp sign, $5 fine and costs. Aubrey May Whorley, William ston. failing to stop at stop sign, See ROBBERY, Page Four ■ THE COASTLAND TIMES PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTEREST OF THE WALTER RALEIGH COASTLAND OF NORTH CAROLINA SCENES FROM THE LOST COLONY, WHICH OPENS NEW SEASON SATURDAY x 1* SiffSf Bw. JU mE ' W'' BImB ' ... THIS MONTAGE, made during a previous season b y the Island Studio, Manteo, shows some of the dra matic scenes from The Lost Colony, which opens its 17th season on Roanoke Island Saturday evening. In these photos: top left, Old Tom Harris argues with an unfriendly Indian in one of the tragi-comic scenes; top center, Dame Coleman, the colonist midwife, tells of the coming birth of a child who will be the first of English parentage born in the New World; top right, Governor John White pleads with Queen Elizabeth back in England for ships to take relief to the Roanoke Island colonists, who, when help finally did arrive, had disappeared forever to become the unsolved history-mystery of centuries now known as “the lost colony;” lower left, one of the blockhouses at the entrance to the federal government’s 'Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is shown; and lower right, in one of the drama’s tense moments, Eleanor Dare protects her newborn baby, Virginia Dare, fro m the Indians who soon attack the colonists’ little fort and village. (Lost Colony photos) HIGHWAY, PRISON COMMISSIONS ARE NAMED BY GOV’NOR New Appointments Made As A Result of Reorganizations Voted by General Assembly Governor Luther Hodges last Friday announced the appointment of a new seven-member State Highway Commission, a State Highway Department public con tact man for secondary roads, and a new State Prison Commission. All these appointments were made as a result of reorganizations brought about by legislation enact ed by the 1957 General Assembly. Colonel William T. Joyner, prom inent Raleigh attorney, was ap pointed by the governor for a four year term on the highway commis sion and will serve as the chairman. Others who were also named for four-year terms were: Ralph How land of Elkin, a veteran newspa perman now serving as director of public relations at Chatham Man ufacturing Co. in Elkin; E. L. White of Wilmington, former may or and a retired businessman; and Fletcher Gregory of Weldon, vice president of the Bank of Halifax at Weldon. Named to two-year terms were: Robert Bunnelle of Asheville, publisher of the Ashe ville Citizen-Times; Lqe White of Concord, farmer, businessman, and chairman of the Cabarrus County Commissioners; and Cutlar Moore of Lumberton, business leader and farmer. The seven members of the new commission were named on a state wide basis, and each commissioner will represent the entire state and not any particular division. The commission itself will be a policy board under which will be an exec utive officer, Direcotr of Highways W. F. Babcock. In the past, there have been 14 highway commission ers, with each representing a par ticular division; Governor Hodges announced that in the interest of fairness he would not reappoint any of the present commissioners. Harold T. Makepeace, former mayor of Sanford, was named to the new position as public contact man for secondary roads for the highway department. Working un der Director of Highways W. F. Babcock, Mr. Makepeace will have the responsibility of coordinating the paving of secondary roads ac cording to new and uniform stand ards to be set up and of contacting county officials and others with ref erence to the program. The new State Prison Commis «ion, created by recent legislation in the 1957 General Assembly, will be composed of seven members. The governor appointed for four year terms: Linn D. Garibaldi, of Matthews, ,a telephone company ex ecutive, who will serve as chair man of the commission; Mrs. J. Melville Broughton of Raleigh; Dr. M. B. Davis of High Point, a Negro physician; and W. JV. Shope' of See BOARDS. Page ¥<ve "Lost Colony" Has Seen Its Ups and Downs From Humble Beginnings Twenty Years Ago. Many Persons Labored Long Hours to Get Pageant Started; Setbacks of Fire, Hurricanes, Wars Have Been Overcome By EARL DEAN It has been twenty years since that memorable July night in 1937 when “The Lost Colony” held its first audience spellbound in the great Waterside Theatre at Old Fort Raleigh. And many and start ling have been some of the changes which have taken place oi\ historic Roanoke Island since this nation ally-known outdoor drama became a North Carolina institution. Few people who sat out under the stars that night and saw it for the first time ever dreamed that Paul Green’s stirring drama tell ing the tragic story of the struggle of Sir Walter Raleigh’s first En glish settlers to establish a colony in the New World would be going strong two decades later and that nearly a million people from all over the United States and many foreign countries would make a pil grimage to Roanoke Island just to see it For as originally planned “The Lost Colony” was to have been the highlight of the 356th anniversary celebration of the discovery and setlement of Roanoke Island to be repeated only on certain commem orative occasions. It wasn’t long, however, before the people of Dare County realized that they had a hit that could be continued indefinitely. It has been said that most great things usually spring from humble beginnings and “The Lost Colony,” as we know it today, is no excep tion. There are still people around who can recall the shaky start it had back in the days of the Great Depression. It was an expensive undertaking in those days and but for the help of various government agencies and the great self-sacri fice of some local citizens there might never have been any “Lost Colony.” Celebrations had been held at the birthplace of Virginia Dare near Old Fort Raleigh since 1880 when a few Roanoke Islanders and a handful of people from the main land began to talk an annual festi val commemorating the importance of the first colony in American history. Four years later the Roa noke Colony Memorial Association was organized and in 1896 the first yirginia Dare monument was erect ed and dedicated largely through the efforts of a group of history minded Edenton friends led by the late Dr. Robert Brent Drane, the venerable rector of old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church there. Along about 1921 Mrs. Mabel Evans Jones, then superintendent of Dare County schools, wrote and helped produce a plavlet which was filmed at Fort Raleigh by the State Department of Education and shown for many years in public schools throughout the State. Six vears later D. Victor Meekins, of Manteo, then an enterprising young newspaperman, was one of the first to see that the future of any “Lost MANTEO, N. C., FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1957 Colony” celebration at Old Fort Raleigh depended on crowds of in terested people. He sparked the 1926 Dare County Homecoming which attracted some 5,000 persons to the pine thicket on the north end of Roanoke Island in spite of the fact that in those days there were few good roads and no bridges in this section at all. In the fall of 1931 the late W. O. Saunders, of Elizabeth City, who as editor and publisher of the old weekly “Independent” had long talked and wrote of the great fu ture ahead of Dare County, 'hit upon the idea of a community-wide annual celebration featuring a pag eant telling the story of the Lost Colony where it happened, at Old Fort Raleigh. He came to Manteo bringing with him Paul Green, the University of North Carolina pro fessor and playwright, and Dr. Frederick H. Koch, founder of the Carolina Playmakers at Chapel Hill. With a group of local people which' included the late D. Brad ford Fearing, Martin Kellogg, Jr., I. P. Davis, Melvin R. Daniels, Chauncey S. Meekins and D. Victor Meekins he climbed the sand hills near Fort Raleigh where a site for a great natural outdoor theatre was selected. The year 1934 was first selected for the 350th anniversary celebra tion but as the nation was then in the throes of a great business de pression that was getting worse instead of beter all thought of a celebration of any magnitude for that year had to be abandoned. Meanwhile the Manteo group, led by D. Bradford Fearing, and encouraged by Represehtative Lindsay C. Warren, of Washing ton, N. C., then a young and influ ential Congressman in the Nation’s capital, worked quietly towards a gigantic celebration set for the year 1937. Various governmental agencies, set up to relieve unemployment and combat the Great Depression of the 1930’s were called on for aid. Many local people worked long hours with little thought of remuneration to help make the 350th anniversary celebration a success, for in those days “The Lost Colony” was a lo cal enterprise operating almost on a shoestring basis from Fearing's office in the courthouse. The first 43 days of pageantry unprecednnted hereabouts began on the morning of July 4, 1937, with religious services at Old Fort Ra leigh conducted by the late Bishop Thomas C. Darst, of Wilmington. That night, as the lights were dim med in the big theatre on the shore of Roanoke Sound, nymy an anxious eye was scanning the skies for it threatened to rain. Then, as the first moving scenes of “The Lost Colony” came into view the storm clouds dispersed, as though by magic, the moon came out, and See LOST COLONY, Page Four GOVERNORS COME TO DARE CO. AS GUESTS OF HODGES Heads .of At Least Ten Other States Take Advantage of Chance for Two-Day Visit Here Governor Luther H. Hodges ar rived at the Manteo Airport by plane Thursday morning with the first four of a group of governors of other states who, along with their families and other state of icials, will be his guests for two days in Dare. The governors came to Dare from Williamsburg, Va., after adjournment of the National Governors’ Conference there. Six other governors. Republicans, had definitely accepted Governor Hod ges’ invitation but first flew to Washington, D. C., for a confer ence with President Eisenhower before flying to Manteo later in ,ne day. Those who arrived Thursday morning were Colorado’s Van Pat McNichols, lowa’s Herschel C. Loveless, Minnesota’s Orville Freeman, and Kansas’s George Docking. Flying to Washington first were Stratton of Illinois, Aronson of Montana, Davis of North Dakota, O’Neill of lowa, Foss of South Dakota, and Clyde of Utah. South Carolina Governor George Bell Timmerman Jr. also hoped to arrange to join the group later. After being greeted at the air port Thursday morning, the party See GOVERNORS, Page Four VEPCO WILL TAKE OVER IN MANTEO ON NEXT MONDAY New Street-Lighting Equipment To Be Turned On at Cere mony Monday Night Activity by Vepco crews in Man teo for the last two weeks will have a visible effect on the town Monday night at 8 p.m., When R. H. Goodmon, vice-president of Vepco’s Carolina division, will turn the new street lights over to Mayor Mar tin Kellogg. Mr. Kellogg will then throw the switch and light up the town. The general public is cor dially invited to attend this cele bration, to be held just across the street in front of the courthouse. Modern up-to-date street-light ing equipment was used in this installation of street lights, which consist of twelve 6000-lumen lights and thirty-six 2500-lumen lights. The work that has been done by Vepco is the beginning of an exten sive rebuilding job to be undertak en by company crews on Roanoke Island in connection with the pur chase of the Roanoke Utilities, Inc. The sale will be officially consum mated next Monday, July 1, when Vepco takes over the operation. A temporary office will be open ed in Manteo Monday by Vepco and will be located in the Meekins building in front of the courthouse; a permanent location is planned later. George A. Whitfield, former ly located at Kitty Hawk with Vep co, will be the company’s distribu tion supervisor in Manteo and in charge of the Manteo office. REA AT BUXTON GETS A $50,000 LOAN APPROVED Congressman Herbert C. Bonner Thursday wired the Times that the REA in Washington has approved a loan of $50,060 to the Cape Hat teras Electric Membership' Cor poration at Buxton. The telegram said that the money will be used by the cooperative to lend to its members to help finance the in stallation of large electrical appli ances. About 400 members will benefit, he said. KING MACKEREL IN SURF AT CAPE HATTERAS Buxton J. C. Clemmons, who caught a 46-pound channel bass to win first prize in the annual Dare Coast Pirates Jamboree earlier this year, made another lo cal record on. Monday when he landed a 16-pound king mackerel in the surf at Cape Hatteras here. The “king” was not the first, but it was the largest caught in the i surf this year. i Clemmons, a Coast Guard com munications official, was using a Hopkins Lure and fishing from the surf at the Point of the Cape when his 16-pounder struck. Previously on Sunday, Raymond Basnett and Ephriam Midgett pf 1 Buxton had landed 56 king tnsck • erel trolling from an outboard powered fishing craft in the Cape ! Hatttras Point area. This was a record for the number of mackerel landed by anglers fishing from the surf. Maybe it was a state or coast record because usually these fish are taken by anglers i trolling behind charter cruisers in the inlets or nearby deep sea of the Carolina coastal area. THE LOST COLONY TO OPEN ITS SEVENTEENTH SEASON AT MANTEO SATURDAY EVENING Opening Night Guests To Include Conrad L. Wirth, National Park Service Director; Audi ence Will See Large Number of New Actors in Cast and Numerous Changes in Staging Made by New Director, Burnet Hobgood. TO SPEAK AT OPENING OF THE LOST COLONY r ■ VY fa ■a_ 41 A- JR. ■■ ■ CONRAD L. WIRTH, director of the National Park Service, is to be on hand for the opening of the Lost Colony’s 1957 season Satur day evening and during brief open ing ceremonies is expected to make a talk of definite import ance. He has promised that he will make an announcement regarding plans for the dedication of the great Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area, the nation’s only seashore park. He also plans to discuss several points of the National Park Serv ice’s “Mission 66” for development of the park’s facilities. Mr. Wirth has been successful in interesting a number of wealthy people in contributing toward the preservation and protection of many of the country’s natural beauties. These have included pri vate donation of $168,066 for the Cape Hatteras Seashore and $160,- 000 for Kill Devil Hills. Over 24 million acres are in the National Park System which is under his supervision. A native of Massachusetts, Mr. Wirth is the son of Swiss-born Theo Wirst, who was himself dis tinguished'as a park man and con servationist. HOUSE AT NAGS HEAD ’ DESTROYED BY FIRE Fire last Sunday completely destroyed an old two-story dwell ing known as the John P. Wise house located in the woods on the sound shore at Nags Head. Un occupied for some time, the house was owned by Mrs. John P. Wise, who still makes her home at Nags Head. It was uninsured. The exact cause of the fire is not known, but it is widely thought to be a result of vandal ism. Sheriff Frank Cahoon began an investigation immediately after the fire, but he reported Thursday morning that he had found no def inite evidence on which to act. He did agree that there was a pos sibility of arson, saying that a group of young boys might have been responsible for setting the fire, either by accident or on pur pose. STUMPY POINT NATIVE DIES IN ORIENTAL Graveside rites for Mrs. Hor tense Wise Barnett, 92. of Oriental were conducted in the Oriental Cemetery Saturday afternoon by the Rev. James Dissel. Mrs. Barnett, widow of Henry W. Barnett, died at her home in Oriental early Friday morning. She was bom at Stumpy Point in Dare County, daughter of the late Capt Thomas and Nancy Midgett Wise. Surviving are two sons. Pelage and Burnice Barnett of Oriental. MANTEO WOMAN ELECTED TO DUKE ALUMNI POST Mrs. Dennis E. Evans, Manteo, has been elected •Representative to the Duke University Alumni Asso ciation’s Alumnae Council from the Class of 1922. The election took place at a recent class re union on the Duke campus. Mrs. Evans, the former Mary Langston of Goldsboro, is super intendent of Dare County Schools and has lived near Manteo for a number of years. SECTION ONE Single Copy 70 The Lost Colony, the Paul Green symphonic drama telling the story of the first English colony in Amer ica, will open its seventeenth sea son Saturday evening at 8:15 p.m. at the Roanoke Island Waterside Theatre near Manteo. Conrad L. Wirth of Washington, D. C., di rector of the National Park Serv ice, will be a special guest for Sat urday night’s performance and is expected to make an important talk during brief opening-night cere monies.. Robert Lee Humber of Greenville, chairman of the Roa noke Island Historical Association, will also be a guest and will intro duce Mr. Wirth. Richard E. Jordan, geenral man ager of The Lost Colony, has an nounced that there has been a good advance sale of tickets for the com ing season, which will feature “the new look at The Lost Colony.” Sev eral of the scenes have been re vised by Author Green this year, and the show has a new director, Burnet Hobgood, and. a majority of new leading characters. The stagy has been rebuilt relocating the his torian’s booth; a sloping ramp now connects the main stage with the stage at the audience’s left, which will serve strictly as Indian coun try. The narration formerly given by the historian will this year be given, at times from the stage it self, by Governor John White, one of the characters in me play. Ac cording- to Mr. Jordan, there will also be several new dances, but the basic music for the show has not been changed. The choreography will be by John Lehman and the musical direction by Dr. Elwood Keister. Among the important new mem bers of the cast this year are Di anne Rousseau as Eleanor Dare, William Walsh as John Borden, Edward Reeves as Sir Walter Ra leigh, and Earle Rankin as Gov ernor John White. Mary Wood Long returns as the Queen of En gland. Cora Mae Basnight of Man teo is the new Indian squaw Agona, with Ray Smith as “Old Tom” Harris, the beggar. Manager Jor dan estimated that 75 to 80 per cent of the Roanoke Island resi dents in the cast have returned from last year. Performances of the drama, which has been seen by more than 800,000 persons, will continue each night except Mondays through Sep tember 1. The Lost Colony arranged to give a special full-dress preview of the show Thursday evening for a distinguished group of governors from many states, who are visiting Dare as guests of Governor and Mrs. Luther H. Hodges of North Carolina. Approximately 200 per sons were expected to attend; in addition to the governors and their families and accompanying offi cials, special invited guests for the preview showing included members of lhe press, who were extended a blanket invitation. COBIA ARE PLENTIFUL Nags Head.—From Kitty Hawk to Ocracoke along the Outer Banks have been coming reports of the best cobia fishing in years. E. E. Edgar, national winner of the outdoor writing contests re ferred to cobia this week as the gamiest of all fishes in the inlets of the Outer Banks and the east ern shore of Virginia. Cobia are plentiful in waters along the N. C. Coast. They are being caught daily by anglers aboard charter boats from Oregon Inlet and Hatteras and at Ocra coke, “a sort of home base for Cobia,” the fish are striking the lures of anglers inside Pamlico Sound near Ocracoke Inlet. Ranny Jennette, sportsfishing reporter of Cape Hatteras area stated that all htose taken at the Cane during the past week, in cluding the surf-record of 15 pounds by Clemmons, were taken on Hopkins Lures. 1 x'- 1 .» BOY INJURED IN FALL FROM TRUCK AT HATTERAS Michael Williams, 4-year-old son of Charlie Williams Jr. of Hat teras, reportedly suffered a frac tured skull when he fell from a truck driven by Floyd Miller last Sunday evening. The boy was taken by Coast Guard helicopter to a Norfollk hospital.
The Coastland Times (Manteo, N.C.)
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June 28, 1957, edition 1
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