“With Orrin, the stories never stopped,” writes author and Coastal Review contributor Gilbert M. Gaul of the acclaimed Duke University scientist who died Sunday. “Some of them were even true.”
G. Albert Lyon made millions but loved Gooseville Gun Club
A 1957 Sports Illustrated profile would dub him “The Commodore of Bimini,” but that was after the prolific inventor and successful businessman had enjoyed the simple pleasures of a sportsman’s life on the Outer Banks and his Gooseville Gun Club in Hatteras Village.
Slick’s dilemma: How to save Pine Island as a bird refuge
Earl Slick, who in 1972 purchased nearly 3,000 acres spanning from the ocean to the sound, didn’t want Currituck Banks to be swamped by development.
Earl Slick: Airline founder, Banks developer, outdoorsman
The president of Slick Airways and son of a successful Oklahoma oil wildcatter purchased a longstanding Outer Banks hunt club in 1972, a decision that would have lasting effects here.
In ’76, oilman Walter Davis made a bet on the Outer Banks
He grew up on a soybean farm near Elizabeth City and his billion-dollar empire included for a time Southern Shores in Dare County, a different sort of asset that paid off.
Dolan, Godfrey: Scientists proved Outer Banks are moving
Findings more than 50 years ago by coastal geologist Robert Dolan and husband-and-wife researchers Paul and Melinda Godfrey changed barrier island understanding and led the National Park Service to reverse longstanding policy.
Designer Lilias J. Morrison: Homes should ‘blend into land’
Reared in Northwest England, surrounded by botanical gardens and history, the unlikely developer says she “became a builder because local builders wouldn’t do anything except beach boxes.”
Frank Stick finds success, designs signature Banks cottage
As the artist-turned-developer nears retirement age, his eye for opportunity leads to steadier finances, a new development project, a strained business relationship with his son, and the creation of another national park.
A future tied to tourism: Stick presses for national park
Fourth in a special series: Frank Stick’s Outer Banks development dreams having been largely dashed by the Great Depression and a hurricane, the conservationist landowner launched his calculated campaign to establish a seashore attraction.
‘Faith In the Future’: Troubles befall Virginia Dare Shores
In the third installment of our special series, the artist-turned-developer who dreamed of bringing tourists and wealth to the Outer Banks in the 1920s sees his hopes nearly dashed — and then came the Great Depression.
‘Millions Have Been Made’: Frank Stick changes careers
Second in our series: Frank Stick was looking to land more than a few bluefish when he visited the Outer Banks in the 1920s, the illustrator and sportsman saw opportunity here.
Uncovering the improbable tale of multifaceted Frank Stick
New series: Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Gil Gaul dives into newspaper clippings, archives and other sources to reveal the complex story of the New Jersey artist, outdoorsman, developer and speculator who filled miles of Outer Banks beaches with hundreds of houses.
The sand waves of Hatteras: ‘on a mission of death’
After adventurous New York journalist John Randolph Spears undertook to visit Cape Hatteras in spring 1890, he wrote of miles and miles of deadly sand waves that threatened to swallow islanders and their homes.
