Ms. Doris Creecy has been a familiar face to locals on Roanoke Island for a long time.

This 90-year-old “Senior Delight,” the official title she is called by one of the several organizations she supports, is known by many. She is a frequent presence at events, especially programs close to her heart and those that include youth.

Standing tall, typically wearing a beautiful hat, a colorful outfit, and with cane in hand, this elegant lady cannot easily be missed. She and her daughter, Coquetta Laverna Conyers Brooks, are frequently seen. They are an often-noted twosome at community, church, and school events,

Ms. Creecy is not letting her age slow her down. She is always ready to encounter new experiences, learn more, and to talk about history, a topic she loves.

Born Aug. 1, 1935, in Wilmington, and a graduate of Clifton University in South Carolina, she was licensed to teach in four states: South Carolina, Virginia, New York, and North Carolina. On Roanoke Island, where she moved after teaching in Wilmington, she taught third and fourth grade students and served as a reading specialist at Manteo Elementary School from 1977 to 1990.

Thousands she taught in her lifetime have become educators, entrepreneurs, first-time homeowners, musicians, pastors, nurses, fishermen and so much more. The pivotal role Black educators played in Wilmington and the surrounding area during challenging historical times influenced her decision to teach.

She is a lifelong and proud member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. (AKSA) the first intercollegiate historical Black sorority. She has been a former board member of several organizations, including presently serving as an honorary board member for our organization, the Pea Island Preservation Society Inc.

Ms. Creecy can most easily be found at church each Sunday morning, sitting faithfully in her favored spot, front-row pew and left side of the sanctuary at Haven Creek Missionary Baptist Church. There she serves as a deaconess and as a Sunday school and vacation Bible school teacher.

This church is connected to the story of the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island, where thousands sought freedom and a safe haven during the Civil War. Her faith and love of God have always been primary in her life and teachings.

Ms. Creecy is perhaps best known as the founder of the Echoes of Heritage, or the shortened Echoes they are called, an a cappella singing group she formed shortly after moving to Roanoke Island. She is the directress and leader of the group.

Originally 12 singers, the Echoes have had three different sets of singers over time. Over the years they have performed at countless events under her guidance.

Ms. Creecy is the heart and soul of the group known for singing spiritual songs. Once she and a singing partner even had a regular Tuesday spot on a local radio station. Although the Echoes are not as active or big in number as in the past, still today at 90 years old, Ms. Creecy continues to receive requests to perform.

Today she and her daughter Coquetta, typically with two, three or four additional singers, occasionally delight audiences at selected events with spiritual songs. In recent years, they have performed at several events. This includes events held at the College of the Albemarle – Dare campus and other locations for programs sponsored by our organization, Dare County, and the Town of Manteo. Many of the programs she attends result in her warmly greeting adults who were former students.

As a born educator, she especially enjoys sharing her own experiences, including the joys, challenges and difficulties she faced as part of her own personal journey.

In recent years she and her accompanists have performed at three of our five annual Juneteenth “Sounds of Freedom” celebrations held at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum, where the story of Keeper Richard Etheridge and the surfmen he commanded at the historic Pea Island Life-saving Station is told.

Ms. Creecy is a devoted supporter, always ready to raise awareness of this history. On several occasions theEchoeshave performed at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Day celebration held on Roanoke Island.

These events are two of her favorites. Seeing and watching her so passionately sing songs that serve as living history and which reflect her own personal journey is touching. It is also an important reminder of how the music inspires and unites.

Past members of the Echoeshave included many with roots on Roanoke Island. The late Dellerva Collins, who served as mayor pro tem and as a Manteo town commissioner for years, was part of the original 12. Likewise, the late Virginia Tillett and Naomi Augusta Collins, both pioneering community leaders and educators on Roanoke Island, sang with the Echoes.

Images showing women joyfully singing along with her who were known advocates for voices most often not seen or heard. Several through the years, past and present, are the descendants of those who lived on the Freedmen’s Colony or who are part of Ms. Creecy’s beloved church community.

When asked the most important lesson her mother has taught her, Coquetta quickly says, “to choose kindness always in spite of others.”

Her son Damian, a Manteo High School and Elizabeth City State University graduate, and who currently is pursuing a master’s in the computer engineering field, is someone Ms. Creecy is especially proud of.  She and her grandson are very, very close, Coquetta adds. 

When asked what lesson his grandmother has most taught him, Damian says, “never remain stagnant and to pursue improvement daily,” two lessons that also reflect the guidance Ms. Creecy has passed along to her many students over the years.

All are encouraged to help celebrate Mother’s Day this year by sending Ms. Creecy (or Ms. Pledger as some know her by her late husband’s last name) a special card. She has no idea of this request so please also help us to keep it a surprise! Without a doubt, the avid reader she continues to be, she will greatly enjoy reading these special cards on Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day or any greetings may be sent to: Mrs. Doris Creecy, P.O. Box 1068, Manteo, NC 27954.

Part of an ongoing series on North Carolina’s observance of America’s 250th.

As the United States recognizes the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776, Dare County is celebrating its unique role in American history Saturday with “Liberty, Legacy, and Lift Off in the Land of Beginnings.”

The Dare A250 Faire is a two-event celebration, with the first scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in downtown Manteo. The Star Spangled Spectacular is scheduled for that afternoon from 3:30-7 p.m. at Roanoke Island Festival Park.

“Rooted in a place known as the ‘Land of Beginnings,’ this milestone event honors Dare County’s unique role in America’s story — from the earliest English settlement attempts to the birthplace of powered flight. With a spirit of innovation, discovery and freedom woven throughout, the Dare A250 Faire promises a vibrant and meaningful tribute to 250 years of American history,” according to the county.

Both celebrations are no charge for the public, though the evening program requires those who wish to attend to reserve a spot through the online portal. As of publication, the tickets were all claimed. Those who wish to attend can continue to check the online portal to see if a seat has come available due to a cancelation.

Dare County is the “Land of Beginnings” because it is the location of England’s first attempt to establish a colony in 1587, now known as the “Lost Colony” because more than 100 settlers vanished from the site between arriving and 1590, and the birthplace of Virginia Dare. Dare was the first English child born in the Americas in 1587. The county is also the site of the Wright Brothers’ flight in 1903, the first controlled and powered heavier-than-air flight.

Dorothy Hester, co-chair of the Dare County A250 Committee, explained to Coastal Review that visitors can expect a full day of family-friendly fun in a festive, patriotic atmosphere.

“Downtown Manteo will come alive with a street festival featuring live music, street performers, storytelling, arts and crafts vendors, nonprofit exhibits, and several food vendors,” Hester said. “The celebration continues into the evening at Roanoke Island Festival Park with the Star-Spangled Spectacular, which has officially sold out–an exciting reflection of the strong community interest and support for this event.”

Hester said that the committee has been meeting for more than a year “to thoughtfully plan how our community would mark this historic milestone.”

The Dare A250 Faire emerged as the cornerstone event of that effort, which she said was designed to bring residents and visitors together in a meaningful and memorable way.

“What began as an idea has grown into a true community-wide collaboration among Dare County, local partners, local organizations, businesses, volunteers and sponsors,” Hester said.

Related: Dare County begins America’s 250th commemoration

The Dare A250 Faire was originally scheduled at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, but was relocated to Manteo and Roanoke Island Festival Park “to allow all aspects of the planning committee’s vision to be included in the celebration,” organizers said in a press release in late February. The park “highlights the area’s rich history as the ‘Birthplace of America,’ with the historic Elizabeth II serving as a meaningful backdrop to the festivities.”

The Elizabeth II is a representational 16th-century English merchant ship from the 1585 Roanoke voyage berthed at the park, where a settlement site illustrates an English military colony from the era.

Hester urged those interested in attending the celebrations to visit DareA250.org/faire for full event details, as well as information about other A250 initiatives, including the interactive map, and additional events taking place throughout the year.

The Dare County committee organizes events under the umbrella of the state’s official celebration, America 250 NC, an initiative of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The celebration committee launched earlier this year a passport program and an interactive online map to share the county’s history.

Musical performances

Entertainment begins at 11:10 a.m. Saturday at the All-American Stage in downtown Manteo with Cypress Society Singers & Dancers, representing the Lumbee and Kahtehnuaka Tuscarora Eastern Woodland Native nations.

An opening ceremony follows at 11:45 a.m., then attendees can listen to live music throughout the afternoon, including a jazz performance by Connected, Ruth Wyand to perform roots Americana and the Daniel Jordan Band to play Southern country-rock.

The Dare County All-American Award Ceremony starts at 3 p.m. The ceremony will recognize participants in a variety of categories, including patriotic attire, patriotic pet, most decorated business and boat displays, as well as Dare A250 Scholarship Awards. Participants should report behind the stage at 2:30 p.m. for judging.

Performances scheduled for the Magnolia Freedom Stage feature Ascension Music Academy, Shiloh and Enrique with the Mustang Music Outreach Program, and the OBX Jazzmen.

Street entertainment

Roving patriotic performers will wander throughout downtown Manteo from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., including stilt walkers, a bubble artist, a juggler and a hula hooper.

Historical interpreters from The Lost Colony, Roanoke Island Festival Park and Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station and more than 60 local artisans and community organizations will be on-site. Several local businesses and restaurants will offer special events and discounts. A list of visitors is available on the event website.

Student musicians from First Flight Middle School and Manteo Middle School will perform on Sir Walter Raleigh Street at noon.

Storytelling stage

The historic Pioneer Theater, 109 Budleigh St., Manteo, is hosting a storytelling series highlighting the people, traditions and defining moments of the Outer Banks.

Moderated by Miles Daniels, the program organizers are billing as “a marquee element of the Dare A250 Faire,” will feature the following four distinguished speakers sharing personal insights and historical perspectives:

• 11:30 a.m. Clark Twiddy: “Vision, Risk, and Reinvention: How the Outer Banks Became a Destination.”
• 12:30 p.m. Robin Daniels Holt: “The Families Who Stayed: Generational Memory and Cultural Continuity.”
• 1:30 p.m. Nancy Gray: “Water, Work, and Survival: The Working Coast of the Outer Banks.”
• 2:30 p.m. Ken Mann: “Stories of the Outer Banks: Voices, Characters, and Coastal Memory.”

Archival film and video presentations will be shown between speakers.

For young artists

Children can add their own touch from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to a large patriotic painting. Local painter Brad Price is to enhance the artwork before going on permanent display at the Outer Banks Community Foundation. 

Families can also enjoy coloring a rendering of the first governor of an English colony in America, called a “Flat John White,” and festive tablecloths. Placemats that can be colored will be available at participating businesses throughout Manteo. 

Star-Spangled Spectacular Finale

The Star-Spangled Spectacular performances at Roanoke Island Festival Park will begin at 3:30 p.m. with Just Playing Dixieland, followed by an opening ceremony at 4:15 p.m. and an Earth, Wind & Fire tribute by the Ray Howard Band at 4:30 p.m.

The day will conclude with the Dare A250 Grand Finale at 6:15 p.m. with a multimedia patriotic production with a community choir and tribute.

Volunteers needed

With the committee expecting thousands to visit downtown Manteo and Roanoke Island Festival Park for the two events Saturday, there’s a need for volunteers to help oversee parking areas, serve as a friendly point of contact for guests, and to ensure everything runs smoothly in each designated lot, according to the county.

“No special experience is required, just a welcoming attitude and a willingness to help,” and volunteering is a way to “be part of a once-in-a-generation community celebration,” organizers said.

Volunteers can register online for any of the multiple shifts and activities or contact contact Patty O’Sullivan at patricia.o’sullivan@darenc.gov.

Dare County, Manteo, Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Southern Bank, The Don & Catharine Bryan Cultural Series and Roanoke Island Festival Park are sponsors of the celebration.

Dare county residents and property owners are invited to participate in an interactive workshop on Tuesday to review and discuss key preliminary findings from an assessment of the vulnerability of unincorporated areas to flooding.

The North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program is hosting the action development program from 5-7 p.m. in room 238 of the Dare County Administration Building, 954 Marshall Collins Drive, Manteo.

The workshop will be a drop-in, open house-style event with interactive stations where participants can learn about the program, review findings of from the assessment, and provide input on topics ranging from natural resources, stormwater management, infrastructure and residential adaptation in unincorporated Dare County.

The workshop will begin with a brief presentation. Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

The assessment was conducted by a consulting firm through the North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which is administered by the Division of Coastal Management to support coastal resilience goals, assess community capacity, and identify and prioritize projects that strengthen resilience to coastal hazards. The division is under North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

MANTEO — Shoaling in a Roanoke Sound channel just outside Shallowbag Bay has once again prevented the state attraction Elizabeth II from leaving its moorings at Roanoke Island Festival Park for maintenance.

And once again, Dare County has agreed to help manage another dredging project for the state so the ship can motor to the Wanchese state shipyard for its overdue haul-out.

“We’re still essentially in the planning stages,” Dare County Waterways Commission administrator Barton Grover said in a recent interview. “We’re not exactly sure what path we’re going to take moving forward.”

The 43-year-old wooden-hulled vessel, built to represent a 16th-century English sailing ship that participated in Sir Walter Raleigh’s 1584-1587 Roanoke Voyages, was last hauled out for dry-dock maintenance in 2021, after sitting in brackish water for four years.

Grover said that the proposed project would be addressing the same clogged area near where the channel intersects at Roanoke Sound and Shallowbag Bay that had earlier blocked the ship from moving.

In November 2020, the county had approved a contract and a grant application to conduct maintenance dredging in the channel to allow larger vessels, including the Elizabeth II, to access Manteo harbor. The vessel, which has an 8-foot draft, was able to safely leave its dock in Dough’s Creek about a week earlier than completion of the project in late February 2021, according to the county website.

Although the Roanoke Channel is officially a federally authorized channel, Grover explained that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pipeline dredge does not do work north of Wanchese. Ultimately, a bucket-and-barge method was used for the 90-day project, which increased the depth of about 2.2 miles of channel from as little as 1 to 5 feet to 9 feet. Another 290 feet in a connector channel to the ship’s berth was also dredged. Costs for the $1.9 million project were appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly, with an additional $170,000 provided by the state’s Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging and Aquatic Weed Fund and the town of Manteo.

Some of the factors that come into play with the proposed dredge project, Grover said, include higher costs to dispose of the dredged material, as well as the lack of an obvious disposal area.

In the earlier projects, the material — scooped from the channel, piled onto a barge and then transported to land — was hauled off in a truck to the be placed on top of the county’s Manns Harbor landfill. But the increased expense may have made that option less attractive, he said. Other possibilities could include placement in a permitted area of water, or beneficial re-use along a shoreline or other area, he said.

Another consideration under review is whether the local hopper dredge Miss Katie would be capable of doing the necessary work instead of again using a bucket-and-barge method, Grover said. But the choice of an appropriate disposal site could also come into play in determining costs for that dredge to reach the site.

Typically planning and permitting for a similar dredge project takes at least “six-plus” months, he said. Also, the state has yet to secure the funding. Ideally, he said, a project would be ready to go during the upcoming winter of 2026-2027.

By then, the 69-foot-long ship will have been sitting in the brackish water alongside its dock in Dough’s Creek for about six years.

Michele Walker, assistant communications director at the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, said in an email responding to questions from Coastal Review that the last condition report was done by surveyor Paul C. Haley with Capt. G. W. Full & Associates Marine Surveyors in 2016, when numerous issues, including signs of rot and deterioration of the exterior and interior, were detailed.

When the vessel was hauled out in 2021, she added, Haley did not travel to the Outer Banks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he verified with the firm’s staff on site that the earlier repair recommendations had been completed.

“In addition, the ship is inspected annually by the U.S. Coast Guard,” Walker wrote. “This provides us approval to operate as an attraction vessel, which allows us to have passengers on board while moored.”

Walker added that the ship is maintained above the waterline throughout the year, with more extensive maintenance done while Roanoke Island Festival Park, a state museum that memorializes regional English precolonial and Native American history, and the adjacent Elizabeth II State Historic Site are closed January through mid-March.

Haley’s 2021 report, while emphasizing his familiarity with the vessel from doing the surveys in 2004, 2011 and 2016, also lauds the park for always following through on the surveyors’ recommendations.

Notably, when compromised planking documented in the earlier survey had been replaced, he said, the frames exposed during the work were observed to be in good condition. Also, all the critical repairs and plank replacements had been completed, he said.

“The vessel has a good maintenance program by the park and they haul out the vessel on a regular basis for repainting of the bottom and doing any maintenance work that requires the vessel being out of water,” he wrote.

Except for a few months in the winter, the Elizabeth II welcomes visitors aboard to experience a sailor’s view of ship life and duties, guided by interpreters in period costumes who regale them with stories.

As a representative vessel, the Elizabeth II was built based on knowledge of the tools, materials and basic designs used in Elizabethan-era shipbuilding, but there are no original design sketches of the actual merchant ships that sailed during the late 1500s to Roanoke Island from England. Still, the three-masted, square-rigged ship with dashing blue-and-white markings contrasting with its wooden hull — even while rarely moving from its dock across from the Manteo waterfront — has reliably served its mission as an ambassador for the state, the Outer Banks and Manteo’s heritage as the site of the first English colony in America.

But since the flashy ship’s 1984 launch during the town’s 400th anniversary celebration of the Roanoke Voyages, which culminated in the ill-fated “Lost Colony” that was never seen again after its governor left for supplies in 1587, once-routine day trips to visit coastal ports or join in community festivals fell by the wayside due to lack of funds, scheduling difficulties and other challenges. And gradually, even annual haul-outs started being delayed for multiple years, despite that prolonged time in the water for wooden hulls can lead to damage from shipworms and rot.

The ship’s current dockside stranding was not anticipated during the last review five years ago.

“It is the plan of this office to be present and to conduct a full survey at the haul out at the beginning of 2022,” Haley wrote in the report. “With this in mind, it is our opinion that the vessel is suitable for her present use.”

On Dec. 18, the nonprofit Friends of Elizabeth II indicated no intent to give up the ship, so to speak, posting a notice seeking to hire a new captain for the vessel. Applications were due Jan. 29. In addition to overseeing the maintenance of the ship and leading the crew and interpreters, the job’s responsibilities include training staff and volunteers in rigging, sailmaking and marine woodworking.

The required duties also illustrate that the Elizabeth II isn’t just a pretty ship decorating a small historic North Carolina town’s harbor. The captain must not only understand Coast Guard regulations associated with “moving watercraft” through waterways, the captain must be capable of “sailing the Elizabeth II as needed.”

Dare County officials invite residents, business owners and others with a stake in the unincorporated areas to participate in a brief survey to help inform the development of a resiliency strategy.

Through funding from the North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which is administered by the N.C. Division of Coastal Management and supported by the N.C. General Assembly and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Dare County is assessing vulnerabilities and identifying priority actions to address both short-term and long-term risks. This planning effort provides a roadmap for future investments that strengthen safety, equity and environmental protection.

“As a low-lying coastal community, Dare County faces growing challenges from flooding, hurricanes, erosion and sea-level rise,” according to an item in the county’s February emailed newsletter. “A resilient future means reducing these risks while protecting homes, businesses, infrastructure, natural resources and economic assets that are central to the county’s identity.”

Officials define resilience as a community’s ability to prevent, withstand, respond to and recover from disruptions caused by natural hazards.

Dare County is home to six municipalities: Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head and Manteo. Unincorporated areas include Avon, Buxton, Colington, East Lake, Frisco, Hatteras, Manns Harbor, Martins Point, Mashoes, Rodanthe, Salvo, Stumpy Point, Wanchese, Waves and areas just outside of municipalities.

Officials said the plan for unincorporated areas of the county builds on the resilience strategy that was completed for Hatteras Island in 2022.

Officials said that community participation is essential to the process. “Local experiences and perspectives help ensure the resiliency strategy reflects countywide priorities and positions Dare County to pursue future funding for implementation.”

Those who want a say in unincorporated Dare County’s resilience are encouraged to complete the survey by the end of March.

For more information, contact Dare County Grants and Waterways Administrator Barton Grover at Barton.Grover@DareNC.gov.

Editor’s Note: Tabb’s Trails is a commentary photo-essay series with coastal reporter, photographer and hiking enthusiast Kip Tabb.

Manteo Marshes on Roanoke Island is a confounding, confusing place to visit, not because it’s hard to find — although blink and the parking lot off the road to Wanchese is missed — but because there’s no telling what will be there on any given day.

It’s about a milelong, notably easy hike around the impoundment. Some days there’s mallards busily feeding on the submerged grasses and lesser yellowlegs wading in the shallows making quick jabs into the water.

And then there are days where you feel lucky to see a northern mockingbird, numerous year-round at Manteo Marshes. But it’s worth the trip because, on those lucky days, it can be spectacular.

In the winter, lesser yellowlegs are often numerous in the mudflats. Get too close to that occasional mallard, and the drake will make it clear he feels threatened. In the copse on the north end of the impoundment, there is a constant twitter of birds – mostly yellow-rumped warblers in the winter, although northern mockingbirds make a good showing as well.

It is buggy in the summer, so put on some insect repellant and check it out. Osprey are constantly flying by, the northern mockingbirds are still there and lots of robins and heron are visitors as well.

But, be patient and pay attention. The birds are there, and an occasional squirrel.

The total project area is 1,874 acres. Except for the impoundment trail, the area is impenetrable marsh.

A portrait of the late Darrell McNary Collins, a beloved historian at the Wright Brothers National Memorial for over 40 years and president emeritus of the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum, was delivered Wednesday to the museum as a gift to Collins’ widow, Tonya Collins, who continues to serve as a board member and treasurer with the Pea Island Preservation Society Inc.

“It is heartwarming to receive such a special gift and refreshing to have someone honor Darrell since his passing,” Tonya Collins said in a statement from the nonprofit that operates the museum. “He would be humbled but appreciative and delighted to continue to play a pivotal role in raising funds to share and promote the remarkable history of the Outer Banks, a place and people he truly loved! “

The presentation of the portrait entitled “A Legacy of Greatness” and painted by Outer Banks artist James Melvin happened on “Honorable Darrell Collins Day,” as proclaimed by Manteo town officials in 2023.

Looking back: Darrell Collins remembered for giving life to Wrights’ story

The portrait is to be on temporary display at the Cookhouse Museum and the artist was to be on hand from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday. A public viewing and program for a larger audience are planned and will be announced early next year.

Darrell Collins, who died on Christmas Eve last year, is remembered for his knowledge and storytelling associated with the Wright brothers and their famous first flight. In addition to working as a historian at the Wright Brothers National Memorial for over 40 years, he was considered among the top aviation historians, according to the news release.

“He was known especially for his ease in blending science and history and for his incredible storytelling technique about the history of flight using an engaging and interactive style that brought smiles and interest to creative people of all ages,” said Pea Island Preservation Society Director of Outreach and Education Joan L. Collins in the release.

In addition to his work with the Pea Island Preservation Society Inc., Collins served as a Manteo town commissioner for 18 years and as mayor pro tem. He also served on the town planning board for 10 years. He entered local government after the sudden death in 2006 of his mother Dellerva Collins, who had been a Manteo commissioner for over 21 years.

Collins’ storytelling earned numerous national and international awards, including the Order of the Long Life Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor for exemplary community service.

He also spoke with authority about Keeper Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers, and he helped create and present a live program to fourth grade students at all Dare County schools for several years and an annual essay contest.

Collins was also a youth basketball coach and player for Dare County Parks and Recreation for more than 25 years.

“The new portrait is also intended to reflect the special connection Darrell had with youth,” Joan Collins said. “He especially enjoyed the smiles and questions he received as he brought to life stories that were considered complicated or especially difficult to hear and to understand.”

Collins’ family history is also connected to the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island, and the Native American history of the area.

This family history, museum officials said, also includes 400 years of combined service in the U.S. Life-Saving Service and its successor, the U.S. Coast Guard.

The museum on Roanoke Island honors the life-savers at the Pea Island from 1880 until 1947. It is located in the former Pea Island station cookhouse where the crew prepared and ate their meals.

A limited number of high-quality prints made on museum-grade paper and numbered and signed by the artist, will be offered for sale to businesses, organizations, and others as part of the museum’s fundraising efforts.

The museum would like to partner with area businesses and organizations interested in displaying the print for public viewing. 

And those interested in purchasing a limited-edition print are requested to contact the Pea Island Preservation Society by email at friends@peaislandpreservationsociety.com. A board member will then contact you to discuss preferred print size options and next steps.

The Preservation Society intends to make the prints available for shipment or pickup at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum on Roanoke Island as soon as possible after the new year, so order right away. 

People in the charter or for-hire business are invited to share their perspectives on challenges facing the industry during upcoming meetings with state fisheries officials.

The meetings, hosted by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries, will cover topics to include mandatory harvest reporting as well as other subjects those in attendance would like to discuss.

The first of three meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70, Morehead City.

A meeting will be hosted at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 at Cape Fear Community College, room 252, 502 N. Front St., Wilimington.

On Dec. 2, a meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at College of the Albemarle – Dare Room 110, 205 U.S. 64, Manteo.

For additional information about the meetings, contact Coral Sawyer at coral.sawyer@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5527.

The Outer Banks Association of Realtors announced this week that it had awarded eight $1,500 scholarships to graduating seniors from Dare County and Ocracoke Island.

The association said Tuesday that the awards reflect its “commitment to supporting the next generation of leaders” along the Outer Banks.

The association’s 2025 scholarship recipients include the following students:

• Julian Alvarez Isidoro – Manteo High School.
• Kristin Bennett – Cape Hatteras Secondary School.
• Samuel Cage – Manteo High School.
• Dresden Jackson – First Flight High School.
• Mya Kelly – Manteo High School.
• Audrey Kramer – Cape Hatteras Secondary School.
• Caroline Stocks – Ocracoke High School.
• Spencer Twiford – Manteo High School.

The association’s scholarship committee chaired by Tricia Driscoll of Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty selected the recipients.

“The selection process is both humbling and inspiring,” Driscoll said in the announcement. “So many students had incredible stories. We’re proud to help our community by recognizing this year’s recipients, and we should all look forward to seeing the impact they’ll make.”

Scholarships were presented at each school’s awards night.

“Seeing these students walk the stage was incredibly rewarding,” Outer Banks Association of Realtors President Christi Bryant in the statement, adding that it was a privilege to support them on behalf of the association’s members.

Since the 1990s, the association has awarded over $300,000 in scholarships to more than 200 local students. These scholarships are made possible through the association’s annual Surf, Turf, and Roll initiative, a series of three fundraising events, including a surf fishing, golf, and bowling tournament, which invites the community to donate and support the association’s charitable funds. 

For more information on how to donate to these funds or how to get involved, visit www.outerbanksrealtors.com.

From a submitted story by Tatum Clements

Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church was recently awarded the Outer Banks Community Foundation’s inaugural Focus Grant to help the church build 12 workforce housing units on their 2-acre property in Manteo.

“We have spent the last nine months working with the Ormond Center at Duke Divinity School to determine how the church can use our resources to best serve our community,” said Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church Pastor Rev. Dr. Michelle Lewis in a news release. “The more we talked about it, we said ‘housing is the biggest need in our community’. Our schools need teachers, and our community needs public service employees, and these people need places to live. Working with the Ormond Center at Duke Divinity School has given us a realistic understanding of what it will take to make workforce housing happen in this community. We want to use the church to fulfill our mission.”

The nonprofit foundation, which fosters philanthropy and supports community causes through its charitable funds and grant programs, said that of the applicants, the Roanoke Island Presbyterian Church’s plan to develop housing for essential workers on church property stood out among the applications received.

“What intrigued us about the application was the church’s interest in creating a new model that inspires churches and nonprofit organizations to undertake additional projects,” said Foundation President and CEO Chris Sawin in a news release. “It’s pretty clear that the government can’t just wave a magic wand and solve the housing problem – the way our community must address it is through lots of little projects that together, make a big impact.”

The foundation cited the Dare Community Housing Task Force’s 2024 report illustrating the problem. According to the report, in 2024, the average home price in Dare County was $622,000, with long-term rental rates between $1,800 and $2,000 per month for a two-bedroom home.

The report also notes that the average median two-person household income for Dare County residents is $58,750.

“Average annual salaries have stagnated while home prices have continued to rise in Dare County, making it increasingly difficult for residents to find housing,” according to the news release.

The foundation also cited North Carolina Housing Coalition statistics showing that 52% of renters and 25% of homeowners in Dare County have difficulty affording their homes.

“Housing insecurity has created a ripple effect across the Outer Banks, deeply affecting businesses, essential personnel, and individuals in the community,” the foundation said. “While many people have been actively trying to solve the workforce housing crisis in Dare County, no one has cracked the code.”

The foundation said its new Focus Grants are part of its effort to tackle some of the region’s most pressing challenges, including healthcare access, affordable housing, and child care.

“The Focus Grant provides funding up to $50,000 and was designed to support innovative, large-scale projects that address critical needs within the Outer Banks community, with a potential for multi-year awards,” stated Grants Committee Chair Frank Hester.

The church was already working on the housing project idea. The grant will enable the church to begin work on a feasibility study, the initial architectural plans and the site design.

“The grant takes us from an idea to a plan of action,” stated Lewis. “We are now moving forward in a meaningful way. Once we have the logistics in place for the project, we will be able to begin fundraising to build.”

The housing is intended for teachers, EMTs, and other public service employees. Teacher housing is available on Hatteras Island and in Kill Devil Hills, but not on Roanoke Island, making their needs a priority.

“We were truly inspired by RIPC’s creative and forward-thinking approach,” said Foundation Chief Operating Officer Nandy Stuart. “What may seem like a relatively small project has the potential to spark a much larger movement—one where churches and nonprofits across the Outer Banks reimagine how their properties can serve the community’s most pressing needs. That’s exactly what our grants program is about: empowering bold, replicable solutions that address both urgent challenges and promising opportunities.”

The Community Foundation said another factor in its decision was that the church’s idea could be replicated elsewhere.

“One of the things that is important to us is finding ways to use our church in non-church ways,” said RIPC housing committee member Dr. Blythe Hayes. “We want to serve the community in a way that the community most needs. We hope the model we develop with this project will be a model that other churches and nonprofit organizations in our community will be able to use as they continue the work of creating housing on the Outer Banks.”

The Outer Banks Community Foundation’s next grant application deadline is Friday, Oct. 31, for Impact Grants, which are open to all types of projects with no restrictions on scope or focus and have funding requests exceeding $10,000. Visit the Community Foundation’s website for detailed guidelines, eligibility criteria and the application portal. Early submissions are encouraged to allow time for review and feedback.

For more information or assistance contact the staff at 252-423-3003.

Dare County officials announced Friday that the public library in Manteo had to close temporarily because of extensive flooding on Burnside Drive and surrounding side streets.

The flooding was caused by a storm that arrived Thursday with rainfall that continued overnight.

“The area is currently unsafe for pedestrian traffic and low-lying vehicles and should be avoided,” officials said in the announcement.

The Manteo Library will remain closed until water levels return to a safe level and access to the facility is restored, officials said.

Once the library can reopen to the public, information will be posted on Facebook.com/DareCountyLibrary.

Library officials encouraged patrons to check out the variety of digital resources available online.

Wednesday is “Tater Day” at Island Farm, a living history site in Manteo that gives glimpse into life in the 1850s on Roanoke Island.

Set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, visitors can dig potatoes in the gardens, and enjoy kettle-fried potato chips made with freshly harvested Island Farm potatoes at the cookhouse.

“In 1850, Adam Etheridge raised 200 bushels of corn, 50 bushels of field peas, 100 bushels of sweet potatoes and 20 bushels of Irish potatoes – all on 15 acres of his then-420-acre farm, which is now the current-day site of Island Farm,” according to the organization.

“Tater Day” is part of Island Farm’s historic food series, which seeks to highlight local food traditions and culture throughout the year.

The program is included in the regular cost to visit Island Farm, which is $11 for those 4 and older, and no charge for those younger.

Island Farm is owned and operated by the nonprofit organization, Outer Banks Conservationists, founded in 1980 to protect natural, cultural and historic resources, through preservation and conservation.

Professional opera singer Tshombe Selby will perform a selection of modern and traditional songs from the steps of the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum in his hometown of Manteo to commemorate Juneteenth National Independence Day.

“The Sounds of Freedom” outdoor concert is to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 19, and is expected to last about an hour.

Limited seating will be offered starting at 5:30 p.m. Organizers expect a large crowd as the concert is being offered at no charge, so attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chair or a blanket.

Edward Gantt, a U.S. Colored Troops reenactor and retired U.S. Navy officer, is scheduled to speak during the evening program. Visitors with an interest in the history of the U.S. Colored Troops during the war can chat with Gantt earlier that day, 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the museum.

June 19 became a U.S. federal holiday in 2021 and is observed annually to commemorate the end of slavery after the Civil War in the United States.

The Pea Island Preservation Society is the nonprofit organization hosting the concert at the Cookhouse Museum that honors the life of Pea Island Lifesaving Station Keeper Richard Etheridge. Enslaved in his youth on Roanoke Island, Richard Etheridge joined the Union’s fight for freedom and served in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War before becoming the first Black American in the nation to command a U.S. Life-Saving Service station.

“Remembering Juneteenth on Roanoke Island is especially important considering its ties to the story of the enslaved and the fight for freedom,” the society’s Outreach and Education Director Joan Collins said in a press release.

“Roanoke Island was the setting for an historic experiment during the Civil War.  Following the island’s occupation by Union forces in 1862, it became a safe haven for those once enslaved throughout the region and prompted the establishment of a Freedmen’s Colony at the north end of the island,” she said, adding that many of the surfmen who served at Pea island are descendants of those who lived on the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island. 

Professional opera singer Tshombe Selby is returning to his hometown of Manteo to perform at the fourth annual Juneteenth observance at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum.

The Pea Island Preservation Society Inc. is hosting the performance at no charge at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19, on the grounds of the museum, 622 Sir Walter Raleigh St. 

The nonprofit organization based in Manteo works to preserve and interpret the history of the Pea Island Life Saving Station, Keeper Richard Etheridge, the first Black person in the nation to command a U.S. Life-Saving Service station, and African Americans of Roanoke Island.

Pea Island Lifesavers are known for their heroic rescue of the shipwrecked schooner E.S. Newman on Oct. 11, 1896. Etheridge and his crew saved all nine on board that night during the fierce storm.

The original Pea Island Station Cookhouse, where the keeper and surfmen cooked and ate their meals, was moved from Rodanthe to Collins Park in Manteo and is now a museum honoring those who served there between 1880-1947.

Selby’s fourth consecutive Juneteenth performance at the Cookhouse, he grew up singing and playing the piano at Haven Creek Baptist Church, just a couple of blocks from where the Cookhouse is now located.

“This church, the place where he first publicly performed, is connected to the story of thousands of enslaved people who fled to Roanoke Island during the Civil War seeking a safe haven, a place they hoped to freely live and where the Freedmen’s Colony on Roanoke Island was formed,” Pea Island Outreach and Education Director Joan Collins explained in a release.

Since his the 2023 Juneteenth concert, Selby has performed in more than a dozen productions at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Most recently he was a feature soloist with the Binghamton downtown singers in Binghamton, New York.

Selby’s performance is “particularly noteworthy” because he is a descendant of the Pea Island lifesavers, Collins said.

Keeper Etheridge was born Jan. 16, 1842, and grew up being enslaved on Roanoke Island. During the Civil War, he left home and his owner, John B. Etheridge, to help Union troops fight to free enslaved people. On Jan. 24, 1880, at 38 years old, Etheridge was selected to replace the white keeper who was in charge of the Pea Island station.

Etheridge would serve as keeper, the official title for the commander of a lifesaving station and crew, at the Pea Island station until his death of natural causes in May 1900. 

He is considered a key figure for both the Black history and the history of the Life-Saving Service on the Outer Banks, Collins said.

In March 1996, 100 years later and long after each surfman had died, they were posthumously awarded for the E.S. Newman 1896 rescue the prestigious Gold Lifesaving Medal by the U.S. Coast Guard. The delay is attributed to the crew being an all-Black crew and the challenges and injustices they faced during their lifetime, Collins explained.

During the Juneteenth concert, attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy the shaded, large open lawn with picnic tables and several outdoor exhibits displaying the legacy of Keeper Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers. 

“This annual celebration is quickly becoming a local favorite on the Outer Banks, a place for people, young and old, to gather to celebrate freedom, reflect on the past, and look to the future,” Collins said.

The location includes a life-sized bronze statue of Keeper Etheridge and a boathouse to honor Lt. Herbert M. Collins, who was the last keeper of Pea Island.

Herbert Collins, born on Roanoke Island in 1921, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939 following the footsteps of his great-great uncle and his uncle who served under Etheridge. He worked as a surfman at the Pea Island station from 1940 to 1947, throughout World War II, and was the last left in charge at the station. 

In March 1947 when Herbert Collins shut and locked the doors to the station for the very last time, he ended a 67-year period, 1880-1947, of the Pea Island lifesaving station being staffed primarily with Black commanders and crews.

The key sponsor for this event is the Don and Catherine Bryan Cultural Series, an Outer Banks organization striving to inspire, educate and challenge through presentations of the visual, literary, and performing arts.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice.

Citing overwhelming opposition to allowing Dare County’s proposed essential housing project to connect to the town’s wastewater treatment system, the Manteo Board of Commissioners on Wednesday voted unanimously to reject the county’s request.

The Sanderling project at the end of Bowsertown Road envisioned a 46-unit apartment complex that the county had contracted with Woda Cooper Companies to build. Although the complex would be on county property, according to Woda Cooper officials there is not enough land on the property for a septic system to support the complex.

If built, the 46 units would represent a small step toward remedying the housing shortage for year-round workers in the county.

Manteo Commissioner Sherry Wickstrom, in her remarks at the meeting, indicated the county needed 1,200 housing units. Chair of the Dare County Commissioners Bob Woodard, in an interview the following day, told the Voice that number was low. “She said 1,200. We’re lacking 2,500 (units),” he said.

The decision by the Manteo commissioners continues a trend of county-based essential or workforce housing proposals being rejected at the municipal level. Back in January 2022, Manteo commissioners also turned down a county request to connect with the town’s wastewater treatment system for what was then envisioned as a 120-unit development.

In August 2022, Kill Devil Hills commissioners rejected an effort to rezone the 44-acre Baum tract to potentially pave the way for a high-density multifamily housing site backed by the county. And early this year, Nags Head commissioners opted to rezone an area that would have potentially housed a 54-unit Woda Cooper housing development.

At the Sept. 6 Manteo Commissioners meeting, County Manager Bobby Outten noted that the county and the town had a history of working together.

“We want to work with you and anyone else to solve the (housing) problem, much as we did when you had a parking problem,” he said. “We took down some buildings, donated some land, and we all worked towards solving a parking problem in your downtown.”

Outten also stressed that every concern the commissioners had voiced about the project had been addressed.

“We were told by you that (the original proposal) was too big,” he said, adding the project they’re proposing is 46 units.

Outten continued that there were concerns voiced during discussions about impact fees, annexation and setting aside teacher housing. He explained that the county agreed to pay what the town requires for the impact fees, would annex and set aside 10 housing units for the teachers.

In public comment, though, every resident who spoke about the project was opposed to the proposal. Pointing to two issues in particular, speakers felt traffic in Manteo had become a significant problem and the addition of a 46-unit housing complex would exacerbate that. Residents were also concerned about the effect the development would have on the existing wastewater system and expressed concern about losing the small town feel of Manteo.

The commissioners described their vote as heeding the will of their constituents.

“I think tonight,” Commissioner Tod Clissold said during the meeting, “You’ve heard that (Manteo residents) are not in favor of a connection to the sewer plant.

“At this time, I just think we have to listen to our voters,” he continued.

Echoing Clissold’s comments, Commissioner Ruth Stetson said, “I can’t find a lot of support for this development. I can’t find any support, actually.”

Woodard, when interviewed the next day, told the Voice that “I fully understand their position. They listen to their constituents. I don’t fault them for that.”

Nonetheless, he had hoped the project could move forward.  “It’s just very disappointing,” he added.

For his part, Outten told the Voice that the county will continue to work toward building essential housing in spite of the setbacks.

“I’d say we’re disappointed in the Manteo decision, but we’re going to continue to work to bring workforce or essential housing to the county,” he said.

Woodard agreed. “We’re looking at multiple options in other places in the county, as well as towns and municipalities.”

Reprinted from OBX Today

The Town of Manteo Board of Commissioners have removed the interim tag from Melissa Dickerson’s position as town manager by unanimous vote at their workshop meeting on Wednesday.

Dickerson was appointed as the interim manager in December while she continued to serve as the town planner. With Dickerson taking the town manager’s job on a full-time basis, the position of Manteo town planner had been formally advertised as available.

“Town Manager Dickerson not only brings a lot of experience to the table, but also valuable knowledge and history of the community as a native of Dare County. Throughout her career, she has been and continues to be a dedicated public servant,” town leaders said in a statement.

Prior to her work at the town, she served as the state director for former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a research assistant for the North Carolina General Assembly, and district liaison for former Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat who represented the 13th District.

Dickerson is a Manteo High School graduate and has a bachelor’s in political science from the University of North Carolina Greensboro. She also is a graduate of the municipal and county administration program of the UNC School of Government and is a member of the International City/County Management Association.

OBX Today is the community website of JAM Media Solutions’ Outer Banks radio stations: Beach 104, 94.5 WCMS, 99.1 The Sound and Classic Rock 92.3. The website is managed by local newsman Sam Walker and journalist Kari Pugh. Coastal Review is partnering with OBX Today to provide our readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

The Manteo Board of Commissioners has tabled until Nov. 3 any changes to the town’s 2007 Core Coastal Area Management Act land use plan update to accommodate filling wetlands for development.

During a workshop meeting Wednesday, commissioners held a public hearing on the proposed changes, which would include new language clarifying the definition of upland wetlands and permitted development, and unanimously agreed to table a decision. But before the vote to table, the board rejected the proposed changes known as Amendment 2 in a 2-3 vote.

Commissioner Richie Burke made the motion and voted in favor. Mayor Pro Tem Betty Selby provided the second and the second “yes” vote.

The push to amend the 2007 CAMA land use plan came from a developer looking to place fill in wetlands at 113 Ballast Point Drive in Pirates Cove. The developer, John Robbins, said during a May 5 presentation to the board that language in the land use plan prevents development of the lot.

Robbins spoke on behalf of a client who owns the property.

Robbins told the board that the address, which is also known as Village Landing Lot 101 in Pirates Cove, has been deemed undevelopable. The CAMA land use plan update states that “no new development or filling should be allowed within upland wetlands,” which Robbins said is keeping the lot from being developed, according to the May 5 minutes and video.

He took issue with the definition of upland wetlands, saying the town “erroneously has determined that upland wetlands exist in Pirate’s Cove when it’s clear they do not.”

The board opted to wait to learn more about how the rule change would affect other lots in town.

Back in May, commissioners directed town staff to draft land use plan amendments to address Robbins’ complaint.

The town’s planning and zoning board considered draft resolutions prepared by the town attorney during its July 13 meeting and made recommendations, according to documents. A public hearing was scheduled for Sept. 15 but was then rescheduled for Oct. 20.

Earlier this month, planning staff approved a building permit for new residential construction at 113 Ballast Point Drive.

James Ayers announced Tuesday that he is resigning as Manteo’s town manager.

Ayers submitted his 60-day notice to the board of commissioners in accordance with his employment agreement, according to a press release from the town.

“I am grateful to the Board of Commissioners and the people of Manteo for the opportunity to serve the local community,” said Ayers. “It has been an honor to work alongside the many dedicated Town staff members, community volunteers, and elected and appointed officials here in Manteo.” 

Ayers was hired as manager in January 2019. He was previously general services director and interim human resources director for Asheville. He had also worked for Bluffton, South Carolina, where he held numerous positions.

Commissioners thanked Ayers for his “hard work and dedicated service.”

MANTEO – Town officials have scheduled a public hearing this month to consider proposed policy changes regarding the filling of wetlands.

The hearing is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at town hall, 407 Budleigh St., during a commissioner workshop on proposed changes to the 2007 Coastal Area Management Act Land Use Plan. 

Commissioners in May directed town staff to draft land use plan amendments to address a complaint about policies regarding development of and the placement of fill in upland wetlands.

The proposed changes include adding language regarding new development and fill of upland wetlands. The new language would define upland wetlands as those wetlands that are not coastal wetlands as defined by CAMA and state law and that are federally protected from dredging and filling without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and certification from the North Carolina Division of Water Quality.

The planning and zoning board in July considered draft resolutions prepared by the town attorney and suggested changes to the resolution and recommended approval with those changes included.

Land use plan amendments follow a process that includes submittal to the Department of Environmental Quality Division of Coastal Management for certification.

The town provided the following forms relevant to the hearing:

• Proposed Resolution Amendment 1 
• Proposed Resolution Amendment 2
• Land Use Plan Amendment Attachments
• Land Use Plan Amendment Process
• 2007 CAMA Land Use Plan

For more information, contact Planner Melissa Dickerson at 252-473-4112. 

The Pea Island Cookhouse Museum in Manteo is a small building. Built sometime in the late 1930s, it was once the cookhouse for the Pea Island Coast Guard Station on Hatteras Island.

The significance of the building, though, is far greater than its size, for this meticulously restored structure is a direct link to Pea Island Life-Saving Station, the first to be commanded by an African American. Capt. Richard Etheridge was named keeper in 1880 and from then until 1947, when it was deactivated, Pea Island was manned by an all-Black crew.

The museum, across the highway from downtown Manteo, is not a part of the usual visitor traffic.

A visit to the museum often includes the chance to talk in depth about the history of the station with the volunteers, many of whom are Pea Island Preservation Society board members and direct descendants of those who manned the station. The Pea Island Preservation Society is a nonprofit organization with the purpose to preserve and interpret the history of The Pea Island Life-Saving Station.

Darrell Collins, president of the Pea Island Preservation Society Board, has a personal connection to the station and the Coast Guard. His father, Frank Collins, served 16 years in the service before dying during Hurricane Donna in 1960.

He was in a car with three other Coast Guardsmen when tragedy struck.

“They were on their way back to the station (from Manteo) during Hurricane Donna. And evidently, they thought they could make it back to the beach,” Collins said. But they were in the eye of the storm, and when the eye passed “a wall of water came in and washed the car they were in over. Three Coast Guardsmen died that day. Oscar Berry, the driver, was the only one that escaped by clinging to a telegraph pole.”

There are other connections as well. His uncle, Herbert Collins, was the last man in charge of Pea Island when it was deactivated in 1947. Herbert Collins made a career in the Coast Guard, retiring as a lieutenant in 1976.

For Darrell Collins, though, the history of the Pea Island Station is more than a family story.

With a 40-year career in the National Park Service as a historian and interpreter, his ability to explain what the Wright brothers accomplished in ways that everyone could understand took him around the world before he retired in 2017.

That same storytelling he applies to the story of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station and its significance.

“These men found something in life that most African Americans would never find. They found a purpose in life in being there. They found pride and honor in what they did,” he said, adding, “This was a government-run organization. They had equal pay, which was unusual, and equal equipment. I think they actually, in a very little way, they changed the face of race in America. They interacted with other white stations. They became respected by the other white stations.”

The story begins with the Life-Saving Service General Supervisor Sumner Kimball’s effort to make the service a professional organization and hearing about the

After several shipwrecks off the North Carolina coast in the late 1870s when life-saving station keepers and crews failed to save the victims due to either negligence or incompetence, the Outer Banks were at the center of the call to reform the Life-Saving Service.

The Pea Island Station Keeper George Daniels was dismissed after the schooner M&E Henderson sank within sight of the station in 1879 and inspectors learned the station had failed to patrol the beach.

Kimball and his team were aware of Etheridge’s competence.

First Lt. Charles F. Shoemaker’s evaluation of Surfman No. 6 Etheridge, the lowest rank at the station, at the Bodie Island Station, acknowledged that no Black man held the position of keeper, but went on to say, “I am fully convinced that the interests of the LifeSaving Service he, in pain to efficiency, will be greatly advanced by the appointment of this man to the Keepership of Station No. 17.”

Etheridge was promoted to Pea Island Station keeper and the white crew immediately quit — allowing for the installation of an all African American crew.

Etheridge may have been the perfect person for the job. Born enslaved in 1842 on Roanoke Island, he listed in the Union Army as soon as the island was liberated by northern forces in 1862. He fought in the Battle of New Market, one of the most horrific battles of the war, rising to the rank of commissary sergeant, the highest rank permitted a Black soldier at that time, before mustering out in 1866 and returning to Roanoke Island.

“He was put in this position because they realized that he would go the extra mile to make sure that everything was run correctly by the book,” Collins said. “He was a real taskmaster is my understanding, He might not have been somebody you’d want to work for. He knew the stakes that were involved. That they could take the station away from him.”

That drilling paid huge dividends in a hurricane when the schooner ES Newman was driven aground Oct. 11, 1896, 3 miles south of the station. Unable to use their equipment because of wind, surf and overwash on the beach, members of the crew took turns swimming through the pounding waves to the Newman with a lifeline attached. All nine crew members on the ship were saved.

It took 100 years for bravery of the men that night to be fully recognized, but in 1996 the descendants of the Pea Island Crew were awarded the Coast Guard Gold Lifesaving Medal, the highest medal for bravery the service awards.

Although the Newman rescue is what the Pea Island Station is most noted for, to Collins, it is one part of a much larger picture, a mission that is more than simply retelling the story of Richard Etheridge and the all-Black crews that followed.

The museum has an outreach program focusing much of its attention on children under the direction Joan Collins, Darrell’s cousin. The Cookhouse Museum initiated an outreach program a few years ago.

“We created Freedmens for Heroes as an education initiative, recognizing that we’re not going to get much traction in making people understand history by just opening the Cookhouse when we can,” she said. “We came up with an initiative designed to reach out and teach.”

A regular part of the visitor experience at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, the program is a live presentation of the significance of the Pea Island Life-Saving Station and its importance in history.

The program has been further expanded, Joan Collins explained. “We’re in all Dare County elementary schools. We’ve been doing that for the past three or four years. We do a live program with kids.”

The program is presented to fourth graders, and tells the true story Darrell Collins said. “We don’t pull any punches when they tell their story. We talk about racism. We talk about the difference between Blacks and whites in that particular era in history. And the kids are really into to this.”

The culmination of the program is an essay contest among all Dare County fourth graders.

This past year, two Latino children won first and second prize, Darrell Collins said.

“It’s a shared history, a shared history that still exists today,” Joan Collins added.

Manteo is moving from curbside residential recycling collection, a free service for residents, to a paid subscription-based service starting Feb. 5.

Residents have until Jan. 31 to call Katie Beasley at Bay Disposal at 252-491-5105 ext. 351 to participate.

Weekly roll cart recycling service with Bay Disposal will cost $11.35 per month. Bay Disposal will bill residents each quarter.

Starting Feb. 5, Bay Disposal will begin to pick up roll carts at the homes of residents who choose not to participate in the subscription service. Roll carts need to be at the curb by this date, though Bay Disposal may need to extend pick-up activities into the following week.

Temporary recycling containers are in the side parking lot at town hall now through the end of June to help during this transition. Residents can also use the Dare County Recycling Center located at 1018 Driftwood Drive. The schedule is on the county website.

Contact James Ayers at 252-473-2133 for additional information.

MANTEO — After being stuck at home for nearly four years, the state-owned 16th century representative sailing ship Elizabeth II should soon be able to venture out from its dock alongside Roanoke Island Festival Park.

Long-delayed dredging was set to begin Monday at the intersection of Roanoke Sound and Shallowbag Bay, but technical and weather challenges put off the work for at least another day. The project is needed to unclog a channel that will allow the three-masted, six-sailed vessel to motor off from its Manteo homeport for overdue maintenance work.

“I am just waiting for the dredge to show up, and I’ll know that it’s true,” Dwight Gregory, chair of the nonprofit Friends of Elizabeth II, recently told Coastal Review Online, alluding to the complications involved in funding and planning the project.

The Dare County Board of Commissioners on Nov. 16 approved a contract to dredge about 2.2 miles of channel, as well as an additional 290 feet to reach the ship’s berth. Contractor Salmons Dredging Inc. of Charleston, South Carolina, is slated to complete the $1,635,843.55 contract by Feb. 28, 2021. Funds for the project were provided by the North Carolina General Assembly with an appropriation of $1.9 million in its adjusted 2018 budget, with another provision stating that matching funds were not required.

When it was later discovered that the stretch of channel to the ship also needed dredging, additional funds had to be found because that section was not covered in the state law. Dare County, which had earlier agreed to administer the project, applied to the state Shallow Draft Navigation Fund for grant of $127,000. The town of Manteo has agreed to pay the $43,000 local cost-share.

The square-rigged ship — its teal blue, white and tan markings a bold contrast with its wooden hull — has been an eye-catching, year-round resident at its Doughs Creek berth, providing a picturesque view across the creek for visitors strolling along the boardwalk at the Manteo waterfront.

Built for $650,000 with private donations to represent the Elizabeth, one of the ships that sailed from England to Roanoke Island as part of the 1584-1587 Roanoke Voyages, the vessel was dedicated in Manteo in 1984 as part of the 400^th anniversary celebration of the English arrival to the New World. The ship was donated 14 years later to Roanoke Island Festival Park, a state museum that interprets the history of the Roanoke colonists and Native Americans.

Gregory, who volunteers as first mate on the vessel and helps with its upkeep, said the ship was last hauled out for its annual maintenance in January 2017. But shoaling, especially at the entrance to the harbor, had since made the channel impassable for the 69-foot vessel, which has an 8-foot draft. Currently, water depth in different sections range from 1- to 5-feet and 6- to 7-feet.

Adam Priest, project engineer with Wilmington-based Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina, the firm hired by Dare County to handle permit applications and planning, said Monday that the project was temporarily halted by technical issues just as work was set to begin. A weather system also moved into the area Monday morning with strong gusts and thunderstorms.

Priest said that when work commences, the channel will be dredged 9 feet deep and 50 feet wide. The estimated 30,639 cubic yards of material to be removed will be barged to a site on the west side of Shallowbag Bay and off-loaded there, he said. It then will be trucked to a disposal area at the Dare County Landfill in Manns Harbor, where it will be used to cover the landfill.

Meanwhile, the Elizabeth II will spend its fourth consecutive winter sitting in water, not moving — a risk for any boat. Although vessels with wooden hulls are more vulnerable to damage from shipworms and rot the longer they’re immobile and immersed, Gregory said that the ship, which regularly has routine maintenance on its interior and deck and other above-water areas, does not exhibit any significant leaks and so far seems to be holding up.

“For a ship celebrating its 37^th anniversary,” he said, “it’s doing really well.”

While she remains hopeful that the Elizabeth II has not suffered much damage, Kim Sawyer, executive director of Roanoke Island Festival Park, said that no time will be wasted getting the ship in dry dock for a thorough inspection at the state shipyard in Manns Harbor.

“Once we get the ship out, we want to get a condition survey done,” she said. “We don’t know what she’s looking like under the waterline — of course, you never know for sure until she’s out of the water.”

Conducted by a certified marine surveyor, the ship is usually inspected every five years. During the last survey in February 2016, surveyor Paul C. Haley with Capt. G.W. Full and Associates Marine Surveyors in Orleans, Massachusetts, noted 80 items on the ship that warranted varying degrees of attention, from simply keeping an eye on it, to replacement and/or repair.

In his report, some of which was redacted for proprietary reasons, Haley said that “considerable work” had been done since the prior inspection in February 2011, including replacement above the waterline of “a good portion” of planking.

Although he said that the items were prioritized, that information was not evident.

“The next area that will need attention is the bottom,” he wrote, adding that planking was showing some deterioration. Haley recommended that at the next dry dock, the bottom should be stripped of paint to fully assess the condition of the wood.

The overall survey involved a visual and hammer-test inspection of the hull’s underbody and topsides, including transom, deck and cabin top, also rudder, propeller, shafts and related equipment. It also examined the interior, including accessible spaces, and masts. Haley noted that rigging had been inspected earlier at the park, and there were no sea trials or mechanical inspections.

Overall, he said, the ship “would be considered a good marine risk” after prioritized work was completed.

“The Elizabeth II has had very good maintenance over the years,” the report concluded. “It is apparent that her condition is directly related to the good maintenance staff that looks after the vessel and their maintenance of her.”

Crewed by interpreters in 16^th century garb, Elizabeth II has been a popular static attraction at Roanoke Island Festival Park, which, barring pandemic-related restrictions, is open March 1- Dec. 31.

Sawyer, who has been at the park’s helm for more than a decade, said the goal is to return the ship to its duty as an ambassador, sailing to different coastal ports to promote North Carolina’s rich maritime history.

In earlier days of big dreams and fatter state budgets, the Elizabeth II had a mission to sail to a different port every year. State officials had planned for the 50-ton ship to leave its Manteo homeport every spring and fall, pulling into harbors along the coast in spectacular full sail.

In a harbinger of its future woes, the Elizabeth II got stuck in the harbor on its first attempt to set forth on adventure.

According to a May 11, 1985, article in the New York Times, the federal government had declined to pay to dredge the channel, which had as little as 3 feet of water in some sections. Facing the embarrassment of their star being unable to leave its slip, the state finally ponied up $685,000 to pay the Corps of Engineers to do the work.

Conditions in the channel have since returned to where they were in the early 1980s, leaving the Elizabeth II once again stuck at its homeport.

Addressing the question of the need to avoid repeating the problem, Dare County has included future maintenance of the Manteo channel in its proposed long-term waterways management plan, said Brent Johnson, Dare County waterways project manager.

And as soon as possible, Sawyer promised, the Elizabeth II will again resume its popular ambassador trips along the coast.

“We definitely want to get her out to another port,” she said. “Edenton is the last trip we had planned (but canceled) in October 2017. It would definitely be Edenton when we are ready to go.”

Copublished with Outer Banks Voice

This story has been updated.

MANTEO — When the Clyde A. Erwin High School in Buncombe County was under national media klieg lights more than 20 years ago over a U.S. Justice Department civil rights investigation of its Native American mascots, the Manteo Redskins and Braves sports teams in Dare County remained distant from growing national controversy over names Native Americans viewed as insulting and disrespectful.

Eventually, the Asheville school changed its offensive Squaw mascot to Lady Warriors. In response to the 2002 State Board of Education directive that required North Carolina school districts to review any use of American Indian mascot names, Manteo scaled back Indian imagery in its mascots, while keeping the Redskins and Braves team names.

But now former and current students and community members say it’s past time for the names to go.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, some alumni of Manteo schools in August submitted a petition with more than 12,000 signatures to the Dare County Board of Education urging the Native American mascots be retired.

A subcommittee of the Dare County Board of Education agreed Wednesday to add the alumni’s presentation on the mascot issue to the agenda for its regular meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m on Tuesday, Sept. 8, according to board spokesman Keith Parker. The meeting will be held virtually and will be streamed live online.

“The use of these mascots is deeply harmful to the cause of creating sustainable and positive race relations in our community,” according to the petition. “Changing these mascots is a small but symbolic step towards dismantling racist structures and building dialogue and accountability.”

The petition also asks the district to “increase education about regional and national Native American communities and efforts to create an anti-racist school community.”

Named for Algonquians Wanchese and Manteo, who interacted on Roanoke Island with the 1587 “Lost Colony,” the English colony that mysteriously disappeared, Manteo High School adopted its Redskins mascot, a Native American brave’s head, sometime before World War II. The Braves name and logo were adopted by Manteo elementary and middle schools.

Holly Overton, a 2005 Manteo High graduate, said she remembered feeling “weird” about the Redskins’ name, but nobody ever said anything about it when she was in school. Native Americans consider the name, which refers to a murdered American Indian’s scalp, to be a racial slur.

Years later, Overton recounted, her memory of that discomfort was stirred by the recent Black activist movement. In examining her “privilege,” she said, she realized that Native American mascots are examples of the perception of “other” that is outside the white person’s frame.

“That was the trigger,” she said in an interview. “I started texting some of my friends.”

Overton, who is a painter and musician in Brooklyn, New York, soon connected with Manteo alumni — 2005 graduate Rachel Endsley, 2002 graduate Evan Harrison and 2007 graduate Kristen McCown — and they worked together with people in other school districts who have addressed the issue.

A petition drive in Gaston County is underway to retire the South Point Red Raiders in Belmont, which uses a Native American mascot with similar imagery to Manteo’s Redskins mascot.

“They’re sort of ahead of us,” Overton said. Further, she added, the Manteo petition and policy paper used a  modified version of South Point’s template.

Overton also contacted Monroe Gilmour, coordinator of the North Carolina Mascot Education & Action Group in Asheville. Gilmour, who has been involved in the mascot issue since the 1990s, said that the group was advised back then that attempts to force an outright ban of the mascots used in 73 school districts throughout the state would create intense backlash and a change would have to come from the community itself. That advice proved to be wise — and effective.

“We got 40 schools to stop using Indian mascots,” he said in a recent telephone interview.

Over the years, interest in the mascot issue waned, except for occasional flareups inspired by the controversy over the Washington NFL team. But the Black Lives Matter movement sparked new awareness.

Out of the blue, Gilmour recounted, he received a call in June from a South Point alumna. The next day, he received a call from Overton. Then he received another call from an alumna from Social Circle, Georgia, schools, which also use the Redskin moniker. None of the young women knew each other, or their separate efforts to reach out to Gilmour.

“All three of them contacted me within a matter of three days,” he said.

With strong emotions attached to mascot names, ranging from community members who identify with the teams they grew up rooting for, to Native Americans who grew up feeling belittled and mocked by the characterization of their culture, changing the mascots has been a slow and conflicted process.

Gilmour recalled that when activist Charlene Teters — who has been referred to as the Rosa Parks of American Indians — had visited Asheville in 1998, some students had lowered a banner where she was speaking that said “Scalp ‘em.”

Another example he cited was of a woman representing the schools’ booster club who spoke after a presentation about the Cherokee perspective on Native American mascots.

“She said, ‘They’re taking my heritage and my culture and my home away,’” Gilmour said, referring to her objection about changing the school mascots. “She did not see the irony in that.”

In March 2020, the National Indian Education Association issued a new resolution calling for “the immediate elimination of race-based logos, mascots, and names from educational institutions throughout the Nation.”

What concerns Gilmour is how often school administrators have dismissed the underlying racism in mascots.

“Educators are so cowed by fear of the alumni,” he said, “that they don’t do what they know they should do.”

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, who died Aug. 11 at 75, had testified as an expert witness for a Native American group seeking to revoke the trademark for the Washington Redskins football team, according to his obituary in The Washington Post.

In his testimony, the Post reported, Nunberg — renowned for 30 years of language commentaries on NPR’s “Fresh Air” — called the use of the word “redskin” a “racial slur” defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as “offensive slang.”

“You could put the Redskins’ claim that the success of the team brought honor to Indians,” the Post quoted Nunberg writing in 2003 language blog, “in the same way, I assume, that the achievements of the New Jersey Devils bring honor to the Prince of Darkness.”

But despite years of withering criticism, Washington team owner Dan Snyder refused to consider retiring the name the team adopted in 1933.

“We’ll never change the name,” he declared in 2013 to USA Today. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

At the time, about 79% of Americans polled about the name agreed with Snyder, according to ESPN.com.

As part of the rationale for keeping the name, the NFL cited various high schools throughout the country who used the Redskins mascot.

But earlier this year, under pressure from advertisers, Snyder reversed course and agreed to change the name.

Marilyn Berry Morrison, chief of the Roanoke-Hatteras Tribe, said there are about 200 or so members from the Outer Banks on the official roll. But Native American heritage has been difficult to trace, she said, because of the fear of “being carted off to the reservation,” combined with the tradition of oral rather than written history.

“You lose a loved one, you lose a library,” she explained.

Through the 1800s, Morrison said, Native Americans were given two choices in identifying themselves: either they were white, or they were Black, creating a so-called “paper genocide.”

As it is for Washington, she said, it’s long overdue for Manteo to toss its Redskins mascot.

“Well, we tried to get this changed years ago, but it fell through the cracks and I’m glad that it’s surfaced again,” Morrison said. “Ditching the cringeworthy name would send a very, very important message. We are evolving. I know we can find something more suitable and appropriate to honor Manteo High School.”

Some names suggested in comments by people who signed the petition include Mariners, Seafarers, Falcons, Algonkians and Pirates.

There was a wide range of ages represented, some of whom signed despite saying that the mascots shouldn’t change, others who adamantly supported their replacement.

“There was literally a mural in the cafeteria of MHS that was an incredibly racist caricature of indigenous people cannibalizing human limbs,” commented Brian Jones, who graduated in 2003. “Students for decades ate their school lunches next to it. I don’t remember what year it was finally removed, but let’s not stop there.”

Robin Sawyer, a former journalism teacher at Manteo High School from 1991 to 2004 and then at First Flight High School from 2004 until she retired in 2015, understands the reason why Redskins is offensive.

But the name also has a strong association to alumni heritage, especially for older generations. It’s about dedication, camaraderie, connection, rootedness, identity and loyalty.

Yet, Sawyer said, spending time fighting over the Redskins’ name strikes her as “frivolous.”

“In the big picture, I don’t give a flip about it,” she said. “In the personal picture, it is heartbreaking.”

Jerry Cahoon, a retired teacher who at 85 looks back fondly on his 30 years coaching the Manteo Redskins football team, also sounded resigned about the name changing.

To the community, he said, he believes the mascot name was meant to show Manteo’s pride in its American Indian history, “but we’re not Indians, and I don’t know how they feel.”

Still, he said, a new name might take getting used to, but it would not take away the team spirit.

“There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to miss Redskins,” Cahoon said. “I think our fans are still going to be our fans.”

Update: Alumni made a presentation during the school board’s Sept. 8 meeting. The board took no action on the matter.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice

After more than a year of planning and hosting a number of listening sessions to gather citizen input, Manteo officials anticipate construction of the Manteo Town Common to begin in November and to be completed by early spring 2021.

Located at the old Fort Raleigh hotel site, plans for the site include a park with 60 parking spaces as well as natural landscaping, sitting areas, pathways and green space.

On Aug. 11, Manteo’s planning board unanimously approved the site plan for the town common, which will cover just over 50,000 square feet of space nestled between Budleigh and Ananias Dare streets. Manteo has entered into a 25-year lease with Dare County to develop and maintain the site, which is to be completed in two phases.

“It’s pretty remarkable to be able to get both a beautiful park and the parking lot … it brings aesthetics and function into a really important part of our town,” said Sherry Wickstrom, the planning board chair, who also serves on the Town Common Task Force.

The first phase of the project will include the parking spaces as well as lighting, landscaping, pathways and the extension of utilities for future restrooms anticipated in phase two of construction.

Project engineer John DeLucia of Albemarle & Associates said town officials have asked for shade trees to be planted, as well as native plants that are drought tolerant, fragrant, colorful and appealing to birds and pollinators.

According to Town Manager James Ayres, the town has budgeted $732,844 for the project and in addition, has received a $221,885 grant for the project from the Dare County Tourism Board. The municipality is also awaiting word on two other state grants it has applied for.

In an interview with the Voice, Ayers praised the project, noting that it not only helped alleviate parking woes in the downtown area but would also be “a great town park with sitting areas, pathways and more.”

Restrooms as well as potential shade areas, such as a trellis, are planned for the second phase of the project. Lighting will be part of both phases and will be consistent with lighting at Creef Park and Magnolia Market.

The park, DeLucia said, “is designed to be a quiet green space where people can sit on a bench and read or meditate and be in the shade.”

Wickstrom elaborated during the Aug. 11 meeting. “It’s really to engage all the senses so there will be this wonderful sound of song birds and animals that will find this a great habitat. There will definitely be fragrance with the jasmine and other plantings. And it’ll be a visual beauty as well.”

Demolition of the county-owned buildings on the site, including the historic Fort Raleigh Hotel, was completed last year. The site plan does not require approval from the Board of Commissioners.

DeLucia said that construction documents are being finalized with the hope of going out to bid at the end of August. He anticipates Manteo Commissioners could award a bid at their October meeting and construction could begin in November.

“Everyone is shooting for this to be ready for the springtime,” he concluded.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice

Two former Manteo officials have each been charged with a felony bribery offense related to an informal $50,000 agreement that was part of a 2017-2018 dredging project in Doughs Creek.

Lee King Tugwell, 64, and Wayland Hannon Fry Jr., 61, both of Manteo, were indicted Jan. 27 by a grand jury in Dare County Superior Court. Both men turned themselves in to the Dare County Magistrate’s Office on Jan. 31.

Tugwell, who has served as a Manteo commissioner and mayor, was released on an unsecured bond of $50,000, said Angie Grube, public information director for the State Bureau of Investigation.

Fry, a town commissioner for 14 years before conceding to his opponent during an effort to break their deadlocked race in November’s municipal election, also was released on an unsecured bond of $50,000, Grube said.

According to the indictments, Fry was charged with one felony count of bribery of officials, and Tugwell was charged with one felony count of offering bribes.

The cases are being handled by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys in Raleigh because of concerns by District Attorney for the First Prosecutorial District Andrew Womble’s office about potential conflicts of interest. The district attorney handling the case, Chuck Spahos, was unavailable for comment for this report.

In a brief telephone interview with the Voice, Fry said he had to restrain from making a statement about the situation. “I wish I could,” he said.

Manteo Mayor Bobby Owens, who was not serving as mayor during the dredging project, is related to Fry through marriage. His late wife Sarah was Fry’s aunt.

Fry’s attorney Andy Gay, with the Zebulon law firm Gay, Jackson & McNally, told the Voice the case is in the early stages, but from what he has seen of the government’s case, it appears “nobody did anything wrong.”

“It’s a very, very unusual application of the statute,” Gay said on Friday. “It’s a bit surprising. But there’s probably a lot of politics behind this.”  He said he has not yet heard from the district attorney on scheduling a court date for his client’s first appearance in Dare County Superior Court.

Tugwell did not respond to a telephone message left on Friday seeking comment. According to Fry, Elizabeth City attorney Keith Teague is representing Tugwell. Teague could not be reached for comment.

Verbal agreement

The two men’s legal difficulties were spurred by a verbal agreement negotiated between Tugwell and a private property owner. The arrangement related to payment to the owner to store dredge material on his land that was removed during the town’s Doughs Creek Canal dredging project in 2017-2018.

At the time, Tugwell, owner of contracting company Tugwell Transport, was acting as the local agent for the Klimkiewicz family, which owned land along Doughs Creek. Eventually, an unwritten agreement was reached with the Klimkiewicz family that would allow the town to temporarily deposit dredge spoil on their land. At the conclusion of the project, the dredge material was trucked to the town public works property off Bowsertown Road and the private property was cleaned up.

According to a report issued in December by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, Tugwell — who at that point was not representing the town in any official capacity— submitted three separate invoices to the town: two for $12,500, and one for $25,000.

Despite the lack of a contract or any documentation, the report said, town Finance Officer Shannon Twiddy paid the invoices with town funds. Although Tugwell was not a town official when he made the dredge spoil deal, he had been appointed in Feb. 2018 to serve on the Manteo Planning and Zoning Board. He submitted his resignation on Nov. 20, 2019.

On Oct. 18, 2017, the Manteo Board of Commissioners approved a budget appropriation of $50,000 for a 120-day lease of the Klimkiewicz property. Fry, who was then a member of the board of commissioners, voted to approve the measure without revealing that he would benefit, according to the report.

“No Town employees or officials knew that the Commissioner would receive a payment related to the dredging project,” the report said.

After compensating the property owner $25,000 for the lease, the report said, Tugwell deposited $25,000 in his corporate account. He then wrote a check to Fry for $12,500 and later told investigators that it was a “gift.”

Tugwell told the auditor’s office investigators that the compensation was above board.

“Let me be clear,” he said, according to the report. “That money was all given to me, and I am allowed to spend my money in any way I see fit and for whatever reason I see fit.”

But according to the indictment, the payment that Fry accepted from Tugwell was made “with the understanding that he was to be influenced thereby and would perform an official act …” that led the town to appropriate $50,000 for the lease.

‘Corrupt intent’

The indictment called Tugwell’s transaction “a corrupt intent” to offer money to Fry as a “bribe,” with the understanding that Fry, in his capacity as commissioner, would vote to approve the $50,000 appropriation.

Meanwhile, a parallel controversy related to the dredging project is continuing to swirl. Some months after the dredged sand was deposited on the town property, more than 70 dump trucks were seen removing the sand from the town land. The Dough’s Creek dredging project, contracted for $648,901 to Carolina Marine Structures in Powells Point, began on Nov. 27, 2017.

To this day, the town has not determined — at least for the record— where the material went or whether it was sold or stolen. When it was taken, then Town Manager Kermit Skinner valued the material at about $15,000, and said that under the terms of the contract, it belonged to the town.

When contacted Friday afternoon, current Manteo Town Manager James Ayers said he was unaware of the Tugwell and Fry indictments and added that he has not been in communication with the district attorney’s office.

But Ayers said that the town is following the state auditor’s recommendation to investigate Finance Officer Twiddy’s actions in signing off on the invoices to determine whether there should be corrective and/or disciplinary action. The town is also considering conducting a five-year audit of the town finances, he said.

As to the disappearing sand, Ayers said the town has had discussions with the dredging contractor and is continuing to pursue the matter.  “We’re considering all legal alternatives to resolving this issue,” he said.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

MANTEO — With county approval on a lease, the town is moving forward on a project to build a Town Common, a downtown open green space with recreational facilities and water quality protections.

The Dare County Board of Commissioners Monday approved a 25-year lease agreement with Manteo for three adjoining parcels in downtown Manteo. Demolition that began in August of the buildings and a parking lot is nearly complete on the county-owned parcels on Ananias Dare Street and Budleigh Street.

Manteo  will be responsible for the costs of construction and maintenance of the Town Common, according to the county. To help resolve long-standing parking issues in downtown Manteo, commissioners requested that a minimum of 65 parking places be included in designs for the space.

James Ayres, Manteo town manager, told Coastal Review Online that the twin goals for the Manteo Town Common include economic development by improving key downtown infrastructure to better accommodate downtown visitors and attractions as well as community development in the form of park area and green space.

“Phase 1 of the Town Common will include the design and construction of parking as well as park area, green space, stormwater reduction, and amenities for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians,” he said.

Ayres explained that plans are to incoporate principles of low-impact development, or LID, into the project as they transition from conceptual planning to engineering design in the coming months.

“The percentage of impervious surface on this site will be reduced, green space will be increased, and the final design will select from a menu of LID options that may include bioretention cells, bioswales, pervious concrete, or permeable paving,” he said. Currently, the town is applying for grants and other funding sources needed for this project.

“The project is expected to move from the conceptual planning phase to the design phase as funding is identified, and more details will be available as the project moves forward,” Ayres said.

Reprinted from Outer Banks Voice

MANTEO — The North Carolina General Assembly unanimously passed legislation July 11 that places Shallowbag Bay within the town’s corporate limits here, giving the municipality authority to adopt and enforce ordinances regulating the scenic waters that wrap around the downtown district on Roanoke Island.

For the town, that means it will now have jurisdiction over anchoring and mooring of vessels as well as the ability to better monitor and act on issues such as derelict boats, which plagued the municipality several years ago when two boats were left abandoned and unclaimed in nearby waters – one along the downtown’s waterfront and the other in nearby Doughs Creek.

The legislation, House Bill 429, was requested by town officials and introduced by Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Dare. It was part of a bill that also authorized Hyde County to regulate the navigable waters within Silver Lake on Ocracoke Island.

For Manteo’s part, the bill identified the waters from the northern tip of Ballast Point extending northwest to the southern tip of Baum Point, along with Doughs and Scarboro creeks, as part of the town’s corporate limits.

Mayor Bobby Owens said that when the two abandoned boats became an unsightly part of the landscape back in 2017, some residents started a petition to have the boats removed.

“They found out it wasn’t that easy. You don’t just go get someone to move a boat, and it was still hard because these were public waters,” the mayor noted.

Because the boats were unclaimed, and the state’s Wildlife Resources Commission and Marine Patrol monitored and patrolled the waters extending three miles from shore, town officials found themselves having to jump through a number of bureaucratic hoops to have the vessels removed.

Plus, Owens noted, “If a boat is adrift, it’s fairly easy to move. If it sinks, it’s the hardest thing to move.” It’s also rather costly, town officials discovered at the time.

The predicament prompted the town to seek the local bill. “With this legislation, we will be able to move a boat much easier, and keep the beauty as best we can,” the mayor said.

Town manager James Ayers said that derelict and abandoned boats can not only cause damage to the environment, but also present hazards to boaters and other users of Shallowbag Bay. He noted that the regulatory hurdles in 2017 caused months of delays.

“But the new law will allow the town to streamline the process by which people and the environment can be protected from such hazards,” he said.

With Shallowbag Bay now under the town’s jurisdiction, the municipality will also be able to adopt regulations addressing the types of activities permitted, speed zones, no-wake zones and the placement of navigational aids.

Ayers said the development of regulations will include a robust community engagement effort.

“The next step is to listen to the community and seek feedback,” noted Ayers.

Among the opportunities to provide public input will be the regularly scheduled meetings of the Manteo Board of Commissioners on Sept. 4 and Sept. 18. The public is also being encouraged to send ideas and suggestions to a special email address at shallowbagbayregulations@manteonc.gov.

MANTEO – See Outer Banks birds at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island’s new nature play adventure “For the Birds” set to be unveiled Memorial Day weekend.

For the Birds is a nature trail that is home to year-round birds and those that visit the Outer Banks at certain times of the year. Expect to see woodpeckers, herons, osprey and many more birds. Visitors are invited to build a nest like a mockingbird or a killdeer, hop like a chickadee and balance like a heron.

For the Birds will be open throughout the summer and fall seasons and is included with regular aquarium admission, details of which can be found online.

All of the activity stations along the For the Birds trail are intended to be fun, educational and adventurous exploration into the variety of birds seen in the area, and the grounds of the aquarium are great for viewing birds in their habitats, including purple martins, nesting osprey, cormorants fishing in the sound, and many species visiting the bird feeders on the trail, according to the release.

“Birds are such a big part of our ecosystem and surroundings on the Outer Banks,” said Exhibits Curator Colleen Shytle in a statement. “We see them every day and it’s natural to wonder what they are up to. ‘For the Birds’ gives visitors a peek into the lives of birds and the skills they use to make the Outer Banks their home.”

The wooded Nature Play area covers roughly 2.5 acres on the grounds of the  Roanoke Island aquarium. The trail connects to the wildflower Meadow and soundside fields for even more outdoor excursions.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Sentinel

DARE COUNTY — With its approval this week of a capital project ordinance for the Shallowbag Bay Dredging Project in Manteo, the Dare County Commissioners moved a step closer to freeing the Elizabeth II, the iconic wooden vessel stranded by shoaling and unable to move from Doughs Creek across from the Manteo waterfront.

Commissioners voted to appropriate $1.9 million awarded to the county by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for the dredging project. The project is fully funded by DEQ, which finalized a financial assistance agreement Feb. 12. The agreement is effective until June 30, 2020.

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said in an interview that in approving the capital project ordinance the commissioners had basically authorized “moving the money from one account to the other, so we can spend it.”

The appropriation was approved without discussion during the board’s March 4 meeting as part of the consent agenda. The action also authorizes Outten to execute a $6,996 related services agreement with APTIM Coastal Planning and Engineering of North Carolina to coordinate the permitting of dredging for the navigation channel in Shallowbag Bay.

In the agreement, APTIM states that it “anticipates that the review of authorization, identification of potential disposal sites, coordination with County staff on purpose and need, and development of the project narrative, will be completed within 30 days of receiving notice to proceed from Dare County.”

Asked about a time frame for the dredging project to be completed, Outten said it will be “as quickly as possible,” adding that the time needed to receive the necessary permits will determine when the dredging work can begin. He also added that the project will be complete well before the end date of the financial assistance agreement in June 2020.

The Elizabeth II was built in 1983 to represent the 16th century ships that sailed to Roanoke Island during the voyages between 1584 and 1587, establishing the first English colony in the New World. The vessel was built for $670,000 at the Manteo waterfront to mark the 400th anniversary in 1984 of the first English voyage to Roanoke Island. It is one of the premier attractions at Roanoke Island Festival Park.

In May, in response to a request from the Dare County Waterways Commission, Dare commissioners approved a resolution requesting “urgent assistance for emergency approval” to dredge the Manteo Channel to its authorized depth of 12 feet, citing the “dire situation” created by the channel’s shoaling confronting North Carolina’s “floating ambassador” and impacting area economies. The resolution also asked for assistance in permitting and funding.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Sentinel, a weekly Dare County newspaper that is published in print every Wednesday and headquartered at 2910 South Croatan Highway, Nags Head. Aside from the print paper, the Sentinel also produces a continually updated digital version at www.obsentinel.com.

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Sentinel

MANTEO — As Manteo officials await a report on an investigation by the State Auditor’s office related to a recent Doughs Creek dredge project, the town has yet to resolve a separate dispute with the dredging contractor stemming from the company hauling away 71 truckloads of dredge material from the town’s disposal site.

According to a reverse change order by the Manteo Board of Commissioners, the town is seeking reimbursement from Powells Point contractor Carolina Marine Structures for $15,247.25 for the dredge material that the town contends the contractor was not authorized to remove.

“Our primary concern is to be made whole again from a financial perspective,” said Town Manager Kermit Skinner. “It has value to the town.”

The town signed a $648,901 contract last winter with Carolina Marine Structures to dredge 3,750 linear feet in Doughs Creek and 35,700 square feet of the boat basin north of the Cora Mae Basnight Bridge going to Roanoke Island Festival Park. According to the contract, the dredged sand would go to the town’s wastewater treatment plant and be placed in constructed berms.

Including $648,901 for the original contract, $35,000 for engineering, $50,000 to relocate the power line, $50,000 to lease property to temporarily store the material, and $11,099 for contingency additional yardage, the project costs ended up totaling $795,000.

The state’s shallow draft fund covered two-thirds of the project, with the remaining third picked up by the Historic Roanoke Island Fund. The town has also paid $23,025 for engineering expenses incurred before the grant was awarded.

Skinner told the Sentinel that the company has not responded to the town’s request for reimbursement. Chris Coleman, the president of Carolina Marine Structures, did not respond to a request seeking comment.

But in earlier interviews Skinner said that Coleman contended that the material, which has value as fill, was removed to make the disposal site at the town’s site “acceptable for receiving the dredge spoil.” Acting on a tip, town Police Chief Vance Haskett viewed surveillance video footage of the 71 dump trucks driving away from the site loaded with the dredge material.

Skinner said he “would hate to speculate” on what happened to the sand after it was hauled off, adding that Coleman told him that he gave it away. “But I have no way to prove or disprove that,” he said, adding, “All of this could have been avoided if (Coleman) had contacted us ahead of time.”

The contractor’s requests for modifications in the contract for the project produced mixed results. In December 2017, a change order for $10,000 was filed by the contractor and approved by the town, to cover additional cubic yardage for the project. In June, the contractor filed another change order, seeking an additional $6,000 for another increase in cubic yardage. The unit price for the material cited in the contract was $15 per cubic yard. The Board of Commissioners declined to approve that change.

Town attorney Wyatt Booth, a partner in the Raleigh law firm Williams Mullen, said that, based on information provided by local contractors, the town calculated that each of the dump trucks held about $215 worth of material. In asking the contractor to reimburse the town by about $15,000, Manteo officials multiplied that $215 amount by the 71 trucks seen hauling it away.

By the time the Manteo Commissioners first approved that reverse change order in July, Booth explained, the contractor had completed the project, which began in late November. The contractor has been paid, all except the $6,000 for the second change order that was never approved.

Booth added that Coleman has refused to sign the reverse change order seeking $15,247.25 back from the contractor. “That’s where it stands,” he said in a recent interview.

Booth said that Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cruden was consulted about the possibility of pressing charges against the contractor for removing the sand, but Cruden discouraged it. “The D.A. views this as a civil dispute, a contract dispute,” Booth said. “I don’t necessarily disagree with that.”

Cruden did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Booth added that, if the parties cannot find a resolution through discussion and negotiation, the remedy is that either party can file a lawsuit. “I don’t know where they’ll end up on that front,” he said.

Meanwhile, a different snafu related to the project — apparently brought to the attention of the State Auditor by a whistleblower — is also still up in the air.

In July, investigators from the auditor’s office interviewed at least nine current and former town officials, reportedly focusing mostly on the $50,000 oral leasing contract between the town and private property owner, Virginia Beach developer Bill Klimkiewicz, who allowed the barge to offload the dredged material on his land to be stored during the 120-day project.

No details about the investigation, including confirmation that it even took place, can be provided by the auditor’s office before a report is published, said Brad Young, the director of external affairs at the state Office of the State Auditor. The report, when completed, will be available on the agency’s website, he said.

Speaking in general terms, Young said that, when people are interviewed, they are asked to keep the questions confidential in order to not jeopardize the investigation. But they are not mandated by law to be quiet about it.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Sentinel, a weekly Dare County newspaper that is published in print every Wednesday and headquartered at 2910 South Croatan Highway, Nags Head. Aside from the print paper, the Sentinel also produces a continually updated digital version at www.obsentinel.com.

Featured Photo

Businesses and streets in downtown Manteo are inundated Thursday night by storm surge associated with Tropical Storm Michael, which receded fairly quickly after catching many off guard. Photo: Cory Hemilright

Reprinted from the Outer Banks Voice

MANTEO — The photography, the interviews, the editing, the theme, everything about Logan Marshall’s second film, “Outer,” shows the touch of a filmmaker who is mastering his craft. The film had its premier July 15 at the Pioneer Theater, with a second showing at the Outer Banks Boarding Co. July 17.

For Marshall, who will be a senior at Manteo High School next year, “Outer“ is his second film. His first, “Limitless,” premiered at the Dare County Arts Council’s Surfalorous last September.

“Limitless“ was a 22-minute short that was very well made. “Outer“ takes on some of those same themes and expands it to an hour-long film.

In “Limitless“ and now in “Outer,” Marshall examines an evolving culture in the surf community, but the new film emphasizes the present and how the Outer Banks has become an important East Coast surf destination.

Interviews with Lynn Shell, the founder and owner of Outer Banks Boarding Co., and Jesse Hines, perhaps the most successful professional surfer from the Outer Banks, help to frame the story.

Shell and Hines are focused and knowledgeable about why there is almost always something to surf on the Outer Banks. They discuss the nature of the seabed, with no headlands or permanent reefs, so that conditions are constantly changing. Hines points out that a sandbar with great conditions for two days may not even exist a week later.

It makes finding good waves a challenge, but it also means there is almost always something to ride.

Because of that, there is a native-born surf culture on the Outer Banks with a belief that the best of the local surfers can make it on the pro circuit.

It wasn’t always that way. Shell talks about the conditions that made it possible for a Noah Snyder or Jessie Hines to turn pro. The interviews with Hines especially, talking about what it took to be successful, including overcoming an ill-conceived corrective surgery for a badly broken leg when he was 14, makes the path to what is happening today a fascinating story.

“They were the first pros on the Outer Banks. The younger guys that are my age and younger than me, their entire life they knew you could be a pro surfer here,” Marshall said. “Now it’s a thing. And they’re working toward it.”

“Outer“ is organized as a series of vignettes. An interview or interviews will set up an action sequence.

“I figured with this one I thought it would be kind of cool to spread it out. This way the people who don’t know much about it can get the story line part and then they can watch the surfing. I wanted people who don’t see surfing every day to be able to follow it,” Marshall said.

The action sequences really make this movie soar. The interviews are very good, and they help to create a coherent theme, but the combination of great camera work, excellent editing and wonderful music selection, make the story pop off the screen.

What sets “Outer” apart from so many other surf films is how well the music is synchronized with the cinematography. From the first driving beat of Portland, Oregon composer, Graham Barton’s “Only You Can Save Me,” the music matches the action. Shot on a day of rough surf, the opening sequence has a number of wipeouts; as the heavy, metallic beat of the drum rings through, a surfer goes down.

The action sequences, though, are much more than a documentation of wipeouts.

Some of the scenes are riveting. The segment shot during the March storm of this year are remarkable. Shell mentions the waves look to have at least a 12- tp 15-foot face and watching a body on a surf board shoot down the face of one of those waves, there’s a thought that maybe some were bigger than that.

One of the most riveting sequences filmed that day was Hines on Hatteras Island catching a wave, then disappearing behind a wave closer to shore that filled the screen. Then a head appears, then Jesse, still riding his wave.

And that is what much of “Outer“ highlights — the amazing skill of local surfers.

If Jesse Hines represents the first wave of Outer Banks pro surfers, coming up next are Quentin Turko, who spoke of always dreaming of riding the biggest waves and how it makes him feel. Or Bo Raynor, who may be the next Jesse Hines or Noah Snyder riding out of the Outer Banks.

Raynor’s interview was interesting. Clearly uncomfortable talking about his sport, he was eloquent and funny and reflective. He was especially effective remembering Zander Venezia, a friend and competitor on the junior circuit, who died riding swells from Hurricane Irma. Raynor was effective, if uncomfortable talking about his friend’s death.

On the water he is fascinating to watch. There is power and elegance to his style, a subtle difference that makes him stand out, a difference that Hines noted in one of his interviews.

“Outer“ is certainly a surf film, but it manages to occupy a space that is more than that. Ultimately it is about a way of life and an evolving culture.

The next scheduled showing on the Outer Banks will be during the Dare County Arts Council’s Surfalorous, which begins on Sept. 20.

Learn More

• “Outer”

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Voice, a digital newspaper covering the Outer Banks. Coastal Review Online is partnering with the Voice to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest about our coast.

Reprinted From the Outer Banks Sentinel

The latest efforts to televise Manteo Board of Commissioners meetings stalled on Wednesday, March 7, after Commissioner Eddie Mann’s motion to air the meetings on the local government access channel failed to get a second.

Mann, along with Mayor Bobby Owens, had been leading the most recent push to televise the board meetings. Manteo is the only town in Dare County that does not air its meetings on the public access channel known as CURRENT TV. Dare County also televises its board of commissioners meetings.

Mann said 24 citizens contacted him in some form to voice their support of televising the meetings, while one was opposed to it.

In Manteo, the mayor does not cast a vote unless there is a tie vote among commissioners. Owens, when elected last November, indicated that airing commissioners’ meetings was a priority.

In an interview with the Sentinel last week, Commissioner Christine Walker told the Sentinel, “I feel like the majority of the board speaks their minds and in you put it on video, I think it is going to take that all away.”

Town officials had estimated that it would cost the municipality roughly $5,500 a year to have the meetings televised.

This story is provided courtesy of the Outer Banks Sentinel, a weekly Dare County newspaper that is published in print every Wednesday and headquartered at 2910 South Croatan Highway, Nags Head. Aside from the print paper, the Sentinel also produces a continually updated digital version at www.obsentinel.com.

MANTEO — Although they may not see the immediate value of native plants, stormwater controls or plant surveys, most middle school students sure do enjoy being outside and getting dirty.

Mary Ann Hodges works hard to see that they do.

Mary Ann Hodges

The Manteo Middle School teacher and N.C. Coastal Federation volunteer has worked tirelessly to make sure her students not only enjoy working in the school’s rain garden, but learn from it. By strengthening the bond between student and the natural environment, Hodges has shown that the kids can learn from doing something as simple as gardening.

Beginning with the construction of the rain garden in 2006, Hodges, who has been a science educator for more than 25 years, has remained a steadfast advocate for the garden and its place in seventh- and eighth-grade curricula.

In their simplest forms, rain gardens are plantings of robust native species, which can withstand most any weather condition, in a depression in the ground. Runoff that would otherwise eventually flow into nearby surface waters, collects in the depressions and is taken up by the plants. The stormwater then filters through the ground, which removes pollutants and recharges the water table. Hodges has been able to use this design to teach students about water quality, native plants and the natural history of our region.

While a long line of awards trails her name, Hodges is no stranger to excellence. A resident of Dare County for 18 years, she holds an undergraduate degree from Towson State University, a master’s degree in school administration from East Carolina University and was a member of the team that received a federation Pelican Award for Environmental Education in 2006.

It was then that Hodges began working with the N.C. Aquarium in Manteo and the federation to create the middle school’s rain garden.

“The rain garden has enriched the entire school,” she said, “and the students were able to see the evolution of the project – from planning and planting, to maintenance.”

While the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program provided the initial money for the garden, Hodges continues to write and receive grants for maintenance costs. This funding has ensured that the garden will continue to be a part of the student’s science curriculum for the year.

“As an educator, it’s hard to be up to date on everything going on in the area, and the federation has been very willing to involve our school in their work,” said Hodges.

Manteo Middle School students plant a tree in the school’s rain garden.

A self-proclaimed “willing guinea pig,” Hodges has made herself available and involved throughout all aspects of the federation’s rain garden program to make sure the lessons are incorporated into the students’ official curriculum.

Only, Hodges wasn’t willing to stop there.

“We have actually been able to add more learning tools to the rain garden design,” she said. “I am now using the gardens to show students the concept of volunteer plant growth, population statistics, mapping and other vegetation community dynamics.”

In addition to rain garden maintenance and education, Hodges has been able to have her students participate in water quality labs with the federation, where students test water collected from different areas to better understand water properties and what is required for a healthy system.

“These water quality testing days have provided students with opportunities I don’t have access to here on campus,” said Hodges, “And the hands on work is perfect.”

With volunteers and partners like Hodges, the federation’s rain garden program can continue to grow throughout the region, while inspiring our younger generations to improve and maintain our environmental quality.

While some may not see the benefit of hands-on education immediately, Hodges’ experience has shown that students can use the work to understand and appreciate their natural environment.

“With the federation working at a local level, the students are more aware of local issues, and are able to be better stewards,” said Hodges, “It may not click right away, but it will eventually.”

First of two parts

NAGS HEAD — On a mild December morning, Marc Basnight stood on the shore of his family restaurant, the Lone Cedar Café in Nags Head, showing off the post-hurricane improvements. “Look,” he said, pointing to the newly placed riprap, “recycled concrete, crushed into small pieces. It cost me a fortune.”

He pointed to the edge, where the rock met the lapping waves of Roanoke Sound.

“But late at night I have counted thousands of mullet down there,” he said “And we will have zero stormwater coming off this property.”

Basnight, 64, has avoided the press since his retirement from the N.C. Senate a year ago. He has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. In this country, it’s better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Still straight-backed, dapper and very sharp, he stays out of the public spotlight, in part because of a slowness of speech and weakness that makes it difficult for him to stand for long periods.

“I must have turned down 15 interviews, maybe more,” he said, shaking his head to yet another request.

Still, he couldn’t help giving a tour of the hardy roses that had survived a foot of water from Hurricane Irene. He proudly pointed out the restaurant’s water recycling system. He paused next to the back fences, fashioned from recycled cooking oil jugs and plastic drink bottles. A fence on the west side of the property consisted of carefully stacked wine and beer bottles.

“You should see that when the sun gets low,” he said, pointing to the glass assortment.

As pretty as the northern lights? A big grin spread across the senator’s thin face. “Yes. Beautiful.”

And a few minutes later, “Do you have time to ride to Jennette’s Pier?”

Marc Basnight (seated, right) joins the other members of the Dare County Bicentennial Committee in 1976. Seated next to Basnight is Natalie Case Austin. Standing are Bobby Owens, a county commissionor (left) and Carlisle Davis, the Manteo mayor. Photo courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center.

The Survivor

During his 26 years in the state senate—the last 17 as president pro tempore—Basnight grew to be the most politically powerful man in the state. He outlasted governors, opponents and many of his closest colleagues. He developed a reputation for ferociousness when it came to defending favorite causes—a number of which included protections for coastal waters.

He also grew beloved by his constituents, who knew him not only as the go-to man for solving problems, but as folksy and approachable, with disarming candor and charm. Basnight loved to chat with residents of District 1 whenever he stopped in a store or strolled the winter beach.

“I never wanted to be a leader,” he mused.

Really?

“Never. I didn’t want to be put on a pedestal. I wanted to challenge people and get them thinking big, beyond the problems in their own districts, about problems in the world.”

It’s been an interesting ride for a small-town native and graduate of Manteo High School—his highest educational honor until the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill awarded him an honorary doctorate of law in 1999.

As a legislator, Basnight was known for his curiosity and thirst to learn about issues. Discussing problems with constituents, he would turn to a staff member and say, “We need to know more about this. Get me a report about it.”

That wasn’t always the case. As a boy Basnight was a middling student who loved to have fun and play jokes on others. One classmate remembered Basnight piloting a skiff through flooded Manteo streets during Hurricane Donna, scooping up baby dolls that had floated out of the Ben Franklin store. There are also tales about an 11-year-old Marc organizing a town football team, with Saturday practices and occasional games against the rival Wanchese team.

In high school he played on the football team and hung out with pals, including Charlie Fearing and the late Buddy Davis. After graduating in l966, Basnight worked for the family construction business. Bobby Owens, Basnight’s brother-in-law and the long-time chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, remembers a shirtless Basnight riding a bulldozer with his father. “He came from a large family and always worked hard,” Owens said. In 1968, Basnight married a local girl, Sandy Tillett.

‘Backwards Dumb’

His interest in civic affairs led him to a post as the first chairman of the county tourism board. He soon attracted the attention of the late Walter Royal Davis, an oil tycoon and a major influence in state Democratic politics.

“Mr. Davis took a liking to him and in a sense Marc became the son Mr. Davis never had,” Owens said. “At the beginning Mr. Davis told him how backwards dumb he was.”

Davis started sending Basnight the magazine The Economist and suggested other reading material.

Walter Davis

When he announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election in 1984, state Sen. Melvin Daniels asked everyone to support his cousin, Marc Basnight, who was then on the state Board of Transportation. “It was a total surprise to Marc,” Owens said.

In such a strongly Democratic county, it was tantamount to Daniels anointing his heir. Basnight won the seat handily.

Why did he enter politics?

“Isolation,” Basnight answered immediately. “I wanted to change that for the Outer Banks.”

When the legislative term opened in 1985, he attended a Democratic Caucus meeting in Pinehurst, where freshmen senators were invited to introduce themselves and say a few words. “I told them I’m from the Outer Banks, which you may not know about,” Basnight remembered. “Our roads were terrible, and our bridges. The highway to Hatteras was atrocious. I told them I felt like we should be part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And I did feel that way.”

A wry smile creased his face.

“But I paid the price. I didn’t get very much accomplished that whole first year.”

It was a lesson he took to heart. Basnight was elected by business supporters, and everyone assumed it was to them he would pay his highest allegiance. But within a few years he developed an unusual interest in environmental issues. Bill Holman, then the only environmental lobbyist working the N.C. Assembly, remembers trying to get Basnight to support a ban against phosphate laundry detergents in 1985. Basnight didn’t go for it. “He was still very much in the mold of a DOT-construction guy,” said Holman, now director of state policy for the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University.

Interest in Environment

But a shift occurred after a group called the Friends of Hatteras Island began fighting development of a golf course in Buxton Woods on Hatteras Island, Holman said. The group feared that chemical fertilizers and herbicides from the course would pollute public drinking wells. Other residents complained of seeing pollution for the first time in local waterways.

“He talked to his constituents and found out how important clean water is to the economy,” Holman said.

Sen. Marc Basnight, left, has a laugh with Ken Mann, the past president of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce, during a legislative breakfast in Nags Head in 1989. Photo courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center.

Basnight’s first years in the Senate coincided with a legislative sea change. The old guard was retiring, and the new senators had environmental issues on their radar screen.

“They were more moderate,” remembered Tony Rand, a long-time Democratic state senator and the majority leader from 2001 to 2009. “They came of age when the environment was something to pay attention to.”

“Some people come to the legislature and have a world view and they never change,” Holman said. “Marc started reading stuff and was intellectually curious enough to pay attention.”

Basnight specialized in helping those he came to call “the little man,” people without wealth or political connections whose needs, he believed, had long been ignored in Raleigh. To make it easier for working folks, he had his staff open his office early, by 7:30 or 8 a.m. and keep it open at least until 6 p.m. There was no voice mail or email in those days; every caller spoke with an aide. His style of constituent services was reminiscent of Jesse Helms, the Republican U.S. senator known for helping N.C. residents cut through government red tape. If you called Basnight’s office, you knew you would get a response—although Basnight would tell you frankly when he disagreed with you.

But Basnight took constituent services to a new level, Holman said. “Helms would solve problems, but he wouldn’t do anything about the policy that had caused the problems. Senator Basnight would want to fix the policy that had caused it. He wanted to change things. He worked his ass off. He was incredibly driven.”

Basnight never lost his Outer Banks hoi-toide accent, and the Raleigh press made much of his frequent malapropisms. Nonetheless, he quickly learned to maneuver through the Capitol. “He was comfortable in his skin,” Rand said.

He became known as a forceful orator and political player.

Then in 1988 a Republican, James Garner, defeated Tony Rand in his bid for lieutenant governor. The election of a Republican to that office set the stage for a procedural change that a few years later would greatly affect the senator from District 1—consolidating his power and thrusting him into the crosshairs of controversy.

Tuesday: Marc Basnight’s rise to power