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Editor’s note: The Observer likes to find old stories in papers all over the country that report on the island. The following item from a Salem, Oregon, newspaper reports on the island cats, both domestic and feral, for which islanders have cared for centuries. 

Daily Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon)
Wednesday, Jan. 9, 1929

Ocracoke, N.C. (AP) – This island with  a population of about 700 persons, boasts a feline population of about this same number. Almost every native of Ocracoke has from five to 12 cats in his home.

The tabbies or their ancestors came from wrecked vessels in the vicinity of Hatteras called the “graveyard of the Atlantic.”

Wrecks, which are not uncommon events off the coast at this point, often result in a new cat or several coming ashore.

Bob the Ocracat is an habitue of the Ocracoke United Methodist Church, the Ocracoke School and the Ocracoke Health Center. Photo: C. Leinbach
Bob the Ocracat joins in the live Nativity.

 

Spencer is so-named for his territory, Spencer’s Market. Here, he takes a rest inside Roxy’s Antiques. Photo: C. Leinbach

 

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