Another book of colorful Ocracoke characters

Book Review

By Peter Vankevich

Philip Howard is on a high-energy creativity roll.

In 2024 he published “Ocracoke Island Eccentrics, Innovators and Free Spirits,” a collection of features on some of the more notable people who have spent time on Ocracoke.

I noted then in my review that it must have been difficult for the author to select only 22 characters because Ocracoke has had so many over the years he could easily produce a volume 2 and even 3 that would be equally fascinating.

It didn’t take long.

Although this new book is not billed as a volume 2, it continues the portrayals, this time titled “Sailors, Musicians, Luminaries and Weathered Old Rascals.”

Howard is a careful writer, knowing that his Friday night poker buddies, some who are among the most knowledgeable about Ocracoke’s history, would be reading it.

The first chapter would fit as a “weathered old rascal.”

Old Quawk lived on the island around 200 years ago. You may recognize that name because there’s a sign, Quokes Point Creek, along NC 12. Quawk was a reclusive fisherman who lived alone in the hammock next to his eponymous creek. Howard nicely combines what is known about him along with the folklore.

But not much is known of this man of color, not even his name. He was called Quawk or Quoke because, when agitated, he would sound like a Black-crowned Night Heron.

Islanders knew a major storm was heading their way and some tried to convince Quawk not to take his skiff into the sound. But he did. The storm struck and he was never seen again. The date was March 16. For many years island fishermen would not venture out on that date.

A talented artist, Howard provides his own charcoal pencil rendering of what he imagined Old Quawk might have looked like, and the book includes many historic photographs.

Much of the post-Civil War history of Ocracoke’s Black Americans can be gained from reading the chapter on Winnie Blount. Unlike the antebellum period when there were slaves on the island, there were very few Black Americans who lived for long periods of time on Ocracoke after the war and almost all derive from her lineage.

Some of the people portrayed in this book are well-known to those who love Ocracoke, like the industrialist Sam Jones who built the Berkley Manor and The Castle on Silver Lake Drive. Sam is buried next to his horse, Ikey D, in the small cemetery enclosed by a cedar picket fence in Springer’s Point Nature Preserve.

Captain Joe Burrus, the second-last last lighthouse keeper and the two self-taught musician brothers, Edgar and Walter Howard, may be familiar, and Howard’s portrayals give you, to quote, Paul Harvey, “the rest of the story.”

Clearly in the Luminaries category are the Rondthalers. The late Alice and Theodore first visited Ocracoke in the mid-1930s, and it was love at first sight.

Long-time educators, they moved to Ocracoke in 1948. Theodore became the Ocracoke School principal and Alice one of the four teachers. The chapter details their many contributions to the community and improving education.

Others, like the traveling evangelist Blackie of the North Woods, might not have had a significant impact on the island residents, but he was certainly a colorful character, as was Don Wood, who ventured onto the island as an aging hippie and would be remembered for his unorthodox lifestyle by some of the older islanders.

Not just about people, the book describes the clam-canning factory and four windmills on the island and notes that Ocracoke was briefly considered to be a test site for nuclear weapons.

Others will be amused to read about the first traffic accident in September 1925 – involving the only two vehicles on the island.

Howard includes the heroic efforts of the United States lifesaving servicemen saving the lives of the crew members of the “Aristo” that shipwrecked on Christmas in 1899. That chapter alone could be converted to a screenplay and a major motion picture.

Howard is not just a good writer and artist, but also a storyteller, having performed over the years at the Ocrafolk Festival and Deepwater Theater on School Road.

Correction: Capt. Burrus was not the last keeper of the Ocracoke lighthouse. The last keeper was Clyde Farrow. The story now reflects that change.

In 2023, he was asked to speak to a large gathering at the outdoor 200th birthday celebration of the Ocracoke Light Station. He recounted in a hilarious delivery how as a young man with two friends climbed the lighthouse at midnight only to be frightened nearly to death by the screeching of a nesting Barn Owl when they got to the top. It’s a great story and I was pleased to see it included.

This book is filled with historic photos and illustrations drawn from many collections.

If you want to write about history and have people read your stuff, one way is to find a character who can help illustrate a topic or controversy, which is what this book does — preserving the fascinating and sometimes quirky history of Ocracoke.