Ocracoke’s Community Square has received historic preservation designations and protections by Preservation North Carolina through a historic preservation agreement.
Located on the north shore of Silver Lake, the Community Square, owned by Ocracoke Foundation Inc., worked with PNC to permanently protect the buildings in the square with a historic easement that prevents their being torn down and rebuilt with something else.
PNC’s Eastern Regional Director Maggie Gregg said the designation protects five historic commercial buildings: the iconic Community Store (1950), the William Ellis Williams House (ca. 1900), Will Willis’ Store and Fish House (1930), the Electric Office (ca. 1936), and the island’s first electric generator plant (ca. 1936).
Such easements become part of the deed and guarantee that the buildings are “protected in perpetuity” no matter who owns them.
This historic square is the traditional commercial center of Ocracoke, said Foundation President Scott Bradley.
“It’s central to the charm of Ocracoke that attracts visitors,” he said. “It displays Ocracoke’s maritime heritage and traditions.”
Preserving the historic square became an issue in 2009 when it was listed for public sale.
Working with the seller, David Senseney, the foundation purchased the entire square in November 2013 for $1.6 million and began obtaining historic designation for it.
This was made possible by two interim loans, with The Conservation Fund and Keith and Isabelle McDermott of London, England, and Ocracoke each making loans of $800,000.
In December 2017, The Conservation Fund loan was repaid with a new loan of $600,000 from TowneBank, and $200,000 from 200+ individual donations and other sources.
In May 2020 the McDermotts transformed their $800,000 loan into a gift.
The Community Square has served as a hub for commerce and social activity and waterfront access for decades.
Many early island photographs depict daily life centered around the square’s iconic Community Store, the Will Willis Fish House, the Ice Plant and the island’s first generator plant.
In 1918 Amasa ‘Mace’ Fulcher’s grocery store faced the harbor, appropriate for a business whose freight arrived by boat.
Island men gathered on the porch to share stories, whittle birds and ponder the ways of fish. In winter months the congregation moved inside near the pot-bellied stove. The daily arrival of the mail boat Aleta drew a majority of islanders from their homes.
The Community Square can model how rural communities can put their assets to work: save historic properties, provide space for locally owned small businesses, maintain waterfront access and public open space, be a focal point for tourism, and use the lease income as a permanent endowment to benefit our island, the foundation says on its website.
Bradley said negotiations are continuing to purchase the Ocracoke Seafood Company building to protect another historic property.
The foundation owns the Ocracoke Seafood Company business but does not own the property.
A working fish house for local fishermen and women to sell their product, it is part of Ocracoke’s maritime heritage.
These efforts mirror that of the Ocracoke Preservation Society, which in 2018, purchased the Island Inn to save it for community use.
