Editor’s note: This story has been updated. The Pamlico ferries will also have an alternate holiday schedule. For more information, click here.
MANNS HARBOR – Three of the N.C. Ferry Division’s seven routes will be running alternate holiday schedules on Sunday, Dec. 24 and Monday, Dec. 25 and will resume their regular schedules on Tuesday, Dec. 26.
The Hatteras-Ocracoke routes will run the following schedules:
Sunday, Dec. 24:
Hatteras-Ocracoke:
From Hatteras: 5 a.m., 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, noon, 1 p.m., 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and midnight.
From Ocracoke: 4:30 a.m., 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, and 11:30, 12:30 p.m., 1:30, 2:30, 3:30,4:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 10:30.
Monday, Dec. 25:
Hatteras-Ocracoke:
From Hatteras:5 a.m., 6, 8, 9 and 11, noon, 2 p.m., 3, 6, 9 and midnight.
From Ocracoke:4:30 a.m., 6:30, 7:30, 9:30 and 10:30, 12:30 p.m., 1:30, 3:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 10:30. The Cedar Island and Swan Quarter routes will run their regular schedules over the holidays.
The Cedar Island and Swan Quarter routes will run their regular schedules over the holidays.
For ferry information and year-round schedules, click here.
For a Saturday in December there is a lot going on.
Ocracoke Library’s Annual Cookie Swap: Bring a dozen or more cookies to swap and take home an equal number of assorted cookies. Coffee and milk provided; entertainment by the Ocracoke Christmas Troupe. All are welcome to this festive and delicious event. 1 p.m. This is a good time to renew membership or join the Ocracoke Friends of the Library.
The Sixth Annual Island Potluck Christmas Party & Dance, Ocracoke Oyster Company: All are welcome to bring a dish to share or just come as you are. 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. The Ocracoke Rockers, featuring Jay Turner, will provide dance music.
Ocracoke Bar & Grille will feature Kate McNally, 7 pm
Kate McNally performing with The Women Presidents. Photo by P. Vankevich
Editor’s note: In the light of the violence at Charlottesville and the attention being paid to Confederate Civil War monuments and the legacy of slavery, this seems like a good time to visit Hyde County’s own Civil War history. A later article will look at the story of Hyde County’s freed slaves, how they fared after the War and their participation in the Civil Rights movement.
By Pat Garber
Driving along the quiet lanes of mainland Hyde County today it is hard to envision what it must have been like a little more than150 years ago in 1862 and ’63 when Union troops occupied Eastern North Carolina during the Civil War.
Confederate forts near Hatteras Island (then part of Hyde County) and Ocracoke had been captured or burned early in the war, and there is little evidence of Civil War activity on the Outer Banks thereafter.
According to Hatteras Island historian Daniel Pullen, when the Union navy won the battle at Cape Hatteras, gaining access to the Pamlico Sound, Hatteras and Ocracoke men joined the Union.
Mainland Hyde, however, was subject to Union raids from the time when General Burnside captured New Bern and Washington in 1862. Many of the local men were gone, having enlisted in the Confederate Army. Most had joined Company F of the 33rd Regiment, “the Dixie Invincibles.” Others joined the 17th Regiment.
Residents formed several county troops to protect their crops and other possessions, including “Spencer’s Rangers” and the “Partisan,” or “Hyde Rangers,” both formed in the winter of 1862-63. They also assisted in getting food and provisions out of the county past the federals to Confederate troops.
Spencer’s Rangers, led by Captain William H. Spencer, operated in Hyde and nearby counties. He and 27 of his men were captured in late February1864 near Fairfield, and that fall, the remaining men joined Col. George Wortham’s command in Plymouth.
In his book “Hyde’s Yesterdays,” Morgan H. Harris said Union forces “burned or destroyed everything they could find” in their march around Fairfield to Swan Quarter in March 1863 and engaged in battle with local men led by Capt. Colin Richards. At least one Swan Quarter man was killed.
Federal troops also burned Germain Town, leaving only one house standing, that of Dr. Thomas Smith. It is believed that his home was spared because he was a member of the Masons, as was the commanding federal officer. There are many other stories about similar encounters.
While many Hyde County residents supported the Confederacy, there were some who still believed in the Union. These people, referred to locally as “buffaloes,” were “loyal to the South by day and to the North by night.”
These Union loyalists, standing up for what they believed, nonetheless fared poorly during the War, according to reports: despised by their neighbors and distrusted by the occupying forces.
Three stories recorded in Harris’ book bring up the interesting possibility that the famous Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, was accidentally shot and killed by a Hyde County soldier. One Hyde county resident claimed that his great-grandfather knew the man who shot him and that his brother was one of the first soldiers to get to the General. Another claimed that he was with Jackson when he was shot, and another that he had sold oysters to the man who had accidentally killed General Jackson.
Harris recorded other stories, including one by Leslie Clayton about his grandmother pouring boiling soup on approaching Yankee soldiers, and another about a man, Jim Ed Gurkin, who did not want to enlist and spent the war years hiding in a giant cypress tree near Oyster Creek.
The tragedy of the Civil War, which divided families and communities and states even as it ended the odious institution of slavery, was brought home to me as I perused a copy of “Hyde County History.”
Published by the Hyde County Historical Society in 1976, the book contains a roster of more than 600 Hyde County soldiers, many still boys, who fought in the War. Many were killed, some in their own county. Each account is heart-rending.
There is a monument at Middleton honoring the Hyde County Confederate soldiers who fought with the 33rd and died in the War. It is a reminder of the sad events which took place here 150 years ago.
A shrimp trawler ran aground in Bigfoot Slough Monday morning, causing delays or cancellation of several ferry trips Monday.
The rare mishap also caused the Mattamuskett School bus to take the long way around to get to Ocracoke for middle school games that afternoon, delaying the girls and boys contests by two hours. Ocracoke won both games.
Mary Fulcher in the Ocracoke ferry office said the 7:00 a.m. Cedar Island to Ocracoke ferry turned back after finding the passageway blocked in the slough. Conversely, the 10:30 Cedar Island to Ocracoke departure did not run at all. A ferry system maintenance worker at the Ocracoke office said he had never heard of such a mishap before.
The 7 a.m. Ocracoke to Swan Quarter trip ran as scheduled, but the 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. runs to Swan Quarter were cancelled, as was the 1 p.m. departure to Cedar Island since no incoming boats could get to Ocracoke to make the turn around, said Tim Haas, Ferry Division spokesman.
By 12:30 p.m., the stranded trawler was underway again, followed by a swarm of hungry seagulls.
Haas confirmed ferries are running the normal schedule today.
Ocracoke islanders are decking their homes for the holidays. Photo: C. Leinbach
Monday, Dec. 4 Hyde County Commissioners meeting, Community Center. 6 pm Ocracoke Bar & Grille: Aaron Caswell & Jackie Willis, 8 pm
Tuesday, Dec. 5 Ocracoke Preservation Society, Annual Wassail Party, lighting of community Christmas Tree, drawing the winner for quilt raffle. 3 to 5 pm United Methodist Women Christmas Dinner potluck at Community Center, 6 p.m. Gaffer’s: Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, 7 pm
Thursday, Dec. 7 Ocracoke Alive Community Christmas Concert, Community Center, 7 p.m. Ocracoke Bar and Grille: Kate McNally, 7 pm
Friday, Dec. 8 Coyote Music Den: Martin Garrish & Friends Christmas Show featuring Jennifer Starr (Ocracoke) and Jay Turner (Richmond, VA) — last show in 2017, 7:30 pm; doors at 7. Gaffer’s: Willis Gupton, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Dec. 9 Annual Holiday Cookie Swap, Ocracoke Library; bring a dozen cookies to swap. 1 to 2 pm Ocracoke Oyster Co.: Community Potluck, 5:30 pm, followed by Ocracoke Rockers Christmas Dance, featuring Jay Turner, 6:30 pm Ocracoke Bar and Grille: Kate McNally, 7 pm Gaffer’s: Willis Gupton, 7:30 pm
The Pamlico Sound is an important fishery for Ocracoke and eastern North Carolina. Photo: C. Leinbach
MOREHEAD CITY – The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is looking for commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists and other interested parties to sit on various fisheries advisory committees.
Two regional advisory committees – Northern and Southern – and three standing advisory committees – Finfish, Habitat and Water Quality, and Shellfish/Crustacean – review matters referred to them by the commission, such as draft fishery management plans. Committees may also bring fisheries issues pertaining to their region or subject matter to the commission’s attention.
The Marine Fisheries Commission chairman appoints members to these committees for three-year terms, and several terms will expire in January.
To qualify to serve on a committee, applicants must not have had a significant fisheries violation within the past three years.
Individuals interested in serving as an adviser should be willing to attend meetings at least once every two months and actively participate in the committee process, which includes reviewing scientific documents and issue papers to make recommendations on management strategies.
Advisers who complete the necessary paperwork will be reimbursed for travel and other expenses incurred in relation to their official duties.
Adviser applications are available online here, or at Division of Marine Fisheries’ offices or by calling 252-808-8022 or 800-682-2632.
Applications should be returned by Jan. 2 by email to Craig.Alley@ncdenr.gov or by mail to: N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557, Attention: Craig Alley.
The Ocracoke Preservation Society’s historic house tour will be today (Dec. 2) from 3 to 5 p.m. along British Cemetery Road and Mark’s Path. Tickets are available at the OPS museum, 49 Water Plant Rd.
Ocracoke Preservation Society’s historic homes tour from 3 to 5 p.m. today (Dec. 2) will be along British Cemetery Road, Mark’s Path and Back Road.
Four homes will be on the tour along with two local businesses–Over the Moon and Island Artworks, also located in historic homes. The tour ends with a complimentary hot toddy at Zillie’s Island Pantry. Tickets are $15 for non-members, $10-members and $5 for children. Pick up tickets at the OPS museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or can be purchased at any of the houses on the tour.
Below are descriptions of the historic homes.
Amasa Fulcher House, ca. 1904 133 British Cemetery Road Owner: Suzanne Montgomery
The Amasa Fulcher House, also known at the Fannie Pearl, was built in 1904. A traditional two-story, hip-roofed, single-pile house, it is an unusually substantial example of the type of house for the island. The interior end chimney and rear ell are intact. The attached front porch has turned posts and a spindled railing. On each side of the first story are small hipped bays. The first story is weather boarded while the second story has wood shingles. According to local tradition, this house apparently started out as a story and jump and the second story was added slightly later. It was built for Amasa Fulcher (1876-1946), and then was passed down to his daughter, Fannie Pearl Fulcher. Fannie Pearl was a retired school teacher who lived here during the summer. Amasa Fulcher sold the house in 1900 for “$10 and natural love and affection” to his grandson, Amasa Fulcher, a prominent layman of the Methodist Church in Ocracoke. He established his store, the forerunner of the present Community Store, in 1918; was part owner of the J. W. McWilliams establishment on Cockle Creek, and served as secretary of the by-laws committee of the Odd Fellows Lodge in 1910.
The Amasa Fulcher House won Ocracoke Preservation Society’s Historic Home award in 1993.
The Former Methodist Episcopal Church North Parsonage, ca. 1928
150 British Cemetery Road
Owners: Tom and Judy Hale
The Former Methodist Episcopal Church North Parsonage was built in 1928 on British Cemetery Road. Built as a traditional story-and-a-jump house, the original house suffered a tragic fire. The owners decided to rebuild, keeping as much of the integrity as they could. A front porch enclosure and side additions were added as well.
Elisha Ballance Sr. Family House, ca. 1908
494 Back Road
Owner: Desiree Ricker
The Elisha Ballance Sr. Family House was built in 1908. It is a traditional story-and-a-jump house enlarged by the addition of a full-length front shed dormer, front hip-roofed porch with scalloped barge board and turned post, and wood shingled walls. The kitchen wing was added in the 1940s or 1950s and the old detached kitchen was removed. The house appears to have been raised somewhat on a new concrete piling foundation, and a concrete block flue has replaced the original chimney. Elisha Ballance acquired this property from his father Aaron Ballance, and had the house built by Stanford Jackson out of lumber salvaged from the wreck of the Ida Lawrence the year he married his first wife Lela. After her death, Ballance, a fisherman on the Ida Lawrence, married Emma Gaskins in 1914. The partial picket fence was rebuilt in the 1970s. The property had a rectangular, stucco-type cistern.
The Della and William Scarborough, Sr. House, ca. 1912
94 Mark’s Path
Owner: Eugenia Esham
The Della and William Scarborough Sr. House, also known to locals as Mr. Billy’s, is a traditional story-and-a-jump house with rear kitchen ell, hipped front porch with turned posts, now screened with original interior end chimney and weatherboard siding. It is believed to have been built circa 1912 by Stanford Jackson for William Kelly Scarborough who acquired the property from his father William Joseph Scarborough, Sr. (1857 to 1907). William Kelly Scarborough worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was captain of various dredges. His wife, Della Susan Garrish Scarborough, died in the 1980s. Large oak, cedars and hydrangeas complement this 1 ¼ acre characteristic early Ocracoke homestead. A tall, narrow, gabled privy was constructed in the early 20th century. The outbuilding with gabled storage is pre-1950s and the cistern was the rectangular barrel-vaulted brick type.
The O’Neal Family House, ca. 1870s
Over The Moon Gift Shop
64 British Cemetery Road
Owner: Kathy Scarborough
The O’Neal Family House is a traditional story-and-a-jump house has had many alterations, including a one-bay front stoop which probably replaced a larger front porch. There has also been a reworking of the exterior end chimney, asphalt siding and a side screened porch (now enclosed) added. Nevertheless, the house retains sufficient features to be a contributing example of this dominant traditional house type on the island. It was the home of Howard L. O’Neal, a local wood carver, and his wife, Martha Garrish O’Neal, and is known around the island as “Papa Howard’s.” The fact that Howard was a wood carver fits very well with the current use of the house which contains a unique gift shop with hand-made items from around North Carolina.
The Mildred and Ronald T. O’Neal House, ca. 1958
Island Artworks
89 British Cemetery Road
Owner: Kathleen O’Neal
The Mildred and Ronald T. O’Neal House is a small, one-story, side-gabled three bay wide house. It is a typical dwelling built by Ocracoke residents in the late 1950s and was built for Mildred and Ronald O’Neal on property that had been in the O’Neal family since the 1920s. The house is now owned by Kathleen and Ronnie O’Neal and is the current home of Island Artworks, another one of Ocracoke’s unique gift shops.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the location of the origins of the fire. It was not in the apartment, but in the space above the shop.
A fire broke out in the space above the Pirates Chest souvenir shop at the corner of Irvin Garrish Hwy and Back Road early Wednesday afternoon.
Ernie Doshier, assistant chief of the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Dept. (OVFD), who was in charge at the scene, said the fire was called in to 911 at 1:20 p.m. and trucks were on the scene by 1:30 p.m. He said the fire was contained within about 30 minutes. No one was injured.
Doshier said 15 volunteer firefighters responded to the call as well as “a bunch of people from the community,” who assisted in holding ladders and hoses and cleaning up.
This was the second major fire on the island this year. Compared to the April 6 fire that gutted Raul Ibarra’s home behind the Variety Store, Doshier said this incident was “just as bad, just as serious.”
The cause of the fire was not determined and Doshier said the fire marshal from Dare County will arrive today to assess the damage and make a determination.
The OVFD responded with all of their equipment.
Firefighters pulled the first hose from the station’s pumper/tanker truck and aimed water towards a burning attic window while connecting multiple sections of large feeder hoses and pulled the long strings to fire hydrants 400 and 600 feet away. The ladder truck sprayed water onto the roof.
At one point, flames could be seen coming through a south side attic window and from places in the roof.
Significant fire damage was evident throughout the second floor and roof. The downstairs retail store did not sustain any major fire damage, but suffered a great deal of water and broken glass damage.
Firefighters were on the scene for several hours and sheriff deputies and National Park Service law enforcement rangers assisted with traffic control.
A damaged upstairs window. Photo: Richard TaylorThe OVFD sprays down the Pirates Chest roof to contain a fire in the second floor. Photo: Richard TaylorWoody Billings, right, helps Dick Jacoby roll up hose after containing a fire at the Pirates Chest Wednesday. Photo: Richard Taylor
Islanders got their first glimpses of Ocracoke School’s basketball teams with the first home games of the season against rivals, the Cape Hatteras Hurricanes Tuesday (Nov. 28).
Dolphin Paul Jordan drives on Aidan Caricof. Photo by Casey Robertson
The junior varsity boys kicked off the series with a 41-33 win. With a first-quarter lead of 10-5, the Dolphins led throughout the game. Paul Jordan was high scorer with 18 points, followed by Dylan Esham with 10. Jasper Morris, for the Hurricanes, scored 17 points, including 5 three-pointers, in a losing effort.
The Lady Dolphins who lost five key players to graduation and expected to have a building year, faced a formidably experienced opponent, losing 50-21. The Hurricanes jumped out to a 17-2 first-quarter lead and then a halftime score of 27-10, and the result was never in doubt. Senior center Caroline Gray was high scorer for the Hurricanes with 14 points despite sitting out a lot of the second half. Ingrid Contreras was high scorer for the Dolphins with 13 points followed by Taylor Fuller with five.
Hatteras is now 4-0, having convincingly beaten two division 2-A teams, Currituck County and First Flight. The Lady Dolphins lost to both of these two teams in their first away games.
Starting strong with a 19-8 first quarter lead, the boy’s varsity went on to a convincing 70-39 win. Senior center Liam Caswell was high scorer with 19 points, followed by Perry Austin, 12 points, Mason Fuller, 10, and Davin Contreras with eight. All nine Dolphins scored. The boys are now 2-1 splitting their first two away games, losing to First Flight 95-59 and beating Currituck County 50-48 in nonconference games.
Friday (Dec. 1), the teams will travel to Pantego to play the Terra Ceia Christian Knights and return to the “tank” Saturday to take on the Albemarle School Colts of Elizabeth City in their second home games of the year. JVs tip-off at 2 p.m. followed immediately by the Lady Dolphins and ending with the boys varsity. There is no girls JV team this year.
Ocracoke’s community radio station, WOVV, will broadcast the home games this season, 90.1 FM on the island and online: wovv.org
Lupita Martinez laucnhes a long shot in losing effort against Cape hatteras. Photo by Casey Robertson
Lion fish. Photo by John McCord with the UNC Coastal Studies Institute
Story courtesy of the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island
A conservation team from the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island is working to manage population explosions of lionfish on shipwrecks off the coast of the Outer Banks.
The lionfish is native to the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, but since the late 1980s the invasive species has been rapidly taking over reef and wreck sites along the East Coast. The fish is popular in home aquariums and was likely released intentionally into non-native parts of the Atlantic ocean, biologists say.
Since they have no natural predator in the region and eat almost any other smaller aquatic species, their populations have overcome reefs and wrecks, depleting natural fish populations and disrupting ecosystems.
“Shipwrecks on the Outer Banks provide habitats for all kinds of organisms important to the ocean’s food chain,” says NCARI Dive Safety Officer Shawn Harper, “which in turn are important to parts of commercial and sport fisheries, as well as other recreational users, such as scuba divers.”
Harper says lionfish prey on the juvenile fish populations who rely those areas for food and refuge, especially during the summer, as well as smaller invertebrates such as crabs and shrimp who call the wrecks home year-round.
“Ultimately, these lionfish alter the local community,” he says. “By removing the lionfish, we aim to mitigate the negative impacts of their presence, and help preserve the native species.”
Photo by John McCord with the UNC Coastal Studies Institute
This summer, the NCARI dive team launched a project to determine if the lionfish population can be successfully controlled on selected wreck sites in the waters off the Outer Banks. The project is funded with a grant administered by the N.C. Aquariums Conservation Advisory Committee and provided by the N.C. Aquarium Society.
During August and September, divers took several excursions to three shipwrecks as far out as 25 miles off Hatteras Inlet.
“We first conducted counts of how many lionfish were within a known area of the wrecks,” Harper said. “Once we had an estimate of their density, we then harvested as many as we could. Next, we plan to revisit the wrecks and see if the lionfish populations returns to similar numbers.”
The team will also continue to remove lionfish on any dive it conducts.
“Even collecting one can make a difference in the long run,” he said.
Lionfish are a relatively easy fish to collect by scuba divers using spears. Because they have no natural predators, lionfish typically display no fear when approached by divers.
Handling the fish is another matter because of their famous venomous spines. To protect themselves, divers carry tube-shaped cases with one-way openings where they can deposit a fish directly from the spear’s tip without touching it.
The dives were all in the 90 to 130-foot range, so time on the wrecks was limited to around 20 minutes. To prepare for the outings, the NCARI dive team spent several dives conducting safety training from quarries in Wanchese on Roanoke Island and near Raleigh, as well as near-shore wrecks off Nags Head and deeper wrecks out of Oregon Inlet.
During their spearfish training, they used foam footballs as stand-ins for lionfish.
“We were able to get comfortable with the equipment ahead of time, which was important considering the depth we were dealing with and the hazards posed by the lionfish,” Harper said.
Still, on the four dives where lionfish were encountered, the team was able to harvest 95 fish.
“There’s no good way to get each and every lionfish, so we’ll see when we return how much our efforts affected their numbers,” Harper said.
The lionfish mitigation project has another extra, possibly delicious, component. Lionfish are tasty. Once cleaned, including removing those pesky venomous spines, fillets can be prepared like any other fish with white meat.
So a big part of this project is to introduce the lionfish as a delicacy to local diners by enlisting the help of Outer Banks seafood chefs, which was the focus of a Seafood Series program at the aquarium Nov. 14.
“We want to promote uses for these fish as we remove them from wrecks,” Harper says. “That includes trying out some recipes and even experimenting with lionfish fin jewelry, which is popular along the beaches in the tropics.”
