Hyde County Board of Commissioners Meeting Jan. 5 6 p.m.

January 5, 2015

The Hyde County Board of Commissioners Meeting will be on Jan. 5 starting at 6 p.m. in the Hyde County Government Center Multi-Use Room (30 Oyster Creek Rd, Swan Quarter) and via video conferencing in the Ocracoke School Commons room (120 Schoolhouse Rd, Ocracoke). The public is invited to attend.

Some items of note will be a presentation by Dr. Randolph Latimore regarding a Board of Education request, a dog leash proposal for Ocracoke and an overview of the Swan Quarter Landing Project. The County Manager’s report will include updates on passenger ferries, lifeguards on the public beach and acknowledging the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department.

The agenda and information packets can be viewed here.

Bernice “Bunny” Forbes Gaskins

January 3, 2015

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Note: This is a corrected version issued from Twiford Funeral Home Jan. 5, 2015

Bernice “Bunny” Forbes Gaskins, 90, of 206 Loop Rd., Ocracoke, died on Jan.1, in her home. A native of Ocracoke, she was a daughter of the late Irving and Alma Bragg Forbes, and also the widow of John Gaskins.

Bunny was a homemaker who enjoyed cooking, crossword puzzles, bird watching and watching the flowers grow. She would often sit on her front porch as the people went by and watch all the activities taking place around her.

Bunny is survived by a son, Dennis E. Gaskins, and wife, Patty of Townsend, DE; two granddaughters, Kelly Waltz and her husband, Eric and their children, Beckett and Brody and their dog, Harley of Florida, and Stacie Gaskins, and Marc and their dog, Buster of Delaware.

A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Community Cemetery, Ocracoke. The family will receive friends and relatives at Bunny’s home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Ocracoke EMS, 307 Back Road, Ocracoke, NC 27960; Ocracoke United Methodist Church, 71 School Rd., Ocracoke, NC; or Ocracoke Island Assembly of God, 459 Lighthouse Road, Ocracoke, NC.

Twiford Funeral Home, Hatteras, is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences may be expressed to the family at http://www.twifordfh.com.

Ocracoke plunges into the New Year

January 2, 2015

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January 2015
By Peter Vankevich

All things considered, it wasn’t that bad.

“The water was warmer than I expected,” said Whisper Meacham. This was the general consensus of the brave souls who gathered on the beach at the airport ramp and welcomed the New Year by diving into the Atlantic Ocean.

Joelle LeBlanc who helped publicize this relatively unorganized event, thought there were more than 35 plungers and perhaps an equal number of friends, family and the curious watching from the beach. Justin LeBlanc, Joelle’s husband, found the whole experience exhilarating.

“This was the fourth year for this on Ocracoke,” he said. “Last year, I think there were only six or seven of us that did it. This year we put it on Facebook and the local newspapers publicized it and the turnout has been great.”

Philip Howard made three dips instead of the minimal one dip — Philip Howard has a personal tradition of making three dips instead of the minimal one dip

Elsewhere, this is also known as a polar bear plunge and there are many organized events in the U.S., Canada, the UK and the Netherlands, especially on New Year’s Day. These events are often used as fundraisers for charitable organizations. One of the largest is the PlungeFest that will take place this year on January 24th at Sandy Point State Park, at the base of the western side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland. Several thousand participants are expected to take the plunge, raising money for the Special Olympics. Their inspiration derives from the Coney Island Polar Bear Club founded in 1903 and whose members take regular plunges throughout the winter. Plunger Jarett Werley noted that St. Andrews University in Scotland has a tradition called the May Dip which is held annually at dawn on May Day when the students stay awake until dawn, at which time they jump into the North Sea.

Stuart Eiland and Megan Alldridge emerge victorious — Stuart Eiland and Megan Aldridge emerge victorious

Stuart Eiland warmed up by jogging about two miles from his house across from the lighthouse to the airport. “I’m ready to cool off,” he quipped. This was the second time for Scott Bradley. Asked how he prepared for it mentally and physically he said he had a thimble and half of wine. Melinda Sutton thought the latest in the year she had swam on Ocracoke was October and was looking forward to it.

For some, this was a family event, Kim and Roger Meacham and their two children Whisper and Django all plunged as did Megan Aldridge and her son Parker.

Many watchers were equally content not to participate and just enjoy the day. “I’m not a cold weather girl,” said Molly Lovejoy, who last year transferred from Emerson College in Boston to the University of New Orleans.

The water temperature was about 60 degrees. “It was not as shocking as I expected. The water was actually quite pleasant. But I won’t be doing it every day, though I will do it again next year,” said Megan Aldridge.

“It’s a great way to start the New Year. I’m ready for it,” she added.

A thanks to all for a very successful first year

January 1, 2015

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Peter Vankevich and Connie Leinbach, co-owners of the Ocracoke Observer. Photo by Ruth Fordan

We thank all of our readers, subscribers, advertisers and so many of you that gave such great suggestions in making 2014 a very successful year the Ocracoke Observer. Our first executive decision when we purchased the newspaper in March was to go from the projected six print issues a year to 10, not publishing only in January and February.

We did this somewhat on “blind faith,” believing that if we created good content, we would have our island community, off-island subscribers and advertisers take in interest in the paper, and we believe we have accomplished this.

Reading this you know that there is a now a website component of the Observer. We launched it last summer and now have more than 250 postings, many of them on Ocracoke’s culture, history and nature. You can find the categories on the home page and we encourage you to take a look.

A website was inevitable. Almost all print newspapers have websites these days and we consider this an integral supplement to our paper.

Ocracoke is fortunate to now have two online news services, check us both out. We will cover different issues and when we cover the same, perhaps provide different perspectives.

We want our website to be unique and appealing to a broad readership. It is multilingual with articles about Ocracoke in French, German and Spanish. French and German are posts that we hope will encourage foreigners to visit our island. Spanish will be a working language providing information to those living on the island. We have an audio component that will increase. Ambassador Leonard Meeker’s now legendary lecture at the Ocracoke library in October of 2012 can now be heard on this website.

Ocracoke Observer team with Jock Lauterer, in back

So many of you have offered excellent suggestions for the Ocracoke Observer, and we cannot thank you enough. We want to note two major league advisers in particular. Jock Lauterer the director of the Carolina Community Media Project and senior lecturer at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the author of “Community Journalism: Relentlessly Local.” Jock visited us and gave an excellent workshop for the many writers of the Observer.

The other to thank is James Grimaldi, an investigative reporter with the Wall Street Journal. During his tenure at the Washington Post, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 2006 for his work on the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Their many suggestions and support have been immeasurable but, we hope, obvious.

We also thank all of our contributors–writers and photographers–for their invaluable help this year. They are what makes the Ocracoke Observer compelling reading. We’ll be back with a print issue soon. So, here’s to a great 2015!

—Peter and Connie

Coast Guard aid Wright brothers in first flight

January 1, 2015

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SUBMITTED BY THE U.S. COAST GUARD on the 111th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first human flight.

Coast Guard aviators have patrolled the nation’s skies for nearly 100 years, but it wasn’t the pilots who first helped get the airplane off the ground.

On a stretch of empty sand in the Outer Banks of North Carolina 111 years ago, a group of surfmen from Life-Saving Station Kill Devil Hills guarded the shore near the town of Kitty Hawk. The surf men lived hidden away between the Atlantic Ocean and Albemarle Sound within the sparsely populated lands of the Outer Banks.

Commanded by Capt. Jesse Etheridge Ward, the surf men; Will S. Dough, Adam D. Etheridge, Bob L. Wescott, Tom Beacham, “Uncle Benny” O’Neal and John T. Daniels, patrolled the isolated stretch of sand between their own Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station and the four-miles north to Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station.

Their life was that of routine, stability and endurance. The Atlantic was a treacherous neighbor, having claimed numerous wrecks along it’s shoreline throughout the years.

In 1901, two eccentric brothers from Dayton, Ohio, injected themselves into the surfmen’s quiet lives, bringing with them strange experiments and an even stranger belief. The brothers built a small workshop just north of Big Kill Devil Hill, within a mile walking distance from the surf man.

Surfman Adam Etheridge and his family were the first to make introductions and befriend the new arrivals, who identified themselves as Orville and Wilbur Wright and said they were there to fly.

During the next two years, the simple base-camp expanded. The original, small workshop grew in size, and a second building was built to house what would later be known as the Wright Flyer.

A casual friendship grew between the surfmen and the Wright brothers. The surfmen, fascinated with the brothers’ experiments in flight, would often volunteer by delivering the mail, assist in grocery shopping and help carry and assemble pieces of the gilders and flyers the brothers constructed and tested.

Eventually, with Capt. Ward’s permission, the brothers would fly a simple red flag from their base-camp when they needed volunteer assistance.

On Dec. 17, 1903, with wind coming from the north, the Life-Saving Station’s lookout reported to the crew the red flag was being flown.

In his diary, Orville Wright wrote:

“When we got up a wind of between 20 and 25 miles was blowing from the north. We got the machine out early and put out signal for the men at the station. Before we were quite ready John T. Daniels, W.S. Dough, A. D. Etheridge, W.C. Brinkley of Manteo and Johnny Moore of Nag’s Head arrived.”

With the assistance of the surfmen and other watchers, the brothers moved the Wright Flyer to its starting position atop a simple monorail guide and trolley. Off to the side, Wilbur set up his Korona-V glass-plate box camera, focusing on a spot he believed would show the flyer’s first flight. Surfman Daniels was enlisted by Wilbur to be the camera operator and instructed in its use. It was the first time Daniels had ever operated a camera.

At 10:35, with Orville piloting, the flyer started down the monorail track and after traveling 40 feet, broke free from earth’s gravity and flew.

Daniels later said that he was so excited he nearly forgot to squeeze the camera bulb, which would trigger the shutter.

Fortunately, Daniels remembered to take the picture, and the photo is now known world-wide.

The flyer’s first flight lasted 12 seconds and flew approximately 120 feet.

The men watching were ecstatic, wildly cheering and clapping, and the brothers were eager to try again. The flyer was carried by the volunteers back to the start of the rail.

The brothers took turns flying the contraption. The second and third flights were marked with small increases of time and distance, but the fourth flight, with Wilbur piloting, really took off.

As written in his diary, Orville Wright said:

“At just 12 o’clock Will started on the fourth and last trip. The machine started off with its ups and downs as it had before, but by the time he had gone over three or four hundred feet he had it under much better control, and was traveling on a fairly even course. It proceeded in this manner till it reached a small hummock out about 800 feet from the starting ways, when it began its pitching again and suddenly darted into the ground.

The front rudder frame was badly broken up, but the main frame suffered none at all. The distance over the ground was 852 feet in 59 seconds.”

The jubilant group of new pilots and surfmen carried the 605-pound flyer nearly a quarter mile back to the tool shed for repairs. It was perhaps this combination of exhilaration and fatigue that led to Daniel’s own flight. While the brothers discussed their recent flights, a sudden, strong gust of wind picked the flyer up and tossed it down the sand.

While everyone released their own handholds, Daniels clung to the flyer and became entangled in the cables and chains as the flyer flew once again.

From Orville Wright’s diary:

“Mr. Daniels, having no experience in handling a machine of this kind, hung on to it from the inside, and as a result was knocked down and turned over and over with it as it went. His escape was miraculous, as he was in with the engine and chains. The engine legs were all broken off, the chain guides badly bent, a number of uprights, and nearly all the rear ends of the ribs were broken. One spar only was broken.”

The brothers built or brought spare parts for everything else but the engine.Daniels fell 15 feet to the sand below and tumbled away from the flyer suffering only minor scrapes and bruises to his rib from his first flight. The force of the flyer’s errant flight and crash caused the engine block to crack in half, rendering the flyer useless.

Daniels recounted the ordeal in a 1927 interview with Collier Weekly (Smithsonian Institute)

“They were going to fix the rudder and try another flight when I got my first—and, God help me—my last flight.

A breeze that had been blowing about 25 miles an hour suddenly jumped to 35 miles or more, caught the wings of the plane, and swept it across the beach just like you’ve seen an umbrella turned inside out and loose in the wind. I had hold of an upright of one of the wings when the wind caught it, and I got tangled up in the wire that held the thing together.

I can’t tell to save my life how it all happened, but I found myself caught in them wires and the machine blowing across the beach, heading for the ocean, landing first on one end and then on the other, rolling over and over, and me getting more tangled up in it all the time. I tell you, I was plumb scared. When the thing did stop for half a second I nearly broke up every wire and upright getting out of it.

The machine was a total wreck. The Wrights took it to pieces, packed it up in boxes and shipped it back to their home in Dayton. They gave us a few pieces for souvenirs, and I have a piece of the upright that I had hold of when it caught me up and blew away with me. I wasn’t hurt much; I got a good many bruises and scratches and was so scared I couldn’t walk straight for a few minutes. But the Wright boys ran up to me, pulled my legs and arms, felt of my ribs and told me there were no bones broken. They looked scared too.

For those few minutes, though unconventional, Daniels “flew” with the flyer, becoming the third man to fly in the Wright Flyer and the first man to be involved in an airplane accident.

The surfmen of Life-Saving Station Kill Devil Hills witnessed the birth of aviation. Today, the U.S. Coast Guard uses its fleet of aircraft to save those at sea, keep drugs off our shores and protect our nation from foreign enemies, all thanks to the two bicycle mechanics from Ohio and the Outer Banks surfmen.

Interview with John T. Daniels, Smithsonian Institute:
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/wright/group_d.html

Date: Dec 15, 2014
Contact: 5th District Public Affairs
Office: (757) 398-6272

Contracts awarded for maintenance projects on Bonner Bridge

December 30, 2014

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Herbert C. Bonner Bridge. Photo by C. Leinbach

Press release
Work to start in early 2015

RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded contracts for two maintenance projects on the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, which carries N.C. 12 over the Oregon Inlet in Dare County. Work on each project will begin in early 2015. Additional information regarding the exact dates of the work will be available once schedules are finalized. Both projects are scheduled to be complete by mid- June 2015.

Concrete Repairs
A $331,250 contract was awarded to Precon Marine Inc. of Chesapeake, Va. for repairs to concrete along the underside of the bridge deck. This work involves removing loose or deteriorated concrete and replacing it with shotcrete – a form of concrete that is projected or “shot” onto a surface. These repairs will be made at approximately 249 locations identified as priority areas during the most recent regular two-year inspection of the bridge in May of this year.

Crutch Bent repairs
A $889,401 contract was awarded to Smith-Rowe LLC of Mount Airy for repairs to the steel crutch bents currently in place from bent 108 through 114. These steel crutch bents were installed in 1989 and after years of being exposed to the elements, need to be replaced. Work will involve removing the upper portion of each steel crutch bent from under the bridge deck to just below the water surface. New steel crutch bents will then be bolted into place.

The bridge will remain open to traffic during these projects with only a single lane closure in place. Both directions of traffic will be guided through the work site with either flagmen or automated traffic control measures.

Motorists are advised to use caution while traveling in the area and to expect delays. NCDOT reminds motorists to watch signs for construction information, stay alert and obey the posted speed limit.

For real-time travel information at any time, visit the Travel section of the NCDOT website, call 511, or follow NCDOT on Twitter. Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website.

Ocracoke Christmas Bird Count Dec 30, help requested

December 29, 2014

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By Peter Vankevich

The Ocracoke Christmas Bird Count will be Tuesday, Dec. 30. If you can identify and count birds on the island and report them to us, please do. Looking especially for House Finches and other birds at feeders and those big Eurasian Collared-doves that are all over the village. Send your reports to info@ocracokeobsever@.com . This is a Peregrine Falcon perched on the water tower this afternoon. We have a vegetarian chili/key lime social at Peter Vankevich’s house starting at 6 p.m. Let us know if you would like to attend (202) 468-2871 for more details.

Peregrine Falcon perched on water tower Dec 29, 2014 Photo by Peter Vankevich

Early morning fire strikes camper on Ocracoke

December 28, 2014

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RV fire 2 WP_20141227_002 — A trailer along Bryant Lane is destroyed by fire early Saturday morning. Photo by P. Vankevich

(Dec. 27, 2014)
By Connie Leinbach

An unoccupied recreational vehicle along Bryant Lane (just off of Lighthouse Rd.) was destroyed in an early morning fire Saturday. No one was injured and the fire was contained within about 10 minutes but took more than an hour to be put completely out, Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department officials said.

About a dozen OVFD members responded around 6:30 a.m. to the fully enflamed camper owned by Marky O’Neal of the New Bern area.

“I had just come back from duck hunting when Jordy Jenkins called me,” said Farris O’Neal, who lives across the street. “I ran right back outside. It was blazing pretty good. Jordy saw the flames from the road.”

O’Neal and his neighbor Adam Burleson, whose house is right beside the camper, along with Kevin Hardy, immediately began to spray water from three garden hoses on the camper, the privacy fence and on the side of Adam’s house.

“If the fire department had gotten there two minutes later, Adam’s house would have caught on fire,” O’Neal said. “It was very hot.”

Fortunately, three OVFD trucks arrived on the scene and got two hoses working.

“We made progress after we got the second hose working off the first truck,” said Ernie Doshier, second assistant fire chief. “It was 10 minutes before I felt good that Adam’s house wasn’t going to catch on fire.”

However, the siding on Burleson’s house got charred, the double-pane window was broken and another window was cracked, Doshier said.

Assistant Fire Chief Mark Justice noted that the response and fire-fighting effort went well.

“Nobody got hurt,” he said. “It was very successful. There was a little damage to Adam’s house and it was a very hot fire.”

Both he and Doshier said they do not know how the fire started but that it’s not suspicious.

“The front three quarters are completely destroyed,” Doshier said.

Both O’Neal and Doshier noted that the lack of wind was a factor in quickly subduing the flames and causing further damage.

Doshier noted that this was the first structure fire in two years on the island and stressed the need for young men and women to join the ranks of the fire department.

“With people constantly moving on and off the island, we have a turnover of fire company members,” he said. “We always need people to get certified; operate the trucks; get the gear on. Half of our guys weren’t here today.”

Thirty-six hours of training a year is all it takes for people to learn the basics of fire fighting, he said.

“You’re doing a service for the community,” Doshier said about the need for volunteers. “It will help keep your house or your neighbor’s house from burning. We need more young members.”

RV fire Jackson Eiland V__CB44 (2) — RV fire from a distance Photo by Jackson Eiland

Christmas Bird Count Is A Favorite With Locals and Visitors

December 28, 2014

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Carol Pahl estimating the great number of Double-creseted Cormorants on Ocracoke Photo by P. Vankevich

December 2014
By Stacey Sutton

Fans of our feathered friends are all a-frenzy with anticipation for the 115th National Christmas Bird Count coming up here Dec 29 and 30. Folks young and old, will be donning mittens, scarves, possibly raincoats and their favorite pair of binoculars to survey the local bird populations both on Ocracoke and Portsmouth Islands.

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the longest running nationwide wildlife census in the United States, is held from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 every year. The purpose of the CBC is to “study the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America,” according to the National Audubon Society website. The primary goal of the event is to provide data that will aid in conserving and protecting bird populations. However, the data have also been used to detect changes in weather patterns as well as locations of serious environmental contamination. For example, if a lake consistently has a large duck population but the CBC folks find the lake to be duck-deficient, scientists will first look at the larger geographic area to see if other nearby CBC sites also reported lower duck numbers. If duck demographics are normal in nearby areas, scientists will then check the water for contamination.

Snow Goose More common in winter on Pea Island than Ocracoke Photo by P. Vankevich

Each count location is a 15-mile wide circle. There are over 2,300 circles across the United States and while more circles can be added, the location must have volunteers who are willing to do the work. Every circle has a lead, known as the compiler, who is in charge of things such as; choosing the specific date of his/her count during the given timeframe, arranging logistics, and compiling and sending in the data. Once the date has been set, volunteers are assigned to different zones within the count circle. They then walk their zone and note what species and how many of each species they see or hear for the same few hours as everyone else in their count circle. At the end of the day, the numbers from each volunteer are tallied and sent in to the national headquarters.

Peregrine Falcon Portsmuth ps IMG_0681 — Peregrine Falcon on Portsmouth Island

The compiler for Ocracoke and Portsmouth Islands is Peter Vankevich. Not only did Vankevich help establish the CBC on the islands, he also hasn’t missed a single bird count since the first counts took place; 1981 for Ocracoke and 1988 for Portsmouth Island. The two islands have an average of 20 volunteers every year.

One local resident, Pat Garber, who has been participating since the 1990’s, is committed to contributing to the citizen science aspect of the CBC. Vankevich stated that there are approximately 70 species reported for Portsmouth Island and in the high 80’s for Ocracoke Island, but he has seen fluctuations in the numbers for each species over the years.

Savannah Sparrow PS _IMG_4789 — Savannah Sparrow Photo by P. Vankevich

Several of the repeat counters travel from places like Raleigh and Fayetteville in order to participate.

“The CBC is the oldest and largest wildlife survey in the world, and I consider it an honor to participate in it,” said returning volunteer Jeff Beane, who travels to Ocracoke from Raleigh for the annual event. He’s not the only one to travel several hours to get here just to participate. Hal Broadfoot Jr. comes from Fayetteville every year not only to assist with the count, but also to spend time with fellow birders from Ocracoke.

“The people associated with Peter’s counts are among the best birders and nicest people I know,” he said. He also agrees that…”it’s nice to immerse yourself in a group of people who share your passion.”

Lloyd Lewis IMG_0724 — Lloyd Lewis Photo by P. Vankevich

When asked why he loves birding, Beane explained that: “Birds were one of the most noticeable and observable to me when I was a child first learning to detect and make observations about my surroundings. Because of their colors, diurnal behavior, and abundance, they were one of the first things that caught my attention any time I would do so much as look out a window. I have always paid attention to birds. To ask why I like birds would be to ask why I like water.”

As for Broadfoot: “I like that birds fly, which means they can show up almost anywhere…Birds connect me to geography, geology, history, natural history, politics, weather, literature, popular culture, legend and myth.”

One of the benefits to participating in the Portsmouth Island bird count, which will be held Monday, Dec. 29 this year, is that volunteers get to go to the island transported by captains, Rudy and Donald Austin of Austin Boat Tours. This time of the year there are no tourists and more importantly few, if any mosquitos. There is a nominal fee that will cover the boat ride to the island, but for the experience of getting to visit the island’s wilderness at a time when most people don’t get to, it seems to be worth it. Because of the added logistics necessary to get to Portsmouth Island, volunteers must contact Peter Vankevich by Sunday in order to confirm a place on the boat. Volunteers will meet at the National Park Service dock at 7:30 a.m. and should bring binoculars. Many participants also bring cameras and get beautiful photos.

Several of the returning birders also say they enjoy the chili/key lime pie dinner hosted by Vankevich at the end of the bird count which has been dubbed the ‘Tally Rally’ during which volunteers feast and talk birds and the memorable experiences they’ve had over the years, while also going over the numbers for the two islands.

Snowy Owl seen on Ocracoke 2013 CBC Photo by Jeff Beane — Snowy Owl on Ocracoke 2013 Photo by Jeff Beane

Oysters, fish stew star at annual Oyster Roast

December 27, 2014

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Al Dawes of Greenville on his quest to eat as many oysters as he can at the Ninth Annual Oyster Roast on Ocracoke.

Text and photos by Connie Leinbach

Al Dawes of Greenville was working on his second peck of steamed oysters mid-afternoon Saturday during the ninth Annual Oyster Roast at the Ocracoke Seafood Company in Ocracoke Village.

“He’s been eating for one and a half hours,” said his wife, Casey, with a laugh, as Al barely slowed his pace of shucking and slurping the freshly steamed oysters.

“This is the King Kong table,” Al continued, fully expecting to consume oysters until the end of the event. The Dawes’ came for the weekend especially to eat oysters, shrimp and fish stew.

“We were the first ones here,” Casey said.

The Oyster Roast is put on to thank the community, said Patty Plyler, who manages the retail store of the fish house.

“This event is so important to the community,” she said. “I’ve never seen so many people.”

Sunny, mild weather helped contribute to the event’s success.

Folks were lined up well before the 2 p.m. start of the event that Theresa “Tree” Ray, a commercial fisher person, took over organizing this year from longtime manager Hardy Plyler, who is retiring.

Ray’s changes this year included cooking the shrimp ahead of time, spreading out the tables in front of the loading dock, adding some picnic tables across the road, having the guys make two pots of fish stew, obtaining hush puppies from Topless Oyster and adding live music by Lou Castro, Jackie Willis and Aaron Caswell.

Dan Garrish and Theresa "Tree" Ray. — Dan Garrish and Theresa “Tree” Ray.

“The fish stew is to die for,” observed Mark Reisinger of Annapolis, as the afternoon waned. “Every year it gets better.”

Vince O’Neal, chef of the famed stew, noted that he, Dan Garrish, Rudy Austin and Donald Austin, peeled about 50 pounds of potatoes, chopped 25 pounds of onions and added 20 pounds of shrimp and at least 50 pounds of various filets to make two “humongous” pots.

All of the fish was locally caught, he said—red and black drum, sheepshead, tuna, flounder and tile fish.

Ray noted that the Fish House has been stashing filets away all year especially for yesterday’s roast.

“We had a really good pound-net season this year,” she said.

About 9 a.m., the group began cooking the 44 bushels of oysters and the 280 pounds of shrimp.

“We have six pots of oysters going at all time,” Ray said.

We all just jump in and help,” Garrish added. “Tree had this all set up. She did a great job.”

Rebecca and Phillipe Bardet of Washington, D.C., were enjoying the juicy treats for their second visit to Ocracoke for a low-key holiday with their 7-month-old daughter Olivia.

“This is exactly what we wanted in a vacation,” Rebecca said about the community event. “This has a nice community feel,” added Phillipe.

Rebecca, Olivia and Phillipe Bardet of Washington, D.C.

The oysters seemed especially good this year, noted islander Frances Miller, echoing many at the event.

“They’re so juicy and tasty,” she said.

Plyler said that oysters have been scarce this fall but the fish house eventually obtained what they wanted from O’Neals Sea Harvest in Wanchese, Dare County. “We lucked out,” she said.

Dessert and hot cider was offered at the Working Watermen’s Exhibit in Community Square.