Category Archives: history

Looking Back

Nearly a lifetime ago I began searching for a better way of life. Out of school and more on my own, I was content, but the suburbs of DC was not where I wanted to be. Surfing had given me a taste of Hatteras Island and after some trips there, I was inextricably drawn back to the island. It was uncrowded, relatively undeveloped, and there were waves. An extended visit of 6 months turned into 50 years. Where did that time go? 

All along the way, I nurtured an interest in photography. I loved the environment, and culture. Before long those things embraced me and wouldn’t let go.

Nowadays I spend time evaluating and organizing what I’ve done as a photographer. There are lots of images… too many count.

A recent job got me digging in, editing and printing for a permanent display in our neighborhood Community Building. I made a photograph of some of those finished prints on my work table to see how they looked. Collectively it’s a record of the past. Documenting history was never my intent as I shot the surroundings, but time passing made it that way. 

I’m grateful for what the island has given me, the experience of finding my niche, and encountering a colorful cast of characters. It’s been a great run!

Aircraft

Dad was a career Navy officer so my family flew military transport to various bases overseas. At 7 years old, I remember flying a DC-4 (or something similar) to Newfoundland. A few years later, we were on long round trip flights to and from the island of Guam on a (MATS) Lockheed Constellation. Ever since, I’ve had a fascination for airplanes.

On a west coast trip recently, we visited the Palm Springs Air Museum in California, where there was plenty to see.

Highlights for me included a replica Memphis Belle used in filming the 1990 movie of the same name.

The B-17 is powered by 4 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engines. This bomber is undergoing extensive maintenance to be flown again for a living history experience.

Who wouldn’t love the graphics on this P-40 Warhawk Fighter?

During World War II at 18 years old, our 41st President flew and bailed out of a TBM Avenger like this one.

Of personal interest was the museum’s extensive collection of POW/MIA Vietnam era bracelets. During that war, my brother-in-law flew as a navigator aboard an A-6A Intruder off the USS Kitty Hawk. Returning from a mission over North Vietnam, Jim and his pilot were lost and listed MIA. After years of searching, remains were located and verified through DNA testing. 2006 he was brought home and buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

It was emotional to see 2 bracelets with Jim’s name and missing-in-action date. My family wore these for years in hopes of his coming home alive. He was 23 years old and the loss changed our family dynamic forever.

 

For Valor

A hundred and six years ago today, one of the most daring rescues in Coast Guard history occurred. August 16, 1918 during World War l, the British tanker Mirlo exploded offshore after being targeted by a German U-boat. The crew at Chicamacomico Coast Guard Station launched their 25-foot surfboat offshore to where the Mirlo, loaded with fuel, was an inferno. Despite the danger, Keeper John Allen Midgett and 5 Surfmen maneuvered among the flames. Miraculously, they rescued 42 out of a crew of 51 and brought them to shore.

As a result, Captain John Allen Midgett, Zion Midgett, Arthur Midgett, Prochorus O’Neal, Clarence Midgett, and Leroy Midgett received highly prestigious awards.

All six men were decorated with United States Gold Lifesaving Medals.

In 1921, King George V of Great Britain bestowed specially minted Gold Lifesaving Medals to each of them.

July of 1930 the same lifesavers were awarded the American Cross of Honor. At the time only 11 had ever been given. Six of them belong to those men at Chicamacomico.

 

Captain John Allen Midgett was also presented a silver cup by the British Board of Trade.

As a past board member and president of Chicamacomico Historical Association, I kept personal photographic records of events at the station over many years. I photographed these awards in 1993, when we displayed them in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Mirlo Rescue.

For a detailed account of this heroism go here:

https://chicamacomico.org/mirlo-rescue/

Out of Order

Since being constructed in the sixties, Rodanthe Pier has long been a vantage point during  storms. This image dates back to the Fall of 1999. After a series of poundings from the ocean, including Hurricane Dennis, much of the pier had collapsed. The pier house was completely destroyed. These gentlemen weren’t locals, but may have fished there at times.    

I don’t think pay phones exist around here any more and this particular one may have been one of the last vestiges of that technology. Needless to say, the pier was closed and the phone didn’t work. I can only imagine the many folks that used this telephone. Surfers called their buddies if the waves were good, or teenage girls huddled around it talking to friends.

Remnants of the original pier house was strewn all over the beach. Bobby and Dickie Ferrell had built it with cypress from their Currituck sawmill. The weathered siding was still beautiful. I salvaged many of those boards and saved them for projects around my house.

Much shorter than it used to be, that old pier has been rebuilt and repaired constantly. Not only has it been a fishing experience but a social one as well. Its battle with the sea continues.

Les and Elsie’s Place

The May 15 edition of Island Free Press reported a whale skull washing up on the beach in Salvo. It reminded me of a home there years ago, with a similar find decorating the front yard.

Leslie and Elsie Hooper’s home was perhaps a hundred feet off of Highway 12. I didn’t know what the unusual yard ornament was until being told by their son Jimmy, with whom I worked on John Luke’s crew, building cottages. The sun-bleached whale skull was huge and must have taken the village to remove it from the beach.

In 1975 something about it appealed to me, enough to stop and take a picture. I adored the simplicity of the house, the yard with a fenced in garden, the old wagon wheels and fig trees. I also adored the family living there. The village had more of a rural feel back then. 

Les and Elsie were active in the community, involved in church, the volunteer fire department, fish fries and bake sales. She made the best pineapple upside down cake, and  Les was a ferry boat captain for NCDOT. To say the family had deep roots here is an understatement. 

The house built from the timbers of shipwrecks was destroyed when Hurricane Irene damaged it beyond repair. For details see the link below.

Miss Elsie’s Place