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978-0-89587-240-1
0-89587-240-4
$16.95 paperback
9" x 9"
168 pages black-and-white photographs
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Nags Head's Historic Cottage
Row District--on the National Register of Historic Places since
1977--stretches a mile along North Carolina's Outer Banks, forming a
pattern of angles and lines the color of driftwood. Porches wrap around
dull gray houses like wide-brimmed hats; shutters propped open like lazy
eyelids cast shadows on sand and horizon. Defined by weathered wooden
shingles, sweeping gable roofs, single full-width dormers, and
protruding benches built into the arms of porches, this simple
architecture is the patina of Old Nags Head, what old-comers think of
first when they see this beach in their mind's eyes.
The story of the families who helped settle one of North Carolina's
oldest beaches is told in Nags Headers. It is a blend of oral
history and narrative that allows readers to share in the summer lives
of Nags Head's oldest families. The story traces the history of Nags
Head through successive generations, from early settlement before the
Civil War, through the turn of the new century and the emergence of
modern times. Vivid oral history is woven into the fabric of the
narrative, drawing the reader into the story as the Nags Head cottagers
settle the beach and make it their own. These oral interviews and
profiles introduce us to people like S. J. Twine, the carpenter
responsible for the distinctive Nags Head look, and Reverend Dr. Robert
Brent Drane, the first summer rector for St. Andrew's-By-the-Sea
Episcopal Church, which was built in 1915. In the book, Mary Buchanan
Flowers, who was a teenager at the time, tells about the luncheon her
family hosted for President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he visited Nags
Head in 1937; 100-year-old Virginia Flora Hall relates her experiences
as a young mother during the Hurricane of 1933; and 88-year-old Beulah
Wadsworth describes what life was like behind the scenes in the
servants' quarters.
The book is complemented by historical photographs, personal photographs
from private family collections, and contemporary black-and-white
photographs. As the Atlantic Ocean encroaches on the original cottages
known as the "Unpainted Aristocracy" more with each passing
year, it becomes even more important to document Nags Head's compelling
150-year history.
about the author
Susan Byrum Rountree, a North Carolina native, is a life-long
visitor to Nags Head. She is a graduate of the University of North
Carolina School of Journalism with over twenty years' experience in
feature writing for newspapers and magazines. She lives in Raleigh,
North Carolina, where she writes for the Raleigh News & Observer. |
