State

Jockey Ridge, one of (he tallest of the sand dunes, near Nags Head. Nags Head of By-gone Days An invitation is still extant to the grand ball in September, 1853, and gives some idea of the importance of the place as a resort in ante-bellum flays. ALETTE R addressed to Miss Virginia Hodges. Slades Creek, Hyde County, mailed in Eden ton 91 years ago, carried formal invitation saying: ‘‘The aleasure of your company is re¬ spectfully solicited at a BALL to be Sven at the Nags Head Hotel on hursday, the 15th of September, 1853.” The envelope and invitation it contained are prize relics neatly framed in the cottage of Mrs. Alice Grice at Nags Head. They would indicate that Nags Head was a greater resort for its time in the days before the Civil War than it is now. There were no trains oper¬ ating in that part of the state, and in order to reach the resort it was necessary for people living inland to drive over rough roads with horse and wagon to some point where they could embark on a sail-boat. There weren't many steamers in those days, either. The managers of the ball, accord¬ ing to the invitation, numbered 28 people from the most distinguished families of eastern North Carolina and tidewater Virginia. Columbia, Plymouth. Windsor, Knton, Elizabeth City, Washing- , Hertford. Norfolk and other owns were represented. Here is :hc list of names: you undoubted¬ ly will recognize many of them: bDr. William A. Armistead, John yrick, Joshua C. Skinner. Alex- {nder Dixon, Stephen D. Pool. Wil¬ iam C. Wood. Charles W. Skinner. Jr., Dr. О. B. Savage, John W. Keeling, James E. Smith, Patrick H. Winston, С. C. Robinson. Jesse T. Parker. Samuel T. Sawyer, Dr. Edward Warren, Elias C. Hines. John Hope, Joseph S. Jones, Col. E. W. Jones, John M. Matthews. Henry A. Gilliam, Thomas Beck¬ with. Charles C. Pettigrew, J. T. Bond, William R. Spruill, A. W. Starke, William Walters, James Wynn, Jr. No doubt the ball was the final affair of the season. Please note that the date was September 15, which implies that the social sea¬ son in those days lasted somewhat longer than it does now. A trip to Nags Head in those days must have been quite an event. Says the Dare County Times, in commenting on these relics owned by Mrs. Grice: ‘‘One can let his mind drift to the glories of ante¬ bellum days and picture the excite¬ ment with which the event was anticipated. One can imagine plans being made to travel by car¬ riage from points like Slades Creek or other towns to the nearest boat landing and then to embark for Nags Head. It must have been quite an experience to journey across the waters to the boat land¬ ing at Nags Head and to go ashore to a hotel that had no plumbing, no electric or gas lights, no screens against mosquitoes. But this in no whit lessened the glamour and the excitement of the occasion, where romance blossomed and hopes bloomed or died as today. "When one considers how popu¬ lar Nags Head was in those days — a decade before the Civil War — when patronage was great enough to support a large hotel at this almost inaccessible place, it is safe to say that for its day and time it was a greater resort than it is today, despite its many hotels and modern conveniences. "It was at the bar of the old Nags Head Hotel that slanderous tongues said General Wise was drinking when the Yankees sur¬ prised and captured Roanoke Island, and General Wise’s son was slain in battle. The old hotel was finally buried by drifting sand many years after the Civil War. At that time it was partially sub¬ merged by a sand-dune which had drifted down upon it. "In the '90’s a large hotel was built by John Z. Lowe, of New York, and this burned down in 1905 to be replaced by the smaller hotels on the sound side: Leroy’s and others; and the Arlington on the ocean side, forerunners of the present modern hotels which in¬ clude First Colony Inn. the Nags Header, Parkerson's and others.” Sail-boats used to maintain a more or less regular schedule be¬ tween Elizabeth City and Nags Head. And what a trip that was! From early morning until late that same evening, if the wind was fair. And if a calm set in, there was nothing to do but drift around un¬ til the wind picked up again. Naturally, after all that trouble¬ some journey, people stayed at Nags Head for at least a month; usually for the entire summer. I 5