I wonder how many of you familiar with the Outer Banks
of the late 1950s and early 1960s can recall these things:
"Caution - Soft Shoulders"
The Point Harbour Grill
the original Sea Ranch
the dirt road to Corolla lighthouse
the silver buoy at the Larus cottage
Anderson's and Wink's
the bowling alley that was so old that people manually did the pinsetting
and ball return, instead of machines
the country store with the Coca-Cola drinking black bear
the bridge crossing the sound was one lane in each direction and there
were never traffic problems!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was not a single grocery store on the Outer Banks. Because
of this each cottage had a big chest freezer for storing meats and things. If one needed to go to the grocery store,
you had to drive all the way to Elizabeth City to find one!
Southern Shores was a big social neighborhood. Everyone knew everyone
else and there were lots of cocktail parties and events that were well attended by many of the same people.
Everyone had "cocktail hour" flags - a white flag with a red martini glass on it -- if the flag was flying,
anyone out was invited to come in, have a drink and socialize.
My grandparents built three cottages in the Outer Banks over the decades.
The first was built in Nags Head in 1936. The second cottage, still standing, is one of the classic late
1940's "flattop" cottages built in Southern Shores. My grandfather's brother and his family's identical cottage was
next door, so it was like a family compound.
In the mid 1950's my grandparents built their last cottage. At the
time it was the last developed lot on the beach road and the paved road literally ended right there! The cottage was built
on a very large dune with a spectacular view of the water. Everyone chuckled about building up on a dune, but we
had the last laugh in the end -- the cottage was high enough that during the 1962 Ash Wednesday storm the 30' storm
surge, although harmful, didn't cause flood damage or wash it away.
