Americans first came to live on the Outer Banks in the 1830’s.
Some of these houses date from then,
except they no longer stand far back from the ocean. They were built on very deep lots that allowed
relocation should the shoreline retreat.
They were built by wealthy folks choosing the sea breezes of Nags Head
over the inland summer swelter. Most of
the houses you see here were moved landward several times. They are now nearly back to Highway 12 and most
cannot be moved further. 
You see a wide sandy beach, but it is artificial, placed in 2011 as
a “Beach Nourishment Project” with sand dredged offshore sand to replace the
sand that naturally disappears. Everyone
knows it will not last, but they keep hoping.
It will probably be too expensive to do that again. The owners of houses in Nags Head Beach
Cottage Row Historic District, known as the Unpainted Aristocracy, try hard to
hold onto the sand they have left. These
wood-stave fences catch blowing sand, and build dunes on which more fences can be
placed. The manmade dunes might protect
the houses a few more years. Concrete
seawalls are strictly outlawed. 
“What do they sell for? I asked a bearded fisherman at the café”
“They’re not for sale?”
Do they rent them?”
“Sometimes”
I’ll have to find a more talkative fisherman and get back.
 |
Secotan, a Carolina Algonquian town,
1585, watercolor by John White,
buildings covered with reed mats,
can be lifted for ventilation, corn being grown.
|
 |
| Carolina Algonquians eating corn, watercolor by John White, 1585 |
The first Europeans came here to settle 1587, before the more popular Pilgrims. They were the first, but they did not succeed. That title goes to the Carolina Algonquians, seen here in watercolors by an artist, John White, who came with the first English explorers. The Indians just packed up and moved if the ocean came too close to their houses. Americans of the past century did not learn from them.
The current horde of house builders seem not to have learned either. Or maybe they think their government will continue the expensive and impermanent practice of beach Nourishment.
Certainly a curious arrangement ... but we 'do' all know, "it's not nice to fool Mother Nature'
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to fool fool her sometimes, but she pays no attention to our pranks.
DeleteI love the watercolours, Sharon. They reveal the natural state of living before the English and all those who came afterward, overran these lands. I can only imagine what the artist thought as he tried to capture these natives in color. Perhaps like most artists, he was not priggish but rather grateful for the opportunity to interact with a world he could only imagine. I'd like to say too how thoughtful all your photographs are. Nothing is wasted, nothing that does not belong.
ReplyDeleteYes Lois, John White painted the Algonquins when they were a friendly people, before the English abused them and raised their anger. He said, they helped the foreigners learn how to survive. He pictures them as a happy and peaceful people.
DeleteIt seems like they try to build "high", if not exactly on stilts (maybe?). There's a sense of transience in that sort of construction, that is fascinating. They are houses and they are boats as well, figuratively speaking. I can't really blame the owners… We also live in earthquake areas… it is very hard to surrender one's sense of place.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images, and though provoking
They build high so hurricane waves can pass under the house, and to see over the dunes to the ocean. Waiting for the next big hurricane is like waiting for the next big earthquake, except that they get warning.
Delete