Late May 1984, three friends shared a bottle of wine on a porch in Hatteras village, consoled by
a sunset dropping gloriously into Pamlico Sound. Their nerves were raw, finally acknowledging
that artifacts from the Civil War gunboat Monitor discovered just offshore were not coming to
Hatteras.
After months of their hard work, our local history – sadly – was going somewhere else.
From that porch and from that moment on, Belinda Willis, Katie Oden and Cathy Parsons
resolved that they would see a world-class maritime museum in Hatteras.
Fast forward 40 years to May 2024, when the three were acknowledged, along with many
others, for holding fast to the dream at a spectacular opening ceremony for the new 18,000 sq.
ft. Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum at the end of Museum Drive in Hatteras.
And what a facility it is! Capturing roughly 1000 visitors daily with captivating, authentic and
compelling exhibits, one visitor summarized it perfectly when she was overheard saying, “I had
to wipe the salt spray off my glasses.”
With a $5,000,000 renovation spanning 400 years of island history, maritime heritage and social
tradition – from coastal geology and Native Americans to Pirates and wartime – a common theme
has emerged in tribute to the heroic exploits of the United States Lifesaving Service and its
successor, the United States Coast Guard.
One particularly striking exhibit is the Monomoy surfboat display buoyantly climbing the face of a
breaking storm wave. You’ll feel like you’re part of the crew with the keeper and surfmen and
their muscular, baseball glove sized-hands skillfully handling 12-foot surf oars. It took days,
weeks, even months of incessant daily drilling for surfmen to be prepared and ultimately ready
when the rescue bell rang.
A very cool, interactive virtual screen steps back in time with Rasmus Midgett detailing his
single-handed rescue of 10 men off the wreck “Priscilla” during San Ciraco, the Great Hurricane
of 1899, which is regarded as one of the single greatest achievements in the fabled history that
is the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for bravery. You may even hear
a tinge of Raz’s “Hoi Toide” accent as he dutifully recounts the details, calling on every ounce of
patience imaginable to ensure all were spared from the perils of the sea.
Another favorite interactive display is the straightforward portrayal of Capt. Richard Etheridge,
who asked for two volunteers to swim 200 yards of shot line out to the wreck of the E.S.
Newman in a heavy gale in October 1896. Tied to them mast of the stricken vessel so that they
would not be lost overboard were 23 year-old Nellie Gardner and her 3 year-old son, Tommy.
“I well remember the tempest Capt. Gardner, our son, Tommy, and I were seized in on the lonely
sands of Hatteras. I was tied to the mast with young Thomas, and I calmly sang the verses of
‘Amazing Grace’ so that the last thing my child would hear on this earth was the soothing sound
of his mother’s voice,” she wrote years later in her journal, “when out of the ocean came the
hand of salvation, and it was the hand of a black man named Theodore Meekins.”
Amazingly, Surfman Meekins and Surfman Rev. Stanley Wise were able to swim almost ¼ mile
out into storm surf and deliver a line to begin ferrying the entire crew of the Newman to shore,
with no loss of life. The two surfmen were feared “Lost at Sea” until they miraculously appeared
in the mist – exhausted but alive – to the night patrol on the lookout for their bodies.
The perseverance of all these folks in such impossible circumstances is the stuff of movies.
So what’s the binding tie between Belinda, Katie and Cathy’s dream of a world-class maritime
museum, and your dream of home ownership at Hatteras Island?
Preparation, patience and perseverance will serve you well when the opportunity for that special
place at Hatteras presents itself!