Harkers Island, North Carolina
Encyclopedia
Harkers Island is a census-designated place
(CDP) in Carteret County
, North Carolina
, United States. The population of Harkers Island was 1,623 at the 2007 census. Harkers Island is unincorporated
and receives most public services, including law enforcement and public education, from Carteret County. A membership cooperative provides the island with electric and water services. Major industries on the island include fishing, boat building, tourism, and waterfowl decoy carving.
Formerly named Davers Ile and Craney Island, Harkers Island was occupied by Native American
s of the Coree
tribe when the first Europe
an explorers arrived in the 16th century. [There is another Craney Island community in Perquimans County, NC.] Ownership of Harkers Island was first titled to Farnifold Green, a native of the Carolina colony
, by the Lords Proprietors in 1707. Ebenezer Harker purchased the island in 1730, settled there with his family, and built a plantation and boat yard. The island became known as Harkers Island soon after his death. A large immigration of islanders fleeing the hurricane-ravaged Outer Banks
in 1899 dramatically increased the island population, which largely depended on fishing and boat building. Separated from the mainland for centuries, many Harkers Island residents speak a distinct dialect of English.
and Core Banks are named after the Coree. The Coree left little in the way of evidence of permanent habitation on Harkers Island, except for a large mound
of oyster shells at Shell Point on the eastern end of the island. Similar shell mounds were found by Europeans on the Shackleford Banks
and other islands of the Outer Banks. The exact purpose of the mounds for the Coree remains unknown, but varying cultures of indigenous peoples
in the Southeast had been building major earthwork mounds since 3500 BCE, the Middle Archaic period, usually related to religious and ceremonial uses.
In 1584, an English expedition financed by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe
explored the North Carolina coast for a suitable site for the first English colony in North America. Two Native Americans, Wanchese and Manteo
, accompanied the expedition back to England in the fall of 1584. According to local island legend, Wanchese was a Coree from Harkers Island. The island was first charted on the maps drawn by John White
during the 1584 expedition, but it was unnamed at the time. The island appears on a 1624 map of the greater Virginia coastline created by Captain John Smith
. On that map, the island is labeled "Davers Ile", probably for Sir John Davers, one of the founders of Jamestown, Virginia
in 1607.
On December 20, 1707, Farnifold Green obtained the first patent
for land in the Core Sound area from the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony, which had been established by the English monarch Charles II
in 1633. This patent included Harkers Island, which was then known as Craney Island. On June 25, 1709, Green sold the island to William Brice
for £5, who on the very same day sold it to Thomas Sparrow for £10. Sparrow soon sold the island to Thomas Pollock
, who would twice be Governor of North Carolina (from 1712 to 1714 and again in 1722). Pollock did not take up residence on the island, but had several farm buildings erected and then leased to settlers. The 1720 lease to a Captain Stone was £3 a year. Thomas Pollock's son George
inherited the island upon his father's death on August 30, 1722.
from England on a ship that set sail from Wales. Living in Boston, Harker had been involved in the whaling trade, and became familiar with the North Carolina coast during this time. Harker had moved to Beaufort, North Carolina
by 1728, where he was appointed a tax collector for the whale oil revenue generated in the area. After purchasing the island, Harker took up residence there with his family and began building a small plantation and boat yard. Harker sold half of the island to his nephew John Stevens
of Onslow County
, North Carolina on March 8, 1733 for £300, with many restrictions on its agricultural use. Prohibited from farming or ranching the land for profit, Stevens eventually sold his half of the island back to his uncle on June 9, 1737 for just £180.
The Harker plantation and boat building facility were located at the western end of the island, near Harker Point, and grew to support an extended family with three sons, two daughters, and at least nine African slaves. Ebenezer would be the last sole landowner of the island. In 1752, he deeded approximately 10 acres (40,500 m²) of the island to his daughter Hepsobeth and her husband Nathan Yeomans as a wedding gift. On his death in 1762, his son Zachariah inherited the western third of the island, an adult slave woman named Vilet, and a young female slave named Daisie. Another son, James, inherited the eastern third of the island, an adult slave woman named Hague and a young male slave named Peter. Ebenezer, jr. inherited the central third of the island, an adult male slave named Jeffrey, and a young male slave named Sutton. Hepsobeth inherited "one barrel of corn
", and Ebenezer's other married daughter, Sarah Freshwater, was given a female slave named Hope. The fate of an elderly female slave named Badge and a young male slave named Ben was left to the heirs to decide. The will referred to Craney Island; the name Harkers Island was only adopted after Ebenezer's death.
The sons of Ebenezer prospered on Harkers Island. Ebenezer, Jr. was elected Sheriff
of Carteret County in 1758. Zachariah Harker developed a salt works on the western third of Harkers Island in 1776. In the following years, Zachariah and his brothers became supporters of the American Revolution
and Zachariah was appointed as one of five captains in the Carteret Regiment fighting against the British. Harkers Island was involved in the Battle of Beaufort
. Revolutionaries used warehouse facilities on Harkers Island to store provisions sought by British troops who had seized the nearby county seat of Beaufort. Thirteen men guarding the stores on Harkers Island, probably led by Zachariah Harker, repulsed British troops in a brief battle
on April 6, 1782. The first national census of 1790
recorded 16 white
residents and 13 slaves on Harkers Island. By 1800, the population had expanded to 26 white residents, 16 slaves, and 7 "others", probably those of mixed race or freed slave
s. Ebenezer Jr., James, and Zachariah Harker died in 1803, 1814, and 1824, respectively.
; however, Union
warships anchored near the island to control access to Bogue Sound
and Core Sound during the Battle of Fort Macon
. The besieged Confederate
garrison at Fort Macon surrendered on April 26, 1862. Harkers Island and the surrounding area remained under Union control for the duration of the war. The few, if any, descendants of the Harker slaves still living on the island likely left soon after emancipation
. The vast majority of the freed slaves in the coastal societies of Carteret and Craven
counties either emigrated to other parts of the state, or moved into their own, separate communities, such as Davis Ridge, the North River Community, and Craven Corner.
In 1864, the first school on the island was established when Miss Jenny Bell came to Harkers Island from Boston, sponsored by the Northern Methodist Episcopal Church
. A fish oil
factory was built on the island in 1865 and remained operational until 1873. A small milling facility
was built on the west end of the island in 1870 by Louie Larson, an immigrant from Norway
, but it closed before the turn of the 20th century. Most island residents continued to earn a subsistence living from boat building or fishing.
was one of the first to relocate, buying 26 hectares (64.5 acres) of land on Harkers Island in 1897. Some others moved to more sheltered locations on the coast, but most Shackleford residents remained on the Banks. Diamond City was by far the largest town in that area of the coast, with over 700 inhabitants.
Three years later, another hurricane hit the Carolina coast, and this time the disaster for the residents of the Shackleford Banks was total. Diamond City was completely destroyed by the August 17 Hurricane of 1899
. The storm ravaged the Banks' protective sand dunes, and washed away nearly all of the top soil. Orchards and maritime forest on the Banks soon began dying from the salt left behind by the storm surge
. Homes were ripped from their foundations, shattered, or submerged. Even graves in the local cemeteries were uprooted and disturbed. A botanist who visited the Banks after the storm described the landscape as completely devastated.
Many families used boats to move what was left of their houses, plank by plank, from the Outer Banks to Harkers Island where they could rebuild. Some settled on the Guthrie property, which he began to subdivide. Others purchased or leased land on the island anywhere they could. Some emigrated to Morehead City
, on the mainland, where they built a new neighborhood soon nicknamed "The Promised Land". The last resident had left Diamond City by 1902. In the five years between 1895 and 1900, the population of Harkers Island expanded fourfold from just 13 extended families to over 1,000 residents. The island had gone from being one of the smallest communities in Carteret County to one of the largest.
Elders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) prosyleted extensively on Harkers Island after the hurricanes. Many of the refugees from Diamond City, uprooted physically and emotionally by the devastating hurricanes, converted to the Latter Day Saints, and soon outnumbered the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had been founded on the island in 1875. A national wave of anti-Mormon
sentiment was sparked by the Smoot Hearings
in 1904, fueling fears that Mormons secretly continued to practice polygamy
. The relationship between the Mormons on Harkers Island and their neighbors deteriorated. Residents threw rocks and oyster shells through the windows of the LDS church and fired at least one gunshot into the building. In 1906, arsonists burned the church building to the ground. Organized Mormon religious services did not resume on Harkers Island until 1909. A new LDS church building was constructed on the island in the 1930s. Despite these difficult beginnings, Harker's Island has one of the highest percentages of residents as members of the Latter-day Saints of any locality in North Carolina.
The 1933 Outer Banks Hurricane which made landfall on September 15 would forever change the economy of Harkers Island. The storm was blamed for at least 21 fatalities in North Carolina (although none on Harkers Island) and an estimated $1 million USD of damage. The storm surge
damaged fisheries and inland waterways, but there was one unexpected beneficial result. Retreating storm surge and heavy rainfall combined to carve out a new channel in the Banks, separating the Core Banks from the Shackleford Banks near the Cape Lookout Lighthouse
. This new channel gave Harkers Island fishermen a new, direct access route to offshore fishing grounds. The new channel was named Barden Inlet after US Senator Graham Barden, who sponsored legislation to require that the United States Army Corps of Engineers
use dredging equipment to maintain the new channel.
More economic opportunity for Harkers Island came as the country began pulling itself out of the Great Depression
. Electrification came to the island in 1939. Harkers Island Rural Electric Authority was the first electrical cooperative in the United States to supply power to members through a submarine cable system. In November, 1941, the construction of a new United States Marine Corps
Air Station at Cherry Point, thirty miles to the northwest of Harkers Island, brought more wage-earning jobs to the local economy. When the United States entered World War II
, Harkers Island was on the front lines. German submarines patrolled the North Carolina coast and sank merchant shipping traffic, especially oil tankers. Island residents could watch the tankers burning offshore at night. Further improvements in the island's utility services would have to wait until after the war. Telephone service finally arrived in 1948.
The man who primarily owned most of the property on Harkers Island at this time was Earl Davis.
played an important economic role for the people of Harkers Island throughout much of the 20th century. Islanders continued to use the Banks for livestock grazing, including sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. Harkers Island fishermen first built seasonal camps and later cottages on the Banks. A herd of wild horses on the Shackleford Banks provided new colts every spring to those from Harkers Island who rounded them up. The islanders viewed the improvements of cottages, horse corrals
, and campsites as an extension of their economic livelihood on Harkers Island.
All of that would change with the government determination to acquire the barrier islands for public park land. The state of North Carolina began purchasing land on the Core Banks and Shackleford Banks in 1959 with the intention of creating a state park. The federal government became interested a few years later, and envisioned the Outer Banks of North Carolina being included in a string of national seashores stretching the length of the United States Atlantic coast. After negotiations between the state of North Carolina and the United States Department of the Interior
, the United States Congress
passed a law authorizing the creation of a Cape Lookout National Seashore
, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on March 10, 1966.
Conversion of the Banks to a national park brought much turmoil to Harkers Island. Many Harkers Island fishermen discovered that cottages and other improvements they had made on the Banks were on land that would be condemned
. Many land deed
s had recording errors, some had been poorly surveyed, and natural changes to the shorelines affected many claims. Few of the cottages that had been built were on land that the builders owned. Legal eviction and condemnation proceedings lasted into the 1980s. The creation of the park also ended the open grazing of livestock on the Banks by December 31, 1985. A herd of wild horses, descended from Spanish horses that swam to shore from shipwreck
s in the 16th century, was allowed to remain on the Banks. in late December of that year, a series of arson fires destroyed most of the major structures on the Shackleford Banks, including a recently constructed park visitor center. An inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
failed to discover the arsonists.
The creation of the National Seashore marked the end of a lifestyle practiced by many Harkers Island residents. Fishing and boat building remain important components of the community's economy, but are increasingly augmented with tourism. Visitors arrive at Harkers Island seeking access to the National Seashore, for sport fishing opportunities, and to experience the local cultural heritage of the islands.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the CDP has a total area of 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²), of which, 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²) of it is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²) of it (33.77%) is water. At its highest point, the island is 16 feet (2 m) above mean sea level
, in what is known as the area the "sand hole". The "sand hole is area on the western end of the island made up of mostly white sand on rolling dunes. Something you may see on the Outerbanks.
Harkers Island is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the barrier islands of the Shackleford Banks to the south and the Core Banks to the east. The body of water directly south of the island is Back Sound
. To the east is Core Sound, to the north is The Straits
, and to the northeast is the mouth of the North River
. The Straits are shallow but navigable by those with local experience. There are two small bays on the north side of the island, Westmouth Bay and Eastmouth Bay. North of Eastmouth Bay is Browns Island, which is accessible only by boat. Harkers Island Road, designated as State Road 1335, connects the island to the mainland by the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge, a steel draw bridge built in 1968 to replace a wooden bridge built in 1941.
, and is operated by Carteret County Public Schools. The school has won the state Battle of the Books competition twice and has been to the competition for four years in a row, both are state records. There are no hospital
s on Harkers Island. The local newspaper is the Carteret County News-Times
, published in Morehead City
. Electricity service and drinking water are both provided by the Harkers Island Electric Membership Corporation, a cooperative
operating as both a Rural Electrical Authority and the manager of the water system for the Harkers Island Sanitary District since 1969.
reported 33 business establishments on Harkers Island employing 169 people. A majority of the business fall into Retail and Food Services (13) or Construction, Manufacturing, and Warehousing (11). The businesses in the latter category are almost entirely associated with boat building, boat repair, and boat storage. Many island residents are self-employed in the fishing trade. A relatively large percentage of island residents are over the age of 65 and/or retired
.
Commercial fishing has always been an important component of the island economy. Historically, this trade included whaling and the hunting of dolphins. Until ice became available in the 1920s, the primary commercial catch was mullet, which was caught near the beaches of Shackleford Bank and Core Bank and salted on shore. In the late 19th century, the Core Sound area produced 80% of the salted mullet sold on the United States east coast. An ice plant was built in nearby Beaufort in 1920, and fish houses were established on the island to process fish and shellfish. Some bay areas on the north side of the island have been developed for harvesting cultured shellfish. In addition to mullet, the commercial fishing industry of Harkers Island brings in oysters, clams, shrimp, scallop
s, crabs, spot
, croaker
, trout, flounder
, bluefish
, and mackerel
.
Tourism on Harkers Island is becoming a more important part of the local economy. The United States National Park Service operates the Cape Lookout National Seashore Visitors Center on Harkers Island. Ferry service from Harkers Island is one of the principal means of tourist access to Cape Lookout and the Shackleford Banks. Big-game fishing
operations cater to growing demand for sport fishing in the area. Other tourism related industries include gift shops, local artists, hotels, and restaurants. Despite growth in the tourist trades and the local effort to make the island a top destination for waterfowl enthusiasts, Harkers Island continues to have some of the least developed tourist facilities on the Crystal Coast
.
One of the fastest growing industries on the island is waterfowl enthusiast tourism. Founded in 1987 at the Harkers Island home of Wayne Davis, the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild organized the first of what would become an annual festival in December, 1998. The first Core Sound Waterfowl Festival attracted 1,800 attendees. Later renamed the Core Sound Decoy Festival, the event has attracted over 10,000 tourists to Harkers Island. The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, operated by a separate Board of Directors from the Carvers Guild, is a major year-round tourist attraction for the island. The museum building is a 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) structure located on property leased from the National Park Service. In addition to telling the history of local waterfowl and the traditions of decoy carving, the museum operates exhibits of local historical interest. The museum also hosts events during Waterfowl Weekend, held on the same weekend as the Decoy Festival. The festival weekend is the most important annual event for the Harkers Island tourism economy.
of 2000, there were 1,525 people, 661 households, and 497 families residing in the CDP. The population density
was 598.4 people per square mile (230.9/km²). There were 1,109 housing units at an average density of 435.2 per square mile (167.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.56% White, 0.33% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.07% from other races
, and 0.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.13% of the population.
There were 661 households out of which 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.9% were married couples
living together, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.65.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 15.3% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 21.6% from 25 to 44, 35.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $33,125, and the median income for a family was $35,492. Males had a median income of $37,375 versus $18,913 for females. The per capita income
for the CDP was $19,790. About 13.6% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.8% of those under age 18 and 19.1% of those age 65 or over.
of English, commonly referred to as High tider
, that can be traced back to that of the Elizabethan period
. The dialect of Harkers Island developed in almost complete isolation for over 250 years. Harkers Island English shares features with other regional dialects of the US Atlantic coast. Pronunciation
, vocabulary
, and grammatical constructions
can be traced to eastern and southwestern England. The dialect has survived because the community continues to depend on traditional trades, like fishing, boat building, and decoy carving, and the coastal tourism trade developed on Harkers Island much later than islands like Ocracoke.
Pronunciation in Harkers Island English can be different from the English spoken in the rest of the United States. "High Tide" spoken in Harkers Island English might sound like "Hoi Toide," "Time" sounds like "toime," "fish" is pronounced close to "feesh," "fire" sounds like "far," and "cape" is pronounced "ca'e." The island dialect has also retained anachronistic vocabulary in regular usage. Some examples include "mommick," meaning to frustrate or bother, "yethy," describing stale or unpleasant odor, and "nicket," meaning a pinch of something used as in cooking. The islanders have also developed unique local words used in regular conversation, including "dingbatter" to refer to a visitor or recent arrival to the island, and "dit-dot," a term developed from a joke about Morse code
, and used to describe any visitor to the island who has difficulty understanding the local dialect.
As many as 500 islanders on Harkers Island are directly descended from the Harkers Island and Outer Banks settlers that developed this distinct dialect. Linguists
from North Carolina State University
, East Carolina University
, and other academic institutions continue to conduct research on the island dialect.
, Grace Holiness Church
, Harkers Island Pentecostal Holiness Church
, Harkers Island United Methodist Church
, Huggins Memorial Baptist
Church Parsonage, the Lighthouse Chapel (non-denominational), and the Refuge Fellowship Church (non-denominational).
Census-designated place
A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...
(CDP) in Carteret County
Carteret County, North Carolina
Carteret County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 66,469. Its county seat is Beaufort. Most of the county is part of the Crystal Coast....
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, United States. The population of Harkers Island was 1,623 at the 2007 census. Harkers Island is unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
and receives most public services, including law enforcement and public education, from Carteret County. A membership cooperative provides the island with electric and water services. Major industries on the island include fishing, boat building, tourism, and waterfowl decoy carving.
Formerly named Davers Ile and Craney Island, Harkers Island was occupied by Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
s of the Coree
Coree
The Coree were a very small Native American tribe, who once occupied a coastal area of southeastern North Carolina in the area now covered by Carteret and Craven counties...
tribe when the first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an explorers arrived in the 16th century. [There is another Craney Island community in Perquimans County, NC.] Ownership of Harkers Island was first titled to Farnifold Green, a native of the Carolina colony
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
, by the Lords Proprietors in 1707. Ebenezer Harker purchased the island in 1730, settled there with his family, and built a plantation and boat yard. The island became known as Harkers Island soon after his death. A large immigration of islanders fleeing the hurricane-ravaged Outer Banks
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....
in 1899 dramatically increased the island population, which largely depended on fishing and boat building. Separated from the mainland for centuries, many Harkers Island residents speak a distinct dialect of English.
History
Before the arrival of European explorers and settlers, Harkers Island was inhabited by Native Americans of the Coree tribe, who likely spoke a language of the Algonquian family, like most coastal tribes. The nearby Core SoundCore Sound
The Core Sound is a large and shallow body of water in eastern North Carolina located between the mainland of Carteret County and Core Banks, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, located west of the Atlantic Ocean and north of Bogue Sound. Pamlico Sound is located to the north and east....
and Core Banks are named after the Coree. The Coree left little in the way of evidence of permanent habitation on Harkers Island, except for a large mound
Mound
A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...
of oyster shells at Shell Point on the eastern end of the island. Similar shell mounds were found by Europeans on the Shackleford Banks
Shackleford Banks
Shackleford Banks is a barrier island system on the coast of Carteret County, North Carolina. It contains a herd of feral horses, scallop, crabs and various sea animals, including summer nesting by loggerhead turtles...
and other islands of the Outer Banks. The exact purpose of the mounds for the Coree remains unknown, but varying cultures of indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
in the Southeast had been building major earthwork mounds since 3500 BCE, the Middle Archaic period, usually related to religious and ceremonial uses.
In 1584, an English expedition financed by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe
Arthur Barlowe
Arthur Barlowe was one of two British captains who, under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, left England in 1584 to find land in North America to claim for Queen Elizabeth I of England. His survives in a letter written to Raleigh as a report on their journey...
explored the North Carolina coast for a suitable site for the first English colony in North America. Two Native Americans, Wanchese and Manteo
Manteo (Croatan)
Manteo was a Native American Croatan Indian, the chief of a local tribe that befriended the English explorers that landed at Roanoke Island in 1584. In 1585 the English returned to Roanoke, arriving too late in the year to plant crops and harvest food, and Manteo helped the colonists to make it...
, accompanied the expedition back to England in the fall of 1584. According to local island legend, Wanchese was a Coree from Harkers Island. The island was first charted on the maps drawn by John White
John White (surveyor)
John White was an English artist, and an early pioneer of English efforts to settle the New World. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist and mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor...
during the 1584 expedition, but it was unnamed at the time. The island appears on a 1624 map of the greater Virginia coastline created by Captain John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
. On that map, the island is labeled "Davers Ile", probably for Sir John Davers, one of the founders of Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
in 1607.
On December 20, 1707, Farnifold Green obtained the first patent
Land patent
A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...
for land in the Core Sound area from the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony, which had been established by the English monarch Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in 1633. This patent included Harkers Island, which was then known as Craney Island. On June 25, 1709, Green sold the island to William Brice
William Brice
William Brice was an artist known for his large-scale abstract paintings.-Biography:Born to actress Fannie Brice and gambler/criminal Nicky Arnstein, April 23, 1921, he spent his early years living with his mother and his sister Frances , while their father was in prison on a variety of charges...
for £5, who on the very same day sold it to Thomas Sparrow for £10. Sparrow soon sold the island to Thomas Pollock
Thomas Pollock
Thomas Pollock was a Canadian ice hockey player. He won a gold medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics.-References:...
, who would twice be Governor of North Carolina (from 1712 to 1714 and again in 1722). Pollock did not take up residence on the island, but had several farm buildings erected and then leased to settlers. The 1720 lease to a Captain Stone was £3 a year. Thomas Pollock's son George
George Pollock
Field Marshal Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet, GCB, GCSI was a British soldier.-Military career:Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Pollock was commissioned into the Bengal Artillery in 1803....
inherited the island upon his father's death on August 30, 1722.
Settlement of Ebenezer Harker
George Pollock sold Craney Island to Ebenezer Harker on September 15, 1730 for £400 and "one boate twentey foot long with oars & mast". Harker had immigrated to MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
from England on a ship that set sail from Wales. Living in Boston, Harker had been involved in the whaling trade, and became familiar with the North Carolina coast during this time. Harker had moved to Beaufort, North Carolina
Beaufort, North Carolina
Beaufort is a town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. Established in 1709, it is the third-oldest town in North Carolina.The population was 4,189 at the 2008 census and it is the county seat of Carteret County...
by 1728, where he was appointed a tax collector for the whale oil revenue generated in the area. After purchasing the island, Harker took up residence there with his family and began building a small plantation and boat yard. Harker sold half of the island to his nephew John Stevens
John Stevens
John Stevens may refer to:In politics, law and public service:*John H. Stevens , built the first house west of the Mississippi in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota*John L. Stevens , U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Hawai'i...
of Onslow County
Onslow County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 150,355 people, 48,122 households, and 36,572 families residing in the county. The population density was 196 people per square mile . There were 55,726 housing units at an average density of 73 per square mile...
, North Carolina on March 8, 1733 for £300, with many restrictions on its agricultural use. Prohibited from farming or ranching the land for profit, Stevens eventually sold his half of the island back to his uncle on June 9, 1737 for just £180.
The Harker plantation and boat building facility were located at the western end of the island, near Harker Point, and grew to support an extended family with three sons, two daughters, and at least nine African slaves. Ebenezer would be the last sole landowner of the island. In 1752, he deeded approximately 10 acres (40,500 m²) of the island to his daughter Hepsobeth and her husband Nathan Yeomans as a wedding gift. On his death in 1762, his son Zachariah inherited the western third of the island, an adult slave woman named Vilet, and a young female slave named Daisie. Another son, James, inherited the eastern third of the island, an adult slave woman named Hague and a young male slave named Peter. Ebenezer, jr. inherited the central third of the island, an adult male slave named Jeffrey, and a young male slave named Sutton. Hepsobeth inherited "one barrel of corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
", and Ebenezer's other married daughter, Sarah Freshwater, was given a female slave named Hope. The fate of an elderly female slave named Badge and a young male slave named Ben was left to the heirs to decide. The will referred to Craney Island; the name Harkers Island was only adopted after Ebenezer's death.
The sons of Ebenezer prospered on Harkers Island. Ebenezer, Jr. was elected Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Carteret County in 1758. Zachariah Harker developed a salt works on the western third of Harkers Island in 1776. In the following years, Zachariah and his brothers became supporters of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and Zachariah was appointed as one of five captains in the Carteret Regiment fighting against the British. Harkers Island was involved in the Battle of Beaufort
Battle of Beaufort
The Battle of Beaufort or the Battle of Port Royal Island was a battle of the American Revolutionary War that took place on February 3, 1779 near Beaufort, South Carolina. The British commander of forces at Savannah, Georgia, General Augustine Prevost, sent 200 British regulars to seize Port Royal...
. Revolutionaries used warehouse facilities on Harkers Island to store provisions sought by British troops who had seized the nearby county seat of Beaufort. Thirteen men guarding the stores on Harkers Island, probably led by Zachariah Harker, repulsed British troops in a brief battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
on April 6, 1782. The first national census of 1790
United States Census, 1790
The United States Census of 1790 was the first census conducted in the United States. It recorded the population of the United States as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and applicable laws...
recorded 16 white
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
residents and 13 slaves on Harkers Island. By 1800, the population had expanded to 26 white residents, 16 slaves, and 7 "others", probably those of mixed race or freed slave
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....
s. Ebenezer Jr., James, and Zachariah Harker died in 1803, 1814, and 1824, respectively.
Nineteenth century
Harkers Island remained sparsely populated until the latter part of the 19th century. The island saw no direct military conflict in the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
; however, Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
warships anchored near the island to control access to Bogue Sound
Bogue Sound
Bogue Sound is a medium-sized geographic sound in the state of North Carolina. It separates the Bogue Banks from mainland Carteret County. Morehead City's port is accessed via the Bogue Sound. Two bridges cross the sound: NC 58 on the B...
and Core Sound during the Battle of Fort Macon
Battle of Fort Macon
The Siege of Fort Macon took place from March 23 to April 26, 1862, on the Outer Banks of Carteret County, North Carolina. It was part of Union Army General Ambrose E...
. The besieged Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
garrison at Fort Macon surrendered on April 26, 1862. Harkers Island and the surrounding area remained under Union control for the duration of the war. The few, if any, descendants of the Harker slaves still living on the island likely left soon after emancipation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
. The vast majority of the freed slaves in the coastal societies of Carteret and Craven
Craven County, North Carolina
Craven County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The estimated population in 2006 was 94,875. Its county seat is New Bern.Craven County is part of the New Bern, North Carolina, Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
counties either emigrated to other parts of the state, or moved into their own, separate communities, such as Davis Ridge, the North River Community, and Craven Corner.
In 1864, the first school on the island was established when Miss Jenny Bell came to Harkers Island from Boston, sponsored by the Northern Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
. A fish oil
Fish oil
Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid , and docosahexaenoic acid , precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation throughout the body, and are thought to have many health benefits.Fish do not...
factory was built on the island in 1865 and remained operational until 1873. A small milling facility
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
was built on the west end of the island in 1870 by Louie Larson, an immigrant from Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, but it closed before the turn of the 20th century. Most island residents continued to earn a subsistence living from boat building or fishing.
The Hurricane of 1899
Harkers Island saw an influx of new residents after hurricanes in 1896 and 1899 devastated the communities established on the nearby Core Banks and Shackleford Banks. Mostly fishermen and whalers, the people of the Outer Banks began openly debating the merits of moving after the Hurricane of 1896. William Henry Guthrie of Diamond CityDiamond City, North Carolina
Diamond City was a settlement on the eastern end of Shackleford Banks, in Carteret County, North Carolina.Due to a hurricane that struck in August 1899, the approximately 500 residents of the settlement and island decided to move...
was one of the first to relocate, buying 26 hectares (64.5 acres) of land on Harkers Island in 1897. Some others moved to more sheltered locations on the coast, but most Shackleford residents remained on the Banks. Diamond City was by far the largest town in that area of the coast, with over 700 inhabitants.
Three years later, another hurricane hit the Carolina coast, and this time the disaster for the residents of the Shackleford Banks was total. Diamond City was completely destroyed by the August 17 Hurricane of 1899
1899 Hurricane San Ciriaco
1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, also known as the 1899 Puerto Rico Hurricane, was the longest-lived Atlantic hurricane and the eleventh deadliest tropical cyclone in the basin. It was an intense and long-lived Atlantic Cape Verde-type hurricane which crossed Puerto Rico over the two day period August 8...
. The storm ravaged the Banks' protective sand dunes, and washed away nearly all of the top soil. Orchards and maritime forest on the Banks soon began dying from the salt left behind by the storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
. Homes were ripped from their foundations, shattered, or submerged. Even graves in the local cemeteries were uprooted and disturbed. A botanist who visited the Banks after the storm described the landscape as completely devastated.
Many families used boats to move what was left of their houses, plank by plank, from the Outer Banks to Harkers Island where they could rebuild. Some settled on the Guthrie property, which he began to subdivide. Others purchased or leased land on the island anywhere they could. Some emigrated to Morehead City
Morehead City, North Carolina
Morehead City is a port city in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007...
, on the mainland, where they built a new neighborhood soon nicknamed "The Promised Land". The last resident had left Diamond City by 1902. In the five years between 1895 and 1900, the population of Harkers Island expanded fourfold from just 13 extended families to over 1,000 residents. The island had gone from being one of the smallest communities in Carteret County to one of the largest.
Elders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) prosyleted extensively on Harkers Island after the hurricanes. Many of the refugees from Diamond City, uprooted physically and emotionally by the devastating hurricanes, converted to the Latter Day Saints, and soon outnumbered the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had been founded on the island in 1875. A national wave of anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
sentiment was sparked by the Smoot Hearings
Smoot Hearings
The Reed Smoot hearings were a series of Congressional hearings on whether the United States Senate should seat U.S. Senator Reed Smoot, who was elected by the Utah legislature in 1903...
in 1904, fueling fears that Mormons secretly continued to practice polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
. The relationship between the Mormons on Harkers Island and their neighbors deteriorated. Residents threw rocks and oyster shells through the windows of the LDS church and fired at least one gunshot into the building. In 1906, arsonists burned the church building to the ground. Organized Mormon religious services did not resume on Harkers Island until 1909. A new LDS church building was constructed on the island in the 1930s. Despite these difficult beginnings, Harker's Island has one of the highest percentages of residents as members of the Latter-day Saints of any locality in North Carolina.
Twentieth century
Harkers Island gradually became more connected to North Carolina and the world at large early in the 20th century. With the influx of new residents from the Outer Banks, a post office was opened in 1904. The first public road to extend the length of the island, Harkers Island Drive, was built in 1926 when a footpath was widened and paved with the oyster shells from the Coree mound at Shell Point. The road was hard paved by the county in 1936. The road and the post office were connected to the mainland by a ferry service until the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge was built in 1941. A wooden structure, the bridge connected the northwestern end of Harkers Island to the small town of Straits directly to the north. The location of the bridge was a matter of some local controversy at the time. Most islanders would have preferred a bridge to the west, connecting the island directly to the city of Beaufort with its commercial infrastructure and the county hospital. Local politics and the shorter distance to Straits likely dictated the final location of the bridge. A local political effort to relocate the bridge during its renovation to a steel structure in 1966 also failed.The 1933 Outer Banks Hurricane which made landfall on September 15 would forever change the economy of Harkers Island. The storm was blamed for at least 21 fatalities in North Carolina (although none on Harkers Island) and an estimated $1 million USD of damage. The storm surge
Storm surge
A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...
damaged fisheries and inland waterways, but there was one unexpected beneficial result. Retreating storm surge and heavy rainfall combined to carve out a new channel in the Banks, separating the Core Banks from the Shackleford Banks near the Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
The Cape Lookout Lighthouse is a 163-foot high lighthouse located on the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. It flashes every 15 seconds and is visible at least 12 miles out to sea and up to 19 miles. The Cape Lookout Light is one of the very few lighthouses that operate during the day. It...
. This new channel gave Harkers Island fishermen a new, direct access route to offshore fishing grounds. The new channel was named Barden Inlet after US Senator Graham Barden, who sponsored legislation to require that the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
use dredging equipment to maintain the new channel.
More economic opportunity for Harkers Island came as the country began pulling itself out of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Electrification came to the island in 1939. Harkers Island Rural Electric Authority was the first electrical cooperative in the United States to supply power to members through a submarine cable system. In November, 1941, the construction of a new United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Air Station at Cherry Point, thirty miles to the northwest of Harkers Island, brought more wage-earning jobs to the local economy. When the United States entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Harkers Island was on the front lines. German submarines patrolled the North Carolina coast and sank merchant shipping traffic, especially oil tankers. Island residents could watch the tankers burning offshore at night. Further improvements in the island's utility services would have to wait until after the war. Telephone service finally arrived in 1948.
The man who primarily owned most of the property on Harkers Island at this time was Earl Davis.
The National Seashore
The Shackleford BanksShackleford Banks
Shackleford Banks is a barrier island system on the coast of Carteret County, North Carolina. It contains a herd of feral horses, scallop, crabs and various sea animals, including summer nesting by loggerhead turtles...
played an important economic role for the people of Harkers Island throughout much of the 20th century. Islanders continued to use the Banks for livestock grazing, including sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. Harkers Island fishermen first built seasonal camps and later cottages on the Banks. A herd of wild horses on the Shackleford Banks provided new colts every spring to those from Harkers Island who rounded them up. The islanders viewed the improvements of cottages, horse corrals
Pen (enclosure)
A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. The term describes multiple types of enclosures that may confine one or many animals. Construction and terminology varies depending on region of the world, purpose, animal species to be confined, local materials used, and cultural tradition...
, and campsites as an extension of their economic livelihood on Harkers Island.
All of that would change with the government determination to acquire the barrier islands for public park land. The state of North Carolina began purchasing land on the Core Banks and Shackleford Banks in 1959 with the intention of creating a state park. The federal government became interested a few years later, and envisioned the Outer Banks of North Carolina being included in a string of national seashores stretching the length of the United States Atlantic coast. After negotiations between the state of North Carolina and the United States Department of the Interior
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior is the United States federal executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native...
, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed a law authorizing the creation of a Cape Lookout National Seashore
Cape Lookout National Seashore
Cape Lookout National Seashore preserves a 56-mile long section of the Southern Outer Banks, or Crystal Coast, of North Carolina, USA, running from Ocracoke Inlet on the northeast to Beaufort Inlet on the southeast. Three undeveloped barrier islands make up the seashore - North Core Banks, South...
, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on March 10, 1966.
Conversion of the Banks to a national park brought much turmoil to Harkers Island. Many Harkers Island fishermen discovered that cottages and other improvements they had made on the Banks were on land that would be condemned
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
. Many land deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
s had recording errors, some had been poorly surveyed, and natural changes to the shorelines affected many claims. Few of the cottages that had been built were on land that the builders owned. Legal eviction and condemnation proceedings lasted into the 1980s. The creation of the park also ended the open grazing of livestock on the Banks by December 31, 1985. A herd of wild horses, descended from Spanish horses that swam to shore from shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s in the 16th century, was allowed to remain on the Banks. in late December of that year, a series of arson fires destroyed most of the major structures on the Shackleford Banks, including a recently constructed park visitor center. An inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
failed to discover the arsonists.
The creation of the National Seashore marked the end of a lifestyle practiced by many Harkers Island residents. Fishing and boat building remain important components of the community's economy, but are increasingly augmented with tourism. Visitors arrive at Harkers Island seeking access to the National Seashore, for sport fishing opportunities, and to experience the local cultural heritage of the islands.
Geography
Harkers Island is located at 34°41′40"N 76°33′19"W (34.694503, -76.555383).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the CDP has a total area of 3.8 square miles (9.8 km²), of which, 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²) of it is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²) of it (33.77%) is water. At its highest point, the island is 16 feet (2 m) above mean sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, in what is known as the area the "sand hole". The "sand hole is area on the western end of the island made up of mostly white sand on rolling dunes. Something you may see on the Outerbanks.
Harkers Island is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the barrier islands of the Shackleford Banks to the south and the Core Banks to the east. The body of water directly south of the island is Back Sound
Back Sound
The Back Sound is a large and shallow body of water in eastern North Carolina. It located between the mainland of Carteret County and Harkers Island to the north, and Shackleford Banks to the south. To the east is the Core Banks and Portsmouth Island. Beaufort and Morehead City are located to the...
. To the east is Core Sound, to the north is The Straits
The Straits
The Straits is an upcoming Australian television drama series for ABC1 currently being filmed in Cairns and other Far North Queensland locations....
, and to the northeast is the mouth of the North River
North River (North Carolina)
The North River is a tidal river, approximately 18 miles long, in eastern North Carolina, the United States. It forms the boundary between Currituck and Camden counties....
. The Straits are shallow but navigable by those with local experience. There are two small bays on the north side of the island, Westmouth Bay and Eastmouth Bay. North of Eastmouth Bay is Browns Island, which is accessible only by boat. Harkers Island Road, designated as State Road 1335, connects the island to the mainland by the Earl C. Davis Memorial Bridge, a steel draw bridge built in 1968 to replace a wooden bridge built in 1941.
Government and services
Harkers Island is unincorporated and receives most public services, including law enforcement and public education, from Carteret County. Law enforcement on the island is provided by the Carteret County Sheriff Department. The only public school on the island, Harkers Island Elementary, educates students from kindergarten through eighth gradeEighth grade
Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...
, and is operated by Carteret County Public Schools. The school has won the state Battle of the Books competition twice and has been to the competition for four years in a row, both are state records. There are no hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s on Harkers Island. The local newspaper is the Carteret County News-Times
Carteret County News-Times
The Carteret County News-Times is a newspaper based in Morehead City, North Carolina covering Carteret County....
, published in Morehead City
Morehead City, North Carolina
Morehead City is a port city in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007...
. Electricity service and drinking water are both provided by the Harkers Island Electric Membership Corporation, a cooperative
Utility cooperative
A utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members...
operating as both a Rural Electrical Authority and the manager of the water system for the Harkers Island Sanitary District since 1969.
Economy
Major industries on the island include fishing, boat building, tourism, and (more recently) waterfowl decoy carving. In 2003, the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
reported 33 business establishments on Harkers Island employing 169 people. A majority of the business fall into Retail and Food Services (13) or Construction, Manufacturing, and Warehousing (11). The businesses in the latter category are almost entirely associated with boat building, boat repair, and boat storage. Many island residents are self-employed in the fishing trade. A relatively large percentage of island residents are over the age of 65 and/or retired
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
.
Commercial fishing has always been an important component of the island economy. Historically, this trade included whaling and the hunting of dolphins. Until ice became available in the 1920s, the primary commercial catch was mullet, which was caught near the beaches of Shackleford Bank and Core Bank and salted on shore. In the late 19th century, the Core Sound area produced 80% of the salted mullet sold on the United States east coast. An ice plant was built in nearby Beaufort in 1920, and fish houses were established on the island to process fish and shellfish. Some bay areas on the north side of the island have been developed for harvesting cultured shellfish. In addition to mullet, the commercial fishing industry of Harkers Island brings in oysters, clams, shrimp, scallop
Scallop
A scallop is a marine bivalve mollusk of the family Pectinidae. Scallops are a cosmopolitan family, found in all of the world's oceans. Many scallops are highly prized as a food source...
s, crabs, spot
Spot
The common noun or verb spot has many meanings in English.Otherwise, Spot or SPOT may refer to:-Fiction:* Spot the Dog, a series of children's books adapted for animation* Spot , a character in 101 Dalmatians: The Series...
, croaker
Sciaenidae
Sciaenidae is a family of fish commonly called drums, croakers, or hardheads for the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make...
, trout, flounder
Flounder
The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic...
, bluefish
Bluefish
The bluefish , called tailor in Australia, is a species of popular marine gamefish found in all climates. It is the sole species of the Pomatomidae family....
, and mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
.
Tourism on Harkers Island is becoming a more important part of the local economy. The United States National Park Service operates the Cape Lookout National Seashore Visitors Center on Harkers Island. Ferry service from Harkers Island is one of the principal means of tourist access to Cape Lookout and the Shackleford Banks. Big-game fishing
Big-game fishing
Big-game fishing, often referred to as offshore sportfishing, offshore gamefishing, or blue-water fishing is a form of recreational fishing, targeting large fish renowned for their sporting qualities, such as tuna and marlin.-History:...
operations cater to growing demand for sport fishing in the area. Other tourism related industries include gift shops, local artists, hotels, and restaurants. Despite growth in the tourist trades and the local effort to make the island a top destination for waterfowl enthusiasts, Harkers Island continues to have some of the least developed tourist facilities on the Crystal Coast
Crystal Coast
The Crystal Coast is an 85-mile stretch of coastline in North Carolina that extends from the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes 56 miles of protected beaches, westward to the New River. It is also known as the Southern Outer Banks and is a popular area with tourists and second-home...
.
One of the fastest growing industries on the island is waterfowl enthusiast tourism. Founded in 1987 at the Harkers Island home of Wayne Davis, the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild organized the first of what would become an annual festival in December, 1998. The first Core Sound Waterfowl Festival attracted 1,800 attendees. Later renamed the Core Sound Decoy Festival, the event has attracted over 10,000 tourists to Harkers Island. The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, operated by a separate Board of Directors from the Carvers Guild, is a major year-round tourist attraction for the island. The museum building is a 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) structure located on property leased from the National Park Service. In addition to telling the history of local waterfowl and the traditions of decoy carving, the museum operates exhibits of local historical interest. The museum also hosts events during Waterfowl Weekend, held on the same weekend as the Decoy Festival. The festival weekend is the most important annual event for the Harkers Island tourism economy.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,525 people, 661 households, and 497 families residing in the CDP. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 598.4 people per square mile (230.9/km²). There were 1,109 housing units at an average density of 435.2 per square mile (167.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 98.56% White, 0.33% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.07% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.13% of the population.
There were 661 households out of which 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.9% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.65.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 15.3% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 21.6% from 25 to 44, 35.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49 years. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $33,125, and the median income for a family was $35,492. Males had a median income of $37,375 versus $18,913 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the CDP was $19,790. About 13.6% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.8% of those under age 18 and 19.1% of those age 65 or over.
Local dialect
With a long history of physical and economic isolation from mainland North Carolina, residents of Harkers Island and other Outer Banks islands, such as Ocracoke, have developed a distinct dialectDialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of English, commonly referred to as High tider
High tider
"High Tider" or sometimes "Hoi Toider" is a nickname for a native of the rural eastern coast region of the U.S. state of North Carolina, specifically from several small townships such as Atlantic, Smyrna, Sea Level, and Harkers Island in eastern Carteret County, and from Ocracoke...
, that can be traced back to that of the Elizabethan period
Early Modern English
Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase of Early Modern English...
. The dialect of Harkers Island developed in almost complete isolation for over 250 years. Harkers Island English shares features with other regional dialects of the US Atlantic coast. Pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
, vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
, and grammatical constructions
English grammar
English grammar is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses and sentences...
can be traced to eastern and southwestern England. The dialect has survived because the community continues to depend on traditional trades, like fishing, boat building, and decoy carving, and the coastal tourism trade developed on Harkers Island much later than islands like Ocracoke.
Pronunciation in Harkers Island English can be different from the English spoken in the rest of the United States. "High Tide" spoken in Harkers Island English might sound like "Hoi Toide," "Time" sounds like "toime," "fish" is pronounced close to "feesh," "fire" sounds like "far," and "cape" is pronounced "ca'e." The island dialect has also retained anachronistic vocabulary in regular usage. Some examples include "mommick," meaning to frustrate or bother, "yethy," describing stale or unpleasant odor, and "nicket," meaning a pinch of something used as in cooking. The islanders have also developed unique local words used in regular conversation, including "dingbatter" to refer to a visitor or recent arrival to the island, and "dit-dot," a term developed from a joke about Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
, and used to describe any visitor to the island who has difficulty understanding the local dialect.
As many as 500 islanders on Harkers Island are directly descended from the Harkers Island and Outer Banks settlers that developed this distinct dialect. Linguists
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
from North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
, East Carolina University
East Carolina University
East Carolina University is a public, coeducational, engaged doctoral/research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statute and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina, the university is the largest institution of higher learning in...
, and other academic institutions continue to conduct research on the island dialect.
Religion
In 2006, Harkers Island had eight Christian churches. Established churches and religious organizations on Harkers Island include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Free Grace Wesleyan ChurchWesleyan Church
"Wesleyan" has been used in the title of a number of historic and current denominations, although the subject of this article is the only denomination to use that specific title...
, Grace Holiness Church
Holiness movement
The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
, Harkers Island Pentecostal Holiness Church
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
The International Pentecostal Holiness Church or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church is a Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Traditionally centered in the Southeastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, the Pentecostal...
, Harkers Island United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
, Huggins Memorial Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church Parsonage, the Lighthouse Chapel (non-denominational), and the Refuge Fellowship Church (non-denominational).
Further reading
- Hancock, Joel G. (1998) Strengthened by the Storm: The Coming of the Mormons to Harkers Island, N.C., 1897-1909. Campbell & Campbell, December, 1998.