THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506150237
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 36 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 30 lines
Courtesy of the Outer Banks History Center
The mail boat plying the route between Atlantic and Ocracoke didn't
exactly call at Portsmouth, but it came near enough for Carl Dixon,
in the foreground, to meet it in his skiff around 1940. Fortunately
for him, he had to wheel the letters and parcels only as far as the
post office. Portsmouth, laid out in 1753, was the first town on the
Outer Banks, and through the 1850s it was the largest center of
population. The Civil War started Portsmouth on a century-long
decline by driving away many residents and disrupting the traffic
through Ocracoke Inlet. Railroads, canals and highways prevented
that traffic from returning to antebellum levels. Unlike Ocracoke,
on the opposite side of the inlet, Portsmouth was unable to shift
successfully from piloting, lighterage and transshipment to fishing
and tourism. By World War II, it was well on its way to becoming a
ghost town. Today, it's part of Cape Lookout National Seashore, and
its only inhabitants are volunteer caretakers, fishermen or
campers.
by CNB