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[Page 75]
Diary,
Manteo, Dare Co. N.C.
August 25, 1888.
Saturday.
Manteo and its surroundings.
Manteo is a quiet little hamlet situated on the eastern side of Roanoke
Island, a little north of the center, on what was formerly Trinity Harbor,
now Manteo Bay.
It derived it's name from the friendly Indian (Manteo) who accompanied
Amadas and Barlowe back to England after their first visit to this place
A.D. 1584.
At present it has four stores, C.H.P.O. and about a dozen very neat
dwellings and is progressing very rapid [rapidly]. Its greatest hinderance being a like [lack] of good transportation.
The land slopes gradually down to the bay which is one of the lovliest
sheets of water in this country.
It is almost a perfect oval in shape, about 3 miles in circumference, from
4 to 5 feet deep, and opens into Roanoke sound.
Admirably situated for bathing and fishing it's gifts are much enjoyed by
visitors here in the summer and by sportsmen in the winter for killing
wild fowl.
Nothing is nicer than to rise early in the morning sail about two miles to
Ballast Point, in the bracing morning air and return in a few hours with a
fine bunch of trout and croaker, or after the days work is over to take a
boat row about 200 yards from the warf and enjoy an excellent salt bath.
Viewed from a slight elevation in the village, the bay and its surroundings
present a scene of quiet loveliness and beauty. Landlocked by low green
marshes and bordered by a dense growth of live oaks and pine whose partial
openings here and there disclose a neat dwelling it lies laughing and
smiling before you.
Here, too, are some spots sacred in history and fable. To the right is the
point of land know [known] as
Ballast Point because it is said that Amandas and Barlowe threw over their
ballast there in 1584.
[Page 76]
Diary
Manteo[,] Dare, Co. N.C.
August 25, 1888.
Saturday. (con.)
Whether this be so I cannot tell but there is a large amount of ballast
there and it is now prized as one of the best fishing grounds in the
sound.
They called the bay Trinity Harbor on account, I suppose of three inlets
that then entered near it.
To the left about 4 miles across Roanoke sound is Nags Head the favorite
watering place for eastern N.C. It is situated on the low sand ridge that
borders the ocean along the coast.
As the setting sun throws his sheen of light upon this strip of land it
gives it the appearence of a ribbon of gold thrown across a canopy of dark
green. After the shadows have ceased to fall and the sable curtains of
night shroud earth in darkess there comes a gleam from the light tower on
Oregon Inlet which holds it [its]
friendly beacon 150 ft. above the water to warn the storm tossed mariner
of the treacherous sands that bid not far beneath his keel.
