Roy Eubanks made this mid-century photo–courtesy of Richard Gillikin
When the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum selected “The Club House” for the year 2000 membership print by Lena Ennis, they acknowledged that it “represents generations of Core Sound waterfowling history”.
There was, and is, a spiritual connection to famiy memories, individual life-stories, and century long community connections. Locals were and are proud of the club—and they mourn its loss. The remains of the collapsing clubhouse seem like a sad, un-tended grave awaiting locals to visit. They do.
Historically, the Core Banks Gun and Rod Club represents the last of the “golden age’ of waterfowling history straddling the late 1800s and following century on Core Banks.
Locals remember the men from northern states who began the fishing and hunting lodge, the later visits by notables like Babe Ruth, Sam Snead, and Bob Timberlake, and the evolution to regional ownership. But mostly, they remember what “The Clubhouse” was to them.
The club sat upon their multigenerational lands (deeds show some retained their hunting and fishing rights when they sold it), and locals built it, they provided and transported the materials (upon sailing skiffs), they staffed it with the cooks, caretakers and guides, and they shared it.
The club became, and remains, a geographic reference point on the Banks for locals —just as their personal memories are anchored and “touchstoned” by experiences there. When they share their personal stories, the listener can almost see the gleam in the eye of an awestruck youngster seeing the gun rack full of glistening new Browning shotguns, or can share the chuckle as told the memories, from teen age, of using a wheel barrow full of wooden decoys (made by now-famous carvers, and replaced by fancy plastic ones) for starting the morning fires. Memories held by many locals of their first experiences with running water, a telephone or a radio originated on visits to “the club house”.
To many, because it has been there since 1902, the Core Banks Club has been “always there”—across multiple generations again. Many younger adults still share stories of overnights spent off-season in the club and meals eaten at the same counter as the winter-time hunters, or playing as youngsters on its dunes—all under the supervision of the caretaker.
Members of the club tried to find constructive ways for the “club house” to extend its lifespan as a shared Park/club use–as a scout camp, as an educational center, or as a community resource. More recent efforts also failed to succeed, finalized by its the storm and neglect-generated structural collapse.
“The Club House” was an extension of Davis —it sat in their “front yard” four miles across the sound. “Captains of Industry” may have founded it, Carolinian businessmen may have acquired it, but “The Club House” spiritually was part of their community.
Evolution of the Club’s changes–
(Information about each of these entities can be found by clicking on the red text or initiating a “search” of that name)
1902–1933 Carteret Gun and Rod Club
“They boarded iron horses in New jersey and New York to escape the bitter winter and the stresses of the boardroom. After a leisurely dinner in the first-class car, a sniffer of cognac and a fine cigar, they retired for the evening. These northern captains of industry—steel and railway tycoons mostly—awoke the next morning a world away in North Carolina.
They came for pintails and canvasback; they came for scaup and geese. They came for a respite from the busy world that they created, dominated and owned, these well-to-do Yankee sportsmen. In pursuit of waterfowl, they established hunting clubs, great and small, along the North Carolina coast. Many came to Core Sound, where the redhead was king.”—
“Sheltered from the harsh Atlantic Ocean by the Core Banks to the east, Core Sound’s productive waters, stretching some 30 miles from Cape lookout to Portsmouth Island, provided a rich nursery for fish and a winter haven for waterfowl. These bountiful waters sustained native peoples and settlers alike for generations. For wealthy northern sportsmen entering the 20th century, this was the perfect place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the booming Industrial Age.”
(Rodney Foushee—Core Sound’s Historic Hunting Clubs—Wildlife in North Carolina-Vol. 63-Issue 12—Dec. 1999—pg 10-13)
Benjamin F. Vosburg transferred his earlier land purchases to the newly (1902) formed Carteret Gun and Rod Club–joining fellow trustees: Alexander S. Williams, Andrew B. Rogers, John W. Jascobus and Justin Von Engeske. Initial caretaker and guide, Ammie Paul, also was an initial member. In 1901, Vosburg had acquired the W. A. Ballard and Co. wharf, houses and holdings in Davis. and S. H. and Nancy Styron (and others) sold 4 acres known as “Cedar Banks”–“near Cedar Landing” to him. The club continued to purchase surrounding properties through the years–including Horse Island opposite Piney Point, the 70 acre Nelson tract on the “northwest side of the Swash” and others. Eventually, the club would hold more than a thousand acres and two miles of property along both ocean and sound.
Raymond Paul—Jack Dudley documents that Raymond served as “boss carpenter” in building the 1902 Club. Other Carpenters were Edward Styron, Carson and Edward Murphy, William Finley Styron (chief cook) and others. “Anyone who could drive a nail was given a job and paid a dollar a day, but some did not like the ten hour workdays.”
Ammie Paul–(1872 – 1952) Davis, NC
Ammie Paul, the son of carpenter and duck hunter Raymond Paul (c.1840 – ?), was born and raised in the small community of Davis which is located in Carteret County, the geographic center of coastal North Carolina. Paul made a living as a blacksmith, saw mill worker, and commercial fisherman. He is best remembered for his avocation as avid duck hunter, occasional guide, decoy carver and owner of a flock of live decoy ducks. Paul was the first caretaker of the Carteret Gun and Rod Club on Core Banks across the sound from Davis.
Mitchell Fulcher worked as a hunting guide during this era. Other local guides were Martin Ross and Kilby Davis. Other local caretakers included Walter Moore of Beaufort, George Willis of Hatteras, but Davis supplied future caretakers.
Leroy Davis and wife, Bertha were caretakers from 1915 till 1945. Samuel and Etta Salter of Portsmouth were assistant caretakers. (Davis is seen here with his mother, Jane)
Jack Dudley’s book— Southern Outer Banks—provides the best available compilation of textual history and photos outlining the clubs story. (the photos of Davis and the Pauls are from this book)
1933–1946 Cedar Banks Club, Inc.
World War I, the Great Depression, and the 1933 storm impacted the industrialists who had established the Core Banks Gun and Rod Club and the Pilentary Hunting Club. Roy Willis, of Stacy, has mentioned that changes in the local environment had also diminished the waterfowl available. Hunt clubs changed hands as a result of these events.
Clubhouse repairs following the1933 storm had taken about a year to complete. Jack Dudley relates that the club, in the 1940s, saw fluctuating use—members visiting in late spring and early summer to fish and returning for winter hunting seasons.
“When Leroy Davis took the caretakers job, there were possibly as many as sixty members, most from up north. After the 1933 storm, a new corporation was formed and the club was renamed the Cedar Banks Club. The members were Louis Noe, Phillip Coffin, Charles Geiger, John Geiger, and Clifford MacEvoy, all from New Jersey. Leroy Davis was given one share. When Leroy left in 1946, only two members remained, brothers Charles and John Geiger. Many had left after the storm of 1933.”
(from Jack Dudley’s Carteret Waterfowl Heritage)
1946–1970 Core Banks Rod and Gun Club, Inc.
In 1946, a group of outdoorsmen from Kinston, NC began the next chapter of the club’s story. Ward Bradshaw provided photos of his dad Ed (the treasurer) and artifacts from his dad’s records.
The Geigers, the prior owners, apparently found the distance and expense impractical.
1970–1975 Core Banks Club Properties, Inc.
Ion Lane Lewis, of Davis, was caretaker when th club burned on may 26, 1970. He and the members escaped the fire but the club had to be re-built. A survey of the club holdings had just been done as part of negotiations with the Park Service and gives a snapshot of the time. (follow the link to this entity to see that report).
John Hagan has related the rich family memories of their time spanning the Rod and Gun Club and evolution to the next phases of the story as North Carolina and the Federal acquisitions began to create the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Congress and the Department of interior had begun circulating preliminary plans in 1934 and Park creation followed Presidential signing of the 1966 bill.
Club re-organization occurred as the “writing on the wall” made all aware of the limitations on this way of Banks life and a need to fight to retain as much of, and , as many years of, their existence there. While advocating for their future, they continued their experiences there .
Eventually, they obtained a 25 year lease of the club and a 3 acre plot and runway, while having the club holdings purchased for about a million dollars. They held over a thousand acres and more than 2 miles of ocean and sound front in the negotiations.
The Core Banks Club was the “end of an era” when it moved off the banks in 1999.
Through the “evolution” of name and organizational changes, to locals, it has always been known as “The Club House”. Being the most recent to function and the club of the longest duration, the origin of the Theodore Roger’s Pilentary Club preceded its founding. ( Pilentary Club–Nov. 1885–1933).
John Hagan with a pheasant shot at the club. Not native, the pheasants were transplanted on these banks by caretaker Wardie Murphy.
2000–Present Core Banks Club, LLC –Davis, NC
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Why is the story of the Carteret Rod and Gun Club so precious, so special, to the local Downeast community?
The impact of the establishment of the club extended beyond the wealthy businessmen/sportsmen who came to hunt or fish with their friends, clients or business associates-up to 24 at a time. Their families and friends came to the club outside of the hunting season to vacation (though no women were allowed during the season). As the club came to be owned by in-state membership, the use by family and friends expanded. John Hagan is quoted as regretting that kids and grandkids would “no longer be able to have experiences like that of the preceding generation”.
But what about locals? “The Clubhouse”, as it was known, seemed a part of the fabric of Davis—sitting 4 miles across the sound—bringing wide impact and connection to the Downeast community. Raymond Paul, chief carpenter, led local builders to erect the structures (beginning as early as 1898, completed for use in 1902). They were paid $1 a day for their ten hour day as they completed the clubhouse, accessory structures and the homes for the caretakers. Local sailboats and skiffs ferried supplies across to ther site.
Davis supplied almost all the caretakers, seasonal guides and cooks for the function of the club. Materials, provisions, ferry service and mainland dockage was provided locally through the years.
Off season, the “Club House” was used for family outings to the Banks or as an access point from which to head to the Cape for square dances at Mr. hunter’s store or just to visit. Church outings used the site for gatherings. The youth are described as running up and down the dunes and cavorting on the Banks. Many had their first exposure to running water, the first private telephone or to the radio at the club. The pier made for a functional and convenient access for locals.
On at least one Christmas season, the guide carried 10-20 redheads (preferred over turkey) from the club harvest to local homes for their Christmas dinners.
If you talk with Ricky Nelson or Richard Gillikin about club memories in their youth, you can almost see their mind go back in time to describe the wonder and special memories they retain. Helping clean ducks for $1 each, or getting the fires going in the morning ( often using wooden decoys for starters), or the rack full of expensive Brownings—oh yes, and the food.
There was and is a sense of ownership or partnership that locals seem to feel about the Rod and Gun Club. They also share a common sense of loss, and a feeling of regret, at the demise of this community landmark.
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