BATTLE BOYS CAMP

Contents

Story
Decoys
Credits

🟡 STRONG RESEARCH VOLUME

OWNERS

Salter-Battle Hunting and Fishing Lodge


Portsmouth Hunting and Fishing Club

Date
Date

OTHER ASSOCIATIONS

Associations


LOCATION
Sheep Island, North Core Banks

Story

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Title

Having fallen into disrepair beyond available funding for preservation and consideration as a safety hazard, the structure was demolished in 2021 by the Park Service.

Also known as the Portsmouth Hunting and Fishing Club, the camp/lodge was located on Sheep Island.  Built around 1945, it was a simple one-story structure–frame set on concrete piers.  A landing strip provided access by air as well as water for hunters.  The screen porch seen above was added in 1948.

A small cemetery  was located several hundred feet southeast of the structure.  Graves included John Wallace (1758-1810) and wife Rebecca (1771-1823), Sarah Babb (1/28/1896–10/6/1896)  and Virginia Babb (12/16/06 to 1/3/1907).  The Babb family were previously on the property.

The layout was a large all-purpose room with bedrooms and storage to each end.  The lodge faced southward.

Recreational fishing and waterfowl hunting were a prominent activity from the 1870s to the 1950s.  An earlier lodge at the site was dismantled and moved off the island after a hurricane in 1938 partially destroyed it. (select facts from Keane’s report are being restated).  The rustic structure stood as a symbol of the hunting and fishing legacy in the area. (see Keane document referenced below–for more details and history).

Researched for the NPS and Historic designation:

References (from Wikipedia):


  1. a b “National Register Information System”. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ Beth Keane (April 2004). “Salter-Battle Hunting and Fishing Lodge” (pdf). National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-08-01.

“BATTLE BROS.–NICHOLS, S.C.”

“Governor” Wallace’s graven near the Battle Camp.

Inscriptions on the tombstones

from NPS files

According to Jack Dudley, Monroe Gaskill (and brothers Tom and Luther) served as haunting guides for many years.————–

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Battle family records show that the Salters sold two parcels of land on Sheep Island to J. R. Battle, L. F.Kirby, and W. G. Nichols ofMarion County, South Carolina in 1927 and 1928 (Book 00, Page 100 and Book 2, page 18).’ It is not known if the new owners had a separate building constructed for their use or if the Salters and the new owners shared the Salter House forhuntingandfishingpurposes. Itisknownthatthepartially-destroyedSalterhousewas dismantled and moved to Atlantic after a 1938 hurricane. In ca. 1945, the Salters dismantled

another building in Atlantic, moved it to Sheep Island, and rebuilt it as a replacement for their first hunting and fishing lodge. (According to family oral history the building was a barracks building at a milita..y installation at Atlantic.) The new lodge was situated on the ban..ks of the Pamlico Sound, near the burial site of John Wallace and his wife, Rebecca. The Salters and their children continued to return periodically to the lodge to hunt, fish; and relax. (application for Historic Registry–full link below)

One interior view–photo courtesy of Martha Day

from NPS documents–undated \photo of a bedroom and storage shed/garage

The Ross Salter/ Bobby Hill camp at the top and Battle Bros. camp to left of center (Sheep Island, not Evergreen Island)

1993 photo by Murray Adams, courtesy of Martha Day.

2003 NPS aerial photo

Earlier wooden cistern at rear of camp.

It appears that Sam Jones, like he did for other Portsmouth properties, purchased this property and leased the property back to the owners for nominal fees. The NPS was honoring leases that were in force at time of property purchase for the park and Sam Jones appears to have facilitated continued use of several camps by their owners in this way.

Post Hurricane Florence.

Decoys

Credits

  1. Martha Day–photographs and interview
  2. Clay Fulcher, III interviews
  3. Gateway to the Atlantic World, 2016 (pdf, 49.5 MB)–comprehensive historical and cultural information on the Cape Lookout Seashore–NPS
  4.  Beth Keane (April 2004). “Salter-Battle Hunting and Fishing Lodge” (pdf). National Register of Historic Places – Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  5. Other references within text