Carrie Arendell-Davis House

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Historic Structure report—–available on line

Lewis-Davis House

According to the National Register nomination, the house was built by Carrie Davis around 1930. However, Clark Davis, the current tenant, stated unequivocally that it was, in fact, built in the 1920s by his uncle James L. “Jimmy” Lewis,

who sold the property to Carrie Davis when he retired from the Coast Guard in 1931.16 There is no recorded deed for the sale, although there is a recorded deed for her purchase of what would be her commercial property on the shore of the Bight in 1932.

Carrie Davis was born Carrie F. Arrendale on October 6, 1875, the daughter of Thomas Arrendale and Martha Oglesby, in Newport, N. C.20 Very little of her early life has been docu- mented beyond her marriage to Henry G. Pierce on May 17, 1893.  How long they remained married has not been documented, nor is it known if any children were born of that marriage. By 1915, Pierce was either dead or they had divorced, and she had remarried. Her new husband, who had also been previ- ously married, was Frederick S. Davis, a native New Yorker born about 1863. Their only child, a daughter named Edith, was born about 1915, and although the family has not been located in the 1920 census, they are shown in the 1930 census living on Arrendale Street, perhaps in her parents’ old house, in Morehead City.

In December 1932, Sterling Davis sold Carrie
Davis (no family relationship has been documented) a 50’ by 100’ lot “fronting the shore” ofCape Lookout Bight.22 It is not clear if the three buildings photographed on the site during World War II were there when Carrie Davis bought the property in 1932 or if she had them built. In one of the buildings, Davis operated a small general store, and next door to it was a large, hipped-roof, screened pavilion that was a popular dance hall. In addition, by World War II, Davis had apparently built a house for her- self next to the store and dance hall and rented the smaller Lewis-Davis House near the Coast Guard Station that she had bought from Jimmy Lewis. Her husband had apparently died be- tween 1930 and 1932 and she may have moved to Cape Lookout for financial reasons. (from the Historic Structure Report)