Dr. Luther Fulcher Camp

Story

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Interview with Judy Fulcher Williams, 2021——-

Dr Fulcher and his family spent a great deal of time at Dr Way’s camp on Shackleford Banks , Judy recalled–often going over for a couple of weeks at a time.  When going to Dr. Way’s camp on Shackleford, Fred Guthrie (who ferried them over) had to watch for the submerged remains of a cistern near shore.  It had been in the middle of a grassy yard at the homesite of his family early in the 1900s.  Not long after Dr Fulcher’s wife found Judy sleeping in the  camp crib with a snake lying alongside, Dr. Fulcher built a camp at Cape Lookout for the family.  Judy describes Dr Ways camp as simple and rough.

(Dr. Brady Way assures me that his dad had no camp on Shackleford or the Banks–this may have occurred at Dr. Moore’s camp which was on Shackleford Banks )

The Fulcher camp was near the Coast Guard station.  It was a simple two bedroom and one great room structure. It began without an indoor bathroom but later a small one was added onto a portion of the porch.

(Janet’s family photo from her home depicts and validates the identity of their camp)

There were just a couple off other houses there at the time and the camp was alongside a big dune just across the road.  The Coast Guard station was to the right or south of the cabin.

Alongside the camp was a wide expanse of flat land (now filled with shrubs and trees–none then however) covered in stiff low grass, uncomfortable to walk upon but providing grazing for the wildlife.

Judy went  to this camp from age eight (1953) until about 20 years of age with her dad and family.  That was about the time the camp was sold.   Judy strongly believes the property was owned and ownership transferred at sale.

Dr Fulcher, then crippled, had great difficulty climbing from the boat or crossing the sand.  Fred Guthrie (wife–Mabel) always accompanied them and Fred would take the doctor off the boat and carry him across the sand to get him to the camp.  Judy described Fred as short but strong–a Harkers Island fisherman.  He helped Luther and the family “a lot”.  Dr Fulcher owned a 40-45 foot long boat, the “Seahorse”, but after Dr Fulcher’s severe accident, he could not make good use of it and gave full use but not ownership to Fred . The boat had been built by Ed Fulcher, Judy’s grandfather.

Fred , in return, looked after the family and always accompanied them when they went to the banks.  He brought ice and sundries during the day and fished at night.  The boat could sleep four and this enabled Fred to stay aboard overnight when needed.

Dr Fulcher was crippled following an automobile accident and would always walk with a limp and be limited physically by those injuries.  He was “supposed to die” from this severe wreck.  When he survived the night, the family was told he would need a rest home and would survive “like a vegetable”,  A hospital bed was set up in the home dinning room and Judy remembers him lying there with tubes and gear but after a month, he was able to sit up and slowly regained all his mental abilities but was left with multiple uncomfortable orthopedic handicaps.  Their home in Beaufort was near the Hwy 101 turnoff, a white house with dormers (still there today) and because of his love of animals, there was always a cow and horses in the back. 

(Dr. Fulcher is credited with establishing and sustaining the horse herd on Bird Shoal, Rachel Carson Reserve in the early 50’s)

His routine of morning hospital rounds, daytime office, night rounds, supper and then night house calls preceded and eventually followed the wreck.  Family often drove for him.  He had patients –Cedar Island to Newport.  After thee  the wreck, patients and families came more frequently to the house.  An addition, converting their side porch,  for use as office evolved after dead child laid on the sofa left blood stains behind.  Judy would watch and peek to watch him work.  He delivered many babies–some at the mother’s home, occasionally in a car, and did minor surgery though he was a General Practitioner.  His office stood at about the site of today’s Dock ouse and not far from his contemporary and friend, Dr Way.

Though he never hunted during Judy’s time, she supposes he did earlier and before his accident.  He had a home in Stacy and down the creek to the marsh was a shed  or boathouse full of decoys.  After his death she and family went to get the decoys, including several goose decoys, but they had disappeared. 

 He would take the kids and walk out into the woods at his North River property and look at wildlife or “shoot at birds” and let the kids shoot. .

Judy remembers wonderful, great times on the Banks.  Asked what she did there, she relates she just explored the dunes.   Once when younger she had gotten lost and disoriented among the dunes, having trouble finding home.  Sent by their mother, brother Fred found her with several wild boar nearby–her giving him credit for saving her from injury  The family often fished through the day.  

Coast Guardsmen were still stationed down there at the time and the youth were instructed to stay away from them.  They would sneak toward the station to check the forbidden station and guardsmen out.  The older girls from the Casablanca House would often visit the station and laughter could be heard from there to the Fulcher camp.  At night, the partying at the Casablanca House also was easily heard.   

Fred and Mabel Guthrie were a perfect couple on Judy’s perception.  He was a small, powerful and gruff fisherman and she was a teacher of Harkers Island children who Judy thought of as perfect and “prissy”.  Both were widely and strongly liked.  They had one daughter–all three are now passed.  On Harkers Island, they lived near the church and cemetery.

According to the National Register nomination, this building “may have been built by a Coast Guardsman as quarters for his family” around 1950. The character of the building and its materials is consistent with that construction date, but no historical documentation for the structure has yet been located. 

This building has undergone very few alterations since it was originally constructed, and nearly all of these appear to have occurred in the last twenty- five years. At some point, perhaps because of the growth of trees and shrubs on that side of the house in recent years, the steps to the porch were removed and the porch now functions as a utilitarian back porch to the house. At the southeast end of the porch, the wall has been altered and a ramp constructed so that all- terrain vehicles and other equipment can be stored on the porch. The house may have originally been painted red, its color in 1976, but has been painted white in recent years. The asphalt- composition roof covering has also been changed from bright blue shingles, which may have been original, to the present white roll- type roofing. 

On the interior, changes have likewise been minimal. The most significant alteration was installation of a toilet and shower at the northwest end of the back porch. This did not include complete partitioning of the space, however, but only construction of a short wall to shield the toilet from view. There is also no door, but only a curtain to close the area from the remainder of the porch. 

Outbuilding to the west–held generator and other storage apparently.

Decoys

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As a young man, Luther Fulcher carved shorebird and duck decoys. His decoys and rig were in a shed in Stacy at his death but all were stolen before family could retrieve them. Fulcher’s shorebird , seen here, was likely carved in the 1920’s.

Jerry Talton’s collection includes a rig of shorebirds carved by Lambert Morris for Dr. Fulcher (seen below)

Credits

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1. Judy Fulcher Williams–Beaufort
2. Janet Fulcher, Beaufort
3. NPS archives and files
4. Historic Structure Report–Fishing Cottage https://www.nps.gov/calo/learn/management/upload/Fishing-Cottage-2_hsr_508.pdf
5. Other references within text