Kittrell, Barnes and Webb Camp

Story
Decoys
Credits

🟡 LIMITED RESEARCH VOLUME

OWNERS

Walter Kittrell
Dale Barnes

Arnie Webb

early 1970s

OTHER ASSOCIATIONS

Tilmon Taylor

LOCATION
Southern Core Banks, just north of the Rod and Gun Club

Story

do you know more? contact me.

WALTER KITTRELL

DALE BARNES

ARNIE WEBB (ARNOLD) ———————————————————————-

Their first camp was built in the early 70s—just a 12 by 20 ft box—in Core Sound going toward Portsmouth. Arnie Webb’s grandfather had had, was in on, a camp at Harbor Island earlier.

Their first camp—a little rectangle—2-3 steps up to enter, two windows on the front, a bunk room to either side with just enough room to get around the bunk, and a kitchen common room in the center—an outhouse was nearby—there was a well with cast-iron hand pump—“you spent as much time priming the thing as you did using it”—for heat, nothing—they’d take a portable heater with them—in the bigger camp, there were two stand up oil heaters—they got iced in over there once and with both heaters going, the water jugs on the counter still froze.

They kept the 2nd camp till park took over—then got a lease on a camp in Portsmouth, the George Dixon House—near Doctor’s Creek looking at Henry Pigott’s—got it in ‘78, and kept the lease till 86 or 88. The Park Service didn’t want people leasing anymore, they told us we had to restore the structure to its prior appearance and status to keep the lease in force—bring it back up to “as was” conditions—and there was no guarantee they would not close the lease at any coming time.

They kept a vehicle at the second camp—had a ramp to elevate it off the ground and protect it from storms—from washing thru them.

Coleman gas lanterns for light.

Water never came in the bigger camp and I think the smaller camp wasn’t washed into back then—didn’t have major storms when i was young—a lot more now.

Around ’74-75 , Kittrell, Arnie Webb and Warren Wilton bought the adjacent (1/8 th mile away) camp of Tilmon Taylor of Sea Level (the Taylor’s had built it)—it was larger and the newer camp served them till the Park Service takeover. —early 70s. in 75-76, Walter bought a Cobia with a jet drive—one of the first in the county-allowing easier access to the Banks.

This 1971 NPS aerial shows two camps, consistent with the interview but without sure designation of each camps identity.

They were “next to” the Rod and Gun Club—just south, roughly a mile south of the club, south of Drum Inlet. We were neighbors—“a quarter of a mile away south” (stated at another point in conversation)—couldn’t see the club while on the land—didn’t recall the names of the creeks they (the camps) were on—.

“The Creeks are not there now—i can’t tell anymore when over there.”

Their little and earlier camp was just to the south—the two camps were an 1/8th mile apart. There were no other camps between them and the Gun Club—doesn’t remember any camps to south,except, Morton Davis’ Camp—which sat a little north of Lewis Creek—we would visit there. He was my grandfather’s cousin—we’d use his dock sometimes to get to the beach.

On my mother’s side, the Davis’, had what they called their “crab camp” over on Lewis’ Creek, just off Marshallberg. Ray Davis and grandfather, Gerald Davis—had a “crab camp” over there before I was born—the stakes were still there in my lifetime—I was born in 1965.

They did a lot of soft crabbing and hard crabbing—they’d bring the crabs back to put in their floats to peel out—between Brown’s Island and Marshallberg.

The ladies went over in the summer time, in winter ,only the adult dads and kids—hunting. Redheads weren’t legal to shoot at that time, though they were all over the place.

The best part of the experience—“as a kid, I might think there was nothing to do over there—- ‘why do I have to do this?’—but, busy all the time,—every trip was a work trip, but then you’d spend time on the beach, would wash off there, come back and rinse off at the “camp—there was no shower there—a simpler way of life—I appreciate it now “—now I have a junk houseboat to get over/stay over—don’t want anything fancy, “just want to recapture being isolated from mainstream life, get away—family time without distractions”—

NPS map showing area of the Gun Club and south (to left)

North of the Willis fishing camps but area south of the map showing the GunClub–identity of the structure seen to north of fish camps is not available. This is the general area of the Kittrell and Taylor camps.

Ricky Nelson provided the following information–his assistance is greatly appreciated

Tilmon Taylor’s Camp from 1950 to 1974

Walter Kittrell’s Camp (Kittrell’s Auto Parts, Morehead City) from 1974 to 1980

Just as a disclaimer, the NPS’s map of Core Banks indicates that the name of what I call Grass Lump Creek is labeled as Gutter’s Creek. Even Google Earth has it listed as such. I have never heard of it being referred to as Gutter’s Creek by any of my family or residents of Stacy, Davis, Sea Level, nor Atlantic. Gutter’s Creek is the creek that Tilmon Taylor’s camp was built on. That has been verified by Tilmon and Harry Taylor, Dan Robinson, Leon Peppers, a few other “Old Timers” like myself.

Tilmon Taylor’s camp was located on South Core Banks, just 3 miles southeast across Core Sound from Mill’s Point in Sea Level, where the T. A. Taylor’s fish house is located. The camp was built in the early 1950’s on the north side of Gutter’s Creek, which was just north of Sheep Island and the Big Marsh. Eldon Willis’ and Clarence Lewis’ camps were just .6 mile to the south. The former location of the old Atlantic Coast Guard Station was 3 miles to the north. Today, the camp would be described as being located at the NPS’s mile 23.5 which is 2.2 miles north of the Core Banks Rod and Gun Club, and 5.4 miles north of the NPS’s North Dock, AKA Carlie’s Dock,

Per my interview with Tilmon and Harry Taylor on 1-19-2024, their father T.A. Taylor Sr. had the camp built by Milton Lewis (Sea Level) in 1950. The camp was just 12×16 feet and had a 12×6 feet screened in front porch that faced the southwest and Gutter’s Creek where they had a nice dock to tie the boats up. They also built a three foot high car ramp on the west side of the camp to drive their beach buggy up on just in case of a flood tide. The camp had a propane cook stove, kerosene lights, kerosene oil heater, a table with several chairs and several bunks. The first few years, the camp was used mainly by the men for hunting and fishing during the fall and winter. Soon the women and children wanted to go over during the summers, so Tilmon Jr and his dad had a 12×22 feet addition built off of the southeast side (beach side) of the cabin which included a couple of bed rooms with several more bunks for the kids.

From the beach, the camp looked like it was built out in the marsh, but a small sand ridge ran from the dunes all the way to their camp which they used to drive their beach buggy to the camp. They always kept at least one beach buggy there. During the early years they had cars modified with split rims and big wide tires which pulled pretty good in the soft beach sand. Before the government blew open the new Drum Inlet in December 1971, they would ride north up the beach, passing the remnants of the old Atlantic CG station and surf fish at the original Drum Inlet.

Getting to and from the camp by boat was always a challenge. From the off shore reef to the camp, the water was very shallow, probably less than 16 inches on low tide. You had to run the boat at wide open throttle and everyone had to hold on tight as the boat would bump the bottom at times when the tide was low. Tilmon and family really enjoyed the camp and spent as many weekends as possible there when not working at the fish house.

In the early 1970’s the Taylors had heard that the State had sold Core Banks to the NPS which planned to tear down all the camps. The 70’s were a very busy time at the fish house and the Taylor family didn’t use the camp like they had previously, so around 1974 they reluctantly sold their camp to Walter Kittrell (Morehead/Crab Point, Kittrell’s Auto Parts). The Taylors loaded up all their personal stuff from the camp into their boat and heated home. Tilmon said the he has never been back to the camp since that time. In the early 80’s, Tilmon, Harry and family saw the camp being burnt down by the NPS from their fish house in Sea Level and were saddened.

Per my phone interview with Walter Kittrell on 2-15-2024, he purchased Tilmon’s camp around 1974. He had previously purchased Clarence Lewis’ camp a couple of years earlier (see Clarence Lewis’s post for more info). Walter didn’t know Tilmon Taylor personally, but Walter’s good friend and hunting buddy Ernie Webb (Webb Chevrolet, Morehead) did. Ernie found out that Tilmon wanted to sell their camp and told Walter who purchased it. Walter made several upgrades to the camp, closing in the front porch and redoing the inside. It was a nice camp. Walter and Ernie were both avid duck hunters and they spent many weekends at the two camps during duck season. They also used both camps during the summer when additional friends and family would come over. They always kept a beach buggy or two at the camps to ride the beach and go surf fishing. Everyone enjoyed the banks. Walter said that his most enjoyable family memories were made at those camps.

In the mid 1970’s Walter had Woody Hancock (Hancock Marine, Sea Level) build him a custom 22 Foot Hancock jet drive boat. He said that when he first got the boat he was scared to death that he was going to run that “thing” aground, but nope, she keep right on skipping across the shoals. Once Walter left the Tilmon camp in his Hancock jet boat and went across Core Sound to picked up hunters at Drum Inlet Marina in Atlantic. When leaving the marina, the game warden got after them. Walter said that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but didn’t want to stop and have to put up with all the hassle, so he shoved the throttle in the corner and headed “wide open” towards Core Banks as the game warden gave chase. As Walter crossed over the offshore reef, the tide was low and he could see the grass sticking up out of the water on the shoal. The Hancock boat bumped a couple of times, but kept right on going. He looked back at the game warden’s boat just in time to see the boat kicking mud and grass 20 feet up in the air and finally coming to rest on its side on the shoal. Walter said that was the end of the chase!

Walter had two stake blinds a few hundred yards from the camp where they shot many geese and ducks. He remembered once when it had been real cold for a couple weeks, that he and Ernie went to Tilmon’s camp and after unloading supplies and warming up for a bit, they headed out to one of the stake blinds. As soon as they were in the blind, they saw geese coming. They hurried to get their guns loaded and were soon shooting flock after flock of snow geese as they flew directly into the decoys. They shot all afternoon until the gun barrels got so hot they had to quit. They were almost out of shells also. Walter stated they didn’t know what the limit was back them on snow geese, but he felt sure they were “pretty close” to their limit!!!!

Walter said that around 1977, the NPS posted information on the camps that he had one year to vacate the property. He applied for a long term leases (25 years) for both camps, but was disapproved. He reapplied for a yearly lease which to his surprise, they approved. For the next couple years he reapplied for additional yearly leases and was approved each time. Around 1980, Walter reapplied for the yearly leases, but this time the NPS denied his applications. Walter appealed the decision, but the NPS stood firm on their decision, but they did offered him a 5 year Special Use Hunting and Fishing Permit for the George Dixon House up Doctor’s Creek at Portsmouth. Walter accepted their offer, so he and friends loaded up all of their stuff from the two camps into boats and moved everything to Portsmouth. He recalled really enjoying the five years they had at Portsmouth, but never forgot all the great times that he, his family, and friends had at Tilmon Taylor’s and Clarence Lewis’ camps. Walter stated that he wished they still had those camps. He remembered how bad he felt when he learned that the NPS burnt the camps down some time after 1980.

The banks, at Tilmon’s camp’s previous location, has been migrating slowly westerly since new Drum Inlet was opened just a few miles to the north in December 1971. In 2018, Hurricane Florence over washed the banks there and moved the beach to the northwest more than a 150 yards. There is nothing left at the Taylor’s camp previous location now. Using GPS coordinates taken from Google Earth, the camps previous location is now in the Atlantic Ocean some 75 yards, as is most of the former Gutter’s Creek location.

Per the NPS’s map of Core Banks, the National Geodetic Survey marker designated A- 104 was just 100 yards up on the main banks from the Taylor’s camp in 1960. I researched this marker and thought it was interesting how they described the marker’s location:

DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY IN 1960. Marker A-104, 17.4 MI NE FROM CAPE LOOKOUT ALONG THE TELEPHONE LINES ALONG CORE BANKS TO POLE NO. 788. ABOUT 100 YARDS SOUTHEAST OF SOUTHEAST CORNER OF A SMALL WHITE CABIN (this would have been the Taylor’s camp). 30 FEET NORTH OF TELEPHONE POLE NO. 788, 18 FEET NORTHWEST OF THE TELEPHONE LINE, 1 1/2 FEET SOUTHWEST OF A STEEL WITNESS POST, AND IS A DISK ON A COPPER COATED STEEL ROD PROJECTING 6 INCHES AND PROTECTED BY A 4-INCH ORANGEBURG PIPE WHICH PROJECTS 18 INCH ABOVE GROUND.

I plotted the coordinates of marker A-104 using Google Earth and its location is now 175 yards southeast of the banks into the Atlantic Ocean.

Ricky Nelson

2024

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