Setzer-Dawsey House–The Sea Dollar

Story
Decoys
Credits

🟡 AVERAGE RESEARCH VOLUME

OWNERS

Ben W. and Virginia M. Dawsey

Wilson and Virginia C. Setzer

John D. and Marjorie Setzer

1960 purchase of property by Haywood and Nell McBride

1976 lease

LOCATION
Cape Lookout Village–Cape Lookout Bight

Story

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“The Sea Dollar”

“NC 19” (B) Setzer-Dawsey House. ca. 1940, with various later additions. One-story, side-gable house set on pilings, with board-and-batten siding, sash windows covered with plywood shutters. The house has been expanded and remodeled, with a large brick chimney on the north gable end, an addition on the south end, and a wide engaged screened porch across the front (east side). The original core of this house is believed to have been built by a Coast Guardsman as quarters for his family during World War II.(this detail has not been confirmed) It has been leased for many years by Dr. Dawsey of Shelby.

NC a. (B) Garage. ca. 1970. One-story, frame front-gable garage, covered with plywood

siding.

NC b. (B) Shed. ca. 1970. Small square frame building with gabled roof, perhaps a generator shed. Plain weatherboard, exposed rafter tails. A low plywood storage extension was added recently.

[“NC”–non-contributing structures–considered not integral to the historical story of the village and having come into existance in more recent times.]

The Dawsey and Setzer families acquired a lease in 1976 for a maximum of 25 years with annual payment of $1.00 in exchange for providing a quitclaim release deed for the property. This seems to indicate that this structure was in use by them in the period prior.

At Cape Lookout National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, not all structures survive those encounters. (surging waters and buffeting winds, 2018 Hurricane Florence, 2019, Hurricane Dorian)—-Dec. 4, 2020, National parks Traveler

During the last three years, unrecoverable damage has occurred to the Casablanca House (also known as the Baker-Holderness House, Cape Village), the Setzer-Dawsey House (Cape Village), the Jetty Worker 1 House (Cape Village), the TT Potter House (Portsmouth Village), the Frank Gaskill House (Portsmouth Village), and the Battle Brothers Hunting and Fishing Lodge (near Portsmouth Village). While these structures are representative of important parts of the Outer Banks’ history, they now pose a serious threat to visitors and will have to be demolished.

NPS map of the historic village

National park Service documents mention the structure was likely built by a serviceman (C.G or Navy) stationed there in the 1940s. There are no supporting details.

Haywood and Nell McBride and J. E. McBride purchased based this property on April 4, 1960 from James D. Faucette (single, of Sullivan County, Tennessee). At that time, the house structure and a garage were on the site–though not mentioned in the deed. (for $10 and other valuable considerations)

James W. and Dorothy Wilson conveyed the property to Faucette.

Dec. 1, 1955–John L. and Margaret T. Upchurch had conveyed the property to the Wilsons for $1,500.

Horace T. and Sarah Y. Nelson had (August 21, 1954) conveyed the property to the Upchurch couple.