The Creation and Establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore the Great Depression Through Mission 66
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Creation and Establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore The Great Depression through Mission 66 August 2007 written by Cameron Binkley Southeast Regional Office, Cultural Resource Division National Park Service This administrative history exists in two formats. A printed version is available for study at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, at the Southeast Regional Office of the National Park Service, and at a variety of other repositories around the United States. For more widespread access, this administrative history also exists as a PDF through the web site of the National Park Service. Please visit www.nps.gov Cultural Resources Division for more information. Southeast Regional Office National Park Service 100 Alabama Street, SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303 404.562.3117 Cape Hatteras National Seashore 1401 National Park Drive Manteo, NC 27954 http://www.cr.nps.gov/caha Cover photo: NPS photograph, no date. Req. number 1104 [?], CAHA File, NPS Historic Photograph Collection, Harper’s Ferry Center. When we look up and down the ocean fronts of America, we find that everywhere they are passing behind the fences of private ownership. The people can no longer get to the ocean. When we have reached the point that a nation of 125 million people cannot set foot upon the thousands of miles of beaches that border the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, except by permission of those who monopolize the ocean front, then I say it is the prerogative and the duty of the Federal and State Governments to step in and acquire, not a swimming beach here and there, but solid blocks of ocean front hundreds of miles in length. Call this ocean front a national park, or a national seashore, or a state park or anything you please—I say that the people have a right to a fair share of it. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, 1938 National Park Service vi Cape Hatteras National Seashore Administrative History Contents Introduction Chapter One: Origins of a Park Movement Frank Stick ............................................................................................................................... 6 Conrad Wirth........................................................................................................................... 8 The New Deal and “National Ocean Beaches” ..................................................................... 9 Cape Hatteras State Park ...................................................................................................... 16 The National Park Service and Frank Stick .......................................................................... 23 The North Carolina Beach Erosion Control Project ............................................................. 26 The Acts Creating “Cape Hatteras National Seashore” ...................................................... 32 Chapter Two: Progress and Problems Disposition of the Cape Hatteras Light Station................................................................... 43 Origins of the Cape Hatteras Seashore Commission........................................................... 48 Beach Preservation Spurs Park Planning.............................................................................. 52 Problems with the Cape Hatteras Seashore Commission ................................................... 58 Chapter Three: Hiatus and Uncertainty World War II .......................................................................................................................... 66 “A Prospective Oil Boom” .................................................................................................... 69 Out-waiting the General Assembly...................................................................................... 72 Reinvigorating the Project.................................................................................................... 76 The Second Campaign Begins .............................................................................................. 81 “The Shuffler Report”...........................................................................................................86 The Dark before Dawn ......................................................................................................... 90 Chapter Four: Patrons and Opponents The Heirs of Andrew W. Mellon........................................................................................... 97 Park Opponents Have Their Say ......................................................................................... 103 The Murphy-Cairns-Stick Affair .......................................................................................... 108 Conrad Wirth Meets the Villagers...................................................................................... 112 A Letter to the People of the Outer Banks........................................................................ 116 Chapter Five: Establishment of the National Seashore Land Acquisition under Clark Stratton .............................................................................. 123 Oregon Inlet, Ferries, and Roads........................................................................................ 131 National Park Service vii Management and Interpretation in the First Years.......................................................... 136 The Wild Ponies of Ocracoke Island................................................................................... 145 The Fishing Pier at Rodanthe ............................................................................................. 148 Condemnations and Awkward Judgments ....................................................................... 152 Chapter Six: Developing the National Seashore Mission 66 at Cape Hatteras ............................................................................................... 160 Beach Development and Wilderness ................................................................................. 161 General Development under Mission 66 ........................................................................... 163 Interpretive Facilities........................................................................................................... 164 The Impact of Hurricanes on Park Planning ...................................................................... 166 Museums, Observation Decks, and Ocean Views .............................................................. 168 Coquina Beach..................................................................................................................... 169 The Navy’s Old Docks and Secret New Base ...................................................................... 171 A Management Review ...................................................................................................... 173 Erosion Control under Mission 66 ...................................................................................... 174 Conrad Wirth on Vehicle Access, 1963............................................................................... 179 Dedication of the First National Seashore Park ................................................................ 180 Hunting in a National Park................................................................................................. 185 The Herbert C. Bonner Bridge ............................................................................................ 190 Epilogue: A Model for Later Parks… Seashores and Lakeshores .................................................................................................. 197 The End of Erosion Control at Cape Hatteras ................................................................... 200 Appendix A: Chronology of Selected Events in Park History ............................. 205 Appendix B: Selected Congressional Acts, Executive Orders, and State Legislation Relating to Cape Hatteras National Seashore ......................................................... 213 An Act To authorize a study of the park, parkway, and recreational-area programs in the United States, and for other purposes.................................................................... 215 An Act To provide for the establishment of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the State of North Carolina, and for other purposes. ...................................................... 215 An Act To amend the Act entitled “An Act To provide for the establishment of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the State of North Carolina, and for other purposes,” approved August 17, 1937. (50 Stat. 669.)...................................................... 217 An Act To amend the Act of August 17, 1937, as amended, relating to the establish- ment of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area in the State of North Carolina..................................................................................................................... 217 An Act To provide for the addition of certain Government lands to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area project, and for other purposes............ 218 An Act To facilitate the acquisition of non-Federal land within the existing bound- aries of any national park, and for other purposes. ......................................................... 218 An Act To amend the Act of August 31, 1954 (68 Stat. 1037), relating to the acqui- sition of non-Federal land within the existing boundaries of any national park, and viii Cape Hatteras National Seashore Administrative History