Executive Summary

Replace all metal storm windows with
six- over- six wooden sash.

Repair and preserve existing exterior
doors.

Install new four- panel doors at two
rebuilt door openings.

Install new screen doors of appropriate
design at all exterior doors.

Install new half- frame screens at all
windows.

Exterior Finishes

Remove reverse- board- and- batten
siding.

Repair existing board siding and
replace missing battens.

Restore window and door casing,
headers, and sills.

Paint window sash and doors white
and all other exterior woodwork red.

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Interior

Remove plywood paneling from
interior.

Preserve open interior or, if necessary,
install wall coverings and ceilings in
bedrooms.

Preserve existing tongue- and- groove
paneling and doors.

Repaint floors and walls; do not paint
ceiling and roof framing.

Utilities

Install new electrical system.

Install fire and smoke detection system.

Do not install central heating or air-
conditioning; install electric space
heaters if necessary.

Rehabilitate existing bathroom.
Rehabilitate existing kitchen.



PART 1

DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Chronology of
Development &

Use

The budget for this project limited building investigation and
prevented in- depth analysis of paint and other materials. There
has also been limited historical research, and as a result of these
factors, some aspects of the building’s historical evolution remain
unclear. Modern alterations are clearly evident, but the exact
nature of any alterations that might have occurred during the
historic period is uncertain. The building is seen in one
photograph from the historic period, but the image is unfocused
and of limited use in determining building details. Two images
from 1978 before installation of the existing plywood siding and
replacement of windows are more useful in interpreting the
building that exists today. A search for additional historic
photographs and continued building investigation when the
building is emptied of its contents and when modern siding and
interior paneling is removed could answer some of the questions
regarding the building’s historical evolution that are posed below.

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

formal recognition of the value of the park’s
cultural resources. In 1978 Portsmouth Village
was also listed on the National Register,
followed by the Cape Lookout Coast Guard
Station in 1989.

Most recently, in June 2000, the Cape Lookout
Village Historic District was listed on the
National Register. According to National
Register documentation, Cape Lookout is one
of the last historic settlements on the Outer
Banks to survive relatively intact and has
statewide significance in social history,
maritime history, and architecture. The
district's period of significance encompasses all
phases of historic development from 1857,
when construction of the present lighthouse
commenced, until around 1950 when the
lighthouse was automated and the State of
North Carolina began acquiring land for a
proposed state park,

The Cape Lookout Village Historic District
contains twenty- one historic resources,
including the lighthouse (completed in 1859),
two keeper's quarters (1873 and 1907), the old
Life- Saving Station (1887), the old Life- Saving
Station’s boathouse (c. 1894), the Coast Guard
Station (1917), and several private residences (c.
I9I0- C. 1950). Five of the ten historic private
dwellings were built by fishermen or Coast
Guard employees for their families from about
1910 to around 1950. Two houses were built
about 1915 for Army Corps of Engineers
workers, and two others were built as vacation
cottages in the two decades before World War
II. The National Park Service owns all of the
property in the district, including the Cape

Lookout Lighthouse, which the Coast Guard
transferred to NPS in 2003.

”Coca-Cola House”

According to the National Register, “the C. A.
Seifert family of New Bern, owners of the local
Coca- Cola distributorship,” built the house.
Which family members were involved is not
stated; but it is possible that Charles’ brother
David, who owned a local Coke distributorship
in Roanoke Rapids, N. C., was also involved in
the project, but that is not certain. In any case,
the building’s relationship to the Seiferts gave it
the moniker “Coca- Cola House,’ and was the
reason it is reported to have been painted red
with white trim through much of it existence.

Charles A. Seifert was born in Massachusetts in
February 1881, the son of German parents who
immigrated from Saxony after the Civil War.
His reasons for relocating to New Bern, N. C.,
are not known, but by 1920 Seifert was
managing the local Coca- Cola company.'6
With the 1923 bankruptcy of Pepsi- Cola, which
had been invented in New Bern in 1898, Coca-
Cola had few real competitors and stock values
rose dramatically.

In 1927, Seifert purchased a lot from the Cape
Lookout Development Company and, the
following year, built a vacation house at the
cape. Seifert’s use of the house has not been
fully documented, but he is believed to have

16.1920 and 1930 U. S. Census records
document most of the information
contained here.

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4)

Chronology of Development & Use

likely that all exterior woodwork was painted
red, but further analysis of painted finishes
after removal of the modern siding would be
necessary to confirm those assumptions.

Alterations prior to 1976

The bank of cabinets that are built into the
southwest wing of the hall appear to be an
addition that was made after World War II,
probably in the 1950s. Absent additional
documentation that would prove otherwise,
these cabinets could be considered historic
features of the building.

The wooden stand on which the kitchen sink
and pump are mounted may be original, but it
is also possible that it is a replacement of the
original. The toilet is dated July 5, 1950, but it is
not known if it replaced an older toilet that was
perhaps located in Room 104. The present
toilet, which is located in Room 103, may be
contemporaneous with the introduction of
running water to the building. The bath tub
appears to be older than the toilet, but it has
not been determined if it has always been in the
building. A date for the bathtub has not been
located, but it may be stamped on the
underside of the fixture. The present lavatory
and cabinet in the hall is modern, but it is not
known if it replaced an older lavatory that
could have existed in Room 103.

Prior to 1976 there were major alterations to the
house. In addition to the installation of an
asphalt- shingle roof covering, the porches on
the southwest and southeast sides of the
building were removed, probably because they

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were deteriorated. Most of the concrete piers
for the porch were left in place. Probably at
that time as well the entrance on the southwest
side of the house was closed and boarded over.
In addition, it appears that solid, wooden,
exterior shutters were installed at the windows
on the northeast side of Room 107, probably
after the porch was removed from that side of
the house.

The 1976 photographs show some two- over-
two window sash, and since that was a
configuration of sash that would have been
fairly common when the house was
constructed, it is likely that all of the original
sash were two - over- two. These were largely
replaced at some point prior to 1976.

Alterations after 1976

The most significant addition to the house was
the garage that was constructed on the
southeast side of the house after 1976. Other
changes to the building after 1976 were the
removal of the exterior battens (but not the
boards) and installation of T- m plywood
panels over all the exterior walls. At the same
time, the window in Room 105 was closed
completely, and fourteen of the remaining
twenty- two wooden windows were replaced
with metal, triple- track storm windows.

Plywood paneling has also been installed on
several of the interior walls, and a plywood
ceiling has been installed in Room 1o1. The
flooring repairs at the southeast end of the hall
are also probably modern.



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*



Recommendations for Treatment & Use

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3

Physical Description

Figure 28 View northwest of
front door. (NPS-SERO-CR,
2003)

Figure 29 View west of built-
in cabinets in southwest wing of
cross hall. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

the southwest end as well may have been added
at the time the floor plan was altered to create
the cross hall, if indeed it was altered and not

original.

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The original rear (southeast) door opening was
closed and one of the adjacent windows
converted into a new door opening into the
garage when it was constructed after 1976. At
the southwest end of the hall, the original door
opening was closed prior to 1976, probably at
the same time the porch on that side of the
building was removed.

The northeast wing of the hall contains the
house’s kitchen. Open shelving and a sink and
pump mounted on a wooden stand occupy the
northwest side of the space while a refrigerator,
stove, and pantry occupy the opposite side.
The pantry (100A), which is about 4’- 6” wide, is
closed by double doors constructed of the
same V- joint paneling used on the walls.

The northwest wall of the southwest wing of
the hall is covered by a series of built- in
cabinets closed by plywood doors and
probably dating to the 1950s.



*)

Physical Description

Figure 24 View to southeast
showing back door now
opening to the garage. (NPS-
SERO-CR, 2003)

Figure 25 View of kitchen
area in northeast wing of hall.
(NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

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Most of the original finishes, except for the
door and window trim noted above, remain
intact. Only the sides of the interior partition
walls facing the hall were paneled originally,
using double- V- joint, tongue- and- groove
boards, 3- 1/2” wide. This treatment left the
walls of the bedrooms open to the framing on
all sides, but most of the open walls have now
been covered with modern plywood paneling.

Flooring, which appears to be original, is 3- 1/2”
wide, tongue- and- groove pine. All of its has
been painted. There is no subflooring. A large
area near the back door has been repaired with
similar material.

The four bedroom doors are original, each
measuring 2’- 8” by 6’- 8” and with louvers
instead of solid panels. Louvers are unusually


Physical Description

wlll

we

Figure 35 Plan of existing
building. (T. Jones, NPS-SERO-

CR, 2002)

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Of immediate concern is the present condition
of the building, where termites, poorly- main-
tained windows and exterior finishes, as well as
avariety of haphazard repairs threaten the
building’s continued preservation. In addition,
the modifications to the building in the last
twenty- five years have significantly compro-
mised the house’s historic integrity. Removal of
the T- 111 exterior siding, the modern interior
plywood paneling, and the modern garage; res-
toration of the original board- and- batten sid-
ing; replacement of the metal storm windows
with wooden six- over- six sash and recon-
struction of the missing porches would restore
that integrity. Relatively simple, straightforward
repairs of the building’s other historic features
and rehabilitation of the building’s interior and
its plumbing and electrical systems would help
insure the building’s continued preservation.

Requirements for Treatment and Use

The historic character of the Coca- Cola House
is embodied not just in the vernacular form of
the building but also in its structure and its
component materials, including wood siding,
flooring, paneling, windows, doors, nails, and
hardware. The more these aspects of the
building are compromised, especially through
replacement or removal of the historic material
or feature, the less useful the building becomes
as an historical artifact.

The key to the success of any historic preserva-
tion project is good judgement in determining
where replacement of a deteriorated building
element is necessary. While total replacement

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of a damaged element is often recommended,
especially in rehabilitation projects, the success
of most preservation projects can be judged by
the amount of historic material that remains.
Even "replacement in kind" does not typically
address natural processes that give the historic
materials an aged appearance that cannot be
duplicated except by the passage of time.

Because it is a contributing building in a Na-
tional Register district, legal mandates and pol-
icy directives circumscribe treatment of the
Coca- Cola House. The NPS' Cultural Re-
sources Management Guideline (DO- 28) re-
quires planning for the protection of cultural
resources "whether or not they relate to the
specific authorizing legislation or interpretive
programs of the parks in which they lie.”
Therefore, the house should be understood in
its own cultural context and managed in light of
its own values so that it may be preserved un-
impaired for the enjoyment of present and fu-

ture generations.

To help guide compliance with legal mandates
and regulations while still maintaining the
building’s historic integrity, the Secretary of the
Interior's Standards for the Treatment of His-
toric Properties have been issued along with
guidelines for applying those standards. Stan-
dards are included for each of the four separate
but interrelated approaches to the treatment of
historic buildings: preservation, rehabilitation,
restoration, and reconstruction. These ap-
proaches define a hierarchy that implies an in-
creasing amount of intervention into the
historic building. Rehabilitation, in particular,
allows for a variety of alterations and even ad-



Physical Description

Table 1: Doors and Windows

D-1 2’- 8” by 6’- 9” | historic four- panel
wood door

D-2 | 2’-8” by 6’- 8” | modern two- panel
wood door

D-3 | 2’- 6” by 6’- 8” | modern hollow-
core flush door

W-1 | 2’-10”by5’-2” | wood sash

W-2 | 2’-10”by5’- 2” | wood sash

W-3 | 2’- 6” by5’-2” | wood sash

W-4 | 2’- 6” by5’-2” | wood sash

W-5 | 2’- 1” by 5’- 2” | wood sash

W-6 | 2’-1” by5’-2” | wood sash

W-7 | 2’- 1” by5’-2” | wood sash

W-8 | 2-0” by 5-2” | wood sash

W-9 | 2’- 6” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-10 | 2’- 6” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-u | 2’-2” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-12 | 2’-2” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-13 | 2’-2” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-14 | 2-9” by 4’- 4” } storm window only

W-15 | 2’-9” by 4’-4” | storm window only

W-16 | 2’- 6” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-17 | 2-9” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-18 | 2-9” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-19 | 2’-9” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

W-20 | 2’- 9” by q’- 4” | storm window only

W-ar | 2-9” by 4-4” | storm window only

W-22 | 2’-9” by 4’- 4” | storm window only

See plan at end of this section for location of
windows and doors.

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7-1/2” sills and 2” by 6” floor joists on 16”
centers. The floor is decked with 1” by 5- 1/2”
boards. Rafters, some of which are original, are
2” by 6” on 24” centers, but all of the decking
has been replaced with modern plywood.
Posts, too, have all been replaced.

Doors and Windows

It is unclear if the house was originally built
with doors on all four sides, but that seems
likely. The door on the southwest side of the
house was closed prior to 1976, and the door on
the southeast (rear) side of the house was
relocated after 1976 and now opens into the
garage. The other two openings are original,
but only the front door retains its original four-
panel door.

Of the twenty- five window openings in the
original building, two were closed when the
garage was built after 1976 and another when
the T- 111 siding was installed. Ten openings
retain wooden, double- hung, six- over- sixsash
which may date to the historic period. The
remainder of the wood sash have been replaced
with modern, aluminum- framed, triple- track
storm windows that are generally 8” shorter
than the original.

Where the storm windows were installed,
original interior stool and casing were
removed, but both survive at the other
openings. All of the exterior window sills and
casing were replaced when the exterior was
resided with “T- m1” plywood siding after 1976.



)

Administrative Data

Related Studies

Erenhard, John E. Cape Lookout National Sea-
shore: Assessment of Archaeological and
Historical Resources. NPS: Southeast
Archaeological Center, Tallahassee, FL,

1976.

Holland, Francis Ross, Jr. Bodie Island Light
Station, North Carolina. NPS, Division
of History, 1967.

Holland, F. Ross. A Survey History of Cape

Lookout National Seashore. NPS: Di-°

vision of History, Office of Archaeol-
ogy and Historic Preservation, January
30, 1968.

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Loonam, John. Cape Lookout Lighthouse. Ber-
tie, NC: Self- published, 2000. <http://
www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us/caroclips/
CapeLookoutstory.htm> (13 January
2003).

Cultural Resource Data

National Register of Historic Places: Contribut-
ing structure in Cape Lookout Village Historic
District, listed June 2000.

Period of Significance: c. 1928- c. 1950

Proposed Treatment: Structural stabilization,
exterior restoration, interior rehabilitation



Chronology of Development & Use

Figure 12 Detail from 1943
photograph, with the old Coast
Guard dock in foreground and
the low, hipped roof of the
Coca-Cola House beyond.
(CALO Coll, Royer Coll.)

Original Construction

No documentation has been located for the
house’s original construction, which is
reported to have occurred in 1928. The transfer
of title to the property in 1953 mentioned
Seifert’s original purchase of the property from
the Cape Lookout Development Company, but
the deed book or page number was apparently
mis- recorded and the deed itself has not yet
been located. A thorough search of Carteret
County’s Record of Deeds and Mortgages will
probably locate documentation for the original
Seifert purchase of the land. Certainly,
however, the house was there by August 1934

when the house, designated the “Coca- Cola
Building,’ appears on a Coast Guard map of
Cape Lookout (see Figure 8 in previous
section).

Like the O’Boyle- Bryant House and many, if
not most, of the other private residences at the
Cape, the Coca- Cola House was probably built
by local carpenters hired by Seifert to do the
work. Dimensions of framing lumber and
other architectural details are consistent with a
presumed construction date of 1928.

The original house was a wood- framed
structure set on poured concrete piers and
surrounded by porches that were also built on
concrete piers. The house’s defining feature is
the shallow hipped roof over the main body of
the house and shallow- pitched shed roofs over
the surrounding porches.

26 National Park Service
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PART 2 TREATMENT AND USE

hewn Note a

Note 2

Nolet

Note

Note 8

uote 7
ole 6

Notes: Remove existing plywood siding and restore original board-
and-batten siding. Install asphalt-shingled roof.

. Remove modern garage.
. Reconstruct missing porches (hatched areas)
. Replace existing door with window and reopen original center door opening.
Replace missing window.
. Reopen original center door.
. Remove lavatory in hall. Install toilet in Room 104 and lavatory in Room 103, Rehabilitate
tub in Room 105.
7. Repair wall above doors at these locations.
8. Rehabilitate kitchen sink and counter at this location.

ousuNne

Figure 36 Proposed plan for
treatment and use. (T. Jones,
SERO-CR, 2003)

Coca-Cola House
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57



Coca-Cola House

Historic Structure Report

Approved by:

Recommended by:

Recommended by:

Concurred by:

Wht liye gare

Superintendent Wi De

Cape Lookout National Seashore

bead-w or &-28-0%

Chief, Cultural Resou' reed Date

Southeast Regional Office

Que 9ah-° >

Associate Regions! Director 0D Date
Cultural Resource Stewardship & Partnership

Southeast Regional Office

; F-29- 23

FoRRegionai Director Date

Southeast Regional Office



3

Holland, F. Ross. A Survey History of Cape
Lookout National Seashore. NPS:
Division of History, Office of
Archaeology and Historic
Preservation, January 30, 1968.

National Park Service. Cape Lookout General
Management Plan/Development
Concept Plan. Denver Service Center:
December 1982.

National Park Service. Cape Lookout National
Seashore: Amendment to General
Management Plan and Environmental
Assessment. Southeast Regional Office:
January 2001.

National Register of Historic Places Report,

Cape Lookout Village Historic District.

Olds, Fred A. “Cape Lookout Lonesome Place,
Vol. XLVI, #26. The Orphan’s Friend.
Oxford, NC: The Grand Lodge of
Masons of North Carolina.

Rex Quinn. The Gun Mounts at Cape Lookout,
Historic Resource Study. National Park
Service, March 1986.

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National Park Service

Ruffin, Edmund. Agricultural, Geological, and
Descriptive Sketches of Lower North
Carolina, and the Similar Adjacent
lands. Raleigh, NC; Institution for the
Deaf & Dumb & The Blind, 1861.
<http://docsouth.unc.edu/ne/ruffin/
ruffin.html> (November 2002).

Stick, David. The Outer Banks of North
Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1958.

United States Coast Guard. “Cape Lookout
Life- Saving Station, Journals.” January
1887-1920. Record Group 26, National
Archives and Records Administration,
East Point, Georgia.

United States Federal Census, Carteret County,
1880- 1930.

United States Post Office. “Records of
Appointments, Records of Post Office
Locations.” Microfilm, National
Archives and Records Administration,
East Point, GA.



REFERENCE

Sources of
Information

Cape Lookout National Seashore, Photographic Collection.

Carteret County Superior Court Record of Deeds and Mortgages,
New Bern, North Carolina.

Carteret County Death and Marriage Records, New Bern, North
Carolina.

Cecelski, David S. “The Hidden World of Mullet Camps:
African- American Architecture on the North Carolina
Coast,” The North Carolina Historical Review. Vol. LXX,
#1, 1993.

Dunbar, Gary S. Historical Geography of the North Carolina Outer
Banks. Louisiana State University Press, 1958.

Erenhard, John E. Cape Lookout National Seashore: Assessment of
Archaeological and Historical Resources. NPS: Southeast
Archaeological Center, Tallahassee, FL, 1976.

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 9 View of Cape
Lookout Village, 1942. The
O'Boyle-Bryant House is hidden
by the house at center. (CALO
Coll., Royer #4)

During World War II, the government
expanded its military presence at Cape
Lookout significantly. In April 1942, Cape
Lookout Bight became an anchorage for
convoys traveling between Charleston and the
Chesapeake Bay. The 193rd Field Artillery was
sent to the Cape to provide protection for the
Bight, replaced that summer by heavier guns
that remained in place throughout the war.3
Some, if not all, of the residences near the
Coast Guard Station were occupied by Army

personnel during the war years.

13.Rex Quinn, The Gun Mounts at Cape
Lookout, Historic Resource Study
(National Park Service, 1986).

After World War II, the Army base was
conveyed to the Coast Guard, which retained
only ninety- five of the original 400+ acres that
made up the base. Land speculation also
increased, and several of the old residences
were acquired by people without family ties to
the cape.

The State of North Carolina began efforts to
establish a state park on Core Banks in the
1950s, but by the early 1960s, it was apparent
that the undertaking was beyond the capacity
of the state alone, and efforts were begun to
establish a national seashore, similar to the one
that had been established at Cape Hatteras in
1953. In 1966, Congressional legislation was
passed that authorized establishment of a
national seashore at Cape Lookout that would
include a fifty- four- mile stretch of the Outer
Banks from Ocracoke Inlet at Portsmouth to
Beaufort Inlet at the western end of

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iG



MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

Ya

ely

102 108

a

son |

Note 2

os

SS

\

—

Notes: Remave existing plywood siding and restore original board-

and-batten siding. Install asphalt-shingled roof.

. Remove modern garage.
. Reconstruct missing porches (hatched areas).

. Replace missing window.
. Reopen original center door.

DARUNE

tub in Roam 105.
7. Repair wall above doors at these locations.

. Replace existing door with window and reopen original center door opening.

. Remove lavatory in hall. Install toilet in Room 104 and lavatory in Room 103. Rehabilitate

8. Rehabilitate kitchen sink and counter at this location.

|

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

similar but smaller enlargement of the reef near
Cape Lookout (where, about the lighthouse,
there are a few inhabitants)”

After the Civil War, the full economic potential
of fishing at Cape Lookout began to be
exploited; and by the late 1880s, Carteret
County was the center of commercial mullet
fishing in the United States. From May to
November, when the mullet were running,
scores of fisherman set up camps along the
shore, especially on the sound side of the
banks. Documented as early as the 1880s and
featured in National Geographic in 1908, these
mullet camps were apparently quite similar,
featuring distinctive, circular, thatched huts
with conical or hemispherical roofs (see Figure
2). Although some of these beach camps lasted
several years, and one is even said to have
survived the terrible hurricane of 1899, they
were crudely- constructed, temporary
structures, and none of them survives today3

The shoals at Cape Lookout, which stretch
nearly twenty miles into the Atlantic, remained
a major threat to shipping until the
development of better navigational aids in the
early

2. Edmund Ruffin, Agricu/tural,
Geological, and Descriptive Sketches
of Lower North Carolina, and the
Similar Adjacent Lands (Raleigh, NC:
Institution for the Deaf & Dumb &
The Blind, 1861), p. 123.

3. David S. Cecelski, “The Hidden World
of Mullet Camps: African-American
Architecture on the North Carolina
Coast,” The North Carolina Historical
Review, Vol. LXX, #1, January 1993,
pp. 1-13.

Figure 2 Two of the mullet
camps on Shackleford Banks, c.
1908. (reprinted in North
Carolina Historical Review, Vol.
LX, #1, p. 5)

twentieth century. As a result, the first life-
saving station on Core Banks opened at Cape
Lookout in January 1888 a mile and a half
southwest of the lighthouse. Under the
direction of William Howard Gaskill, who
served as station keeper for over twenty years, a
crew of “surf men” served at the Cape Lookout
station, patrolling the beaches and manning the
lookout tower at the station throughout the day
and night during the active season which, by
1900, extended from August through May.

Diamond City

By the 1880s, as the fishing industry became
more lucrative, settlements developed on the

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MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

Administrative
Data

Locational Data

Building Name:

Location:
LCS#:

Cape Lookout Village

¥

Coca- Cola House
Coca- Cola Building
Seifert- Davis House

Cape Lookout Village
CALO 091837

Coca-Cola House

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q



Historical Background & Context

Figure 10 View to northeast
from near Carrie Davis’ dance
hall, April 1941. The old Coast
Guard Dock is visible at left
center with the Coca-Cola
House in the background.
(CALO Coll., Royer Coll.)

Shackleford Bank. In September 1976, enough
land had been assembled for the Secretary of
the Interior to formally declare establishment
of the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

In the enabling legislation for the national
seashore, “all the lands or interests in lands”
between the lighthouse and the Coast Guard
Station at Cape Lookout, which included the
houses in what is now the Cape Lookout
Village historic district, were specifically
excluded from the new park. In 1978, however,
the Federal government was able to acquire
these lands for inclusion in the national
seashore. Rights of occupancy under twenty-

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five year leases or life estates were granted to

those “who on January 1, 1966, owned property
which on July 1, 1963, was developed and used
for noncommercial residential purposes:”"4

Cape Lookout National Seashore was
authorized “to preserve for public use and
enjoyment an area in the State of North
Carolina possessing outstanding natural and
recreation values.”5 That same year, however,
Congress also passed the National Historic
Preservation Act, and by the time the park was
actually established in 1976, the area’s historical
significance was being recognized. In 1972 the
Cape Lookout Light Station was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, the first

14.National Park Service, Cape Lookout
General Management Plan/
Development Concept Plan,
hereinafter designated “GMP,”
(Denver Service Center, December
1982), p. 30.

15.GMP. p. 3.



Executive Summary

arole in the building’s development and use
over the years. Historically,.the house was
painted red and white and almost from the
beginning was given the moniker, “Coca- Cola
House” or “Coca- Cola Building.”

The Sieferts built and used the house primarily
as a vacation resort. During World War II,
military personnel may have used the house for
social occasions, but that aspect of the house’s

history is not well- documented.

In 1953 Seifert sold the house to Harry T. Davis,
atrained geologist and long- time director of
North Carolina State Museum of Natural
Sciences in Raleigh. Among other things, he
initiated the first statewide survey of North
Carolina’s archeological sites and led a major
renovation and expansion of the Museum in
the 1950s. He was an important figure in the
state’s environmental movement after World
War IL and used his house at Cape Lookout as a
base camp for field work on the barrier islands.
In addition to his Coca~ Cola House, Davis also
owned a large tract on Core Banks and was a
catalyst in the state’s efforts to establish a state
park at Cape Lookout. Upon his death, the
house was deeded to his nephews, who now
hold the lease with the Park Service.

Architectural Summary

Built around 1928, the house is rectangular in
plan, and with its low- pitched, hipped roof and
exposed location, its distinctive form is a

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landmark at the Cape. The interior is
partitioned with walls paneled with tongue-
and- groove boards, but there are no ceilings,
giving the interior an open character
reminiscent of hunting lodges, “tents” at camp
meetings, and other such structures designed
for seasonal use.

Except for the installation of some modern
plywood paneling on some walls and of a
ceiling in one of the rooms, the interior has
been little altered since the historic period.
Since 1976, however, the building’s historic
board- and- batten siding has been covered
with modern plywood and many of the original
wooden window sash have been replaced by
metal storm windows. The porches on the
southwest and southeast sides of the house
were probably removed in the 1960s, and a
garage was built on the southeast side of the
house after 1976.

The building’s overall condition is generally fair
to good. There is some evidence of termite
damage, the roof covering is in poor condition,
and poorly- detailed repairs and alterations
have exposed the house to continued
deterioration.

Recommendations

In keeping with the parameters established for
the park’s other historic buildings by the park’s
1982 GMP, the historic (and present) residential
use of the Coca- Cola House should be



NATIONAL
PARK
SERVICE

A. the nation’s principal conservation

agency, the Department of the Interior has
responsibility for most of our nationally owned
public lands and natural resources. This includes
fostering sound use of our land and water
resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and
biological diversity; preserving the
environmental and cultural values of our
national parks and historical places; and
providing for the enjoyment of life through
outdoor recreation. The department assesses our
energy and mineral resources and works to
ensure that their development is in the best
interests of all our people by encouraging
stewardship and citizen participation in their
care. The department also has a major
responsibility for American Indian reservation
communities and for people who live in island

territories under U.S, administration.

NPS D- 433 January 1997



3

porary renewal of these leases, the park’s ap-
proach to treatment and use of these structures
has to be reconsidered in light of their recent
historical designation as part of the Cape
Lookout Village Historic District. For that rea-
son, the park has ordered development of his-
toric structure reports on many of the historic
structures in the district. In addition to the
Coca- Cola House, reports are being developed
on the Lewis- Davis House, the Gaskill- Guth-
tie House, the Guthrie- Ogilvie House, Fishing
Cottage #2, the O’Boyle- Bryant House, the old

Life- Saving Station and its Boat House, and the -

1907 Lighthouse Keeper’s Dwelling. Asa result,
all of the studies have benefitted from a com-
parative analysis in terms of both historical and
architectural data that might not otherwise
have been possible.

However, historical research on the Coca- Cola
House has not been exhaustive, and continued
research, including oral interviews with present
and former occupants of the house, should be
encouraged. In addition, architectural investi-
gation was non- destructive, and since most of
the exterior and some of the interior features
are hidden by modern materials, a thorough
investigation of the building's historical evolu-
tion and a thorough evaluation of its present
condition were not possible.

Development of a Cultural Landscape Report
for the district has been only partially funded
and the update of the park’s historic resource
study remains incomplete. Since none of the
residential structures would probably be eligi-
ble for individual listing in the National Regis-
ter, treatment options depend as much on the

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goals for the entire village as on the particulars
ofa single building. Final definition of the
treatment approach to the historic district as. a
whole will await completion of the larger con-
textual studies now underway; but in the
meantime, an approach to treatment of the in-
dividual structures can certainly be recom-
mended in order to insure their continued
preservation and to make it possible for the
park to pursue a range of interpretive opportu-
nities for the site.

Ultimate Treatment and Use

Because the Cape Lookout Village Historic
District is a relatively new addition to the Na-
tional Register, the park has not set a program
of use for the private residences in the village,
including the Coca- Cola House. The autho-
rizing legislation (Public Law 89- 366) for Cape
Lookout National Seashore mandated the
park’s establishment for the purpose of pre-
serving “for public use and enjoyment an area
in the State of North Carolina possessing out-
standing natural and recreational values.”

By the time the seashore was actually estab-
lished in 1976, the historical significance of the
cultural resources at Portsmouth and at the
Cape Lookout Light Station were also recog-
nized. The general management plan (GMP)
developed for the park by the NPS Denver Ser-
vice Center in 1982 states that one of the park’s
management objectives is “[t]o preserve intact,
as feasible, the historic resources of the national
seashore and to recognized that dynamic natu-
ral forces have influenced them throughout



y

14

15

16
7
18
19
20
21

22

23

24

25
26
27
28

29

30

31

32

33
34

35

View north of house in 1976. (NPS-CALO Coll.) 28

Plan of Coca-Cola House as it probably existed at the end of the historic
period, c. 1950. (T. Jones, NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 29

View of front (northwest side) of Coca-Cola House.(NPS-SERO-CRS, 2002) 34

View of southwest side of house. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2002) 34
View of rear (southeast) side of house. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2002) 34
View of northeast side of house. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2002) 35
View of typical concrete pier. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2002) 35
View of typical floor framing. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2002) 35
View of original porch roof framing at north corner of house. (NPS-SERO-CR,

2003) 37
View of front door, which is presumed to be original. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 37

View to southeast showing back door now opening to the garage. (NPS-
SERO-CR, 2003) 38

View of kitchen area in northeast wing of hall. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 38

View northeast of hall. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 39

Typical rimlock and porcelain knobs. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 39
View northwest of front door. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 40
View west of built-in cabinets in southwest wing of cross hall. (NPS-SERO-CR,
2003) 40
View northeast in Room 101. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 4
View south in Room 102, showing altered wall and added closet door. (NPS-
SERO-CR, 2003) 4
View south showing open door to Rooms 103 and 104 with door to Room 105
at right. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 42
View north in Room 106. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 42

Hand-operated water pump on northeast porch. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003) 43

Plan of existing building. (T. Jones, NPS-SERO-CR, 2002) 44

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 7 View of Cape
Lookout Coast Guard Station,
1917. In the background, are
some of the small houses of
“Cape Lookout Village.” (CALO
Coll. D-52)

‘lonesomest’ places in the country.” Only two
or three families were living there by that time,
he wrote, and “most of the houses are mere
shacks, innocent of paint.” He also found the
landscape littered with “thousands of rusted tin
cans” and “grass or any green thing...
conspicuous by its rarity” The lighthouse and
the Coast Guard station were, he thought, “the
only two real places in it all””*

Most of the houses left at the Cape were used
as “fishing shacks,” according to the National
Register, and after World War J Cape Lookout
became “an isolated haven for seasonal
fishermen and hardy vacationers, most of them
connected to the place by deep family roots.”

12.0lds, “Cape Lookout, Lonesome
Place.”

In addition, a few of the Coast Guardsmen with

long- standing family ties to Cape Lookout
maintained private residences that their own
families occupied for at least part of the year.
The Lewis- Davis House, the Gaskill- Guthrie
House, and the Guthrie- Ogilvie House were all
built as private residences by Coast Guardsmen
in the 1910s and 1920s.

The Coast Guard’s life- saving stations on Core
Banks (one was located half- way up the Banks
and another at Portsmouth) remained in
service after World War I, but power boats and
new navigational aids like the radio compass
(or direction finding) station that the Navy
began operating at the Cape Lookout Coast
Guard Station in 1919 were rapidly rendering
the life- saving service obsolete as a separate
entity. The Portsmouth Life- Saving Station
closed in 1937, and the Core Banks Station in
1940. The Coast Guard Station at Cape
Lookout remained active until it was
decommissioned in 1982.

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PART 2 TREATMENT AND USE

and the missing paneling replaced above the
doors in those locations.

Termite damage should be expected, but there
does not appear to be widespread damage. Be-
cause of the exposed nature of most framing,
repairs will be straightforward.

+ Rework repaired connections between
rafters and wall framing to improve
appearance from the interior.

+ Reconstruct missing wall framing and
paneling at southwest ends of walls on
either side of southwest wing of hall.

+ Repair termite damage as necessary.

Roof

The existing asphalt- shingle roofing is in poor
condition and should be replaced. White as-
phalt roofing similar to that currently on the
house would be appropriate unless documen-
tation can be located for another type of roof-
ing that might have been present at the end of
the historic period. The very shallow pitch of
the porch roofs precludes the use of shingles,
and it will be necessary to use roll- type asphalt
roofing in those locations.

The decking of the porch roof and a significant
amount of the decking of the main roof, espe-
cially on the northeast side of the building, is
modern plywood. Because the roof decking is
exposed throughout the building and, in effect,
substitutes for ceilings, the plywood should be
replaced with solid pine boards, nominally 1”
by 6”, to match the original decking.

+ Replace existing plywood roof decking
with solid pine boards, nominally 1” by
6”.

+ Install white asphalt roofing, using
shingles on main sheds of roof and
roll- type roofing with metal drip edges
on porches.

Porches

Removal of the garage and reconstruction of
the porches on the southeast and southwest
sides of the house is recommended. The
porches would greatly reduce maintenance by
protecting the exterior walls from the elements,
and they would also restore the highly- visible
form of the house. New roof framing for the
porches should be patterned after the historic
framing that survives around the north corner
of the house. Wide wooden steps, similar to
those now at the front porch should be in-
cluded at each entrance.

The same 1” by 6” (nominal dimension) used
on the existing porches would be appropriate
for the reconstructed porches, although the
original flooring may have been tongue- and-
groove. Posts should be plain, square, approx-
imately 4” by 4”, and regularly spaced across
each facade. The porches may have been simi-
lar to the porches at Carrie Davis’ store in not
having bannisters or railings. With the porch
deck only 18”- 20” above grade and soft sand
below, railings should not be necessary.

+ Remove existing garage.

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PART 2 TREATMENT AND USE

+ Replace all metal storm windows with
six- over- six wooden sash,

+ Repair and preserve existing exterior
doors.

+ Install new four- panel doors at two
rebuilt door openings.

+ Install new screen doors of appropriate
design at all exterior doors.

+ Install new half- frame screens at all
windows.

Exterior Finishes

The historic character of the house was signifi-
cantly altered after 1976 with installation of re-
verse- board- and- batten plywoed siding and
virtual elimination of exterior window and
door casings. Much of the work was poorly de-
tailed and exposes the building to further dete-
rioration. Since much of the historic board
siding remains intact, the modern plywood
should be removed, the board siding repaired,
and the missing battens replaced. After the
siding is removed, the width of the battens can.
be determined by paint “ghosts” that remain on
the boards. Window and door casing and
headers used 1” by 6” (nominal dimension) and
similar material should be used to replace
missing elements.

The porch flooring should be left unpainted.
Window sash and doors (but not their frames,
casing, or other trim) should be painted white
and all other exterior woodwork painted red.

+ Remove reverse- board- and- batten
siding.

+ Repair existing board siding and
replace missing battens.

+ Restore window and door casing,
headers, and sills.

+ Paint window sash and doors white
and all other exterior woodwork red.

Interior

The historic character of the building’s interior
was defined by the open wall and roof framing,
a design that insured good ventilation through-
out the house. Ideal for the warmer months,
the open interior cannot be efficiently heated
and is undoubtedly cold and drafty in the win-
ter. It is for that reason that a significant
amount of the interior wall surfaces is covered
with modern plywood paneling and that a ceil-
ing has been installed in Room 1o1.

Were the house to be used by the park for visi-
tor contact during the day, the historic, uninsu-
lated character of the interior might be practical
to maintain. Likewise, if the house functioned
as it did historically and used residentially only
during warmer weather, the historic interior
could be maintained.

Preservation of the open interior is recom-
mended, including removal of modern panel-
ing from the exterior walls. If the park finds
that an open interior limits residential use to an
unacceptable degree, insulated ceilings and
closed exterior walls could be installed in the
four bedrooms without a serious impact on the
building’s character. Installation of ceilings in
the cross halls is not recommended since the

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=


Recommendations for Treatment & Use

open character of the interior of the house is
one of its most significant characteristics.

Existing tongue- and- groove paneling should
be preserved wherever it exists. Likewise, the
louvered bedroom doors and the four- panel
doors at Rooms 103 and 105 should be pre-
served.

Interior surfaces that have been painted (gen-
erally walls and floors) can be repainted as
necessary. Unpainted surfaces (generally all of
the ceiling and roof framing) should not be
painted.

+ Remove plywood paneling from inte-
rior.

+ Preserve open interior or, if necessary,
install wall coverings and ceilings in
bedrooms.

+ Preserve existing tongue- and- groove
paneling and doors.

+ Repaint floors and walls; do not paint
ceiling and roof framing.

Utilities

Wiring: The building should be completely re-
wired, with circuitry run in exposed conduit.

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Smoke and fire detectors should be installed to
protect the entire building.

Heating: Installation of a central heating and/or
air- conditioning system is discouraged, since
the necessary equipment would be highly visi-
ble. Electric baseboard heaters could be in-
stalled if necessary in the bedrooms.

Plumbing: The entire plumbing system, only
part of which is now in operation, should be
rehabilitated. The toilet should be installed in
Room 104 and the lavatory removed from the
hall and installed in Room 103. The bathtub in
Room 105 should be rehabilitated for use.

The existing kitchen arrangement could con-
tinue in use, but improvements could also be
made if the park chooses to do so. The pantry
should be preserved but the existing shelving
and sink could be replaced with conventional
cabinets and a modern sink.

+ Install new electrical system.

+ Install fire and smoke detection system.

+ Do not install central heating or air-
conditioning; install electric space
heaters if necessary.

+ Rehabilitate existing bathroom.

+ Rehabilitate existing kitchen.



Historical Background & Context

Figure 5 View of Shackleford
Banks after 1899 hurricane.
Note the partially-submerged
structures at upper right. (CALO
Coll, F-184

the only one of the crew who lived year- round
at the Cape. He had separate quarters in the
life- saving station, but since his family could
not be accommodated, he appears to have had
a house near the station by 1893. It appears not
to have been a full- time residence, however,
and in the early twentieth century as motor
boats began to make Cape Lookout more
accessible, few if any chose to live there year-

round.

By the 1890s, some fishermen began
constructing more- permanent “fish houses,” as
they are referred to locally, or “shanties,” as
they were designated on the Life- Saving
Service’s earliest known map of the cape (see

5. Cape Lookout Life-Saving Station,
Journal, December 6, 1890; December
6 & 26, 1891; January 25, 1892;
January 22, 1895. The original
journals are in Record Group 26 at the
National Archives and Records
Administration, East Point, Georgia.

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Figure 5). Seven of these structures appear to
be indicated on that map, with five in the
protective “hook” of Wreck Point and two
others across the Bight near where the 1907
Keeper’s Dwelling or Barden House is now
located. Almost certainly, all of these were
occupied seasonally and not year- round.

Even with something more than thatched huts
for shelter, the cape fishermen often sought
shelter in the life- saving station when their
camps and fish houses were threatened by high
winds and tides. On more than one occasion,
as many as fifty fishermen somehow crammed
their way into the life- saving station to ride out
astorm. The fact that there are only two
references in the journals to women or children
taking shelter in the station in the 1890s,
suggests that the men did not usually expose
their families to the harsh living conditions
associated with fishing the waters around Cape
Lookout.®

Cape Lookout has always suffered from storm
damage, but the hurricane that struck on
August 18- 19, 1899, was one of the deadliest ever
recorded on the Outer Banks. Believed to be a
Category 4 storm, the so- called San Ciriaco or
“Great Hurricane” decimated the Outer Banks.
Winds at Hatteras reached 140 m.p.h. before
the anemometer blew away, and the Outer
Banks were submerged under as much as ten
feet of water. The surge swept completely
across Shackleford Bank, heavily damaging
Diamond City and the other communities to

6. Cape Lookout Journal, June 16,
October 13, 1893; October 9, 1894.



Contents

Foreword xi
MANAGEMENT SUMMARY
Executive Summary 1
Research Summary 1
Architectural Summary 2
Recommendations 2
Administrative Data 7
Locational Data 7
Related Studies 8
Cultural Resource Data 8
Historical Background & Context 9
Diamond City W
Cape Lookout Village 15
“Coca-Cola House” 21
Chronology of Development & Use 25
Original Construction 26
Alterations prior to 1976 30
Physical Description 33
Foundation 34
Structure 34
Porches 35
Doors and Windows 36
Roof 37
Exterior Finishes 37
interior 37
Room 100 39
Room 101 a
Room 102 a
Rooms 103-105 42
Room 106 42
Room 107 43
Utilities: 43
Treatment and Use 45
Ultimate Treatment and Use 46

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MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

continued, if that can be done without
compromising its historic character.

Treatment must adhere to the Secretary’s
Standards. Of immediate concern is the present
condition of the building, where termites,
poorly- maintained windows and exterior
finishes, as well as a variety of haphazard
repairs threaten the building’s continued
preservation. In addition, the modifications to
the building in the last twenty- five years have
significantly compromised the house’s historic
integrity. Removal of the reverse- board- and-
batten exterior siding, the modern interior
plywood paneling, and the modern garage;
restoration of the original board- and- batten
siding; and replacement of the metal storm
windows with wooden six- over- six sash
would restore that integrity. Relatively simple,
straightforward repairs of the building’s other
historic features and rehabilitation of the
building’s interior and its plumbing and
electrical systems would help insure the
building’s continued usefulness.

Site

+ Preserve concrete piers for missing
porches.

Foundation

+ Eliminate wood- to- ground contact at
all locations, repairing damaged beams
as necessary.

+ Install metal termite shields at all piers.

+ Reset concrete piers for missing
porches as necessary.

Structure

+ Rework repaired connections between
rafters and wall framing to improve
appearance from the interior.

+ Reconstruct missing wall framing and
paneling at southwest ends of walls on
either side of southwest wing of hall.

+ Repair termite damage as necessary.
Roof

+ Replace existing plywood roof decking
with solid pine boards, nominally 1” by
6”.

+ Install white asphalt roofing, using
shingles on main sheds of roof and
roll- type roofing with metal drip edges
on porches.

Porches

+ Remove existing garage.

+ Reconstruct porches on southeast and
southwest sides of house, including
stairs at each entrance.

+ Do not install railings or balustrades.
Windows and Doors

+ Restore original fenestration.
+ Repair and preserve existing six- over-
six wooden sash.

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List of Figures

1 View to east of Cape Lookout Lighthouse, May 1899. First Keeper’s Dwelling is

at right. (CALO Coll. D-01) 10
2 Two of the mullet camps on Shackleford Banks, c. 1908. (reprinted in North

Carolina Historical Review, Vol. LXX, #1, p. 5) 1
3 View north of the life-saving station, c. 1893, with the lighthouse barely visible

on the horizon at extreme right. (CALO Coll. G-09) 12
4 Map of Cape Lookout, c. 1890. (Coast Guard Collection) 13

5 View of Shackleford Banks after 1899 hurricane. Note the partially-submerged
structures at upper right. (CALO Coll., F-184 14

6 Plat of proposed development of Cape Lookout in 1915. Arrows have been
added to indicate Coast Guard Station, at left, and Lighthouse at right. 16

7 View of Cape Lookout Coast Guard Station, 1917. In the background, are some
of the small houses of “Cape Lookout Village.” (CALO Coll. D-52) 17

8 Map of Cape Lookout, August 1934. The “Coca-Cola Building” is at upper right.
(U. S. Coast Guard Collection) 18

9 View of Cape Lookout Village, 1942. The O’Boyle-Bryant House is hidden by
the house at center. (CALO Coll., Royer #4) 19

10 View to northeast from near Carrie Davis’ dance hall, April 1941. The old
Coast Guard Dock is visible at left center with the Coca-Cola House in the
background. (CALO Coll., Royer Coll.) 20

11° Plat of Cape Lookout Development Company's subdivision, 1915. Arrow at
left locates Coast Guard Station, arrow at right locates light house.
Seifert’s lots are at center arrow. (Carteret Co. Plat Book 1) 22

12 Detail from 1943 photograph, with the old Coast Guard dock in foreground
and the low, hipped roof of the Coca-Cola House beyond. (CALO Coll.
Royer Coll.) 26

13 View west of Coca-Cola House in 1976. (NPS-CALO Coll.) 27

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Historical
Background &

Context

Marked by a lighthouse since 1812, Cape Lookout is one of three
capes on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Lying at the southern tip
of Core Banks, which stretch in a southwesterly direction from
near Cedar Island to about four miles south of Harker’s Island in
eastern Carteret County, North Carolina, the area is part of the
Cape Lookout National Seashore. Accessible only by boat, the
cape is in constant flux from the harsh action of wind and ocean
currents. As a result, since the late nineteenth century, the entire
cape has migrated as much as a quarter mile to the west, and partly
due to construction of a breakwater in the early twentieth century,
the land area in the vicinity of the cape has nearly doubled in size.
It is predominantly a sand environment whose native vegetation is
limited to low stands of myrtle, live oak, cedar, and marsh grasses,
along with non- native stands of slash pine that were planted in the
1960s.

Cape Lookout Bight began to attract some shipping activities in
the mid- eighteenth century; but the low, sparsely vegetated land

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C



NGM Fas eee
_U.S. Department of the Interior

Cape Lookout National Seashore
North Carolina

Cape Lookout Village
Coca-Cola House

Historic Structure Report

Cultural Resources
Southeast Region



3)

Chronology of Development & Use

Time Line for Coca-Cola House

1857-59 Cape Lookout Light House constructed

1881 Charles A. Seifert born in Massachusetts

1887 Cape Lookout Lifesaving Station constructed

1899 San Ciriaco or “Great” Hurricane decimates Shackleford Banks

IQIO- 191 Cape Lookout Post Office in operation

1913 Cape Lookout Land Company begins land acquisition at Cape Lookout

1914 Construction commences on breakwater to create “harbor of refuge” at Cape
Lookout .
Cape Lookout Development Company lays out hundreds of lots and dozens of
streets at Cape Lookout

by 1920 C. A. Seifert managing Coca- Cola distributorship in New Bern, NC

1927 C. A. Seifert buys two lots from Cape Lookout Development Company

1928 Seifert builds house at Cape Lookout

1937 Harry T. Davis becomes director of North Carolina State Museum of Natural
Sciences in Raleigh

Nov 25, 1953 C. A. Seifert sells Coca- Cola House to Harry T. Davis

1966 Cape Lookout National Seashore established
Harry T. Davis retires as director of North Carolina State Museum of Natural
Sciences

April 1967 C.A. Seifert dies

prior to 1976 Southwest and southeast porches removed from house; most two- over- two
window sash replaced with six- over- six

after 1976 Garage constructed; remainder of two- over- two sash and over half of the six-
over- six sash replaced with aluminum storm windows

2000 Cape Lookout Village Historic District established

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National Park Service

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36 Proposed plan for treatment and use. (T. Jones, SERO-CR, 2003)

57

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Treatment and Use

This section of the Historic Structure Report is intended to show
how a plan for treatment of the Coca- Cola House can be imple-
mented with minimal adverse affect to the historic building while
still addressing the problems that exist with the present structure.
The following narrative outlines issues surrounding use of the
building as well as legal requirements and other mandates that
circumscribe its treatment. These are followed by an evaluation of
the various alternatives for treatment—preservation, rehabilita-
tion, and restoration—before describing in more detail the ulti-
mate treatment recommendations, which would encompass
structural repairs and exterior restoration together with rehabili-
tation of the interior for continued residential use under the park’s
leasing program for historic buildings.

Since 1976, the Coca- Cola House and several other residences in
the park have been leased under the terms of a special use permit,
and the owners have made a number of modifications to the
houses during that period. With the recent expiration and tem-

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Chronology of Development & Use

Figure 14 View north of
house in 1976. (NPS-CALO Coll.)

common use at the Cape until well after World
War Il and the O’Boyle- Bryant House is the
only one of the private residences that has been.
documented as having a separate room for
toilet facilities (without running water) prior to
World War II.2° The enameled, cast- iron,
footed bathtub is typical of the period between
the wars, and the framing and finishing of the
walls that form these rooms appears to be
original. With separate rooms for tub, sink, and
lavatory, the Seiferts would have at least had a
rudimentary indoor facility, even if the only
water was from a hand- pumped well.

However, the character of the corners of the
intersecting cross halls suggests that the floor
plan may have been altered. The framing of the
corner at Room 103 is covered by tongue- and-
groove wall paneling, but at the other three
corners, the framing is exposed, as if the

20.The O’Boyle-Bryant bathroom was
entirely replaced after World War Il.

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remainder of the wall had been removed.

Because the wall was load- bearing, a header
was necessary, and as a result, the ceiling joists
at the intersection of the cross halls are set
higher than the joists in the wings of the hall. It
is possible, then, that the building was
constructed with a single center hall running
from northwest to southeast, flanked on either
side by three rooms. It is also possible that the
building was built to the existing plan, and that
the lack of finished corners in the hall is
nothing more than an anomaly related to the
original construction of the building.
Additional building investigation and/or
historical research will be necessary to resolve
the issue.

According to tradition, the house was painted
red through much of its existence. Traces of
this red paint are still visible in the framing of
the porch roof around the north corner of the
building, and red is also visible on window
casing along with white window sash in one of
the 1976 photographs. Except for white
window sash and an unpainted porch floor, it is



6)

Historical Background & Context

Figure 6 Plat of proposed
development of Cape Lookout
in 1915. Arrows have been
added to indicate Coast Guard
Station, at left, and Lighthouse
at right.

In 1915, the Life- Saving Service and the
Revenue Cutter Service were combined into
the U. S. Coast Guard, and in 1916 construction
began on a new Coast Guard Station to replace
the old 1887 life- saving station. At the same
time, pay scales were improved and a more-
rigorous system of testing and training was
instituted in an effort to produce a more
professional staff. These measures and the
availability of power boats, which lessened the
crew’s isolation, combined to greatly reduce
the rapid turnover in personnel that had
plagued the station since the 1890s.

The use of gasoline- powered boats around
Cape Lookout was first recorded by the life-
saving station keeper in 1905, and this new
mode of transportation rapidly transformed life
at the cape ." So many “power boats” were in

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use by 191 that the station keeper began
recording their appearance in the waters
around the cape, with as many as thirty- five of
them recorded in a single day. Even before the
life- saving service got its first power boat in
1912, many if not most of the crew had their

own boats and were using them to commute
from homes in Morehead City, Beaufort,
Marshallberg, and elsewhere. The
convenience of motor boats no doubt
contributed to what the National Register calls
“a general exodus” of year- round residents
from the Cape in 1919 and 1920. The one- room
school closed at the end of the 1919 school year,
and some thirty or forty houses are reported to
have been moved from the Cape to Harkers
Island around the same time.

Fred A. Olds had visited Cape Lookout in the
early 1900s and was even instrumental in
getting a schoolhouse built on the island.
When he returned for a visit in 1921, however,
he found Cape Lookout to be “one of the

11.Cape Lookout Journal, June 30, 1905.



PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Physical

Description

Note: See page 44 for a plan of
the existing building.

The house was built around 1928 as a vacation retreat, and its
isolation, its form, and its unusual interior set it apart from the
other private residences at Cape Lookout. Located about a half
mile northeast of the Coast Guard Station at Cape Lookout, it is
the northernmost of the private residences in the Cape Lookout
Village Historic District. The house occupies a footprint of about
43’ by 34’ plus a deep porch that originally surrounded the
building on all four sides. It is wood- framed with a low- pitched,
hipped roof and, with nearly 1,500 square feet of interior floor
space, is one of the largest dwellings on the island. The interior is
partitioned into five main rooms, but there are no ceilings, a
characteristic sometimes seen in hunting lodges, camp meeting
“tents, and other dwellings that were typically occupied only
during warm weather.

The extent of property historically associated with the house has
not been fully documented, but the Seiferts may have originally

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

the west of the Cape. Another hurricane at
Halloween, though not as strong as the first,
produced a greater storm surge and completed
the destruction of the Shackleford Bank
communities. So great were the damage and
accompanying changes to the landscape that
over the next year or two, the entire population
abandoned Shackleford Bank, with most of
them moving to Harker’s Island and the
mainland.

Cape Lookout Village

After the hurricane, a few residents relocated to
Core Banks in the vicinity of the Cape Hills, but
even before 1899 these sheltering hills were fast
disappearing” Nevertheless, there were,
according to one writer who visited the cape in
the early 1900s, as many as 80 residents at Cape
Lookout’, enough to warrant establishment of
one- room school house. A post office was also
established in April 1910, with Amy Clifton, wife
of the lighthouse keeper, as postmaster. Post
office records locate the post office “two miles
north of the cape, near the light house landing,”
most likely in the 1907 Keeper’s Dwelling.
However, the widespread use of gasoline-
powered boats after about 1905 made travel to
Harkers Island, Beaufort, and elsewhere far
more convenient, and it was soon apparent that
the post office was not worth maintaining. It

7. Cape Lookout Journal, December 22,
1896.

8. Fred A. Olds, “Cape Lookout,
Lonesome Place,” XLVI, #26, The
Orphan's Friend and Masonic Journal
(Oxford, NC, October 14, 1921).

was discontinued in June 190, barely fourteen
months after its inception.?

Cape Lookout was, according to one visitor “a
bustling place” in the early 1900s, especially
after the Army Corps of Engineers announced
in 1gi2 that a coaling station and “harbor of
refuge” would be established at Cape Lookout
Bight. Sand fences were installed in 1913 and
1914 to stabilize some of the dunes, and in 1915,
work began on a rubble- stone breakwater to
enlarge and protect the Bight.

The project’s most- ardent supporter was local
Congressman John H. Small, who envisioned a
railroad from the mainland that would help
make Cape Lookout a significant port.
Intending to capitalize on those plans, private
developers organized the Cape Lookout Devel-
opment Company in 1913 and laid out hundreds
of residential building lots and planned a hotel
and club house to serve what they were sure
would be a successful resort community.
Unfortunately for all of those plans, there was
less demand for a harbor of refuge than
supporters had anticipated, and funding for the
breakwater was suspended before it was
complete. When plans for a railroad from
Morehead City also failed to materialize, the
resort development scheme was abandoned as

well.'°

9. U.S. Post Office Record of
Appointments of Postmasters, 1832-
Sept. 30, 1971; Records of Site
Locations, 1837-1950.

10.National Register Nomination. Also
see plat for Cape Lookout
Development Company, Carteret
County Superior Court Records, Map
Book 8, p. 13.

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Recommendations for Treatment & Use

electrical systems would help insure the build-
ing’s continued usefulness.

Site

There are no apparent historic features in the
landscape surrounding the house, except for
the concrete piers to the missing porches,
which should be preserved even if the porches
are not reconstructed. Because of the house’s
exposed location, it is especially important that
treatment of the site be decided within the
context ofa cultural landscape report for the
entire historic district.

+ Preserve concrete piers for missing

porches.

Foundation

With its concrete piers, which are probably set
on simple spread footings, the foundation of
the house is in remarkably good condition.
However, wooden posts have been set next to
at least two of the concrete piers near the cen-
ter of the house, apparently to provide addi-
tional support for the beams at those locations.
The presence of these posts suggests some
damage to or weakening of the beams has al-
ready occurred, but their continued presence
greatly increase the chance for termite infesta-
tion, if that has not already occurred, and they
should be removed. Repairs may be necessary
to some of the sills and beams and metal ter-
mite shields should be added at all piers. All
wood- to- ground contact must be eliminated
under the house.

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Some of the piers for the missing porches are
unstable and will need to be reset (but probably
not rebuilt) when the porches are recon-
structed.

+ Eliminate wood- to- ground contact at
all locations, repairing damaged beams
as necessary.

+ Install metal termite shields at all piers.

+ Reset concrete piers for missing
porches as necessary.

Structure

Structural issues are minimal but should be ad-
dressed. Because the wood frame of the build-
ing is almost totally exposed, repairs will not be
difficult, Metal straps have been installed to tie
rafters and joists more securely to the top plate
of the walls. Additional strengthening of the
connection between framing members may not
be necessary.

There have been significant repairs to the roof
framing on the southwest and northeast sides
of the house, but the repairs were not uni-
formly executed; and because the framing is
exposed to the interior, the repaired areas de-
tract from the building’s appearance. If the in-
terior of the building is open to the public,
these repairs should be redone in a more uni-
form manner.

The top plate at the southwest ends of the walls
on either side of the southwest wing of the hall
were removed during repairs to the roof fram-

ing in those areas. The walls should be repaired



vi

Requirements for Treatment and Use
Alternatives for Treatment and Use

Recommendations for Treatment & Use

Site

Foundation
Structure

Roof

Porches

Windows and Doors
Exterior Finishes.
interior

Utilities

REFERENCE

Sources of Information

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48

52
52
52
53
53

55
55
56

51

59



Executive Summary

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

the framing. The wood flooring is carpeted
wall to wall.

Room 107

The largest of the bedrooms, this room
measures about 12” by 14’ and differs from the
others in having three windows on the
northeast wall rather than the typical two.
Flooring is covered with a vinyl floor covering,
and the northeast and southeast walls are
paneled with plywood. The other walls are
open to the framing.

Uti

ies:

Prior to World War II, the house did not have
running water, although water could be drawn
from two hand pumps- - - one in the kitchen
and one on the northeast porch. Lighting
would have been provided by kerosene or
possibly battery- powered lights. Existing
wiring is mostly Romex, without conduit and,

Figure 34 Hand-operated
water pump on northeast
porch. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

due to the nature of the building, run exposed
in most locations. The house has apparently
never had any sort of heating system.

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=)

and rehabilitation of the plumbing and electri-
cal systems. With those sorts of repairs, the
building could continue to be used in a variety
of ways. Continued use of the building would
not necessitate reconstruction of the missing
porches nor removal of the garage.

However, if the park’s goal remains presenta-
tion of the buildings in the Cape Lookout Vil-
lage as they existed around 1950, removal of the

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garage, reconstruction of the porches, and res-
toration of the original board- and- batten sid-
ing would be recommended. Reconstruction
of the porches would have the added benefit of
greatly reducing exterior maintenance by pro-
tecting walls, windows and doors from the ele-

ments.



PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

War II and used his house at Cape Lookout as a
base camp for field work on the barrier islands.
He also used the house as a retreat for the
North Carolina Shell Club and other
organizations that he founded. Co- author of
The Birds of North Carolina, Davis caught and
banded falcons at Cape Lookout and

conducted other bird studies at the cape. In
addition to his Coca- Cola House, Davis also
owned a large tract on Core Banks and was a
catalyst in the state’s efforts to establish a state
park at Cape Lookout. Upon his death, the
house was deeded to his nephews, who now
hold the lease with the National Park Service.

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Historical Background & Context

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 26 View northeast of
hall. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

large, measuring 3/4” by 2-1/4”. Each door is
fitted with a metal rim lock and white porcelain
knobs. The doors at Rooms 103 and 105 are
historic, measure 2’- 8” by 6’- 8”, and have four,
flat, horizontal panels.

Room 100

This cross- shaped hall measures about 42’- 6”
front to rear (northwest to southeast) and 34’-
6” side to side (southwest to northeast). The
front and rear wings of the hall are 9’- 10” wide,
the kitchen (northeast) wing is 15’- 8” wide, and
the southwest wing is around 12’- 8” wide.

The hall originally had a door flanked by
windows at the end of each wing, but they
yemain intact only at the front (northwest) and
northeast ends of the hall. The fact that the

Figure 27 Typical bedroom
door with rimlock and porcelain
knobs. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

northeast door is a two- panel door is one
indication that the door opening there and at

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@



Historical Background & Context

Figure 3. View north of the
life-saving station, c. 1893, with
the lighthouse barely visible on
the horizon at extreme right.
(CALO Coll. G-09)

protected sound side of Shackleford Banks
west of the lighthouse. Diamond City, named
for the distinctive diamond pattern painted on
the lighthouse in 1873, was the most important
of these, Lying in the lee of a forty- foot- high
dune about a mile and a half northwest of the
lighthouse, Diamond City and two smaller
settlements further west were home to as many
as five hundred people in the 1890s, according
to the National Register nomination, giving
Shackleford Banks a larger population than
Harkers Island.

There are a number of references to “the
village” in the journals of the Cape Lookout
Life- Saving Station in the 1890s, but these

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references should not be confused with the

National Register district of Cape Lookout
Village, which developed in the early twentieth-
century. While the life- saving station journals
do not name “the village,” on more than one
occasion, they do note the three- mile distance
from the life- saving station, which confirms
that “the village” at that time was Diamond City
on Shackleford Banks.

Prior to World War I, the life- saving service
crew was made up almost exclusively of men
whose families had lived in Carteret County for
generations. The surfmen lived at the station
while on duty, but during the inactive season
returned to their permanent homes in More-
head City, Harker’s Island, Marshallberg, and
elsewhere.* Before 1916, the station keeper was

4. Each station log begins with a list of
the crew, their spouses or next-of-kin,
and their home address.



4)

Physical Description

Figure 32 View south showing
open door to Rooms 103 and
104 with door to Room 105 at
right. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

Figure 33 View north in Room
106. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

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Rooms 103-105

These three rooms, which adjoin each other on
the southeast side of the hall, were apparently
designed as separate rooms for a toilet, lavatory,
anda tub. Flooring is tongue- and- groove
wood, there are no ceilings, and walls are
unfinished with the framing exposed.

The toilet may have originally been set in the
inner room (104) and the lavatory in the other
room (103), but the toilet is now in 103 and a
lavatory is located on the southwest wall of the
rear hall. The toilet bears a date of July 5, 1950,
which may have been around the time that
running water was first installed in the house.

Room 105, which was mostly inaccessible for
close inspection, was apparently built as a tub
or bathing room. It is not certain if the
enameled, cast- iron, footed tub, which is 4- 1/2’
Jong, was installed as part of the original
construction. This space was once lit by a
window on the outside wall, but the window
was closed when the T- 1 siding was installed
after 1976.

Room 106

Located on the south corner of the house, this
room measures about 12’ by 12’. It originally
had two windows on each of the outside walls,
but one of the windows on the southeast wall
was closed when the garage was built and the
T- ur siding installed after 1976. The southeast
and southwest walls are covered with modern
plywood paneling; the other walls are open to



PART 2

TREATMENT AND USE

Recommendations
for Treatment &

Use

In keeping with the parameters established for the park’s other
historic buildings by the park’s 1982 GMP, the historic (and
present) residential use of the Coca- Cola House and the other
structures that were historically private residences should be con-
tinued, if rehabilitation can be accomplished with minimal alter-
ation to the buildings’ historic character.

Treatment of the Coca- Cola House (and the other historic prop-
erties in the district) must, at a minimum, adhere to the Secretary’s
Standards if the historic character of the individual buildings is to
be maintained. Of immediate concern is the present condition of
the building, where termites, poorly- maintained windows and
exterior finishes, as well as a variety of haphazard repairs threaten
the building’s continued preservation. In addition, the modifica-
tions to the building in the last twenty- five years have significantly
compromised the house’s historic integrity. Removal of the T- nt
exterior siding, the modern interior plywood paneling, and the
modern garage; restoration of the original board- and- batten sid-
ing; and replacement of the metal storm windows with wooden.
six- over- six sash would restore that integrity. Relatively simple,
straightforward repairs of the building’s other historic features
and rehabilitation of the building’s interior and its plumbing and

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Cultural Resources
Southeast Region
National Park Service
100 Alabama St. SW
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 562-3117

2004

Historic Structure Report

Coca- Cola House

CAPE LOOKOUT NATIONAL SEASHORE
Cape Lookout Village

LCS#: 091837

Cover photo, Seifert- Davis or “Coca- Cola
House? c. 1978 (CALO Coll.)

Ti. historic structure report presented
here exists in two formats. A traditional,
printed version is available for study at the
park, the Southeastern Regional Office of the
NPS (SERO), and at a variety of other reposi-
tories. For more widespread access, the historic
structure report also exists in a web- based for-
mat through ParkNet, the website of the Na-
tional Park Service. Please visit www.nps.gov

for more information.



PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

/
|
Modern repairs to the roof framing on the of Room 102 and of the southwest wall of Room |
southwest side of the house resulted in the 105. In addition, a small closet has been |

removal of small portions of the southeast wall installed in the south corner of Room 102.

Coca-Cola House 31 |
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DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

PART 1

Qun

Figure 15 Plan of Coca-Cola

House as it probably existed at

the end of the historic period, c.
1950. (T. Jones, NPS-SERO-CR,

2003)

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Recommendations for Treatment & Use

+ Reconstruct porches on southeast and
southwest sides of house, including
stairs at each entrance.

+ Do not install railings or balustrades.

Windows and Doors

The building’s historic fenestration should be
restored in conjunction with reconstruction of
the missing porches. The closed door opening
between the two windows at the southwest end
of the hall and a similar closed opening at the
southeast end of the hall should be reopened.
At the southeast end, the window that existed
at the present door opening should be rebuilt.
When the garage is removed, the missing win-
dows on the southeast side of Room 106 should
also be restored.

The original windows appear to have had two-
over- two sash, but these were mostly replaced
with six- over- six sash prior to 1976. Since that
time many of the six- over- six sash have been
removed and the windows closed with metal,
triple- track storm windows. Although the six-
over- six sash may have been added by Davis in
the early 1950s, they should be repaired and
preserved unless historic photographs or other
documentation can be located that would de-
finitively show the six- over- six sash as having
not been present during the historic period.
Since the metal storm windows do not have
locks, they cannot effectively secure the house
and should be replaced with six- over- six
wooden sash as well.

The character of the two missing exterior doors
has not been documented, but they most likely

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matched the four- panel door at the front
(northwest) of the house. The photograph of
the rear (southeast) of the house from 1976 ap-
pears to show a four- panel door at the back
door, although the poor quality of the image
makes that conclusion less than absolutely cer-
tain. Nevertheless, the present front door
should be repaired and preserved and used as a
model for the missing doors.

The two- panel door on the northeast side of
the house was probably installed in the early
19508, but like the six- over- six sash, it should
be preserved until its origins can be definitively
documented.

Screened doors should be installed at all exte-
rior door openings. The two existing screen
doors are modern, with narrow (1- 1/2”) stiles
and rails . New doors will be necessary for the
re- opened doors on the southwest and south-
east sides of the house. Replacement doors
should have stiles and top and center rails that
are at least 3- 1/2” wide and a bottom rail at least
8” wide. Center rails should be placed to cor-
respond with the placement of the center stile
on the four- panel door.

Screens will also be needed at the windows.
Although the character of window screens that
might have been present historically has not
been documented, half frame screens, prefer-
ably wood- framed, are recommended for all of
the windows.

+ Restore original fenestration.
+ Repair and preserve existing six- over-

six wooden sash.



Project Team

Project Manager

Primary Research, Building Investigation,
and Author

Program Reviews

Danny Scheidt, Historical Architect
National Park Service

Southeast Regional Office

Atlanta, GA

Tommy H. Jones, Architectural Historian
National Park Service

Southeast Regional Office

Atlanta, GA

Bob Blythe, History

Allen Bohnert, Curatorial & Museum
Services

Danny Scheidt, Historical Architecture
Tracy Stakely, Cultural Landscapes
National Park Service

Southeast Regional Office

Atlanta, GA

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

A small lavatory is mounted on the wall of the
rear wing of the hall at Room 107, perhaps
replacing a lavatory that was once in Room 103
or 104.

Room 101

Located in the north corner of the house, this
room measures 12” by 12’ and is the only room
with all of its historic window sash intact. All of
the walls have been paneled with plywood, and
it is the only room that also has a plywood
ceiling. Flooring is completely covered by a
sheet- vinyl floor covering.

Room 102

Located in the west corner of the house, this
room also measures 12’ by 12’. The walls in this
room are open to the framing except on the
southwest wall which has been finished with
sheets of plywood paneling. A small closet,
which is apparently contemporaneous with the
built- in cabinets in the cross hall, has been
created in the south corner of the room by
removing part of the southwest end of the
southeast wall and installing a14” louvered
shutter as a door. The top plate and wall
paneling above this shutter door was also
removed, apparently in conjunction with
repairs to the roof framing in that area. The
floor is covered with a sheet- vinyl floor
covering.

Figure 30 View northeast in
Room 101. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

Figure 31 View south in Room
102, showing altered wall and
added closet door. (NPS-SERO-
CR, 2003)

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PART II TREATMENT AND USE

their existence and will continue to influence
them.” The GMP envisioned interpretation
of the park’s cultural resources that would
“emphasize man and his relation to the sea”
with maritime history a focus at the lighthouse
and the cultural and economic life of the Outer
Bankers at Portsmouth Village.”?* Since that
time, additional cultural resources besides the
lighthouse station and Portsmouth have been
recognized through National Register listing.
In 1989, the Cape Lookout Coast Guard Sta-
tion, with four intact historic structures, was
listed on the National Register; and in June
2000, the Cape Lookout Village Historic Dis-
trict, with fourteen historic residential build-
ings, was listed as well.

An amendment to the 1982 GMP was com-
pleted in January 2001, but it only addressed
improvements in overnight accommodations
and transportation services for visitors to Core
Banks and not the additional cultural resources
that had been recognized since 1982. Never-
theless, these additional listings, which like the
earlier listings are of statewide significance, do
not appear to require any marked departure
from the management approach established in
1982 for Portsmouth and the Cape Lookout
Light Station.

Three points from the 1982 GMP are particu-
larly relevant to treatment decisions on the
buildings in the Cape Lookout Village and in
the Coast Guard complex as well.

21.Cape Lookout GMP. p. 4.
22.Ibid.

+ The 1982 plan “perpetuates the present
level of use and development of Core
Banks/Portsmouth Island. . . ?73

+ Pointing out the resources’ state level of
significance, the 1982 plan intended “to
preserve intact, as feasible, the historic
resources of the national seashore and to
recognize that dynamic natural forces have
influenced them through their existence
and will continue to influence them.”*4

+ “As appropriate, some structures may be
perpetuated through adaptive use. Con-
temporary public and/or administrative
tights will be allowed with necessary mod-
ifications. The qualities that qualified these
resources for listing on the National Regis-
ter of Historic Places will be perpetuated to
the extent practicable."?5

Use: In keeping with these parameters, the
historic (and present) residential use of the
Coca- Cola House and the other structures that
were historically private residences should be
continued, if rehabilitation can be accom-
plished with minimal alteration to the build-
ings’ historic character.

Treatment: Clearly, however, treatment of the
Coca- Cola House (and the other historic
properties in the district) must, at a minimum,
adhere to the Secretary’s Standards if the his-
toric character of the individual buildings is to
be maintained.

23.GMR p.
24.bid., p. 4.
25.ibid., p. 35.

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MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

Executive
Summary

Built around 1928 and long known as the Coca- Cola House, the
Seifert- Davis House was one of the first vacation houses built at
Cape Lookout by people who were not native to Carteret County.

Research Summary

Research for this project has been limited, and additional research
is necessary to fully document the building’s history. In particular,
completion of oral interviews with members of the Davis and
Seifert families is encouraged.

Charles A. Seifert, owner of the Coca- Cola franchise in New
Bern, N. C., bought two lots from the Cape Lookout
Development Company in 1927 and is thought to have built the
present house the following year. His brother David owned a
Coca- Cola franchise in Roanoke, N. C., and he may also have had

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CAPE LOOKOUT NATIONAL SEASHORE
Coca-Cola House

HISTORIC STRUCTURE
REPORT

Historical Architecture, Cultural Resources Division
Southeast Regional
Office
National Park Service

2004

B&W Scans
a/ glos



Historical Background & Context

Figure 11 Plat of Cape
Lookout Development
Company’s subdivision, 1915.
Arrow at left locates Coast
Guard Station, arrow at right
locates light house. Seifert's
lots are at center arrow.
(Carteret Co. Plat Book 1)

lent the house for Saturday night square dances
for soldiers stationed at the Cape.

Advancingyears may have precipitated Seifert’s
sale of the house in the 1953. He died in April
1967. On November 25, 1953, Charles Seifert
sold the Coca- Cola House to Harry T. Davis.'7
Davis paid $100 for the lots, which were
designated as Lots 9 and ro in Square 42 on the
official 1915 map of the Cape Lookout
Development Company.

17.Carteret County Deeds and
Mortgages, Book 154, p. 586. That
deed states that Seiferts original
purchase of the land was recorded in
Book 24, p. 371, but that deed cannot
be found in Book 24.

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Harry T. Davis, a trained geologist, was a long-
time director of North Carolina State Museum.
of Natural Sciences in Raleigh."® Established by
the State Legislature in 1879 "to illustrate the

agricultural and other resources and the
natural history of the State," the museum hired
its first curator (later director), H. H. Brimley,
in 1895. In 1937, Harry T. Davis succeeded
Brimley as the Museum's second director and
served in that capacity until 1966. Among other
things, he initiated the first statewide survey of
North Carolina’s archeological sites and led a
major renovation and expansion of the
Museum in the 1950s.'9

The National Register indicates, too, that Davis
was a figure “of major importance” in the
state’s environmental movement after World

18.The National Register nomination
incorrectly gives the museum’s name
as the North Carolina Natural History
Museum.

19.Karen Kemp, “The North Carolina
Museum of Natural Sciences:
History,” <http:/www.itpi.dpi.state.
nc.us/caroclips/raleigh/nsmhstry.html>



jational Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior

Cape Lookout National Seashore
131 Charles Street
Harkers Island, NC 28531

www.nps.gov/calo

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA TM

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Historical Background & Context

Figure 1 View to east of Cape
Lookout Lighthouse, May 1899.
First Keeper’s Dwelling is at
right. (CALO Coll. D-01)

of Core and Shackleford Banks did not attract
any permanent settlement until the late
eighteenth century. Even then, settlement was
apparently limited to temporary camps erected
by fishermen and whalers, who had begun
operations along the Cape by 1755. Sighting the
whales from the “Cape Hills,’ a series of sand
dunes up to sixty feet high that were located
east and south of the present light house, the
whalers operated in small open boats, dragging
their catch back to the beach where they
rendered the whale blubber into oil.’

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Cape Lookout Lighthouse was authorized by

Congress in 1804 but was not completed until
1812. Too low to be effective, it was replaced by
the present structure in 1857- 1859. With a first-
order Fresnel lens, the new lighthouse was "the
prototype of all the lighthouses to be erected

subsequently on the Outer Banks."

The harsh conditions around the cape
discouraged permanent settlement, and when
Edmund Ruffin visited the area shortly before
the Civil War, he described it as uninhabited

except for Portsmouth near Ocracoke and a

1. David Stick, The Outer Banks of North
Carolina (University of North Carolina
Press, 1958) p. 308.





4)

Physical Description

Figure 16 View of front
(northwest side) of Coca-Cola
House.(NPS-SERO-CRS, 2002)

Figure 17 View of southwest
side of house. (NPS-SERO-CR,
2002)

Figure 18 View of rear
(southeast) side of house. (NPS-
SERO-CR, 2002)

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purchased less than a quarter acre. There are
no significant above- ground features in the
surrounding landscape, which is flat, sandy,
and virtually treeless.

Foundation

Except for some of the buildings at the old
Coast Guard and Lighthouse stations, which
were built on brick piers, most of the
residences at Cape Lookout were built on
wood pilings. The wood frame of the Coca-
Cola House, however, was built on poured
concrete piers, spaced about six feet apart, and
probably set on some sort of spread footing.
Piers are about 8” by 15” in plan and 15” high.
All of the piers remain in relatively good
condition, except where the original porch was
removed along the south sides of the house,
allowing some of the piers to be overturned or
destabilized.

Structure

Sills on the main house are typically 3- 1/2” by 7-
1/2”, and floor joists are typically 1- 5/8” by



Historical Background & Context

Figure 8 Map of Cape
Lookout, August 1934, The
“Coca-Cola Building” is at upper
right. (U. S. Coast Guard
Collection)

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 13 View west of Coca-
Cola House in 1976. (NPS-CALO
Coll.)

The nature of the historic roof covering has
not been documented, although wood-
shingles were likely installed at east on the
main roof. The shallow pitch of the porch
roofs suggests that asphalt roofing might have
been used on those roofs.

Eaves were not boxed, and the exterior walls
were finished with board- and- batten siding.
Windows were wood, probably with two- over-
two sash. The present four- panel front door
may be original and, if so, may have been
typical of the doors that were originally used at
the other three entrances.

Porches had wooden decks, square posts
(dimension uncertain), and ceilings open to
the rafters. Itis likely that there were no
railings or balustrades around the porches, but

that is not certain. The building’s fenestration
and the 1976 photographs suggest that
entrances were originally present on all four
sides of the house, along with steps from the

porches to the ground at those locations.

The interior of the structure was originally
partitioned with 8’- high walls, but no ceilings
were installed, leaving the roof framing
entirely visible from the interior. Walls were
paneled on one side only using double- V-
joint, tongue- and- groove boards, 3- 1/2” wide.
Flooring was also tongue- and- groove, 3- 1/2”

wide.

It is possible that the building’s original plan
has not been changed, and that the cross halls
and the three small spaces (104- 106) that make
up the building’s bath room were all features of
the original building. A bathroom would be

especially significant since privies remained in

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

eo & i ig 4 st msde
lr 2 es a a rr a cr oc ee
ae ee :
ry Tove ft.
Figure 4 Map ot Cape Collection)

Lookout, c. 1890. (Coast Guard

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Foreword

We are pleased to make available this historic structure report, part of our ongoing effort to provide
comprehensive documentation for the historic structures and landscapes of National Park Service
units in the Southeast Field Area. Many individuals and institutions contributed to the successful
completion of this work. We would particularly like to thank the staff at Cape Lookout National
Seashore, especially the park’s facility manager Mike McGee, cultural resources manager Michael
Rikard, and superintendent Bob Vogel. We hope that this study will prove valuable to park man-
agement in their treatment of the building and to everyone in understanding and interpreting the
Seifert- Davis House, also known as the Coca- Cola House, at Cape Lookout.

Chief

Cultural Resources Stewardship
Southeast Regional Office
December 2004

Coca-Cola House
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PART II TREATMENT AND USE

ditions to accommodate modern use of the
structure. Regardless of approach, a key prin-
ciple embodied in the Standards is that changes
be reversible, i.e., that alterations, additions, or
other modifications be designed and con-
structed in such a way that they can be removed
or reversed in the future without the loss of ex-
isting historic materials, features or characters.

Modern building codes and accessibility issues
are a major factor in designing repairs to his-
toric structures and often necessitate signifi-
cant changes to the building. If the Coca- Cola
House is leased for residential use, public ac-
cess will be restricted, and therefore, full com-
pliance with accessibility codes may not be
necessary. A ramp could be readily added to
the deck of the porch, which is less than 24”
above grade, but the width of doors and con-
figuration of interior spaces limit full accessi-
bility to the entire building without significant
alterations.

Treatment of the building should be guided by
the International Building Code, including that
code’s statement regarding historic buildings:

3406.1 Historic Buildings. The provisions of
this code related to the construction, repair,
alteration, addition, restoration and movement of
structures, and change of occupancy shall not be
mandatory for historic buildings where such
buildings are judged by the building official to
not constitute a distinct life safety hazard
[emphasis added].

Threats to public health and safety will be
eliminated, but because this is an historic

building, alternatives to full code compliance
are recommended where compliance would
needlessly compromise the integrity of the his-
toric building.

Alternatives for Treatment and Use

Use: As discussed earlier in this report, the
highest and best use for most historic buildings
is the use for which the structure was originally
designed. For the Coca- Cola House, this use is
residential, but the building’s central and
highly- visible location and the unusual, open
design of its interior might make it attractive for
other uses instead. With minimal adaptation of
the interior, for instance, the building could
serve as a visitor contact station, with exhibits,
staff offices, and/or limited sales of books and
other merchandise on the inside and the wide
surrounding porches offering a shade shelter
for visitors throughout the day. If sale of food
and drink were added to that mix, the building
could function much as Carrie Davis’ store did
when it operated a few hundred yards south-
west of the house in the 1930s and 1940s. While
such adaptive use may not be feasible or desir-
able at this time, if restoration of the 1873 Light-
house Keeper’s Dwelling and the rest of the
light station becomes a priority, the Coca- Cola
House could be an attractive alternative site for
the park’s main visitor contact station at the
Cape.

Treatment: A number of repairs are necessary
to preserve and continue to use the structure,
including repairs to existing wood sash, re-
placement of missing wood sash, re- roofing,

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Figure 19 View of northeast
side of house. (NPS-SERO-CR,
2002)

7- V2” set on 16” centers. Studs are typically 3-
5/8” by 5- 3/4”; ceiling joists are1- 3/4” by 5- 3/4”.
Studs and ceiling joists are on variable centers
ranging from 16” to 24”. Rafters for the main
roof are generally 2- 1/8” by 6- 1/2” set on 24”

centers.

Anumber of the rafters, especially on the south

side of the house, have been repaired by Figure 20 View of typical
sistering new material to the old. The repairs, 3009) Pier. (NPS-SERO-CR,

which are fully visible from the interior,
resulted in the removal of small sections of the
interior partition walls on the southwest side of
the building, but this does not appear to have

destabilized the structure. Perimeter sills have

also been extensively replaced.

Porches

By 1976, the porches had been removed from
the southeast (rear) and southwest sides of the Figure 21. View of typical floor
house. The porches were framed with 3-1/2” by _ framing. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2002)

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PART 1 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Roof

The roof has a solid deck composed of 1” by 8”
(nominal dimension) boards. The existing roof
covering is a modern, asphalt, “hurricane”
shingle that has been patched repeatedly and,
overall, is in poor condition.

Exterior Finishes

The original exterior siding was board- and-
batten, using 1” by 9- 1/2” to 9- 3/4” boards and
battens the dimensions of which have not been
determined. Battens were removed when the
present T- 11 plywood siding was installed after
1976, but most, if not all, of the boards remain
intact beneath the later siding.

Eaves are unboxed, with a plain 1” by 6”
(nominal dimension) fascia. As noted above,
original sills and casing were replaced by a
narrow wooden frame at the openings where
storm windows have been installed.

Interior

The house contains about 1,465 square feet of
floor space. In addition to the large cross hall
that runs end to end and side to side in the
building, the house is partitioned into four
bedrooms plus a suite of three small rooms that
were apparently intended for bathroom
facilities. Wall partitions rise to the top plate (8”
high) on the exterior walls, but historically
there were no ceilings, although a modern
plywood ceiling has now been installed in
Room tor.

Figure 22 View of original
porch roof framing at north
corner of house. (NPS-SERO-CR,
2003)

Figure 23 View of front door,
which is presumed to be
original. (NPS-SERO-CR, 2003)

sees

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