The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1952-07-25
PARK SERVICE SETS UP
PLANS FOR ACQUISITION
OF LANDS FOR SEASHORE
Boundaries Exclude Large Areas of Villages
on Outer Banks; Officials Believe Project
Will Develop Many Sources of Income for
Residents; Accommodations of Visitors To
Be Left to Citizens.

the Department of the Interior
will establish a land acquisition Of
the task of purchasing lands for
the Cape Hatteras National Sea-
flee in the near future to launch
shore Recreation Area, Secretary
of the Interior Oscar l.. Chapman
announced today. Available for the
purpose are $618,000 in State of
North Carolina funds and match
ing amount from unnamed donors.
The project on which these funds
are to be expended was first au-
thorized by Congress in 1887.
The boundaries of the area in
which lands are to be acquired
have been jointly agreed upon by
the Cape Hatteras National Sea-
shore Commission, the Governors
Council, and the National Park
Service. From the point, locally
known as Whalebone, on Bodie
Isla nd, approximately 8 miles
north Of Oregon Inlet, where US.
Highway 1853 turns to go to Roa-
noke Island, the project extends
down to Cape Hatteras itself and
southwestward from the Cape to
the farther end of Ocracoke Island.
No part of the ocean-front resort
community of Mays Head is in
cluded within the project. All the
several villages lying along the
inner side of North Carolina's
Outer Banks - North and South
Rodanthe, Salvo, Avon, Buxton,
Frisco, Hatteras and Ocracoke-
are excluded, as required by the
1887 act of Congress. So also are
liberal areas surrounding them, to
leave adequate room for their ex-
pansion.
This portion of the Outer Banks
of North Carolina comprises one
of the few extensive stretches OF
undeveloped seashore remaining or
the Atlantic Coast, Sec tary
Chapman stated.
From the standpoint of the
economy of eastern North Caro-.
lima and particularly of the neigh.
boring communities, establishment
of the National Seashore Recrea-
ton Area-the first of its kind in
this country-is of paramount i'm
portance. One of the basic pur-
poses of the National Park Serv-
ice, in connection with it, has beer
and will continue to be to protect
the way of life-the enjoyment Of
hunting and fishing, for example
to which the people of the Outer
Banks have been accustomed fol
generations.
The very fact of establishment
is bound to focus vastly increased
attention and interest on this ex.
tensive and stored area, in the
opinion of National Park Service
officials. GAS has been stated
many times since the project wa!
first suggested, the National Parl
Service will look to the communi
ties outside the Recreation Ares
those on Roanoke Island; those
along the banks to the north; anC
those adjoining the area and fac,
ing on Pamlico Sound-to provide
overnight accommodations, meals
boating, fishing, hunting and Other
facilities that visitors would re.
quire. The result, Service officials
believe, is bound to be great en-.
hancement of commercial oppor.
tunity in these neighboring com.
munities, which possess a pleasant
and hospitable flavor of great ap.
peal to visitors. There is ample
room for the provision of such ia.
cilities; if they are good, there is
every reason to expect that these
communities will prosper beyond
all past expectation"
Author of the 1887 legislation
was the Hon. Lindsay Warren
then representative from North
as First Congressional
District, and now Comptroller
General, who has retained his in
terest in the prospect during the
nearly IL years since he took over
his present position. Mr.. Warren
has taken an active and effective
part in the recent negotiations
which resulted in the decision OF
the Governors Council to make
$618,OO0 of the States funds avail
able for the project, as has his
successor in Congress, the Hon,
Herbert C. Bonner.
Within the agreed upon bound
aries of the project, the State OF
North Carolina and the Federal
Government already own 11,6O4
acres, all of which will be included
in it. Although the States contri-
button toward the purchase funds
cannot be turned over to the Ma
tional Park Service for expendi-
ture, negotiations for land pur-
chases to which those funds will be
See PARK, Page Eight