The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1962-05-04

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August IS, 1926, at the occasion
Of the celebration Of the birth
of Virginia Dare. The movement
flor this great celebration was
initiated by Victor Meekins and
Mrs. Rennie Williamson Of Man
teo.
Fort Raleigh was then mo-
thing but a wilderness, but 5000
folks came to Roanke Island BY
boat for this great occasion,
which marked the first grand
scale observance of Virginia
Dare's birth.
After this, in 1927, Mr.. War
rem introduced a bill in Congress
to create a memorial to the
Wright Brothers, to be located
on Kill Devil Hill.
At the time of the laying of
the cornerstone for the Wright
Memorial the Kugler road had
not been completed; there was
not a blade of grass on the
beach nor any of the sand
dunes; there were very few cot
tages in the old Mays Head
section; and there were only
three dilapidated old Coast
Guard stations under which men,
boats and horses had to abide.
Mr.. Warren then initiated a
program of getting up-to-date
Coast Guard stations from the
Virginia State line to Ocracoke.
He has been endeared to the
hearts of several generations of
Coast Guardsmen who have a
rich heritage along the Outer
Banks.
Meantime, work was continu-
ing on the Wright Memorial.
Kill Devil Hill was anchored
Stabilized by the planting of
grass), and with the compile
ton of the new road the area
began to develop and grow by
leaps and bounds.
In 1887 Mr.. Warren introduce
ed in Congress a bill creating
the Cape Hatteras National Sea-
shore. The Congressman was
one of three men living today
who founded the Lost Colony.
(Paul Green, who wrote the
symphonic drama, and R. Bruce
Etheridge, veteran Dare Coun-
| ty legislator, are the other
two).
Mr.. Warren prevailed upon
President Franklin D. Roose-
welt to come down to Roanoke
Island and view the Lost Colony
pageant. A special train with
the President and his party
stopped at Elizabeth City, and
they made the remainder of the
journey by boat. They returned
at night by car over the Wright
Memorial Bridge.
President Roosevelt asked Mr..
Warren to announce to the very
large crowd of 1880 people that
The had signed the Warren Bill
for the creation of the Cape
Hatteras National Seashore that
day on Dare County soil.
! This, too, was momentous
occasion in the development OF
the Dare Coast area.
! Appeared To Be Doomed
Although out of Congress in
1910 to beome Comptroller Cen
email of the United States, and
although the fate of the Cape
Hatteras Seashore appeared to
be doomed, Conrad Wirth, the
brilliant director of the Nation
al Park Service and a close per-
sonal friend of Mr.. Warren, in
| formed Warren that he believed
| he could convince the Mellon
Foundation to put up money to
buy land if the State would pro-
vide matching funds.
Later, Governor Kerr Scott
discussed this proposition at
length with Mr.. Warren, as
well as with Congressman Her
bert C. Bonner who had succeed
ed Mr.. Warren in Congress. Mr..
Scott became an enthusiastic
supporter of the project.
The Seashore project was Bit
terly fought by some of Mr..
Warren's close friends. But
Warren did no waver for one
second, believing it would turn
out to be the best thing that
could possibly happen to Dare
County-and this has already
been proved.
At about this time a great
hue and cry arose in Dare Coun-
ty and a few other Eastern
counties to build toll bridges
across Croatan Sound, Alliga-
tor River, and Oregon Inlet as
well as a toll road up the beach
to Virginia.
Mr.. Warren opposed every
single proposition, bucking at
times some of his warmest per-
sonal friends on the subject OF
tolls.
He said then that it would
be a crime to bottle up Eastern
North Carolina. Tolls already
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