OUTER BANKS BLOG

Recently one of our sales agents was involved in the sale of a very historic home in Nags Head. He felt the history of this home was so interesting that we should blog about it...so here we go. The 'Fearing' home was built in 1935 and is located on the oceanfront. Back in the day it was known as The Fourth Estate Cottage and was recognized as "the last word in beach cottage exclusiveness". It sounds as if the house was built by a partnership of then men...and they were all involved in the newspaper business in North Carolina.

This home is currently managed by Resort Realty and while it lacks most of the bells and whistles that most Outer Banks vacation homes now offer it is certainly a glimpse back into the way things used to be here.

Here is some text from the original notice/publication about this home. I do not know where this came from so I cannot give credit.

"The Fourth Estate Cottage is the last word in beach cottage accommodations. It is equal to a modern city home, with lights, bath, lavatories (aka small sinks) in bedrooms, library, typewriter, radio, telephone and completely and comfortably furnished from kitchen to bedrooms."

Note that this home, while a showpiece in its day, has one full bathroom in the entire home. There are small sinks in the bedrooms. And, if you wanted to take a shower, you would have to go outside as the one bath offers a tub only.

Here is some more text from that old article:

"The cottage offers its members at nominal cost every advantage enjoyed in the most palatial millionaire clubhouses in Dare county. It is not only exclusive but interesting. Lanterns from old ships now light its rooms and doors are used that have sailed the seven seas.

Under the house are timbers from many famous vessels. In the yard stands a cannon from a shipwreck (pretty sure this is no longer there). It is in firing condition and used occassionally (now I know this does not happen!). In the west gable hangs a lantern from the Huron, wrecked with the loss of 92 lives in 1877, on the coast at the spot where the house now stands.

The big stone fireplace and chimney are constructed with rock, partly from the ballast brought to Americal 350 years ago by Raleigh's colonists, rock from the original Cape Hatteras lighthouse tower--built in 1790, and from the fragments of the famous Wright Brothers Memorial. The keystone bears this inscription

Let my glowing embers warm your heart to all the world. Light your fire and never fear, life was made for love and cheer."

Sometimes it is good to go back and remember a simpler way of life...when going to the beach meant staying in a house near the ocean that might have a phone but did not have a TV and Internet was not even invented yet.