PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



"I sat on a pillow so I could see 

 over the wheel," says Stocky. 



The brothers cruised through surf 

 and bounced over hard-packed sand on 

 their route from Hatteras to Manteo. On 

 a lot of days, they got stuck in the sand. 



"Once, we lost a bus on the beach 

 near a shipwreck," Anderson says while 

 looking at an old photo of a bus. "We 

 would have been better off losing it. It 

 filled up with sand." 



The next day, the bus was pulled 

 out of the sand. 



During bad weather, the brothers 

 had lots of problems, says Anderson. 



"It took a lot of time to go through sea 

 water," he says. "The worst hurricane was in 

 1944 and had no name. It cut about four or five 

 inlets on the beach." 



During a northeaster in 1954, the bus 

 sunk in "quicksand" on the highway two miles 

 south of Oregon Inlet, according to Stocky. 

 "It did an estimated $15,000 of damage to the 

 bus," he adds. 



Transportation Pioneers 



The bus line — begun in 1938 by 

 Anderson, Harold and Stocky' s late father, 

 Theodore Stockton Midgett — was the first 

 public transportation system on Hatteras Island. 



"Right after my father started the busline, 

 he died," says Anderson. "It was left for my 

 mother and the boys to carry on." 



During the early years, there were no 

 paved roads. "We drove on the beach or sand 

 road," says Anderson. "We made our own 

 roads. We had 101 different roads." 



For example, south of Avon, they rode on 

 wooden planks over a dike just past a hunting 

 club. 



About 90 percent of the island's residents 

 rode the bus before the island road was paved, 

 says Stocky. 



During the 1950s, the N.C. Department of 

 Transportation began building roads on the 

 island. "The roads were built in segments," says 

 Stocky. 



The Midgetts operated the line until 1963, 

 when they sold it to Virginia Dare Transporta- 

 tion. "It was not profitable," says Stocky. "It 



Anderson and Stocky Midgett still take beach rides. 



was too expensive. Then the roads came." 



After that, Anderson and Stockton started 

 Midgett Realty. They also built the Hatteras 

 Marlin Motel in 1963. Today, Anderson and 

 Stocky work out of offices at the Marlin Motel 

 filled with photos of the bus lines. 



"Sometimes, I wonder how we did it and 

 survived," says Anderson. "All of us had a lot of 

 experience driving in the sand. We could pretty 

 well drive anywhere on the beach. We tried to 

 use the biggest tires we could. After the war, we 

 tried a four-wheel command car from the Army. 

 But the Army surplus vehicle didn't work well. 

 Most of our buses were Ford buses." 



Crowded Vehicles 



During the early years, they drove a green 

 1938 Ford "woody wagon." 



"We could haul up to nine people in that 

 wagon," says Stocky. 



The wagon would get so crowded that 

 people had to sit in each others' laps, according 

 to Jack Goodwin, Carteret County Historical 

 Society librarian. He says one of the memorable 

 trips was after a revival led by a "child prodigy." 



"It was so crowded that the evangelist had 

 to sit in my lap," says Goodwin. "I could see her 

 wrinkles and heavy makeup and feel her corset. 

 There was no way she was just 12 years old." 



Over the years, the Midgetts operated a 

 variety of vehicles. The most famous and 

 unusual was a Ford truck called the "old blue 

 goose." The vehicle's body was built in 

 Philadelphia, and the seats were arranged along 

 the vehicle's sides as well as in rows. 



During later years, they transported 



passengers in school buses. 



"Over a period of years, we 

 probably had 50 different vehicles," 

 says Anderson. "In our busiest times, 

 we had six buses going back and forth. 

 We would haul as many as 40 people 

 a day." 



With the buses, the Mdgett 

 brothers made a daily trip to Manteo, 

 with stops in Frisco, Buxton, Avon, 

 Waves and Rodanthe. 



"We picked up people from 

 Whalebone Junction in Manteo and 

 charged about $2.50 per person," says 

 Anderson. "If someone was from Rodanthe, we 

 charged as little as $1.50." 



Often, they stopped in Rodanthe to get an 

 Orange Crush or pack of Nabs at their mother's 

 store. "This was our rest stop," says Stocky. 

 'We would stay there 10 or 15 minutes." 



To cross Oregon Inlet, they rode a ferry. 

 Capt. Toby Tillett operated the ferry until the 

 Herbert C. Bonner Bridge was completed in 

 1963. 



"Oregon Inlet was wider then," says 

 Stocky. "The ferry took 30 minutes to cross 

 the inlet." 



Once the bus reached land, they drove on a 

 dirt road into Whalebone. "The only highway 

 was from Whalebone into Manteo," adds Stocky. 



The buses carried tourists and local 

 residents and delivered packages and groceries. 



"We picked up everything for people — 

 mail, laundry, packages and prescriptions," says 

 Stocky's wife, Elizabeth Midgett. "If you wanted 

 a pair of hose, we would go get it." 



When the Midgetts sold their bus line, they 

 didn't quit driving on the beach. Stocky still 

 drives his Ford F-150 truck on the beach 

 regularly. 



"I love driving on the beach and going 

 fishing," he says. "It is a part of my life." 



As he drives down the beach in his truck 

 near Hatteras Inlet, Stocky has a vivid memory 

 of his bus driving days. 



"There were 101 different routes," he says. 

 "Sometimes, we rode on the banks. It depended 

 on where the tide was." 



But no matter where they went, "the ride 

 was beautiful," he adds. □ 



22 EARLY SUMMER 2002 



