weathered look with a few bare spots on the roof 

 and some gables. 



Not far from the Daniels' cottage is the one- 

 story Life Saving Station Boat House that once 

 was used by the U.S. Coast Guard and is now 

 leased by David Yeomans. 



On a recent day, a tour group stopped in 

 front of the house. While standing near a weeping 

 willow tree, Yeomans belted out the local popular 

 song "The Booze Yacht" about a whiskey boat 

 that ran aground during Prohibition. 



After the group left, he walked around 

 barefoot near some trees decorated nautical-style 

 with orange, white and green buoys and an old 

 boat. 



"Everybody that comes from miles puts a 

 buoy on the tree," says Yeomans, who will turn 

 82 in February. 



As Yeomans walks inside the "Ye Olde 

 Boat House," he says that he put a lot of sweat 

 into this retreat. 



In 1958, he moved the 1887 structure 

 building from its original site 500 feet north and 

 remodeled it as a cottage. 



He still has the saw that he and a friend used 

 to cut 50 concrete blocks underneath the house. 



"I moved the house on rollers," says 

 Yeomans. 'It took two of us. I was worn out from 

 moving. I changed the road a httle to put the 

 house where it is." 



For Yeomans, the cottage is more "home" 

 than his house on Harkers Island. 



"My father was here before me and had a 

 garden where the porch is now," says Yeomans. 

 "Horace Nelson with the Coast Guard had a 

 house where the garage is." 



A short, compact man with a well- 

 weathered face from his years outside fishing, 

 Yeomans delights in telling stories about the 

 Cape, including being conceived over here. 



"There were no midwives here at the time," 

 he says. "My parents carried me home to Harkers 

 Island to be bom. At one month, I was christened 

 at the Harkers Island Methodist Church and came 

 right back to Cape Lookout and spent my 

 childhood here." 



Over the years, Yeomans has collected a lot 

 of memorabilia from the Cape. The enclosed 

 front porch is decorated with seashells, buoys, 

 including a Russian one that washed ashore from 



a trawler, and old kerosene lamps used by the 

 Coast Guard to signal ships. 



The kitchen still has an old hand pump 

 used before he had a generator. One of the 

 bedrooms has a light bulb that has burned since 

 1958. 



Yeomans and his wife spend all of April, 

 May and October here and always celebrate her 

 birthday on Oct. 27 with a party at the Cape. 



Last October, 150 people showed up for 

 the birthday celebration. Since it was rainy, 

 Yeomans says a lot of people had left the Cape. 

 "When the weather is pretty, we set up the tables 

 outside. We have a real good time." 



Across the street, the Dawseys from 

 Gastonia and Setzers from Denbigh, Va., lease 

 the "Sea Dollar," a wood-framed structure built 

 around 1940. 



The one-story cottage has board and batten 

 siding. Ben Dawsey thinks the original house 

 was built by a Coast Guard employee for his 

 family during World War n. 



The living room has a huge stone fireplace, 

 pot-bellied stove and weather vane on the ceiling 

 that tells the way the wind is blowing. 



"This is a family place where we have 

 fellowship," says Dawsey, a retired Gastonia 

 veterinarian. "We come by ourselves and 

 sometimes the kids come. We thank the Lord we 

 have had the opportunity to come over here and 

 see nature — birds, fish and turtles crawling on 

 the banks." 



Island Vegetation 



There are no high-rise buildings in the 

 village except for the lighthouse. The landscape 

 also has remained unaltered except for some 

 scrubby pine trees planted in the 1960s to protect 

 structures from wind and lend stability to the 

 shifting sands. Cedars and myrtles shade many 

 of the village homes. 



Along the Core Sound waterfront, the 

 cottages have huge yards that are covered with 

 seagrass. The homes overlook a wide maze of 

 marshy expanse that rings the natural cove 

 known as Cape Lookout "bight." One of the 

 larger homes is the two-story "Casablanca," 

 where natives used to gather for square dances. 



A smaller cottage near the bight is the 

 "Long Cottage," which was nicknamed "Never 



Done" by June Long's children because of the 

 continuous maintenance. 



"It is difficult to get things done on the 

 island," says Long who lives in Roanoke 

 Rapids. "We have to bring over everything by 

 boat — from building materials and gas 

 cylinders to the kitchen stove." 



The Longs also have to haul everything off 

 the island, including garbage and laundry, and 

 provide their own electricity and water, she adds. 



Despite the inconveniences and hardships 

 on the isolated island, Long gets "choked up 

 thinking about it being gone" and so do her 

 friends. "I can hardly put into words what the 

 cottage means to me," she says. "Sometimes we 

 come here for six weeks at a time." 



During these retreats, the Longs soak up 

 nature and get to know each other better. 



"We sit on the porch and have the best 

 visiting and enjoy each other," says Long. "We 

 go on the beach and swim and swim. Children 

 can go in the marsh. It is so different from 

 anything else." 



Not far from the Long cottage is the two- 

 story Barden home that was originally a 

 lighthouse keeper's quarters. Like many of the 

 other homes on the island, it was moved from its 

 original location near the lighthouse to the bight. 



Graham Barden Jr., son of the longtime 

 congressman for whom Barden Inlet was 

 named, was given the lot as a gift from his 

 father's law partner in 1957. Then he and two 

 friends bought the house for $666, according to 

 Graham Barden in, a New Bern physician. 



He vacationed at the Cape as a child and 

 has vivid memories of carrying gallon jugs of 

 water from the Coast Guard station to his house. 



"We found out later that our well was as 

 deep as the one at the station," he says. 



Recently, the Bardens added solar power. 



"I had to learn to do everything here — 

 from plumbing to electrical work," he adds. 



Barden and his family now spend about 60 

 nights a year on the island and hope to leave 

 their footprints for many more years. 



'To me, it is home," says Barden. "It is 

 quiet and peaceful. I feel bounded by the house. 

 I would move from my New Bern home but 

 don't want to live in this place. I am grateful we 

 are going to have more time here." □ 



COASTWATCH 11 



