"I like the fact that it puts me back 

 in a time that has disappeared," he says. 

 "Even though I don't go out and shoot, I 

 like to look for ducks. My birds can be 

 used for hunting, but they are also 

 upgraded and painted more realistic than 

 old decoys." 



Bankers' descendants still follow 

 the practice of taking care of each other 

 when they are sick or in need of food. 



"I have a large extended family on 

 the island," says Hancock. "We are all 

 related. I always feel at home no matter 

 where I am on the island. There's an 

 expression 'it takes a village to raise 

 children.' It takes a community to raise 

 each other's children." 



For years, 



the Bankers' descendants returned 

 each summer to two-room camps on 

 Shackleford, where they fished and 

 carried on traditions. The simple camps 

 had no electricity. Usually, there was a 

 gas stove. 



"You usually sat on the front or 

 back porch, depending on how the wind 

 was blowing," says Amspacher. 



"The camps were very communal. 

 Everybody's door was open. People got 

 together and cooked. For lunch, you might 

 have a pot of butter beans. For supper, 

 clams, and watermelon after supper." 



One favorite activity on 

 Shackleford' s east end was summer 

 horse roundups or pony pennings. 



"Up until the mid-'70s, we would 

 go to a horse penning every summer," 

 says Hancock. People herded the horses 

 and branded them with a hot iron. 



Since most of the residents on 

 Shackleford Banks had no deeds to the 

 camps, they were forced to leave when 

 the National Park Service preserved the 

 area as the Cape Lookout National 

 Seashore. Although the national 

 seashore was authorized in 1966, 

 Bankers didn't abandon the camps until 

 they were forced to leave. 



"December 1985 was a sad month 

 in the life of Harkers Island people," 



writes Suzanne Yeomans Guthrie in 

 Island Born & Bred. "Tears ran freely 

 and hurts were deep, as smoke curled on 

 the horizon from camps being burned by 

 their owners. 



"With that smoke went memories 

 and feelings that could never be re- 

 placed. It was the end of a way of life." 



In the Cape Village, some owners 

 struck a deal with the park service to 

 lease the land. Yeomans, who owned the 

 old Lifesaving Service boathouse, 

 negotiated a 25-year lease on his cabin in 

 1977. The house sits in a sandy swale 

 behind dunes pocked with remains of 

 World War II machine-gun nests. 



"I have three years left on the 

 lease," says Yeomans. "I'll probably cry 

 myself to death if I have to give it up. I 

 was born over there. Hope they extend 

 the lease year to year." 



National Park Service officials and 

 the community now work together to 

 preserve local traditions. In 1993, park 

 officials and members of the Core Sound 

 Waterfowl Museum negotiated a 30-year 

 lease for the museum on 16 acres of land 

 at Shell Point. The first phase of the 

 museum will open in summer 2000. 



"The Core Sound Waterfowl 

 Museum is the Down East community's 

 permanent tribute to its history and our 

 way of holding on to the unique cultural 

 heritage of Core Sound," says 

 Amspacher. "We are fortunate to have 

 the National Park Service's support. As 

 owners and protectors of much of the 

 land around Core Sound, it is critical that 

 we work together to preserve these 

 natural and cultural treasures." 



Even families who lost homes at 

 Shackleford still have a strong spiritual 

 connection to the island. They often go 

 back to fish, reminisce and leave their 

 footprints in the sand. 



"I still go to Shackleford and Cape 

 Lookout to fish," says Willis. "I walk on 

 shore to make sure it is still here. There's 

 still a strong physical connection 

 between us and the Banks. It's like a 

 magnet that pulls us there. If you don't 

 visit there, you lose the energy." □ 



Down East on Core Sound, 

 community traditions thrive — 

 from wooden boats at Harkers 

 Island to intricately carved wooden 

 decoys. 



The Core Sound Waterfowl 

 Museum will showcase the 

 wooden artifacts made from the 

 community's natural resources, as 

 well as the hunters, fishers and 

 others who have lived along Core 

 Sound for centuries. 



Located on 1 6 acres of 

 maritime forest at the end of 

 Harkers Island, the new facility is 

 scheduled to open next summer. 

 The shell of the building was 

 completed this fall. 



"We are unique in North 

 Carolina," says Karen Willis 

 Amspacher, the museum director. 

 "Our overall theme is the interpre- 

 tative relationship between the 

 cultural and natural environment." 



The museum will include a 

 4-acre pond, educational facility 

 and numerous exhibits. For more 

 information, call 252/728-1500. 



COASTWATCH 11 



