PEOPLE & 



P LA C E S 



SwansboiD 



Quaint Village is Former Port 



A 



By Ann Green 



j& you cross over the White Oak 

 River bridge into Swansboro, an impres- 

 sive statue of Captain Otway Burns — the 

 town's most famous ship builder — 

 points you to the historic district. 



The picturesque village, which was 

 settled around 1730, was a bustling port 

 during the Revolutionary War. Its major 

 industry was shipbuilding. Burns brought 

 honor to Swansboro by building the 

 Prometheus, the state's first steamboat. 



The town's port continued to prosper 

 until the end of the Civil War. Ballast 

 stones from sailing vessels still can be 

 found around Swansboro as a reminder of 

 the era. 



After the war, as the shipping 

 industry declined, Swansboro became a 

 fishing and lumber community. 



Today the seafaring village is a quiet, 

 quaint town. Many of the homes and 

 buildings have been restored. 



"Swansboro is a friendly place by the 

 sea," says Jane Brooks, a member of the 

 Swansboro Historical Board and manager 

 of Lighthouse Antiques Inc. "We try not 

 to be commercialized. We try to keep the 

 village as quaint as we can with new 

 growth." 



The best way to see this charming 

 town is to take a walking tour. Park your 

 car in the Bicentennial Park where you 

 can view the Burns statue and a memorial 

 to Samuel Swann — the town's namesake 

 and speaker of the N.C. House of 

 Commons during colonial times. Walk 

 directly across the main road (Hwy. 24) 

 to Front Street packed with shops and 

 restaurants. The William Edward 



Mattocks House, listed on the National 

 Historic Register, now houses Lighthouse 

 Antiques. Built in 1901, the board and- 

 batten-sided house has Colonial Revival 

 features — a steeply pitched roof and a 

 porch engaged to the side of the house. 

 The interior also has distinctive features 

 — ceilings made of plank or head board 

 and heart pine floors. "The house was 

 owned by a lumberman who built boats," 

 says Brooks. He used whatever materials 

 he had. The owner was one of the first 

 men to draw an accurate map of the 

 coastal waters around Swansboro. 



The three-story building also has a 

 bottom floor with a keeping room, now 

 used as an apartment. 



Walk across the street to the Robert 

 Spence McLean Store. The blue-frame 

 building, built in the 1840s, is now 

 Russell's Old Thyme Shoppe. Ravished 

 by several fires, the store has original 

 heart pine walls with patches of the 

 wallpaper used in 1 832. 



Two doors down is the Old Brick 

 Store, built in 1 839. The building was 

 owned by William Pugh Ferrand, the 

 town's wealthiest merchant and exporter 

 of naval stores. The store is made of 

 hand-made bricks imported directly from 

 England and arranged in the English- 

 bond style. The symmetrical doorway 

 and windows reflect the Federal-style 

 architecture. 



Over the years, the building served a 

 variety of purposes — from a prison for 

 Union soldiers to U.S. Post Office. The 

 downstairs, which now houses Golden 

 Traits Jewelry, was once used as a tavern. 



"This store is one of North 

 Carolina's last remaining commercial 

 buildings from the antebellum period," 

 says Brooks. 



Turn from Front Street onto Main 

 and get a glimpse of the simple and 

 tranquil lifestyle of some of 

 Swansboro' s earlier residents. Many of 

 the homes, including the David James 

 Moore House — owned by a local 

 merchant — are framed two-story homes 

 with front porches. 



"This wasn't a rich village," says 

 Brooks. "First Indians settled here and 

 then fishermen and lumbermen." 



For the town's people, church life 

 was important. Next door to the Moore 

 House, which now houses the Gray 

 Dolphin Fine Clothing, is the former 

 Swansboro Baptist Church. Go inside 

 and see some of the original features of 

 the church sanctuary, including white 

 columns with gingerbread molding. The 



28 SPRING 2000 



