"They have really been 

 the key to getting some 

 things done," refuge manager 

 Temple says. 



The partnership also 

 funds the lodge coordinator 

 position. Meanwhile, the 

 wildlife service forged an 

 agreement with ECU on 

 the lodge's east wing. The 

 university's Field Station 

 for Coastal Studies at 

 Mattamuskeet opened in 

 1996, with 16 beds in six 

 dormitory rooms and modest 

 laboratory facilities. The 

 rooms overlook tree-lined 

 canals and are stocked with 

 some of the sturdy cypress 

 furnishings fashioned by the 

 CCC. The station has since 

 hosted not only ECU 

 students, but scholars from 

 universities as far away as 

 Arizona and from a dozen 

 environmental organizations. 



"It's really opened this 

 area up to research and 

 environmental education 

 opportunities," says ECU's 

 Roger Rulifson, the field 

 station director, who invested 

 countless hours of elbow 

 grease in readying the rooms. 

 "It's kind of hard to work out 

 of a hotel room with a 

 microscope." 



The agreements specify that the 

 lodge's public areas are available for 

 functions, and its popularity as a social 

 setting is one glory of its past the lodge can 

 revive. Its great hall, with an enormous 

 fireplace and high ceiling, is impressive 

 despite showing its age. Civic leaders hope 

 the concerts, receptions and parties it once 

 again hosts will imprint the lodge on young 

 people, as it did their parents. 



"And it'll go on and on," says Steve 

 Bryan, executive director of the county 

 chamber of commerce. Since its rebirth, 

 the lodge has attracted an increasing 

 number of tourists. 



The lodge offers a window onto a unique, serene world. 



From the 1915 Pumphouse Dedication Plaque... 



"AAattamuskeet Drainage District. This plant is dedicated 

 to the spirit of co-operation which has here transformed 

 a great lake into dry land, and so created a new and 

 principality for the use, and possession of man. 



?rtil 



and other largely hidden 

 necessities. Future improve- 

 ments should be more visible, 

 albeit slow to appear. They 

 will take at least five years. 



"Realistically it will 

 probably be more like 10," 

 Gibbs says. 



And it will be expen- 

 sive. As envisioned, to finish 

 the renovation and complete 

 a museum and nature trails, 

 the work is expected to cost 

 $7 million. Partnership for 

 the Sounds plans a fund- 

 raising campaign later this 

 year, but Hyde County's 

 sparse population regularly 

 registers near the bottom on 

 the state per capita income 

 scale. Still, supporters are 

 hopeful the funds will come 

 forth from the region and 

 beyond for the beloved 

 building. 



"I think it's the one thing 

 that unites our county," Gibbs 

 says. "You can have your 

 little differences here and 

 there. But everybody agrees 

 on the lodge. Everybody 

 wants to see it fixed up." □ 



M, 



"When people find out that that 

 building was built as the world's largest 

 pumping station, they're just in awe," 

 Bryan says. "And they want to go deeper." 



Though the lodge is in use, the 

 renovation has just begun. The west wing, 

 which will house offices for three area 

 wildlife refuges, has hardly been touched. 

 So far, the old building has soaked up 

 about $1 million. 



"But it doesn't show," says lodge 

 coordinator Gibbs. 



The money, from the partnership and 

 local, state and federal sources, has gone 

 into fire escapes, lights, plumbing, heating 



attamuskeet 

 Lodge is accessible from U.S. 

 264 andN.C. 94 in Hyde County. Follow 

 the signs for Mattamuskeet National Wildlife 

 Refuge. Mattamuskeet Lodge is open 9 am. 

 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 

 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. 



Friends of Mattamuskeet Lodge plans 

 to open a gift shop in the lodge this summer. 

 Renovation of the entiwice hall and other 

 construction work will take place during 

 July and August. The lodge will be closed 

 for events but remain open for visitors most 

 days — visitors can call ahead to check. 

 For more information or to schedule tours, 

 call lodge coordinator Annette Gibbs at 

 252/926-1422. 



10 EARLY SUMMER 1998 



