CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Crab Shack is a popular restaurant in the community. 

 Willis Seafood Market is one of only two seafood businesses left in Salter Path. 

 • In a bygone era, residents would gather at Stephen Guthrie's store. 

 • Marty Frost repairs his flounder net. • Doug and Kathleen Guthrie enjoy gillnetting. 

 • Oak Grove Motel is a community landmark. 

 • Salter Path's heritage is as a fishing village. 



On a recent night, dozens of families come 

 out to celebrate Salter Path Community Night at 

 the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum on Harkers 

 Island. 



While eating boiled shrimp and other local 

 dishes, they share memories of the small village 

 where people worked the water, ran through 

 each others' yards, opened scallops in tiny 

 houses, hunted ducks and waterfowl, attended 

 church suppers and raised vegetables to feed 

 themselves. 



"I call Salter Path 'paradise,' " says Betty 

 Willis, the choir leader, who has curly salt-and- 

 pepper hair. "It was a good place to live when I 

 was a little girl. All the families were unique in 

 their own way." 



Even "outsiders" like storyteller Rodney 

 Kemp, who lives in Morehead City, see the 

 tiny village — sandwiched between Emerald 

 Isle and Indian Beach on Bogue Banks — as a 

 special place. 



"I remember riding through Salter Path 

 in the 1950s," says Kemp, who shared stories 

 during the community night. The village had a 

 warmth felt only in the "Promise Land" portion 

 of Morehead City — home to descendants 

 of people forced to float their homes from 

 Shackleford Banks after two hurricanes, he adds. 



Before N.C. 58 was paved during the 

 1950s, Kemp says the village "lay quiet and 

 peaceful, nestled in trees." 



"It had property separated by well-worn 

 paths," he adds. "It seemed like an old quilt 

 pieced together with an old hand." 



Once the road came in, motels, restaurants 

 and businesses began to sprout up. After that, the 

 number of tourists began increasing. 



FISHING FAMILIES 



Today, the community is built up with 

 many businesses and houses. However, it is 

 still home to many of the same families who 

 occupied it for generations, including the Frosts, 

 Smiths, Guthries, Willises and Lewises. 



Many natives trace their roots to a few men 

 who settled here, says Kathleen Guthrie, long- 



time Salter Path resident. "For many 

 years, Salter Path was a closed 

 community. In 1923, there were 35 

 heads of households." 



Many of these residents were 

 fishers. Today, only a few work the 

 water on a part-time basis. 



Each fall, Henry Frost, his son, 

 Joey, and their crew fish for mullet 

 using beach seines along the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



Using a "stop net" that is 

 designed to stop migrating schools 

 of fish, the crew pull in striped 

 mullet, using a farm tractor to haul 

 the net. In fall 2005, they pulled 

 in 30,000 pounds in one day or 14 

 pickup loads. 



"We had a decent fall last year 

 except for Hurricane Ophelia," 

 Henry Frost says. "However, there 

 is really no money in this anymore. 

 It is something we have done all our 

 lives. We have fellowship and talk 

 about old times." 



In this tiny community, the 

 seafood businesses also are disappearing. Now, 

 only Homer's Point Marina & Seafood and 

 Willis Seafood Market are still open. 



"During the 1960s, there were about eight 

 fish houses here," says Mike Fiorini, co-owner 

 of Homer's Point Marina & Seafood. "They 

 were used seasonally. In the winter, they would 

 bring in scallops, have shrimp in the spring and 

 summer, and finfish in the fall. Now the seafood 

 business is terrible. This is our third season 

 without scallops." 



The new Waterfront Access Study 

 Committee authorized by the N.C. General 

 Assembly is now studying the loss of fish 

 houses and other issues. North Carolina Sea 

 Grant also is funding a separate but related 

 study of fish houses. 



After Hurricane Ophelia wiped out 

 Fiorini 's scallop house and damaged other 

 buildings in 2005, he decided to rebuild his 



business to include a marina, gas and snacks. 



"I have 69 boat slips on Bogue Sound," 

 he adds. "We have started working on the 

 marina. By next spring, we will have a marina 

 where customers can bring their boats up to 

 the dock." 



COMMUNITY BEGINNINGS 



Historians and locals differ on when the 

 first settlers moved to Salter Path. However, 

 most agree some squatters had arrived by the 

 mid- 1 800s but did not bother to acquire titles 

 to the land where they lived. 



After clearing small plots near Salter 

 Path, people hauled their houses by boat from 

 Core Banks, says Kemp. "Most yards had 

 gardens with old-fashioned flowers." 



There also is some debate over how the 

 community got its name. 



"Over the years, there was a permanent 



8 Coastwatch I Holiday 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 



