Book Description

PORTSMOUTH ISLAND, THE GHOST VILLAGE OF THE OUTER BANKS, attracts curiosity seekers and history lovers, both. A small, now uninhabited island southwest of Ocracoke Island, Portsmouth was once a thriving seaport serving the North Carolina coast.Ellen Fulcher Cloud's Portsmouth: The Way It Was shares the island's early history, based on information never before documented: records of storms, wars, and Federal occupation during the Civil War (and claims to the government for losses), along with numerous personal letters and photographs. War activities from the Spanish Invasion through the Civil War are documented, as is the story of America's first marine hospital, established on Portsmouth in 1820, and of Dr. Samuel Dudley, the wealthy second physician in charge. We meet John Wallace, the businessman "Governor of Shell Castle," and the brave members of the Life-Saving Service. We learn of the integral role of the island's one black family, listen in on a daylong interview with Mrs. Mattie Gilgo (1885-1976) about Portsmouth life a century ago, and get an inside look at the village school and postal service. And we learn of Portsmouth's eventual transition to an oddity -- a village of empty homes, church and post office, maintained today by the National Park Service.The book depicts a way of life on the Outer Banks that is all but forgotten.Long almost impossible to find, Portsmouth: The Way It Was is back in an enhanced second edition, with more pages and photographs, computer-enhanced photo resolution and, for the first time, a keepsake, hardcover binding.It is a book that should find its way onto the shelf of every Outer Banks lover.