Crossing the town from border to border, this road
links all parts of the community together; it connects us to Atlantic Beach on
the east and Indian Beach on the west and all places beyond. How State Road NC
58 came to be and why it follows the route it does is an interesting story.
In 1928, a group of Carteret
County investors completed construction of a causeway toll bridge that crossed
the sound from 28th St. in Morehead City to Bridge Street—what is
now Old Causeway Road. The road made of sand, gravel and shells worked fine for
Model T’s and the recently introduced Model A’s. The road from the bridge went
south across the island to a roundabout near the ocean shore—known as The
Circle. Shortly after the bridge opened, the circle was reconfigured to the “Y”
formation we know today, and the road surface was improved with a sand-clay
mix. Along the ocean were several bathing pavilions, amusement centers and
refreshment establishments that catered to summer holiday bathers.
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| 1930 North Carolina County Road survey |
The prosperity of the ‘20s
ended with a severe financial depression that affected all elements of society.
Vacation areas were particularly hard hit. Other than the remote settlement at
Salter Path, eight miles to the west of Atlantic Beach, the only permanent year-round
establishment active on Bogue Banks at this time was Fort Macon and the nearby
Coast Guard Lifesaving Station.
Although Fort Macon Military
Reservation had been transferred to the state on September 18, 1924, for one
dollar, to become the second State Park in North Carolina, it would be another
decade before the state, with the use of federal programs, would begin to make
the park readily accessible to the public.[i]
During the 1930s, the federal government created a number of programs intended
to expand economic activity and build employment; several of these programs
provided the foundation of road systems on Bogue Banks. In 1933, the Civil
Works Administration (CWA) started a sand-clay road from Atlantic Beach to Fort
Macon. The CWA was disbanded in 1934, leaving the road only partially
completed. Soon afterward, a 220-man Civilian Conservation Corps unit, established
at Fort Macon, undertook completion of the sand-clay road between the fort and Atlantic
Beach.
 |
| 1936 North Carolina County Road Survey |
The topography on the eastern
end of Bogue Banks consisted of low-lying dunes that were bare sand or covered
in scrub shrub and grasses. In the 1920s, if one ventured west from the area
near Atlantic Beach, the vegetation became thicker, attaining greater height
and was interwoven with vines to form “dune thicket.” Continuing west beyond
Hoop Pole Creek, the island had maritime forest rising above the dune thicket.
This dense forest, called Hoop Pole Woods, extended for the next ten miles. Travel
west from Atlantic Beach was restricted to the beach or to a meandering foot trail
through the woods. This trail, which followed dune ridges and worked around
obstacles and ponds, connected Atlantic Beach to the hamlet of Salter Path,
with stops along the way at Alice Hoffman’s homestead and several beach access
points.
Until the toll bridge linked
Bogue Banks to the mainland, there was no need for anything better, but the
bridge brought motor vehicles in abundance. Traveling west on the beach was fun
for the adventurous and possible at low tide, but impractical for a routine
commute. Little by little, increased foot traffic, wagons and high-spirited
auto drivers widened the trail.
In 1938, the Works Project
Administration and the State Highway Commission began work on a roadway west
from Atlantic Beach. The workers employed for this arduous task were from
Salter Path and Broad Creek. Manual labor and hand tools were the main means of
construction[ii].
The roadway adopted the line of least resistance by generally following the
route worked out by the existing trail, a trail perfected by generations of
walkers.
Salter Path Road in the village of Salter Path, 1945 from the News and Observer, 7 October 1945
The resulting roadway
meandered westward down the island, ending on the west side of the settlement
of Salter Path, then, abruptly veered south to the ocean, allowing access to
the beach for travelers wishing to proceed further west. When the road was
completed in 1940, it was surfaced with packed sand-clay wide enough for one
vehicle. When oncoming traffic was encountered, each vehicle had to partially
pull off the road to pass. There was no posted speed limit.
Sand-clay
road construction was one of the common methods of providing a stable road
surface in the early 20th century. The idea was that adding clay to
sandy roads gave them stability; adding sand to clay surfaces prevented them
from rutting and becoming sticky in wet weather.[iii] The
U.S. Office of Public Roads recommended the construction of sand-clay roads
where they were most practical—areas where frost did not penetrate the ground
to any appreciable depth. The South Atlantic and Gulf States were especially
suited to the technique[iv].
 |
| 1944 North Carolina County Road Survey |
The road survey was
conducted on an irregular basis about every ten years. It wasn’t until the 1968
survey that the roadway was correctly drawn as we know it today—running close
to the south shore.
 |
| 1968 Morth Carolina County Road Survey |
During World War II, the road
was improved by the military to support heavy equipment for servicing the
several military installations on Bogue Banks. In 1953, the first hard surface
paving of the road was accomplished by the State. This was a Macadam surface or,
as we call it today, asphalt.
 |
| 1939 Aerial Photo. In the future, Mimosa Blvd. would be on the left edge and Yaupon Dr. on the right edge. The newly worked roadbed is visible on the lower right. |
 |
| 1953 Aerial Photo, after the WPA work of 1939, the widening during WW II and the state paving in 1953. |
This is a road of many names. The first
official designation was State Road 1201. In the 1960s, it was changed to NC
58.
Nowhere and at no time was it
called “Main Street.” However, this old footpath with its gentle curves and
bends is the only road traversing Bogue Banks from east to west, and it does
serve as the “Main Street” of Pine Knoll Shores.
Post Author: Walt
Zaenker
To
contact the author or the History Committee
[i]
Fort Macon a History, by Paul Branch, The Nautical & Aviation Publishing
Co, 1997
[ii]
Bogue Banks a Look Back, by Jack Dudley, 2009
[iii] NCpedia, Roads, by Davis A. Norris and
Robert E. Ireland, 2006
[iv] Highway History, Federal Highway
Administration, The Sand-Clay Roads of South Carolina, 2013
[v]
Findagrave.com, George W. Smith