IslandGirl, history

[Jim and Ginny]

The other tread was getting convoluded. The history referenced comes in part from an NPS book "The Creation and Establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, The Great Depression Through Mission 66" available at

http://www.nps.gov/caha/parknews/nps...y-document.htm

Despite the fact the Mr. Murray signed off on this document as recently as 2008, Mr. Murray contends that vehicular access and beach hauling are not a part of the culture. Furthermore, USFWS and SELC, et al insist that the bridge and road are not compatible with the refuge and must be relocated to the sound making the bridge 17 miles long and denying access to the refuge.

I agree that the intent of the park was to preserve the area but if you read it carefully the level of protection intended was not the traditional level of protection for most parks--DOI recognized that the very existance of the villages and commercial activity within the park's boundaries made the traditional level of protection impossible.

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As envisioned in the 1930s, the NPS had hoped to preserve a far more natural environment than it was forced by compromise to accept in the 1950s (NPS 2007f). In 1952, fifteen years after he submitted the act to create Cape Hatteras National Seashore, former Congressman Lindsay C. Warren offered what may be the purest surviving expression of his intent in doing so: “When I introduced the bill for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in 1937, I would have nothing to do with it unless the people were fully protected forever in their hunting and fishing rights, and unless there was a guarantee of a hard-surface road if the Government came into the picture, and unless all of the villages were exempt. At that time there was very little prospect for a paved road, but I extracted a promise from the NPS that they would favor such a road to be built, whenever possible, either through State or Federal Aid funds. Frankly, I think that this Park will mean more to the people of Dare County than anything that could ever happen to them. I do not say that because I was the author of the bill, but I say it because I had studied the history of all Parks, before I came into the picture back in 1937” (NPS 2007f).[1]

[1] DEIS, p. 13.

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When we look up and down the ocean fronts of America, we find that everywhere they are passing behind the fences of private ownership. The people can no longer get to the ocean. When we have reached the point that a nation of 125 million people cannot set foot upon the thousands of miles of beaches that border the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, except by permission of those who monopolize the ocean front, then I say it is the prerogative and the duty of the Federal and State Governments to step in and acquire, not a swimming beach here and there, but solid blocks of ocean front hundreds of miles in length. Call this ocean front a national park, or a national seashore, or a state park or anything you please—I say that the people have a right to a fair share of it. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, 1938[1]

[1] "The Creation and Establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, The Great Depression Through Mission 66", p. V.


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Mission 66 abandoned the
rustic-style architecture that had characterized most
pre-war park structures and emphasized new and
experimental design parameters employing modern
construction techniques. Mission 66 utilized efficient
and economical building materials, such as
concrete, glass, and steel, which were thought less
difficult to maintain and suited for high-traffic
use.

673 Cape Hatteras, both as the first national seashore
and as a recreational area, seemed to offer
NPS designers an opportunity, often characterized
as “bold,” to present the visiting public with a
“modern” vision of the National Park Service.
Although designers hailed the seashore as “a new
type of park dominated by soft sand dunes, clumps
of wax myrtle, and beach and the Atlantic Ocean,”
they deliberately sought to differentiate seashore
development from established architectural traditions
familiar to visitors of the great western
landscape parks.674 The modernist approach to
park design, along with increased NPS acceptance
of road construction, ensured ongoing conflict with

naturalists and preservationists alike.

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An early and independent
assessment of the success of the Cape Hatteras
project, the series cast the national seashore in a
generally positive light, and in his own comments
about the series, Neuberger expressed strong
support for creating a similar park in Oregon. “In
my opinion,” he wrote,

one of the major benefits from the series of
articles from the Oregon newspaper is the
emphasis that has been given to the different
status of seashore recreation areas, as compared
with national parks. National parks are primarily
for preservation of some exceptional and unique
beauty, with recreational activities they are a
secondary category. The seashore recreation
areas, on the other hand, underscore outdoor
recreation activities such as swimming, fishing,
sailing, boating, and waterfowl hunting, just as
their names implies. The two types of
development cannot be safely compared

because of different basic functions.797

[hookedonfishing]

http://www.obxconnection.com/outer-b...ad.php?t=19391

[Jim and Ginny]

I'm not at all certain what this means. Was Mellon more interested in preserving a natural state or in preserving a way of life and making sure ample portions of the seashore remain available to the average person? Actually, the discussion starts on page 100.

The Mellons’ interest in the project stemmed
directly from their father’s strong commitment to
philanthropy. As Paul Mellon later told a reporter,
“in an indirect way my father made it plain that
people who had a lot of money had an obligation to
use it wisely.” Mellon was broadly interested in supporting
liberal education, psychiatry, conservation,
and his chosen state of Virginia, where he owned a
four-hundred-acre farm. “It sounds corny,” he said,
“but I live in Virginia because I like the way of life,
Virginia’s way of looking at things. I guess at heart
I’m a conservative.” He was perhaps hoping to try to
save both a landscape and a way of life and was thus
naturally interested in the long struggle to create a
national seashore just south of his home state. “The
more I thought,” Mellon added, “I felt that if
somebody doesn’t do something right away there’ll

be nothing left at all.”409

[IslandGirlOBX25]

[quote=Jim and Ginny;246516]The other tread was getting convoluded. The history referenced comes in part from an NPS book "The Creation and Establishment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, The Great Depression Through Mission 66" available at

Wow, thanks so much guys. You, too, Hooked. I appreciate all the info you are helping to supply -- keep it coming!! I'm still reading up on all of this and find it very, very interesting. I promise one day soon I'll be able to actually have an educated discussion on all of this with you once I learn as much as you all seem to know!

[robschonk]

Mr. Murray contends that vehicular access and beach hauling are not a part of the culture.

He probably has a hard time explaining these stamps issued by the Post Office Dept. in 1972....

[Jim and Ginny]

That is less than 50 years ago--somehow that is the bench mark Mr. Murray used.

That said, as per the history book referenced people were coming from around the country to fish in the 30's. Now that makes vehicular use at least 80 years old.

Since the automobile was not mass produced and readily available until 1914 the maximum time period for this traditional use is 96 years. But I'll bet Mr. Murray would set a bench mark for traditional use at 100 years or more.

Originally Posted by robschonk

Mr. Murray contends that vehicular access and beach hauling are not a part of the culture.

He probably has a hard time explaining these stamps issued by the Post Office Dept. in 1972....

[Dr. Bubba]

50 years just happens to be one benchmark for cultural/traditional/historic/etc criteria (section106 of NEPA I believe).

But you are correct, autos have been on the beaches of Hatteras long before that stamp was made. So have the shipwrecks and the surf fishing depicted in that stamp. Obviously, long standing traditions at Hatteras before and after "The Seashore".

[Crotalus]

As I've said before, naked appeals to continue doing something simply because they are "traditional" are poor arguments.
There are perhaps hundreds of examples throughout human history of "traditional" practices that were wrong, take slavery for instance.
Opponents to its abolition appealed to 1000s of years of tradition, the Bible and economics.
The true measure should be some balance of harm vs no harm.
I would also argue that 100s of vehicles a year is traditional use, 1000s a day is not (nor is it sustainable).

[VaBeacher]

The Race Card ???

[hookedonfishing]

Originally Posted by VaBeacher

The Race Card ???

I would say more like venom