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§§ § §§§ §§ Harriss Northrop
and the
N o r t h r o p C o t t a g e
by Susan Taylor Block
Many locals of a certain age remember
the Northrop Cottage, once located at
305 South Lumina Avenue. Beautifully
situated and home to nice rental apartments,
it was a popular summer place
until October 15, 1954 when Hurricane Hazel made history
of it.
The Northrop Cottage was built at Ocean View, so named
by members of the Nathan and Schloss families who once
owned most of the south end of the island. The name faded
in 1899, when Wrightsville Beach was incorporated.
The cottage was owned by Wilmington native William
Harriss Northrop, born on July 3, 1836, to parents Susan
Pendleton Harriss and Isaac Northrop, a descendant of
Joseph Northrop, an Englishman who moved to New Haven
County, Connecticut, in 1637. About 1820, Harriss’s father
moved from Connecticut to Wilmington, where he first
worked as a leather tanner. By 1838, he owned a steam sawmill
on the Waccamaw River, and lived in a Federal Style
house that still exists in Wilmington at 213 South Second
Street. The sawmill business flourished, and Northrop
Lumber, located at Surry and Queen streets, shipped
pine and pine products to the West Indies with clocklike
regularity.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Original postcae d Courtesy New Hanove r Public Library