§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ § The shells, Northrop and Albert Hurst, about 1923.
§§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ §§ § §James Episcopal Church and Mrs. McPherson was laid to rest at
Oakdale Cemetery on August 26, 1899.
Eventually, Harriss, who was staying in another beach house,
bought Samuel’s larger cottage. An expansion created a 20-bedroom
house, the Northrop Guest Cottage, run by Harriss’s wife,
Alice Middleton Fillyaw Northrop. Capt. and Mrs. Northrop
established the hospitable and jovial nature of the place, described
by the Star as, “a select home for many people all over this and
other states during the summer season.” Sadly, Alice died at age 55
in 1912.
The following year, the two Northrop brothers sold their lumber
business to the Wilmington Terminal Company for what in
those days was the whopping sum of $60,000. Partnership in several
other businesses added to Harriss’s ease of life. So did a very
unconventional choice to make Wrightsville Beach his year-round
residence.
Selling the house in 1919 to his nephew’s widow, Sarah
McPherson Northrop, Harriss continued to live at the Northrop
Cottage. During summers, Miss Sarah was the lady of the house,
aided by the services of Josephine “Mammy” Nixon, an African
American, who probably did most of the cooking and cleaning.
Like Harriss Northrop, Josephine lived at the cottage all four seasons
of the year during that era.
Albert Hurst, another African American, a commanding figure,
pictured with Harriss Northrop, ran the place. With a gift for
organization and a somewhat imperial manner, Albert kept things
at the guest cottage going smoothly and was a good companion to
the aging Harriss Northrop. Albert found time to harvest oysters
for the cottage and other markets. He also ran a rustic water-taxi
for other African Americans who worked at Wrightsville Beach or
wanted to visit Shell Island at the north end during its short duration
as an African American resort.
On July 3, 1923, the newspaper reported that Capt. Northrop
turned 87: “For the past many years,” reported the Star, “Captain
William Harriss Northrop has resided summer and winter at his
cottage at Wrightsville Beach.” Beach life seemed to serve him
well, though, for the octogenarian was known for his youthful
energy, and for being, “unusually active for a man of his years.”
Maybe beach strolling kept him going. It was about 1923 when
Harriss posed with his shell collection for a remarkable photograph.
The image is rare for several reasons. Wrightsville Beach
interior shots from the early 1920s are quite scarce. The shell and
dried star fish designs with which he has surrounded himself are
amazing and quirky.
34
WBM march 2012
Courtesy of John Murchison.