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Perhaps Albert Hurst helped gather
the shells and produce the artistic
presentations. Whites and Blacks posing
together for photographs was still
unusual in those days, and may indicate
the esteem with which they held
one another. Ironically, a Confederate
flag hangs on the wall beside them.
Harriss’s health began to steadily
decline soon after he turned 87. The
Star described it as “a gradual breaking
down, following old age.” He died
February 19, 1924 at Wilmington’s
St. John’s Sanitarium. Preceding him
in death, was his only child, Janie, and
her husband, Wallace Charmichael.
They had two children, George and
Mary. Mary wed beloved Wilmington
physician Dr. David R. Murchison.
Two of Dr. and
Mrs. Murchison’s children, greatgrandsons
of William Harriss
Northrop, still live in Wilmington:
Wallace C. Murchison and John R.
Murchison I.
The Northrop Cottage remained
a guest house, in the care of Harriss’s
brother’s widow, Sarah Northrop,
and descendants. Mr. and Mrs. Louis
Woodbury, parents of the late Louis Jr.,
Gene, Tom, and Richard were frequent
guests.
After Hurricane Hazel, the
Woodburys rented a log cabin on the
beach, and then purchased the empty
lot where the Northrop cottage had
stood. They built a house there that
still stands, just south of the Blockade
Runner Beach Resort. Today, Gene
Woodbury and his wife, Tee, own
the house. It is a sentimental place for
them, loaded with family memories,
including some from the couple’s
wedding rehearsal dinner held there
in 1958.
Sources: Bill Reaves Collection (New Hanover
County Public Library, North Carolina Room);
William W. Northrop, “Cousinhood of the Cape
Fear Coast,” (Wrightsville Beach Museum),
Cape Fear Museum, James Sprunt, Chronicles
of the Cape Fear River: William Lord deRosset,
Pictorial and Historical New Hanover County;
Block, Cape Fear Beaches; Elaine Henson, Bill
Creasy, Madeline Flagler.
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