THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140364
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
The Whalehead Preservation Trust, which is restoring a historic hunt club in Corolla, has been given the Albert Ray Newsome Award.
The state honor, given by the Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies, recognizes outstanding programs in local history provided by staffed and volunteer historical organizations.
``The award itself is named after a North Carolina historian who was very interested in local history,'' said Jo Ann Williford of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History.
``The trust received this year's award for their work on the Whalehead Club,'' Williford said Wednesday.
Williford is the secretary-treasurer of the federation, a coalition of historical societies, associations and commissions that annually recognize exceptional work in local history.
The Whalehead Trust was awarded the prize for a staffed organization because it had hired a part-time site manager last summer. The all-volunteer Survey Committee of the Martin County Historical Society in Williamston was the other winner.
This is the second organization in the Albemarle area to receive the annual award, given since 1982. The Murfreesboro Historical Society won in 1983.
``I think it's great because it's not very often you receive a statewide award,'' Barbara Snowden, the trust's vice chairwoman, said Wednesday.
``I think people in preservation realize what a great project this is, and that they recognize the forethought of the county commissioners to buy the Whalehead Club,'' Snowden said.
The county's decision three years ago to purchase the 20,000-square-foot mansion and a surrounding 27.5-acre tract for $2.4 million was sharply criticized by some county residents.
Last year commissioners bought an additional 10 acres at the entrance way to N.C. Route 12. The complex will eventually become a wildlife museum and, officials hope, a major tourist attraction.
Already, the copper-roofed hunt club, built in the 1920s for $383,000, is drawing visitors who in the past two years have collectively paid $35,000 for guided summer tours.
Those fund-raising tours were led by 80 volunteers who kept the building open during the busy tourist season, Snowden said.
The hunt club, which resembles Newport, R.I., estates, was built by railroad and publishing magnate Edward Knight after his French wife was rebuffed by the all-male clubs on the Outer Banks.
It was the first home in Currituck County to have a basement, elevator and swimming pool.
Restoration of the palatial estate is expected to take years, but the structure is regaining a semblance of its past glory.
Valuable antiques and wall fixtures taken by previous owners are being returned. The restoration of a 1903 Steinway grand piano is expected to be finished soon.
A nationally significant Chippendale footbridge on the property is undergoing a facelift with a $58,000 grant.
Funding for the footbridge comes from federal highway money because, Snowden explained, ``this was at one time literally a bridge for people to drive across.''
The bridge, however, will remain restricted to pedestrians once restored, she added.
Last summer the trustees hired Debbie Westner to supervise restoration work on the hunt club, particularly the windows in the 20-bedroom, 15-bathroom home.
Westner left in late August when the summer season ended, Snowden said, and is expected to eventually be replaced with a full-time site manager.
On Tuesday, Outer Banks developer Buck Thornton was named the new chairman of the Whalehead Preservation Trust.
Thornton succeeds Jerry Wright, a farmer and former county commissioner. MEMO: WILDLIFE MUSEUM
Corolla eventually will be home to ``The Currituck Wildlife Museum
Located At the Whalehead Club.''
Charter museum memberships, ranging from $25 for individuals to $500
for donors, are being accepted only until Dec. 31.
The museum fund has 238 charter members, including 140 at the donor
level. Some of those donors may be attracted by the limited number of
prints and decoys given with the $500 contributions.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
The footbridge at the Whalehead Club near the Currituck Beach
Lighthouse at Corolla is being restored.
by CNB