THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601200317
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA
Staff Writer
DATELINE: MOYOCK LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
The small humpback bridge that straddles Shingle Landing Creek has meant a lot of things to the people of Moyock.
Some remember it as a wooden structure used to transport fish, farm goods and shingles made nearby that gave the creek its name.
Others recall summer swims, baptisms and moonlight romances spawned along the tiny span.
A television crew was impressed enough to use the bridge as background for an ``ABC Afterschool Special'' several years ago. And artists have long included the weathered span in their works.
But these days the Moyock bridge has become best known around town as an endangered structure. And residents - old and new - want it preserved for future generations to enjoy.
``That humpback bridge has been the heart of Moyock for probably over 200 years,'' said Margaret Garrett, a longtime resident. ``It's just a quaint, picturesque place.''
It's also a popular shortcut for Moyock motorists, which has led to its accelerated deterioration, and could ultimately mean the end of the bridge as people know it.
Residents like Garrett became alarmed a couple months ago, when the state Department of Transportation laid asphalt on the wooden structure.
``When we saw the asphalt put on top of the bridge, we immediately began to think the DOT will replace that bridge and, in most cases, where there's a little bridge and lot of traffic, they'll put in one made with concrete and steel,'' Garrett said.
Garrett is among a group of Moyock residents seeking to have the bridge on Tulls Creek Road declared a historic landmark.
Otherwise, they fear, one of the last remnants of Moyock's bucolic beginnings will become, like the former oaks from which Moyock derived its name, a victim of urbanization.
``I applaud the people for their efforts and commend them because all too often we let our history and our heritage go by the wayside in the name of progress,'' said Owen Etheridge, a county commissioner in nearby Shawboro.
Last week the Currituck County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Garrett presented to save the span.
The bridge, which received new decking in the 1980s, served about a century ago as a transportation hub between Norfolk and the Outer Banks.
The creek, now only six feet deep at the bridge, is no longer navigable by big boats.
Marion Fiske Welch, 88, lived near the Shingle Landing Creek bridge as a little girl and recalled standing on a picket fence railing for hours watching people at the bridge. ``I could be entertained all day and well into the night by the goings-on at the creek,'' she said.
Welch's recollections are included in the 1982 book, ``Moyock: A Pictorial and Folk History 1900-1920.''
``In spring, summer, and fall the creek was the place to meet your friends, sit on the rails, and watch the boats come in. When the moon was full, there was no more romantic spot than the view from the bridge,'' Welch wrote.
The Moyock bridge is still a big attraction for some.
``Whenever we go up that way, we always go off so we can go over that little bridge because it's so neat,'' said Paul O'Neal, a Currituck County native and county commissioner.
But the diversion and nearby development have increased bridge traffic in this burgeoning community.
The bridge has a 16-ton weight limit, but Garrett says she and others see much heavier trucks using the span regularly. The 25 mph speed limit is largely ignored, too, she said.
``It was never intended to be a thoroughfare,'' Garrett said. ``You don't see heavy traffic going through the heart of a town in other parts of North Carolina. It's always diverted and takes a route around the town.''
Etheridge said the time may be approaching to reconsider a bypass off Moyock's main highway, N.C. 168. That road is undergoing expansion to five lanes.
Located just south of the Virginia state line, Moyock is particularly attractive to Hampton Roads residents seeking a more rural and less expensive lifestyle.
That may explain why a majority of the 73 signatures on a petition Garrett circulated throughout town were from new residents.
``They want to see things preserved, too,'' she said. ``We've become a bedroom community. But by the same token, they want to preserve the small-town atmosphere. That's one reason they came here.''
Communities such as Quail Point, North Point and Duck Ridge continue to draw residents, but building permits have decreased in the past few years.
In 1992, 124 residential permits were issued for the Moyock mainland. That number has fallen every year down to 53 permits in 1995, said Jack Simoneau, the county's planning and inspections director.
The county is hoping to push residential communities in a different direction - away from sprawling, automobile-friendly housing tracts of recent years to clustered, pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods, Simoneau said.
The newer type of development is more in character with neighborhoods of old, like that near the Shingle Landing Creek bridge, he added.
Garrett and county officials plan to meet Tuesday with highway personnel to discuss the bridge and its future.
``I'd just hate to see the last little thing that gives Moyock its own identity disappear,'' Garrett said. ILLUSTRATION: Arching over the heart of Moyock
[Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
When the state put asphalt on top of the bridge on Tulls Creek Road
in Moyock bridge a couple months ago, residents became alarmed. Now,
some are seeking to have the bridge made a historic landmark.
COURTESY OF MARGARET GARRETT
Around the turn of the century, a baptism ceremony was held in the
creek at the bridge. It is one of a pastiche of touchpoints.
by CNB