DATE: Wednesday, May 7, 1997                TAG: 9705070495

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

DATELINE: NAGS HEAD                         LENGTH:   32 lines

HISTORIC DONATION TO PRESERVATION

The Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina has announced the donation of the historic H.V. Dunstan Cottage in Nags Head by William D. Pruden of Edenton.

Preservation has accepted the gift for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of moving and restoring the cottage.

Preservation is actively seeking a new owner willing to move the cottage and restore it. The structure is historically important in that it represents the architectural style prominent during the early development of Nags Head as a resort town in the late 19th century.

A prominent landmark for photographers and painters, the H.V. Dunstan Cottage (also known as the Drane-Graham-Pruden Cottage) was one of the original 13 oceanfront beach cottages of Nags Head having sat just across the street from the current Dairy Queen building on Virginia Dare Trail.

Built as a fishing shanty in 1867, the structure was sold in 1890 to Dr. Robert Brent Drane, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Edenton and founding rector of St. Andrews by-the-Sea in Nags Head, who expanded the cottage.

The house was later conveyed to Dr. Drane's daughter, Marion Graham, wife of Dr. Frank Graham, former president of the University of North Carolina and a United States senator.

Dr. Graham conveyed the cottage to Billy and Cabell Pruden of Edenton after it was damaged by the Ash Wednesday Storm in 1962.

The cottage was then moved for the Prudens by John Ferebee to a location at the base of Engagement Hill just west of U.S. 158, where it sits today.

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