Category: News

Waterfowl Weekend, held December 6-7 at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center, was represented by FPI members who staffed our booth in the “Down East Communities” section of the museum.  Rain on Saturday and strong winds on Sunday did not keep visitors away.  A highlight of our display was the Portsmouth Christmas Tree complete with popcorn, candy canes, real candles and reproduction ornaments from Portsmouth.  Special thanks to Marjorie and Dallas Spruill, Rudy and Pat Austin, Hazel Arthur, and Richard Meissner who represented us.

If you plan to be Down East the first weekend in December, be sure to stop in to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum at Harkers Island and visit the FPI booth!  We will be located upstairs both days, December 6th and 7th.  Come by and meet our folks, learn more about FPI and Portsmouth, or just say hello!  Hope to see you there!

 

FPI would like to thank all our veterans, both past and present, for their service to our country.   We appreciate each of you and what you have done to keep us free and safe at home.  Bless you all!

 

 

The Friends of Portsmouth Island held our fall membership meeting on Saturday, September 20, 2014 at the Sanitary Fish Market Restaurant in Morehead City.  We are happy to report a record attendance of 67 people, many of whom are descendents of Portsmouth families.  It was a great crowd!

Special guest Phyllis Gentry shared her memories of Portsmouth and provided photographs and scrapbooks containing lots of Portsmouth information.  Pat Kenney, Superintendent of Cape Lookout National Seashore, spoke to the group and introduced Steven Neshkoff, the new Volunteer Coordinator for CLNS.  Welcome Steven!

Officers for the next 2 years were elected as follows:  Rosanne Penley, President; Kathy McNeilly, Vice President; Jean Webber, Treasurer; Nancy White, Secretary; Board Members Frances Eubanks, Chester Lynn, Gregory Gilgo, Phelps Forrest, Rudy Austin, Jim White, and Richard Meissner, Immediate Past President.

Frances Eubanks presented a special plaque to Richard Meissner, outgoing president, for his service and dedication as president of FPI.

Drawings for door prizes were held, and many folks stayed to enjoy a Dutch treat lunch and to visit with each other.  Everyone had an opportunity to purchase t-shirts, books, notecards, homecoming pins, etc.  Thanks to all who attended, those who organized and worked at the meeting, our speakers, and to the Sanitary Fish Market.

Make plans to attend the spring membership meeting at Ocracoke on the third Saturday in May 2015!

The Homecoming edition of the Doctor’s Creek Journal has been published and mailed, so members need to check your mailboxes!  This issue contains homecoming photos and special interviews with FPI volunteers, visitors and descendants who were there on Homecoming day, as well as letters from the Superintendent of Cape Lookout National Seashore and the Bishop of the N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church.  If you are not a member of FPI and wish to receive future issues, click on our membership tab above and you will find a printable membership form to download and mail.  Thanks to editor Jim White for this expanded issue of the Doctor’s Creek Journal!

 

Click on the photo albums to the right of this page to check out the 2014 Homecoming and 2014 Homecoming Preparation photos.  Thanks to Frances Eubanks for her determination to get these pictures posted for YOU!  We hope you enjoy them.

We would like to thank Pat Kenney, Superintendent of Cape Lookout National Seashore, for the following report:

“Friends of Portsmouth Island,

I suspect you are wondering about the park and in particular Portsmouth Village.  Overall, the park was lucky since we took a direct hit.  Throughout the park we have lots of facilities that were impacted by the storm, most of them are relatively minor, but it all adds up.

Yesterday I visited Portsmouth Village with Michael Rikard and Dave Frum and we looked over the village.   There is minor damage to roofs and windows on many of the buildings.  The non-historic widow’s walk on the Carl Dixon house was blown off of the structure.  And it appears the church did experience some additional impacts.  None of the buildings were flooded by the tide.

We just received the draft Historic Structure Report that was developed to direct the rehab project of the church.  This Hurricane Sandy project is going to start later this summer.  The Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC) is leading this effort.  These are the folks that did the work on the Wash Roberts House.

Due to our concerns from the additional impacts from Hurricane Arthur, HPTC is bringing in a crew next week to do temporary stabilization of the church to prevent additional damage.

We will be submitting the damage assessment reports and funding requests and hopefully monies will be provided to address this latest round of hurricane damage.

Also, I want you to know that we are working on a proposal for funding to look at the future of Portsmouth Village.  This is one of the highest planning needs for the park.  We need a plan that looks at the future of the village.  If we receive these funds, there will be a public process.

Patrick M. Kenney, Superintendent, CLNS”

Editor’s Note:  Check FPI’s Facebook page for a picture of the church taken on July 8.  Photo taken by Michael Rikard.

 

 

 

If you have any items saved in your Amazon Smile cart, now is the time to shop!  Amazon Smile will donate an additional $5.00 to FPI on orders placed before June 15.  If you have not yet signed up for Amazon Smile and selected Friends of Portsmouth Island as your chosen organization, now is a good time to do so!

We are happy to announce that Friends of Portsmouth Island is now registered with the Amazon Smile Program!  Each time you make a purchase through Amazon, you can have 0.5% of your purchase price donated to FPI, at no cost to you.  It’s easy, but you’ll have to go into smile.amazon.com (https://smile.amazon.com/) to choose your charity, as well as each time you shop.  If you go in through the regular Amazon.com homepage, your purchase will NOT be credited to FPI (although Amazon may prompt you to go to the Smile page).  So once you’ve picked Friends of Portsmouth Island as your charity, be sure to bookmark the link.  Check out this link for further information on the  the program:  http://smile.amazon.com/about.  Happy shopping!

After reading our Homecoming Report below (just scroll down), be sure to check out our Facebook page for photos.  You can click the tab at the right or sign into Facebook to see the posts and photos.  Our photo editor hopes to have the 2014 Homecoming photos up soon, but you can see lots of pictures on the Facebook page in the meantime.  And feel free to post your own pictures on our page!  Tell us about your Homecoming experience!