Emerald Isle savors its connection to Ireland

Emerald Isle, N.C., has a bit of an Irish air and flair about it. The town strives to be clean and green. Green is a dominant color in the town’s official color scheme.

The town savors its Irish connection and celebrates St. Patrick’s Day every year in March with a whoppin’ big festival, the wearin’ o’ the green and other things allowed within the pub tent area.

The original Emerald Isle, of course, is the island of Ireland, co-occupied by the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The latter remains part of the United Kingdom.

Ireland’s nickname as the “Emerald Isle” comes from “the large amounts of greenness that are due to the moist air and temperate climate,” explains the Tourism Ireland organization.

It’s been said people have inhabited this Irish island for eons. Saint Patrick himself made his presence felt in 432 to convert the Irish people to Christianity. He is regarded as one of the patron saints of Ireland and the official national apostle of Ireland. St. Patrick used the Irish shamrock with its three leaflets to explain the Holy Trinity to the Celts and Druids – the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a central concept of Christian beliefs.

In contrast, Emerald Isle, N.C., was not inhabited by white settlers until the 1900s. Former Emerald Isle Mayor Art Schools said the entire uninhabited, 13-mile stretch of Bogue Banks west of Salter Path became the property of John A. Royall of Boothbay, Maine.

“We know for certain Royall started to buy land on Bogue Banks in 1910, perhaps as an investment, health retreat, winter residence, or simply a good location for a hunting/fishing cabin,” commented Walt Zaenker, chair of the Pine Knoll Shores History Committee.

Mary Warshaw of Beaufort, an artist and historian, cited an article that appeared in a 1913 edition of the Potsdam (N.Y.) Courier that was written by Martin V.B. Ives, who was “on assignment” in Beaufort.

Ives described Royall as “a man of ample means.” He purchased the whole tract of land available on the western end of Bogue Banks, “neck and crop, and today, if the writer is any judge, he owns a paradise.” (One definition of the term “neck and crop” is to act briskly with completeness.) Royall, it seems, was quite adept at that maneuver.

Ives visited the Royall’s bungalow on Bogue Banks – “built without cutting away any more of its trees and native shrubbery than was strictly necessary.”

While touring the property, Ives wrote that he “viewed its hard, white shell-covered and wave-washed sand beach…breathed in old ocean’s nectar of the gods in great doses. As a lover of nature and woodman, I have never seen a more heart-lifting, getting-next-to-nature, making a man open his lungs to drink in deep draughts of health-giving ozone with the flavor of the pine, and a ‘thank-God-I-was-alive’ place.”

(Dagnabbit, those picturesque words form a moving testimony for Crystal Coast tourism.)

Schools said Royall sold his property to Henry K. Fort of Philadelphia in 1922. Fort drew up plans and specifications for a resort development (still on file at town hall). America’s Great Depression (1929-39) squashed those grandiose plans.

After Fort’s death in 1943, the property was inherited by his daughter, Anita Fort Maulik, also a Philadelphian. She sold timber rights to William Britton McLean (known as W.B.) in 1946. McLean and George Spell had a sawmill business in Red Springs in Robeson County.

McLean saw the potential to develop the island as a “seaside paradise,” but alone he couldn’t come up with the cash to meet Maulik’s asking price of $350,000. Spell agreed to chip in, as did other Red Springs’ investors J.A. “Bus” Singleton and Hiram Grantham, but still they were about $150,000 short.

Schools said Robert Holding, then president of First Citizens Bank of Smithfield, put down the rest of the cash needed in the names of his three sons, Frank, Lewis and Robert Jr. When the $350,000 sales transaction was completed in 1954, it was the largest land deal ever recorded in Carteret County.

Schools said McLean and Spell sought the advice of a land development consultant from Florida, who requested an airplane ride to survey the property.

As they flew over Bogue Banks, the consultant was impressed and inspired by what he saw – miles of lush forest, a solid green gem in the middle of a sea of sparking water – and said: “This place shall be known as Emerald Isle.” And so it was.

McLean, one supposes, had an opportunity to step forward to issue a veto. The Maclean clan is one of the oldest of all of Scotland’s highland clans and was famed as great warriors. Genealogists have identified 152 variations of the spelling. McLean is one of the most common.

“The Scots and the Irish have a huge amount of cultural similarity and find each other good company,” offered Kitty Murphy of Scotland. “We have a huge amount of cultural similarity and find we are more alike than we are different. Quite simply, we blend well.”

Jim Keogh of Ireland said the Scots and the Irish “both have a long history of whisky making and appreciating.” Niall MacDonagh of Ireland said: “If you cannot be Irish, the next best thing is being Scottish. We are first cousins.”

Sláinte! The Irish toast for “greetings, cheers and good health” is pronounced in Carteret County as “slawn-che.”