Welcome to the ‘beach town in a forest’

Pine Knoll Shores proudly clings to its reputation as being a “beach town in a forest.” Located on Bogue Banks in Carteret County, N.C., the town is preparing to celebrate its 50-year anniversary on April 22. 

The first owner of land here in 1910 was John Royall, whose estate was known as “Isle of Pines.” He sold his property in 1917 to Alice Green Hoffman; her business on the island was named “Pine Grove Farms.” 

After Hoffman died in 1953, much of the 2,000-acre Hoffman homeplace became available for residential development, offered through the Roosevelt family trust. (Hoffman’s niece was married to the eldest son of former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.) 

The Roosevelt family hired Stone & Webster, an engineering-construction company, to manage the project. Pete Rempe, an employee with the firm in New York City, revealed: “I am the guy who thought up the name ‘Pine Knoll Shores.’”

 

Walt Zaenker of the Pine Knoll Shores History Committee said: “Pete Rempe’s enthusiasm for Pine Knoll Shores was demonstrated by his purchase of one of the first lots put on the market in 1957.” 

Meanwhile, A.C. and Dot Hall of Raleigh took an interest in Pine Knoll Shores, wrote Phyllis Makuck, another local historian. Dot’s mother, Ruth “Mabee” Bray, loved the beach. 

“The family used to go to Nags Head on vacation. However, when looking for beach property to buy, they quickly eliminated Nags Head because it had no oceanfront lots with trees. They visited Wilmington-area beaches and could not find a section with trees there, either,” Makuck said. 

“Then they came to Bogue Banks and saw an expanse of property totally wooded on both ocean and sound sides.” 

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. “Mabee was selling high-end women’s dresses for a shop in Raleigh,” Makuck wrote. “The owners of the dress shop decided to put a similar shop on the Atlantic Beach causeway.” They hired Mabee to manage the beach shop. 

A.C., who was the city planner in Raleigh, had dreams of building an oceanfront motor lodge with “an unobstructed ocean view, so he chose a site (with 300 feet of ocean frontage).” 

In 1963, when the first section of the “Atlantis Lodge” was completed, Mabee moved in. She quit selling dresses and managed the lodge for 17 years.

A.C. and Dot Hall at the Atlantis Lodge.

 

Guests at the Atlantis Lodge.

In the 1960s, building a canal system as part of a real estate development was a common practice up and down the east coast, Makuck said. A.C. helped design the plan for the Roosevelts. 

“I put on big boots and walked the land many times. It was swampy, had lots of low spots…several small ponds and a large one,” A.C. told Makuck. 

“Bringing together knowledge gained from aerial contour maps and from many soggy walks through the area with skills as a master land planner and designer, A.C. determined where the canals had to be for drainage purposes and…the best locations for home sites to ensure they could have well-functioning septic systems. He wanted to design quiet neighborhoods with lots of trees and did not want there to be any through traffic.” 

“With a smile, he said: ‘You better know where you are going when you drive in there. It’s not easy to find property if you don’t, and that was by design.’”

 Makuck reported that the eastern portion of the waterway was completed in 1967, and the western loop was finished in 1971. Then, a bridge at Mimosa Boulevard was constructed, and the waterway’s two parts were connected, thus allowing full circulation of water throughout the waterway.