The original ferry was built in 1950 by Brunswick Islands patriarchs Odell Williamson and Mannon C. Gore (who went on to develop nearby Sunset Beach, NC).
Before the ferry was built a causeway had previously provided vehicular access to Ocean Isle Beach. But once the Intracoastal Waterway was dug in the 1930s, the only way to travel between the mainland and island was by boat.
In 1950, early development on Ocean Isle Beach was on the east end of the island at Shallotte Boulevard.
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A wooden platform that could hold two cars comprised the ferry, which had a chain across the front to keep the first car from rolling into the waterway. A cable operated by a motorized pulley was used to pull the ferry back and forth across the waterway. A cable on the other side of the ferry prevented the ferry from being pulled off course.
When a boat approached, the cables had to be dropped to the bottom to prevent the boat from becoming entangled in them.
“This is what they called the guideline,” said Strickland, 78, tweaking the mechanical ferry model he made that’s about to be unveiled at the museum.
The lines were fastened to a post or piling, while a motor and winch were used on the structure, requiring an operator to direct the ferry’s progress across the waterway. The process was reversed to go back across the other way. Someone had to be here the whole time to operate it.
The operators were on call, and it has been said that there was a shed where bait was sold on the Ocean Isle side.
This was the only way that people could get to the island pre-(Hurricane) Hazel.
The ferry’s first operators were William Gurganus and Clyde Stanley, who alternated to keep the ferry running from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
Their work was described as challenging and exhausting because the cable, which museum officials aren’t sure whether it was rope or steel, was heavy, slimy and hard to handle.
If the cable broke, the ferry couldn’t operate until it was fixed.
Hurricane Hazel in 1954 severely damaged the ferry, which was repaired and put back into service, continuing until 1959 when it was replaced by a swing bridge that crossed the waterway at the center of the island. Ocean Isle Beach got its high-rise bridge in 1986.
Today, the site of the old ferry landing on the island is called Ferry Landing Park, which is at the end of Shallotte Boulevard and Seventh Street with a gazebo, picnic tables, fishing pier and waterway views.
