World War II and Holden's Beach
An excerpt from the book, The Beginning and Development of Holden Beach 1756-2000, by John F. Holden.

World War II affected the businesses and the population. The federal government had priority to use any manufactured or raw materials in our effort to win the war. Merchants had difficulty restocking their stores, especially with hardware items; all building materials were hard to find and gas was rationed to the civilian population.

"Liberty ships" were important during the war, because these ships carried supplies to our military forces overseas. The largest shipyard on the east coast building these special ships was located in Wilmington, North Carolina, and it employed 21,000 men when it was in full production.

Security along the North Carolina coast was very important because of the many German submarines patrolling our coast. Several of the liberty ships built in the shipyard in Wilmington were sunk before they got one hundred miles to sea.

Our government imposed a blackout along the coast; no lights could be visible from the ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard placed men on horseback to patrol the beaches along the North Carolina coast to prevent German spies from landing and to enforce the blackout.

The Coast Guard stationed eight or ten men and six or eight horses here at Holden's Beach during the war. The building the men stayed in was located on the eat side of the present Shrimp Street about two hundred yards from the Intracoastal Waterway. The building was constructed of material salvaged from a C.C. camp built in Pender County during the 1930s. The corral built for the horses was located at the north end of Shrimp Street. A warehouse to store supplies for the men and horses was located beside the waterway near the ferry; supplies could be delivered by truck or boat.

A telephone line was buried from Lockwood Folly Inlet to Shalotte Inlet and a post with a telephone jack on it was located about every mile. The telephone jack was placed the right height so the rider could make a call to report any unusual activity and not get off his horse.

My parents did continue operating the hotel and renting the cottages during the summer months. This provided a place for the Coast Guard men to go when they were not on duty. My mother was a "mom" to the men; she would bake cakes and cookies for them. Most of the men called her "mom." She did minor repairs to their clothes when they asked her.

Several times my parents and the Cost Guard men witnessed liberty ships at sear burning; those ships were victims of torpedoes from the German submarines.

There was no beach development from December, 1941 until the spring of 1946; building materials were not available until 1947.