A New Beginning

There was no access to the island for several years after the waterway was dug; the state restored access when the ferry began operating the summer of 1934.

Granddaddy’s estate was settled in 1933 and each of the six heirs became an owner of beach property. J. Herbert Holden, the son who lived near his father on Stanbury Road and operated a country store here, inherited his father’s beach fishery and a section of land in that area. His inheritence also included several acres of marsh land and woodland adjoining the Intracoastal Waterway on the north side. Old Ferry road passed through the southwest part of that land.

J. Herbert liked adventure and a challenge. He built a temporary building beside the waterway (the location was where Fulford’s Fish House in located now). The building provided seasonal living space and a limited amount of merchandise. During a two-year period, several “northeasters” with high tides convinced him he should move to higher ground. He sold his home and his store on Stanbury Road and built a home-store combination. This was located a short distance up Ferry Road among the live oak trees. His grandson, David Holden, has restored this old home and uses it as a summer retreat. During the late 1930’s, J. Herbert saw a need for overnight accommodations for sport fishermen and built four small cabins beside the waterway on the west side of Ferry Road. These he offered for rent.

He sold his first small building on the east side of Ferry Road to John Goodman Fulford in the early 1940’s. Good Fulford’s son, Freddie, owns this property today and continues to operate a fish house there.

After J. Herbert operated his new store a few years, he realized his business should be expanded and made accessible to the public. This time he built on the west side of Ferry Road about one hundred feet above the ground. When he had the building completed, his health began to decline. He never opened this building for business. His death occurred August 19, 1946. Bill Grady rented this store building a few years before Hurricane Hazel. That hurricane destroyed the store building, the four little cabins, and Fulford’s Fish House. Goodman Fulford did not rebuild his fish house after Hurricane Hazel. My father, Luther S. Holden, inherited the section of beach with the hotel that was built in 1926. Development of Holden’s Beach was not a profitable investment in 1934.

There was no paved road from the beach to U.S. Highway #17 and no electricity in Brunswick County. The average American family was living on a limited income.

The old hotel and the fishing shack were the only two buildings on the island the Spring of 1935 hen Dad built his first cottage on an ocean-front lot. The name of that cottage was “Chapel Hill.” This was an appropriate name because some of the faculty from the University of North Carolina were the first people to rent this cottage. Dad sold two ocean-front lots the Spring of 1935; the price of each lot was $50. These two lots were sold in the “Holden’s Beach Resort” subdivision recorded in 1924.

Mrs. Braxton Craig made the first purchase of an ocean-front lot June 1, 1935. A cottage was built the same year and was enjoyed by Mrs. Craig’s children and grandchildren until it was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel, October 15, 1954. The second sale was made August 20, 1935, to Homer B. Frink. The Building restrictions placed on these lots, thirty-four years before the Town on Holden Beach was incorporated, are interesting. The restrictions follow:

“It is expressly agreed between parties hereto, that the above described lot shall not be used for filling station, boarding house, café or for the sale of soft drinks or intoxicating liquors, but for residential purposes only.

It is agreed also, that the parties of the second part are to construct the cottage with dressed materials and glass windows within one year of date hereof, on the lot above described.

It is also agreed by the parties hereto, that in the event of any of the above-mentioned agreements are violated or broken, then this deed is to be void, and the lot as described above shall automatically revert to the grantor above named.”

The “Holden’s Beach Resort” map was voided in the early 1940’s, because the lots were to small to accommodate modern development. A new map was made of the area; it is identified as the “Johnson Survey.”

J. Herbert Holden sold some of his lots in 1935 and some cottages were built in that area.

Dad built another cottage on an ocean-front lot in 1936; this cottage was identified as the “Greensboro Cottage.” He continued to enlarge the number of accommodations in his rental property.

Mr. Frink bought a lot from dad in 1935 and built a cottage. His family had several hospital expenses in 1938 and he had to sell his beach cottage to pay medical bills.

This was my first investment in “Holden’s Beach.” I paid Mr. Frink $600 for his ocean-front cottage. A person must realize there was no kind of utilities available those days. An oil stove was used to cook on, an ice-box refrigerator for refrigeration, (if you brought ice with you or went to Wilmington or Southport to purchase some). A hand pump furnished water and a one-hole john, back of the cottage, served it’s purpose.

Early in the Spring of 1939, Dad and I had a discussion about the future of Holden’s Beach. Both of us agreed the beach needed some kind of attraction before people would come and invest. The North Carolina Highway Department would not improve the road to U.S. #17 unless the need could be justified.

Our final decision was that he and mother would operate the hotel and he could continue to enlarge his rentals; I would build a pavilion.

The pavilion with a bathhouse would attract daytime visitors and provide recreation at night for the beach people. There was no rural electricity in Brunswick County at that time. Dad bought a 110 watt Kohler light plant that produced D.C. current; this would furnish lights to the hotel and his rental cottages, but not enough current for refrigerators or irons. I bought a water pump that would operate on D.C. current; this pump provided water for the hotel and my bathhouse. The power plant generated enough current to light my pavilion and play the jukebox.

Rural electricity started in Brunswick County in 1939; however, this island did not get electricity until the Spring of 1941. Electricity was a blessing to this county and to this island.

The Japanese Government bombed Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, and the United States entered World War II. I volunteered for the United States Navy and spent four years in service.

My father and mother continued to operate the beach businesses during the war years; however, all development and construction stopped because building materials were not available. The Federal Government had priority for all materials to use for war purposes. Gas was rationed to the civilian population during the ar; this effected beach businesses and development also.

My mother died August 13, 1943; she did not live to see three of her sons return home at the end of World War II. Dad continued his rental and development business. He remained in good health and remarried in the early 1950’s. He enjoyed good health until Hurricane Hazel came October 15, 1954. It was a miracle that he survived. His health deteriorated rapidly the last eighteen months he lived after he developed a heart problem. He died at his home here on “Holden’s Beach,” February 22, 1958.