DEER ISLAND WHARF INVESTIGATION
Deer
Island, approximately three acres in size, is situated just south of
Swansboro at the junction of Hawkin's Creek and the White Oak River. The
creek and an unnamed tributary, which separates Deer Island from the
mainland by a narrow channel, are spanned by a private, one-lane bridge.
The island's owners in the summer of 1983 were Burwell and Peggy
Jackson. Though the Jackson's didn't buy the property until 1953, Mr.
Jackson has been visiting the island since the 1930s. During extreme low
tides, Mr. Jackson has observed up to thirty feet of the length of the
wharf exposed.
The
wake created by passing watercraft on the Intercoastal Waterway and the
scouring effects of the daily tides and occasional hurricanes have
continued to erode the shoreline around the wharf fronting the waterway.
Mr. Jackson estimates that as much as ten to twenty feet of land has
eroded from the property since he first started visiting the island.
Filling in with bricks and blocks and other debris as well as
bulkheading in recent years has slowed down the erosional effects of the
constant wave action to some extent, but not stopped it. MORE...
1 comment:
My parents, C.W. and Joetta Phillips owned much of the property to the NW of the creek. For a time we had horses that caused erosion of the hill. You would start finding all sorts of bottles, pottery, clay pipes, etc. Closer to Hawkins Creek I use to always find gold, so I thought at 8 years old. It was just pockets of turpentine. My father was a Dredge Superintendent by trade and said he would never dredge the creek due to the botto covered with logs from the mill.
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