Robert Lee Smith House circa 1915

NATIONAL REGISTER of Historic Places:  Hip-roofed side-hall plan house with hip-roofed dormer, one-story front porch. Smith was a captain and boatbuilder who built this house at 140 Front Street on the site of his circa 1880 family home. NR

Robert Lee Smith was a master carpenter who helped build the Swansboro Graded School, the Tarrymore Hotel and the boats Valhalla and Lallah, as well as several other homes in Swansboro including his 1901 house at 202 Walnut Street.

Archive photos courtesy J.Dudley,
Swansboro - A Pictorial Tribute

Robert Lee Smith was born November 30, 1875 in Carteret County, North Carolina, the son of James Smith and Abbie Willis. He married Lina H. Russell in 1897. Lina Russell 1870-1967 was daughter of 1837 Major Russell and 1846 Mary Amelia Barnum.

In the 1910 Swansboro census, children in the home included Daisy L. 13, Amelia B. 9 and 11-year-old Marjorie R. Smith. In the 1920 census Smith was listed on Water Street and was a ship carpenter.

Robert Lee Smith Death Certificate

Lina Russell Smith Death Certificate

Amelia B. Smith married Everett Canady. Daisy Lee Smith Moore 1897-1995 offered history to Early Swansboro History by Lucy Greene.

Lee Smith retired in 1939, only four years before his death on December 20, 1943. He died from influenza/pneumonia complicated by hypotension. He and Lina were buried in Ward Cemetery.