Historic Mattamuskeet Lodge in NC may be sold

Joe Friday

Joe Friday

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According to this news article, a local farmer/hunting outfitter is lobbying to buy the Mattamuskeet lodge property from the State of NC. It seems he has already hosted some of the polical bigwigs down east and is lobbying hard to get the Lodge.

Even though this property is in need of extensive repairs and renovations, it sounds like a bad deal to me. I don't believe in selling off our state's heritage. This lodge should remain in the public domain and used as an education resource, in my opinion.

https://www.carolinajournal.com/new...urn-mattamuskeet-lodge-over-to-private-party/
 
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I'm with you Joe. If there is anything those of us "from away" (as they say up here about non-Mainers) can do to help, please let us know.
 
I used to have access to the Lodge in the early 1980s when I was doing research on swans at the refuge. Even at that time it was falling apart and in need of repair. I heard stories of the "old days" when sports stayed in Lodge and had there dogs delivered to their rooms every morning along with their morning coffee. It makes me sad that 35 years later that things have just gotten worse. But taxpayers haven't shown a lot of interest in paying the maintenance costs so it is either let it crumble or find someone who is willing to buy/operate it. I just hope whoever gets it is committed to restoring it and keeping it going.

Now am I the only guy you know who actually took his wife to Hyde County for their honeymoon? True story but I also took her to Manteo and Ocracoke besides Swan Quarter.
 
Either way, I would say that it will be lost to the Public.

The Dodge Estate has been reduced a pile of bricks and rubble on a peninsula at the mouth of the Munuscong River. The lands which had been a State Wildlife Refuge remain State land, but the refuge was closed and the dikes were breached as part of a grand plan to spread waterfowl out on the marshes of the St. Mary's River. The ringnecks that used to congregate in the bay are gone, and the duration of stay for migrants has declined since this rework.

When I first moved here, the McMormick Wilderness tract was a focal point of discussions. Cyrus McCormick,Jr. and Cyrus Bentley sited, designed and constructed a grand camp in the Adirondack Mountains tradition, on an island in White Deer Lake within the tract. The Dept. of Interior wanted to divest themselves of upkeep.

http://www.mccormicktract.com/RoughCamp.pdf

https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.mi0151.photos/?sp=10

The log structures were removed and placed in a warehouse for future reconstruction on a site to be secured by private funding. Nothing ever came of this effort.

The Keweenaw Mountain Lodge is about to go this way, after incurring millions in debt.

GRANOT Loma was offered to the State for 13million. Had Tom Baldwin not purchased the lodge and lands, it would be gone. I posted the listing awhile back. Tom and his family have grown tired of their treatment via a series of dust-ups with our local Pols. associated with construction of an upgraded power line through his land, as well as the haul road widening associated with the Eagle Mine, opting to sell and leave the area.
 
Basically, it's already a loss to the public by being closed to the public.

Many successful structures like this around the country inside national parks are run & maintained by vendors.

If I read the article correct, a state law may prevent that from happening.

Sadly, it's going to take a private individual or not-for-profit to bring it back to life.

It's obvious the state isn't interested in spending the funds.
 
In a sidebar story, Lake Mattamuskeet itself is losing its grass beds which serve as food for the ducks, geese, and swan that migrate there. While we still see thousands of birds in the refuge impoundments adjacent to the lake, we see very few birds on the lake proper. This loss is being blamed on the mismanagement of fresh water levels in the lake, and the allowance of brackish salt water from the Pamlico sound into the lake through the drainage canals. It's a complex story, and the source of some heated debates in eastern N C.

I don't know what the answer is. Here are some references. Readers can find plenty more if they are interested:

http://www.coastalreview.org/2016/02/lake-mattamuskeet-plan-ruffles-feathers/

http://pilotonline.com/news/local/environment/a-deep-dispute-over-a-shallow-n-c-lake/article_83386714-3051-5648-abe7-f3d259be9b1d.html

http://www.ncwildlife.org/Boating/Boating-in-North-Carolina/wildlife-commission-funds-aquatic-vegetation-research-at-lake-mattamuskeet
 
I haven't been inside the lodge in about 8 years. To say it was in disrepair would be generous. It would take millions to fix up the structure, and I just don't see the state making that investment (no matter how cool it would be as an educational facility). I've hunted with Jamin Simmons. He's a super guy, and he would definitely restore the lodge to it's original luster.

Joe, do you know anything about the funding of Harker's Island Waterfowl museum? The Mattamuskeet pump station/lodge would be an awesome museum...if anyone would get the funds appropriated. It would be an undertaking, but it sure would be cool.
 
"Lake Mattamuskeet, or "dry dust"" (per Waterfowl Heritage North Carolina Decoys And Gunning Lore - William Neal Conoley, Jr). has a long history of decimation and reclamation at the hand of man and nature. Hopefully it shall once again be the waterfowl mecca that is was, either in public or private hands.

After reading Conoley's book when it first came out in 1982, I made a point of hunting waterfowl there. Took photo's of the pump house lodge, and enjoyed some good hunting on the lake and in nearby impoundments. I believe that it's destiny will mimic it's past, from boom to bust and back again...

I encourage all waterfowlers to go to places that appeal to you ASAP. We have short lives. Mother Nature just keeps on going.
 
I haven't been inside the lodge in about 8 years. To say it was in disrepair would be generous. It would take millions to fix up the structure, and I just don't see the state making that investment (no matter how cool it would be as an educational facility). I've hunted with Jamin Simmons. He's a super guy, and he would definitely restore the lodge to it's original luster.

Joe, do you know anything about the funding of Harker's Island Waterfowl museum? The Mattamuskeet pump station/lodge would be an awesome museum...if anyone would get the funds appropriated. It would be an undertaking, but it sure would be cool.
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I had the exact same thoughts about a waterfowl/maritime museum. I've been to the Core Sound museum, and I can easily visualize a similar facility at Mattamuskeet...maybe combine it with a maritime story about the sound, the pocosin environment, and natural history. They'd had 4th graders from all over eastern nc there on field trips. Come to think of it, I've never been visiting the refuge when there wasn't a dozen or more cars riding around the wildlife drive area.
 
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My uncle mounted several ducks and donated them to the lodge a dozen or so years ago. I think the museum would be a huge asset to our area and preserve a unique heritage. Whom do we contact, how do we get the ball rolling? I'd love to help, but I just don't have a lot of free time.
 
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