Hero's House to be New Office
Hatteras Realty to open branch in Waves

by Rick Kinnaird

As you can see from the picture above, Hatteras Realty has opened a brand spanking new office, their Northern Office, in Salvo/Waves. Wait a minute! There’s nothing there but a sign, a dilapidated building and an old house.

But that’s not any old house in the back there. That’s Rasmus Midgett’s house. Built in 1843 it’s one of the oldest houses on the island and has been in continuous use until a few weeks ago. If those walls could talk, what a story they could tell.

They could tell us of old Rasmus coming home in 1899 having rescued 10 men single-handedly from the Priscilla after it had run aground in the fearsome hurricane named San Ciriaco. It could tell us of the many people “laid out” in the front parlor as was the custom for years and years here on the island.

The house will talk again if Stewart Couch, president of Hatteras Realty, has his way. He bought the place and, although he wants to open a northern office for his real estate business, he also wants to preserve the island's history. He plans to refurbish the house and turn it into a museum and point of interest for visitors.

Currently, the house looks run down, but the inside is quite habitable. The upstairs has 18- and 24-inch wide pine boards. Rumor has it that some of the doors are made from the wood of the Priscilla. The roof according to Stewart is another matter. There are some six layers on the roof: shingles on top of shingles on top of metal. Current plans are to whitewash the outside and paint the inside and, yes, replace the roof with one that is watertight.