Jockey's Ridge

Episode 75: How a Fearless Mother Stood Down a Bulldozer to Save a Natural Wonder For All the People

Photograph of Carolista Baum at Jockey's Ridge

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Perched between the ocean and the sound in Nags Head, completely dominating the narrow sliver of land that makes up part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, is a monumental sand dune, a mountain of lush golden sand. This dune system, known as Jockey’s Ridge, is somewhere around 4,000 years old and can reach heights of over 100 feet. It’s majestic, it’s miraculous, the tallest living sand dune on the east coast, a unique ecosystem home to a myriad of coastal creatures, a landmark and navigation tool dating back hundreds if not thousands of years, a playground for generations of children, and the most visited state park in North Carolina. But, did you know that back in the 70s, Jockey’s Ridge was slated for demolition to make way for a condominium complex? And did you know that three young children and their fearless mother put their foot down, quite literally, to save it? And that I have one of those children here with me today? Let’s fix that. 

Hello, I’m Shea LaFountaine and you’re listening to History Fix where I discuss lesser known true stories from history you won’t be able to stop thinking about. I grew up running, rolling, tumbling down Jockey's ridge like so many kids before me and after me. It’s a magical place, a wonderland of sun and sand and wind, like you’re on a different planet, like a scene straight out of Dune but without the giant worms. Anyone who has visited, dug their toes into the sand, felt the triumphant rush upon reaching the top after a climb, taken in the breathtaking views from the ridge, and experienced the overwhelming exhilaration of racing down the other side, knows. Jockey’s Ridge demands respect. Few people know this better than Ann-Cabell Baum, who spent her childhood practically living amongst the dunes with her brother and sister by her side. And so when, on a balmy August afternoon in 1973, they discovered a bulldozer at the base of the dunes, they knew exactly who to turn to for help. Because Jockey’s Ridge wasn’t the only unwavering force in their lives. If anyone could fix this, it was their mother, Carolista Baum. 

Carolista knew how to get things done but she was no outlier in her family. She came from a long line of women who got things done and Ann-Cabell is one of them.  

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

Anne Cabell and I had a surprising lot in common. Even looking at photos of her and her sister Inglis, I can’t help but be reminded of me and my own sister, one blonde and fair, the other with darker hair and skin, similar age difference even. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

Inglis Fletcher, the author was also clearly a force and I will be reading some of her novels now. She was like the Lady Whistledown of the 1940s, very risque, I love it. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

Ann-Cabell, Inglis, and Gibbs were certainly not the first to wile away an afternoon atop Jockey’s Ridge. The commanding landmark has a long history going back thousands of years. Geologists believe Jockey’s Ridge formed anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago but where all the sand came from is a bit of a mystery still. Some of my sources point to storms and hurricanes pushing sand onto the shore from offshore shoals. I mentioned these shoals in the Theodosia Burr episode a couple weeks ago. They are sandbars, essentially, shallow areas underwater where the sand is built up and they’re always moving and shifting around. This is what makes this particular coastline so deadly for ships - the Graveyard of the Atlantic. So it’s possible the sand that forms Jockey’s Ridge came from the ocean, from those shoals. Other research suggests that the sand that forms the ridge actually made its way there from the complete opposite direction, the Appalachian mountains in the western part of the state. Marine Geologist Dr. Stan Riggs believes there are old river beds, now buried beneath sand, that once carried sediment all the way across the state, depositing it at Jockey’s Ridge. The sand is different than beach sand. It’s finer, more rich in quartz which points to a different place of origin. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a little of both. Winter nor’easters and fall hurricanes dredge up sand and blow it right to the dunes. During the summer, southwest winds push it back the other direction. And with this constant push and pull, it just shifts back and forth but never fully blows away. It’s stuck because of its unique location right in between two competing winds. 

Native Americans living along the Outer Banks, the Algonquian people, would have been very familiar with the ridge. They likely kept to the soundside, the backside of the dune, which is protected from the battering ocean winds with calmer brackish water that was easier to fish. By the 1500s, European explorers were known to use it as a navigational tool as their ships neared North Carolina’s coast, a beacon of gold sticking up from the horizon, like a lighthouse, pointing them in the right direction. The name “Jockey Hill” first appeared in a land grant in 1753 to a John Campbell and an 1851 newspaper article about Nags Head as a summer resort destination calls it Jockey Ridge. Today it’s Jockey’s Ridge with an apostrophe as in the ridge belongs to jockeys. But, as with quite a few Outer Banks place names, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, the real meaning behind the name has become somewhat of a legend. It’s possible there was a family named Jackey that it was named after but the prevailing legend has to do with the wild horses that roam the Outer Banks, banker ponies. These horses are the descendants of Spanish Mustangs that were brought over by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. It’s not totally clear how they ended up on the Outer Banks when the Spanish themselves didn’t, not for longer than a quick jaunt anyway. Some speculate that maybe Spanish ships ran aground and were forced to lighten the load by tossing the horses overboard. They, at least some of them, survived and swam ashore. It’s also possible they survived a Spanish shipwreck and swam to shore as the ship sank. This is the Graveyard of the Atlantic after all. Anyway, according to the legend, people used to try to capture and tame these wild horses, teaching them to race. Jockeys would race the horses around the dunes and spectators would watch from the ridge itself like a giant set of bleachers. But who knows if that’s true. I’m pretty sure that’s based solely on the fact that there are wild horses here and a jockey is someone who races horses. Probably more of an assumption than an actual fact. 

By the mid 1800s, Nags Head had become a tourist destination for wealthy planters hoping to escape the stifling heat and suffocating humidity of their inland plantations to the west. But at that time, the soundfront was the destination. The beach was barren, wild, inhospitable. In those days, people sought out the cool refuge of the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. And so in 1840, the Nags Head Hotel was built at the base of Jockey’s Ridge. Two stories high with porches running all the way around, the hotel could accommodate 200 guests and even boasted a lavish ballroom for evening entertainment. It was financed by these plantation owners so they had a place to go for vacation. They built a wharf that reached out a half mile into the sound to where boats from the mainland were anchored. There were boardwalks and a horse drawn railroad that connected the hotel and wharf to the oceanfront. Another source said donkey carts. I don’t know. But this paradise, built, let us not forget, upon the backs of enslaved workers, would face its fair share of hardship. By 1859, sand had begun piling up along the outside of the hotel, making access to some of the rooms difficult. Like, a complementary shovel comes with your stay difficult. During the Civil War, it was occupied by Confederate General Henry A. Wise who used it as his headquarters. After Wise was defeated in the battle of Roanoke Island by Union General Burnside, he set fire to the hotel so that the Union army couldn’t use it. Some speculate that the ruins of the original Nags Head Hotel are now buried beneath the sand. An Atlantic Realty article called “9 Things You Didn’t Know About Jockey’s Ridge” claims quote “ David Stick, notable Outer Banks Historian, used to tell a more personal story about the hotel. He used to say that when he was a young boy of about 10, he and his friends used to explore the ridge.  One day, after a storm, they discovered a door. When they opened the door, the found themselves in a long hallway lined with doors. Each door led to a room, but most rooms were full of sand. As little boys often do, they made this hallway their 'clubhouse' and came often to play in it. He said it was always cold inside the hallway. One day, after another storm, he and his friends went to play in it and the door was gone, buried beneath the sand. No one has seen the old hotel since,” end quote. Now, I have not been able to substantiate that. I mean David Stick was a well known Outer Banks historian and did live here when he was 10 and he wrote a ton of stuff down. According to the Outer Banks History Center quote “The David Stick Papers, circa 1750-2009 and undated, contains correspondence, meeting minutes, ephemera, personal papers, financial records, audiovisual materials, photographs, and maps created or collected by Stick over the course of his life,” end quote. It’s a monstrous collection and I don’t know if this story is in there or what, I don’t have time to do the necessary digging. But I found that super interesting. 

Anyway, after the Nags Head Hotel was burnt and possibly buried, another was built in a different location (it eventually caught on fire as well) along with some private homes. But these all faced the same problem. Eventually, the sand would start pushing its way into the buildings, filling up doorways and pouring into openings. They couldn’t keep it out and so these structures were eventually abandoned and, possibly reclaimed by the dunes. We’re not totally sure what all is down there. Were the buildings demolished, were they moved, or are they still there, beneath the sand? Not sure. We know there’s a putt putt course down there because, over that last few decades, almost all of a castle has been revealed on the east face of the dune, closest to the main road. So, I mean, honestly who knows what else is down there? 

But, alas, the ridge was privately owned. And the incessantly encroaching sand did not deter everyone from wanting to develop it. By the mid 70s real estate in Nags head was starting to take off and this was a prime location. There was money to be made. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

Carolista did more than take the bulldozer’s distributor cap, she sprang into action. She drafted a petition titled “Save Our Sand Dune” which got 25,000 signatures in the first week. She founded a nonprofit organization called the People to Preserve Jockey's ridge. She got on the phone, calling anyone and everyone who could help save the dunes. She lobbied lawmakers to protect the land by turning it into a state park, once spending 3 sitting in the office of North Carolina governor James Hunt until he agreed to speak with her. She started fundraising, collecting money to try to purchase plots of land that were privately owned and turn them over to the state for protection. They collected spare change, they sold t-shirts and bumper stickers, they sold honorary square feet of the dune for $5 a piece, complete with a certificate. Carolista set up a hot pink wooden hut near the dune where they sold merchandise and collected donations. Her jewelry store, Carolista’s became the headquarters of the whole operation. And, fun fact, her first jewelry store was actually in a building that once served as the ice house for the Nags Head Hotel. I don’t know if that’s the original 1840 one or the rebuild.  

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

“Hold for Carolista,” I love that. Because this woman was a force of nature who could stop a bulldozer with sheer confidence and pure grit. People would hold for her. She was exactly the person to pull this off. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

Carolista’s resolve worked wonders. A few months after stopping the bulldozer on the back side of the dune,  the state division of Parks and Recreation agreed to conduct a feasibility study on making Jockey’s Ridge into a state park in direct response to lobbying by Carolista and the People for the Preservation of Jockey’s Ridge organization that she started. In 1974, it was declared a Natural National Landmark and in 1975, it officially became a state park when the State of North Carolina bought 152 acres from private landowners. The Nature Conservancy bought another large tract of land which included Nags Head Woods, and the rest was purchased using funds raised by the People to Preserve Jockey’s Ridge, Ann-Cabell and her siblings in the pink hut peddling bumper stickers and swapping out donation coin jars at local businesses. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

Carolista and her team did it. They really pulled it off. And you so seldom see that in this sort of people against the man scenario. But she wasn’t even done yet. According to my sister Hannah Bunn West in her book “Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks,” quote “But the unstoppable Carolista wasn’t finished saving the Outer Banks just yet. She became the president of the Chicamacomico Historical Association, fighting to preserve the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station, famous for the legendary Mirlo rescue but abandoned by the US Coast Guard in 1954. She received a North Carolina Historic Preservation Award of Merit in 1977 for her role in saving the station, just two years after saving the dunes. She also served as the chairperson of the USS Monitor Research Council, advocating for the shipwreck that was discovered in 1973. Due in part to her efforts, it was named as the first ever national marine sanctuary in 1975,” end quote. Carolista died in 1991. Hannah writes quote “Memories of the beloved, vivacious Nags Header are colored by descriptions of her radiant smile, her charm, her grace and the love she exuded for her family and friends. She never knew a stranger and she never backed down from what she knew to be the right thing to do. She led a life that continues to inspire,” end quote. 

Following in her mother’s footsteps, as you heard in her introduction earlier, Ann-Cabell continues to be involved in the preservation of Jockey's Ridge through the Friends of Jockey’s Ridge nonprofit organization. They’ve done so much and even continue some of the creative fundraising that Ann-Cabell was so familiar with as a child. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

If you would like to donate to the Friends of Jockey’s Ridge to aid their efforts, or become a member, I’ve linked their website in the description of this episode. Jockey’s Ridge is a very special place. And it’s faced some danger again recently. Last October, a Rules Review Commission stripped Jockey’s Ridge of its Area of Environment Concern status which helps protect it from development. Now, remember it’s still a state park. So no one is plopping condos right on top of the dune any time soon, but the surrounding areas, without that AEC designation are potentially in danger. And the surrounding areas are more important than you think. Geologist Dr. Stan Riggs says of development near the dunes in a Virginian Pilot article quote “As we continue to lock up sand - not let it move around as much - the dunes lose their ability to rebuild themselves,” end quote. Which is a real shame. As my sister Hannah recently said in an interview for the Coastal Review about her book, Save Our Sand Dunes, quote “The slogan for the campaign to save Jockey’s Ridge in the 1970s was ‘Jockey’s Ridge for all the People.’ The message is that this is a space for everyone to enjoy, rather than have private developers profit off of it. It’s a space for all the people to enjoy,” end quote. 

[Ann-Cabell interview] 

She really can’t. It’s something you have to experience first hand to really grasp. And once you’ve experienced it, you understand. You understand why Jockey’s Ridge was worth saving. Why a busy working mother with three small children put her life on hold, her marriage in jeopardy, her reputation on the line to stop it from being demolished, to keep it for all the people. 

Thank you all so very much for listening to History Fix, I hope you found this story interesting and maybe you even learned something new. If you would like to support the Friends of Jockey’s Ridge, that link is in the description. I’ve also linked out to my sister’s website, hannahwestwrites.com as I heavily referenced two of her books, Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks and Save Our Sand Dunes which she co-wrote with today’s guest, Ann-Cabell Baum. Be sure to follow my instagram @historyfixpodcast to see some images that go along with this episode and to stay on top of new episodes as they drop. I’d also really appreciate it if you’d rate and follow History Fix on whatever app you’re using to listen, and help me spread the word by telling a few friends about it. That’ll make it much easier to get your next fix. 

Information used in this episode was sourced from Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks, Save Our Sand Dunes, WRAL News, Coastal Review, the North Beach Sun, the Virginian Pilot, the Outer Banks History Center, OBX Stuff, and Atlantic Realty. As always, links to these sources can be found in the show notes.

Sources:

• "Remarkable Women of the Outer Banks" by Hannah Bunn West

• "Save Our Sand Dunes" by Hannah Bunn West

• WRAL News "Buried Treasure: Old castle hidden beneath NC's largest sand dune fully visible again"

• Atlantic Realty "9 Things You Didn't Know About Jockey's Ridge"

• Coastal Review "'Save Our Sand Dunes' recalls fight to save Jockey's Ridge"

• North Beach Sun "Buried Treasures - What is Under Jockey's Ridge?"

• OBX Stuff "History of the Nags Head Soundside Resort at Jockey's Ridge State Park"

• Coast Review "Jockey's Ridge most visited as NC parks shatter records"

• The Virginian Pilot "The Moving Mountain Jockey's Ridge Shift is Mystery, For Now"

• Outer Banks History Center "David Stick Papers"