Three generations of the Batten and Wax family .
FOR THE LOVE OF FISHING , EMERALD ISLE REALTY WAS BORN
Emerald Isle Realty is celebrating a milestone birthday this year . For sixty years we have been welcoming families , honeymooners , college reunion friends for life , sport fishermen and saltwater lovers just like you . It all began because my Aunt Mildred loved saltwater fishing . She and her husband Clarence , recent retirees , visited her friend Oma Taylor who had built a small oceanfront cottage on Emerald Isle . Our little beach town was as new as a shiny copper penny , having only been incorporated since 1957 . Standing by the open screen door , Mildred paused , waved goodbye to Oma and in our family lore , famously said “ I ’ ll be back !”
It didn ’ t take long for Mildred and Clarence to find the perfect home for them , a small , two-story , green and brick home on the corner of 2nd Street and Ocean Drive that they purchased from Bill McLean , their across the street neighbor and also the visionary , who with the help of other friends , had purchased the western half of our island in 1952 . This small cottage would become the home of Emerald Isle Realty from 1962-1993 and perhaps you are among the families who can still remember checking in to our original office .
Sitting still never suited Mildred so when she learned the Emerald Isle Motel and Restaurant was available to lease she put her master ’ s degree in social work from UNC- Chapel Hill to work by becoming one of the pioneers in Emerald Isle tourism , then in its infancy . Her natural gift for welcoming strangers with kindness , who then became