2022 Vacation Rental Catalog 2022 | Page 3

friends for life , ensured her success at running this iconic part of Americana in the early 1960s , the motor court motel with a diner that served three hot meals a day . The thing about the hospitality business , it is similar to a family farm in that it takes a lot of hands to take care of your paying guests , so soon she had recruited her brother Jim and his wife , Mary ( my parents ) to come stay at the beach for the summer and help her create a genuine oasis of southern hospitality at the little motel with 12 rooms and a diner .
That was one of the best summers of my life and some of the best eating . I remember so well sitting in those squeaky vinyl booths with gold speckled Formica tops and listening to tunes from the jukebox in the corner filled with Beatles , The Beach Boys , The Drifters and so many others . My favorite was fried flounder fresh caught for dinner served up with fragrant hush puppies still steaming from the fryer in the back . As children we also roamed the maritime forest behind the motel and , not realizing their ecologically protective role , sampled sound-side growing sea oats which tasted like sun warmed cucumbers at the tender base of the stalk . Again , akin to a family farm , my sister and I also had daily chores at the motel such as making beds , washing dishes in the restaurant , or rolling silverware in napkin rolls . After 3:00 every day was our family time on the beach where our mother applied sunscreen liberally to my fair skinned brother Dave , sister Guinn and me . Mama taught us the names of all the seashells and shore birds and Daddy taught us the art of riding waves just at their crest , arms straight out , for the joyous rush of soaring through salt water for a breathtaking 20 second ride .
My two magical summers of Aunt Mildred running the motel and diner were soon over , but it helped launch our family business , Emerald Isle Realty . The new friends Mildred met who stayed at the motel began to buy cottages , as well as all the friends from Winston-Salem who had bought beach cottages nearby on Ocean Drive and 2nd Street . It might have been in one of those booths at the diner , perhaps late afternoon with a frosty beer in hand , that these same friends asked Mildred to please rent their cottage for them and just charge $ 5- $ 10 per night , whatever she thought was fair , to all those nice folks she was meeting at the Emerald Isle Motel . She chose the name Emerald Isle Realty because she knew when folks called the long-distance operator for directory assistance and asked for a real estate company on Emerald Isle , hers would be the first name they would see ! Once the two years of leasing the motel were over , Emerald Isle Realty was relocated to the downstairs of their 2nd Street cottage . Many folks still remember our early honor system of hanging keys on the covered porch in simple white envelopes with the rental guest ’ s name on them for after-hours arrivals . When the blues were running or the mullets were jumping , Mildred hung a sign on the office screen door , “ Gone fishing . Find me on the beach out front .”
With the passing of Clarence in 1972 and then Mildred the summer of 1975 , the legacy of running Emerald Isle Realty fell first to my parents , and then a few years later my husband Mark and I joined them after our college years . Our two sons and daughter , Nathan , James , and Allison , were raised as island children and now have joined us full time as the third generation to love welcoming our vacation rental guests , sales clients and homeowners . They have given us nine beautiful grandchildren whose photos are sprinkled through these pages . We hope one day the legacy of our family beach business will be theirs .
How did you first hear of Emerald Isle Realty ? Perhaps you are one of our newest friends having discovered us during the anxious months of 2020 and 2021 when most travel seemed unsafe , but staying in a cottage by the sea with sunshine and salt breezes felt not only safe , but heavenly after months of mask wearing , Zoom meetings and virtual school . If your first visit to Emerald Isle was by traveling in the backseat of your parents or grandparents station wagon in the 1960s , then we would especially love to hear from you ! We need your help as we celebrate 60 years as a family business on Emerald Isle . Please send us your stories and photos of your earliest memories of beach trips to Emerald Isle . For us , your generations of memories are the heart and soul of why the Emerald Isle Realty family loves welcoming you , your family , and your friends . Please send them to Memories @ EIRealty . com .
You see , our intentions are so simple and have not changed through these six decades on our island . Just like Mildred , we don ’ t want to be your beach friends for just one blissful week , we want to be your island family for the rest of your life . Generations of memories , at North Carolina ’ s most beautiful beach .
Emerald Isle Motel and Restaurant Photo taken in the early 1960s , courtesy of the Carteret County Historical Society .
Motel was located on the soundfront near 24th Street .