Abstract:
A still extant letter to a Miss Virginia Hodges, Slade Creek, Hyde County, about a September 1853 grand ball held at Nags Head prompts the writer of this article to describe how a person got to Nags Head and where they stayed upon arrival. Travelers would come by carriages to the departure point and cross the sound by boat. Once there they would stay in a hotel that had no plumbing, no electric or gas lights, and no screens to ward off mosquitoes.