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Mary Parr
inside the Gray House
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Hi! Thank You for coming inside The Old Gray House. A lot of this Old Gray House was built from the scraps found on the beach.
As you walk around the house you will notice rafters from ships. In fact, when we changed the upstairs floor we found it was pieced from shipping boxes that had been discarded from ships. It was said that sailors who used to pass by Hatteras Island would toss items overboard to help those who lived on the isolated island. Living on Hatteras back then was like living in another world all to yourself. It is pretty much like that even today. Help yourself as you look around. As you notice I have filled this room with many different types of handmade gifts. Such things as handmade soap, doll clothes, towel sets, placemats and napkin sets, and Raggedy Ann and Andy sets. The room you are standing in now was originally a bedroom for Dewey's Uncles.
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Step inside what used to be the parlor. Ops! watch your head. All the doors are short as were the members of the Gray Family. This
is the room where they sat when they had company. If you crawl underneath the room you would find the old flooring is laying on logs
from the Buxton Maritime forest. They had been flattened. In fact, the old House was sitting on stumps.
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The Gray House Parlor |
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Upstairs Loft
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Now let's head upstairs. Notice the pictures on the wall. Those are the members of the Gray Family. There were seven children. The
baby in Dewey's grandmothers arms is his mother. Be careful of the steps for they are very narrow. All
the family had small feet.
Here we are in the loft which was originally a bedroom for the girls. Look over in the far corner where you will see how they used
pieces from shipwrecks to build their houses. It even still has an iron bolt in it. Look
up into the open rafters in the ceiling you will see how they used pegs to tie things together. The old tin roof has been there for many years, and survived many a hurricane. When it got a small hole in it they would whittle a piece of wood and stick it into the hole from the bottom to stop the leaks. Of course you can see I have a lot of merchandise up here too, such as mirrors, wood carving, and etc.
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Now lets step into Grandma Grays bedroom. Notice the old door. the latch on it was a peg with a string. One thing obviously missing in here and throughout the house is closets. They did not have closets, because they didn't have many clothes That is why most of the Island women washed about everyday. If you looked in the corner you will see a hole burned in the slanted ceiling where Grandma had an Aladdin lamp sitting on a stand. One time it almost caught the house on fire. The old bed is still like it was. Now, lets go back downstairs to the kitchen. Watch yourself going down those steps. I turn my feet slightly to angle as I go down. Dewey says, When going down the steps "Walk like a duck".
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Grandma Grays Bedroom |
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Gray House Kitchen
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Now, this is not the original kitchen. It was much larger. The original kitchen ran way out across the parking lot. You can look at the tin roof and see where it was attached to the house. Due to age and the severe winds from a hurricane that kitchen twisted and the roof caved in. Deweys Uncle Kendrick who was living in the house with Grandma Gray built this little kitchen. He even moved
the pump inside. The old kitchen was really the family room. At one time a wood burner stove always had a pot of something brewing
on it. Also, the family gathered around the wood burner in the evening to share stories. Storytelling was the primary evening
entertainment. In the kitchen was also the old oak table with claw feet that Dewey loved to crawl under as he listened to the
storytelling. In here I like to display all of my glassware items that are brought in on consignment.
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Now, let me walk you back out onto the porch, where we can sit and chat a spell. It was here Dewey
wrote his first article for the Island Breeze entitled An essay on change and progress. Dewey fixed a place where I can sit and rock and chat with visitors like you. I like to here all about the exciting things you do and learn about your family. Our goal here is not to make money but to make friends. We love to have people come back year after year to visit with us. While you are here on the porch I want to call your attention to our Gray Gull Collectibles. It is a series of little wooden replicas of many Hatteras Landmarks Each piece is cut out by hand and hand painted without any stencils. They are painted by a Hatteras Island local. They are great for putting onto walls or windows and door sills. Each year we try to add more. This is one item that we will mail. Thank You for coming to visit inside with me. Now, Dewey is anxiously waiting outside to show you his domain.
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These Chairs are waiting for you to rock on the Gray House Porch. |
