In 1967, Henry Pigott sold his North Carolina island home to help create national seashore

When the federal government began bringing the windswept barrier islands of eastern North Carolina under protected parkland, a quiet property deal near Pamlico Sound helped bring the story of a once-thriving coastal community to an end. In 1967, Henry Pigott agreed to sell his property on Portsmouth Island to help create Cape Lookout National Seashore. As part of the deal, he received a life estate, allowing him to remain in his ancestral home for the rest of his life. The land purchase, recorded in historical narration scripts and administrative records published by the National Park Service (NPS), marked an important step in creating the national seashore. It also made Pigott the last male resident of Portsmouth Village, an isolated 18th-century settlement that was already slowly disappearing.Portsmouth Village was established by the North Carolina Colonial Assembly in 1753 as an important "lightering" port. Heavy ocean-going ships would unload their cargo onto smaller, shallow-draft boats, which could then move through the dangerous inlets of Pamlico Sound. By 1860, the village had grown to nearly 700 residents. But the opening of deeper inlets nearby, powerful hurricanes and ch...