The Etheridge Family traces its beginnings on Roanoke Island back to 1757 when Adam Etheridge leased 1,500 acres of land on the North End to farm and range livestock. Today, a small, ~13-acre tract of the original Etheridge Farm is a now-living example of 19th-century life on Roanoke Island.Â
The Etheride’s Farm on Roanoke Island
In January of 1783, Jesse Etheridge acquired a 150-acre tract from Joseph Mann. In 1787, Jesse purchased another 150 acres, which gave him access to Roanoke Sound; early maps indicate that it was on this property that he built a home.
But it was Jesse’s grandson, Adam Dough Etheridge, who built the house that is the heart of Island Farm today, sometime between 1845 and 1852.
In 1997 Etheridge family descendants donated the first parcel of the Etheridge homeplace to Outer Banks Conservationists (OBC). Over the years, more parcels were acquired. Of the original 1,500 acres, Island Farm retains 13 of those acres.
In 2001, OBC hosted a gathering of Etheridge descendants at the Homeplace, brought together to share stories, history, and photographs of their ancestral property. To commemorate the occasion, OBC compiled research by Penne Smith. The research is an extensive examination of the Etheridge family and life on Roanoke Island.
Read Penne Smith’s Research on Island FarmIsland Farm Timeline
The earliest known citation of the Etheridge family on Roanoke Island. In 1757, a fourteen-year tenancy agreement is made between William Cathcart of Northhampton County, North Carolina, and "Adam Everage [sic.], Currituck County… Planter" for 1500 acres. This property stretched from Dough's Creek (formerly known as Gibson's Creek), westward to…
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The beginning of deeded and official land ownership by the Etheridge family on Roanoke Island. During this time, Jesse Etheridge and his brothers (Tart and Adam II) acquired land that formed the basis of what is now known as the Etheridge Homeplace (or as we now call it, Island Farm).…
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Adam Etheridge III purchases a fifty-acre tract on Bodie Island for fishing and livestock grazing.
During this timeframe, Adam Etheridge IV marries Fannie Baum and builds the present Etheridge farmhouse. The farmhouse is now restored and standing on Island Farm today.
Richard Etheridge, son of John B. Etheridge and brother of Adam Etheridge IV, becomes the keeper of the first all African-American life-saving station.
The first flight takes place in Kill Devil Hills with Wilbur and Orville Wright. Adam Etheridge VI is there to witness the event.
Adam Etheridge VI lives at the Etheridge Homeplace. Crissy Bowser, pictured here, works for Augustus Etheridge as a cook from 1900-1910. After that, she lives quietly on the Etheridge farm until her death years later. She was believed to be nearly 100 years old, and is reportedly buried at the…
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Photographs of the Etheridge Homeplace site from this time period show a number of outbuildings and structures on site; according to family members, these included a mule barn, a small dairy house, a privy, a smokehouse, a packhouse, and fencing.
This aerial photo shows the Etheridge Homeplace site, surrounded by agriculture. The allee of cedars lining the drive from the highway to the house can be seen here. Cedar trees were transplanted by Augustus Holly Etheridge to the homeplace; the trees were noticed throughout the community.
Etheridge Homeplace is sold to a developer who planned to build a large condominium project. This is the first time that the homeplace was owned by someone other than an Etheridge in more than a century.
Etheridge descendants convince the developer, who now owns the homeplace, to sell the historic farmhouse and surrounding ½ acre to them.
Island Farm Quick Facts
When the Etheridge farmhouse and outbuildings were believed to have been built.
The historic name of the area of Roanoke Island where the Etheridge homestead is located
The size of the Etheridge farm in 1860
The primary material used to build the Etheridge timber frame farmhouse
The age of Adam Etheridge IV when he died in 1868
The main crops raised by Adam Etheridge IV in 1850
The number of livestock present on the Etheridge farm in 1850
The Etheridge farmstead had one of two windmills reported on the island in 1860
