Preserving history from moonshine mecca in N.C.

BUFFALO CITY

Little is left of this former logging town on the Dare County mainland, which was born in Civil War times and morphed decades later into a haven for bootlegging moonshine makers.

Its legacy survives in the aging memories of long-ago residents and a dusty gravel road through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge that bears its name.

Otherwise, Buffalo City today belongs to the swamp.

But while there are still memories to preserve and artifacts to collect, staff at the wildlife refuge are working to ensure that Buffalo City does not disappear altogether.

At a new visitors center set to open next year, refuge officials plan to build a theater reminiscent of the general store where Buffalo City residents once shopped.

Now they're asking for the community's help to do it right.

"We all think that Buffalo City is so interesting and the stories are so cool," said Bonnie Strawser, spokeswoman for the wildlife refuge. "We want this to be where we can pull the community in and say, 'This was our community back then.' "

Its history dates from the mid-1800s through the 1950s, when the last Buffalo City residents deserted the town, about 20 miles west of Roanoke Island.

In its heyday, Buffalo City boasted multiple logging companies, a hotel, a post office, railroad service and its own currency. It was once Dare County's largest community.

The town got its name from a Buffalo, N.Y.-based logging company that first arrived to harvest ancient trees around Milltail Creek, according to "Logs & Moonshine," a book about Buffalo City by Suzanne Tate.

Logging workers were paid in aluminum coins that they traded for clothing and food at the company store, according to old accounts.

"Everyone was satisfied in Buffalo City - there was enough to eat for everyone," said Nina Smith Basnight, a former resident who is quoted in Tate's book.

"I never went hungry. When nobody is richer or poorer, it turns out fine," she said.

By the late 1920s and early 1930s, however, with the logging industry losing steam, residents began making moonshine to survive. The illegal liquor was transported north by boat to places such as Elizabeth City.

Today, Buffalo City is just a tiny part of a 154,000-acre wilderness that is the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, where black bears and rare red wolves roam.

Wildlife and habitat are the primary focus of the new visitors center that will soon be under construction on the northern end of Roanoke Island, near the entrance to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

The Gateway Visitor Center, expected to open in spring or early summer next year, will introduce people to 11 refuges in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, Strawser said.

Buffalo City will have its own place in the visitors center and a short film dedicated to its history.

To build the theater, Wilderness Graphics, a contractor based in Tallahassee, Fla., needs artifacts and photographs depicting the days when Buffalo City thrived.

To loan or donate an artifact or photograph from Buffalo City, contact Martha Howell at (252) 475-1117 or email manteomartha@hotmail.com.

Erin James, (252) 441-1711, erin.james@pilotonline.com