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Welcome to Mattie Midgette's Store Home of the Nellie Myrtle Beachcomber's Collection
Located
in the heart of Nags Head's Historic Cottage Row District
The next Open House will be Friday,
July 10, 2009. ~ Open House Hours ~ Friday July 10 2009 ~ ~ 10 am ~ 4 pm ~ Admission is FREE ~ Email us at info@osob.net if you need directions. Hope to see you then!
NMP Beachcomber Museum Mattie Midgette's
Store 4008 South Virginia Dare Trail Post
Office Drawer Three Nags Head, NC 27959 The Beachcomber Museum is located at Mile Post 13 on the Beach
Road, in Nags Head. It is in the heart
of the historic Cottage Row District, just south of Jockey's Ridge.
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The "Paper Nautilus"
"For some, scouring the seaside for beach born treasure is
compulsive, a therapy perhaps, as in the case of the Outer Banks most famous beachcomber, the late Nellie Myrtle Pridgen of
Nags Head. Her collection includes vintage fishing tackle, ancient peace pipes, china dolls, whale bones, colorful glass bottles
and beach glass, bricks or ballast enough to build a house, broken shells, rare shells, a massive fulgurite, and all manner
of treasures sufficient to attract coverage in National Geographic and the interest of a Smithsonian Institution curator.
Nell kept it all. Some say she was trying to safeguard the Outer Banks’ heritage and her birthright.
To an outsider she was a notorious, fussy, confrontational
curmudgeon. The few people she allowed into her world, however, understood how deeply she loved nature and her Outer Banks.
More than an archivist, she was an activist, attending county meetings and writing many letters to newspaper editors. She
was well-versed and prized accuracy. Nellie Myrtle Pridgen wanted to protect the Outer Banks environment from the price of
development and tourism. It soothed her raging mind to swim far into the sea and make her daily treks in the wee morning hours
and again at twilight along the shores of the ocean and the sound. It was her obsessive ritual that lasted for more than 60
years – her life-blood."
400 year old German Jug top...
"Shards from the
porcelain bowl"
"Message in a bottle...."
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A Passion for Sea Glass Author:
C.S. Lambert Photographer: Amy Wilton
Hardcover, 96 pages, 162 color photos, 8-1/2" x 11".
"There’s something about sea glass that captures the imagination of anyone who loves the
romance and mystery of the sea. But some people take their passion for ocean-tossed bits of glass and pottery a step further.
Their days are punctuated by the rhythm of the tides no matter what the weather. For some, their quest for sea glass has turned
into a career; for others, a life-changing environment.
Carole Lambert is the perfect guide to take us into the
worlds of major sea glass collectors. In her first book, Sea Glass Chronicles: Whispers from the Past, which continues to be a best-seller, she leads readers through the adventure of collecting and identifying glass
and pottery shards from untold journeys -- decades and centuries past.
Now, in A
Passion for Sea Glass, she opens up homes and workshops of collectors who give new purpose to these
shoreline finds. Here you’ll meet an artist who created a series of stained-glass windows made entirely of sea glass,
a diver who brings up rare and valuable glass from the deep, designers of sea glass jewelry and hair ornaments, those who
make mosaics, bird houses, and even gnome homes, all embellished with sea glass.
This volume will not only arouse
a renewed sense of wonder in those who are already passionate collectors of sea glass, but it will also win legions of new
sea glass devotees."
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This book contains a chapter on the Nellie Myrtle Beachcomber's Collection.
Check it out...
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