This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Size | 125 items |
Abstract | Ocean City Beach (N.C.) Community Records document the African American residential vacation community founded on Topsail Island, N.C., in 1949. The collection consists of anniversary programs celebrating the establishment of Ocean City Beach; maps and brochures of the island; Ocean City Courier newsletters; the Ocean City Beach Citizens Council handbook; other printed materials and newspaper clippings documenting the impact of the Chestnuts, one of the founding families of the community; and photographic prints and slides depicting Chestnut family and friends, an aerial view of the island, and scenes from the community, chiefly during the 1950s and at the 30th and 40th anniversary celebration events in 1979 and 1989. Other materials include a 1995 interview of Caronell Chestnut and a photobook of the Ocean City street sign dedication from May 2012. |
Creator | Ocean City Beach Citizens Council. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Rebecca Stubbs and Chaitra Powell, February 2020; Anne Wells, Clare Carlson, and Jessica Venlet, March 2020
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, February 2020
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser and Patrick Cullom, March 2024
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Historic Ocean City Beach is an African American vacation community located on Topsail Island, N.C. It was conceived of by Edgar L. Yow, a white attorney, and Samuel J. Gray, an African American physician, who shared the idea that African Americans should own residential beach property. Gray, and members of another African American family, the Chestnuts of Wilmington, N.C., each bought a parcel of land on Topsail Island in the 1940s. When stock was sold and the inter-racial Ocean City Developers, Inc. Corporation was formed, the beach was divided between business and residential areas. Wade Chestnut II, who was responsible for the naming of Ocean City Beach in 1949, and his family were the first to become homeowners in this area. Chestnut and select members of the Carolina Real Estate and Builders Association promoted the vacation community to Black professionals in Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Wilmington, High Point, Fayetteville, and Charlotte. The first restaurant, Ocean City Terrace, opened in 1953 and the Wade H. Chestnut Memorial Chapel was built in June 1957. Streets were named for community family members and famous Black Americans.
Adapted from the website of Ocean City Beach Citizens Council: Our History and the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission's NC Civil Rights Virtual Tour: Ocean City Beach Community.
Back to TopOcean City Beach (N.C.) Community Records document the African American residential vacation community founded on Topsail Island, N.C., in 1949. The collection consists of anniversary programs celebrating the establishment of Ocean City Beach; maps and brochures of the island; Ocean City Courier newsletters; the Ocean City Beach Citizens Council handbook; other printed materials and newspaper clippings documenting the impact of the Chestnuts, one of the founding families of the community; and photographic prints and slides depicting Chestnut family and friends, an aerial view of the island, and scenes from the community, chiefly during the 1950s and at the 30th and 40th anniversary celebration events in 1979 and 1989. Other materials include a 1995 interview of Caronell Chestnut and a photobook of the Ocean City street sign dedication from May 2012.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Anniversary programs, 1979, 1989, 2009 |
Folder 2 |
Printed materials, 1963-1985 |
Folder 3 |
Ocean City Beach, N.C., street sign dedication, 2012 |
Folder 4 |
Newspaper clippings, 1961, 1988, 1994 |
Digital Folder DF-70040/1 |
Caronell Chestnut video interview, widow of Wade H. Chestnut II, Ocean City beach developer, Wilmington, N.C., 3 February 1995187.8 MB (1 digital file) |
Image Folder PF-70040/1 |
Slide inventory for 30th anniversary celebration event |
Image Folder PF-70040/2 |
Chestnut family and friendsColor, black-and-white photographic prints; color polaroid |
Image Folder PF-70040/3 |
Chestnut family and friends, 1950sBlack-and-white photographic prints Locations include the fishing pier and church. |
Image Folder PF-70040/4 |
Aerial view of Ocean City Beach, N.C.Black-and-white photographic prints |
Image Folder PF-70040/5 |
30th anniversary celebration event, 1979Slides |
Image Folder PF-70040/6 |
40th anniversary celebration event, 1989Slides |
Image Folder PF-70040/7 |
Award ceremony, 1989Slides |