Stephen J. (Jesse) (S. J.) Twine (Jan. 6, 1874-Sept 3, 1973), an Elizabeth City builder born in Perquimans County, is best known for constructing many of the distinctive and resilient beach cottages that give the Outer Banks community of Nags Head its special character. A longtime resident of Elizabeth City, Twine went regularly to the summer resort of Nags Head, where he constructed, remodeled, and moved many of the frame beach cottages that form a line overlooking the ocean. Although little of his work is documented, credible attributions and anecdotes are drawn from firsthand accounts obtained in the 1970s from people who shared their long memories of summers spent at Nags Head from their younger years onward.

Stephen J. Twine, as shown in the 1880 United States Census of Perquimans County, N. C., was a son of William Twine, a farmer, and his wife, Sarah. Stephen (recorded in 1880 as Steaman), aged 6, was the eldest of four children at that time. In 1894 or 1895 Stephen married Laura V. Sammons in Perquimans County; both were listed as residents of Chapanoke, N. C., a tiny community in that county. Laura (1867-1960) was a daughter of William and Fronia (Sophronia) Sammons. The marriage bond was dated December 18, 1894. According to the Edenton Fisherman and Farmer of July 2, 1897, by 1897 the Twines were living in Elizabeth City, from which Stephen made a visit to relatives in Chapanoke. In 1900, the United States Census listed Stephen and Laura Twine residing on Cherry Street in Elizabeth City; this record said they had married in 1895. Mr. Twine was employed as a house carpenter by this time. Nothing is known of how he learned the carpenter’s trade. As early as 1906 Laura and Stephen were spending time at Nags Head in the summers (Elizabeth City Daily Economist, July 19, 1906).

Thereafter censuses consistently listed Stephen Twine living with Laura in Elizabeth City and employed as a carpenter or house carpenter. His draft registration card for World War I (1918) described him as a short, slender man with blue eyes and dark hair, a married, self-employed carpenter living at 401 Cherry St. Although Stephen and Laura Twine couple apparently had no surviving children, at various times they shared their home with family members, including Stephen’s brother Charles, Laura’s widowed mother, Sophronia, and Laura’s brother, Alonzo Sammons. Mr. Twine owned their home at 401 Cherry St. By 1930 the family was residing at 401 Colonial Avenue; whether this reflected a move or a street name change is uncertain.

Although the Elizabeth City newspapers apparently made no references to his work at Nags Head, the family’s standing was such that local newspapers mentioned their trips, visitors, and social events. According to the Raleigh News and Observer of November 28, 1946, Twine had a cottage on the sound side at Nags Head, which was reported as slightly damaged by fire along with others. Twine was also noted for having brought to Elizabeth City some of the town’s first camellia plants in the 1920s, some of which still remained in 1956, including a Sarah Frost and a Variabilis (News and Observer, March 11, 1956). At his death at age 99, Stephen J. Twine was buried in the Old Hollywood Cemetery in Elizabeth City, where his wife, Laura, was also interred. His legacy resides primarily in the recorded memories of Nags Head summer residents and the beach cottages he built there.

Nags Head’s history is summarized in the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Nags Head Beach Cottage Row: “For years accessible only by boat, Nags Head was a fashionable antebellum resort that built up on the Sound Side; construction of summer cottages along the Ocean Side did not begin until after the Civil War. From its earliest years, Nags Head has been the resort of the families of merchants, planters, and professional men of northeastern North Carolina, especially the Albemarle. Families owned their own cottages, and returned to the casual, peaceful summer life, season after season, generation after generation, interrupted occasionally by destructive storms that forced the whole community back from the sea. Initially many of the cottages were located on the Sound Side of the island, but during the early decades of the twentieth century, the Ocean Side development expanded from a dozen or so pioneer cottages, with most of the 1920s and 1930s construction done by beloved Elizabeth City builder S. J. Twine.” Over the years, families have maintained their summer traditions as well as their cottages, so that Twine’s work and his reputation survive to a remarkable degree.

Twine began construction work by the 1910s and was “in full swing” by 1915. In addition to building and remodeling cottages, he constructed St. Andrews by the Sea Episcopal Church at its original mid-island location (1915); it was later moved to a new location near the Ocean Side cottages.

Many of the cottages built from the late 1910s to the 1940s have been attributed to Twine, and he also remodeled or expanded older cottages. He worked directly with his clients to plan their cottages. One longtime summer resident recalled that when Mrs. Pruden was building her cottage, “she had Mr. Twine hold the planks up so she could see how the line of it would look” (Drane interview).

Mr. Twine, or “Old Man String” as some called him as children, earned a reputation as a man of irreproachable skill and honesty and gained the respect and affection of many Nags Head summer residents. According to one recollection, “If he gave you a price for a job but lost money on it, he would give you a good job just the same.” Another Nags Head summer resident remembered that with his “little glasses pinched up on his nose, “he was “a little shrimp of a fellow, but he knew his work” (Silver and Drane interviews, quoted in “The Unpainted Aristocracy”). One longtime Nags Head summer resident recalled that although there were a few other builders in the area, “Nobody could build nothing down there if Mr. Twine didn’t do it.” Moreover, “You never heard of a cottage Twine built being blown down in a storm” (Hathaway interview, quoted in “The Unpainted Aristocracy”). He would go down at the beginning of the season to get houses into repair, and close them up in the winter. During the winter he took carpentry jobs in Elizabeth City.

Moving cottages was an important part of Twine’s work, for storms over the years destroyed the beach and forced cottage owners to move their houses back more than once, generally keeping their customary relation within the row. (Twine was also employed to move other houses back from the shoreline, including two homes owned by Cyrus and Luther Gray at the community of Salvo, which he moved back about 50 yards from the eroding sound side shore [News and Observer, November 24, 1935]).

Although most of his cottages shared a distinctive character with swooping roofs, broad dormers, expansive porches, and leaning-out porch benches, the houses were nevertheless individualized, and no two were exactly alike. They generally follow a 1 ½-story bungalow form and are covered with wooden shingles. Wooden shutters, typically attached at the top awning-style, can be secured for the winter or in bad weather. The interiors are plainly finished, and the cottages are set on piers to allow water to run under them without damaging the structure, and to make it easy to move them back from the water when necessary.

Often called the “unpainted aristocracy,” a phrase coined by News and Observer editor Jonathan Daniels, they provide a beachscape of memorable character, with the regular rhythm of sloping roofs and sweeping porches and the somber gray-brown of the weathered wood-shingled surfaces blending subtly with the hues of the sandy beach and the ocean beyond.

NOTE: “Mr. Twine,” as he was consistently called by old-timers, has sometimes been identified erroneously as Samuel J. Twine, but primary documents show that his name was Stephen Jesse Twine.

NOTE: The building list includes only a sampling of cottages attributed to Twine. A number of these and other cottages are described as having begun in the 19th century and enlarged in the early 20th century to their present forms. The latter dates are provided here. The attributions of specific cottages are based on the National Register of Historic Places nomination, which incorporated information from interviews conducted in 1975 by the author with older people who had spent summers at Nags Head since their childhoods, many of whom recalled Mr. Twine firsthand, others of whom repeated accounts from their elders. A number of Nags Head cottages are known by more than one name, reflecting various families’ ownerships. For consistency, the primary names used herein are based on the Nags Head Beach Cottage Row National Register of Historic Places nomination.

Variations on the names, based on more recent interviews, appear in Susan Byrum Rountree, Nags Headers, 2001, which includes a wealth of additional information.

Catherine Cockshutt (Bishir), interviews, 1975, with Betty Wales Silver of Raleigh, Frank Benton and James Hathaway of Elizabeth City, Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Drane of Edenton, Mrs. Lloyd Horton of Hertford, Mrs. William Skinner of Raleigh, Mrs. R. G. Kittrell, Henderson.

Catherine Cockshutt (Bishir), Nags Head Beach Cottage Row Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination, undated, ca. 1976.

Catherine W. Bishir, “The ‘Unpainted Aristocracy: the Beach Cottages of Old Nags Head,” North Carolina Historical Review 54, No. 4 (October, 1977).

Susan Byrum Rountree, Nags Headers, 2001.