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CHOWAN
BEACH
RECREATION ASSOCIATION, INC.
CHOWAN BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA
The History
of Chowan Beach
by George Farrell and Rawl Gelinas
Preface Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Part Ten
Much
of
what
is
presented in this final section is gleaned
from deeds, Title Insurance Policy and
other such official documents. Most of the
rest of the information came from letters
between corporations and individuals,
letters between individuals, newsletters
to property owners and The Articles of
Incorporation, the By-Laws and the
Restrictive Covenants.
The
oldest
of these deeds begins with the sale of 116
acres of what was known as the Bond tract
by Major and Loomis Company to Camp
Manufacturing Company. Camp Manufacturing
Company later became the Union Bag-Camp
Paper Corp. The Bond tract had been
conveyed to Major & Loomis by Edward
Z. Evan and wife, Lena H. Evans; Clarence
Bunch and wife, Dixie H. Bunch; Walter
Bond and wife, Percie Bond on 14 Dec 1948.
Some time during the 10 years between 1953
and 1963, Don Foote and his wife Shirley
of Ingham County, Michigan subsequently
acquired The Bond tract. Don Foote and
wife Shirley also purchased Chowan Beach
Section A from JM Forehand on 2 February
1960. One month later this property, about
95 acres, was sold to the Chowan Land
Company (president Hoyt H. Case, Secretary
Don Foote!). The Chowan Land Company
immediately began the development of what
is now the Chowan Beach Sub-Division. It
is interesting to note that Don Foote and
his wife Shirley also sold some of the
property to Southern Properties to be
developed into the Arrowhead Boat and
Beach Club to form the present day
Arrowhead Beach Sub-Division.
The
deed
book shows that there were restrictive
covenants on each of the lots that were
sold. In a private communication with Mr.
Larry Harrell of the Chowan Beach
Sub-Division, he said that he believed
that the covenants were not enforced and
that the formation of a property owners
association was not encouraged. In a
private conversation with another
extremely long time resident, it was
revealed that no membership assessment was
levied by the Chowan Land Company for the
upkeep of the common properties like the
entrance and the beach and boat ramp. In
consequence there was no incentive for a
true property owners association to be
formed, which resulted in Chowan Beach
devolving to the condition that it is in
today where there is a only the voluntary
Chowan Beach Recreation Association, Inc.,
which holds ownership of the beach, boat
ramp, dock, and associated common area and
maintains it through voluntary annual
membership dues and donations.
On
April
24, 1978, Articles of Incorporation of the
Chowan Beach Recreation Association, Inc.
was formed. One would presume that the
Chowan Land Company began to find that the
cost of the upkeep of the park area and
the entrance gate was becoming more than
the income from the sale of lots, and the
Chowan Land Company began to investigate
ways to lessen the expense. Since a
property owners association had not been
encouraged, perhaps if a recreational
association were to form, the Company
could divest itself of the park and other
properties. This is NOT known to be what
happened, it is merely a presumption on
the part of the author. The Articles of
Incorporation reveal that the number of
directors constituting the initial Board
of Directors were to be three who were to
serve as directors until the first meeting
of the corporation or until their
successors were elected and qualified.
Those initial three directors were: Ernest
M. Swanner, Al Owens, and Blanch Fulcher.
One can assume that these three persons
were the President, the Secretary and the
Treasurer, since those are the minimum
number of officers that can make up a
corporation. The incorporator was Max S.
Busby (attorney). On May 25 1979, The
Chowan Land Company entered into a
Quitclaim Deed and transferred all of what
is the Chowan Beach Park to the Chowan
Beach Recreation Association, Inc.
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Copyright © 2013 The Chowan Beach Recreation Association,
Inc.
Portions Copyright © 2010 George Farrell
and Rawl Gelinas