Swan Island

Swan Island Club was founded by a group of hunters who were proceeding south from Good Ground, Long Island, New York in November 1870 in their yacht Anonyona. During a storm they entered the Currituck Inlet and anchored next to Crow Island now known as Swan Island in Currituck Sound. As a result of the tide subsiding the hunters were not able to get the boat out of the sound and there it remained until 1877 when it caught fire and burned to the water.
Once their boat burned they were in need of living quarters, so the members purchased Crow Island and the marsh and converted Hatfield's farm house into a club house.
Around 1900 the farm house burned and shortly after a new clubhouse was built. In 1910 the second clubhouse burned. The third clubhouse was built in 1913-1914 and is in use today.

The inscription on the board on the fireplace basically means "This place appeals to me more than any place on earth".

The Swan Island Club's 38-foot power boat "Teal" is shown with club members and a harvest of ducks and geese in 1919. On a return trip from Currituck Courthouse on November 12, 1925, the Teal struck a submerged piling and sank, the men were rescued by a passing schooner.

Fred Waterfield sitting on a Club air-boat.

Ted Flannagan, Club superintendent, sitting in a one-man coffin blind made of wicker and covered with waterproof canvas used by members in the 1920's.

October 22, 2010. From Priscilla Warren. Pieces of wood retrieved from the Anonyona.

September 9, 2010. Comment - Jane Brumley: This is the sketch/drawing by Hortense Poyner Parkerson from her book, Swan Island Flyway Stopover, Copyright 1988. Mrs Parkerson was a child of 10 months old in 1910 when she moved to Swan Island with her parents. Her father was caretaker there for many years. For more information about HORTENSE go here.

September 1, 2016. Comment - Jane Brumley: This map is dated 1842. At this time the island was referred to as Crow Island or Hatfield's as the owner was a Mr. Hatfield. Locals called it Crow Island because of a large flock of crows that flew back and forth from Knotts Island to Crow Island to roost. Northern sportsmen ran their vessel Anonyona aground during a storm in 1870 near the island and used it as a base for duck hunting until a fire destroyed the vessel in 1877. After the fire, they purchased the Island from Mr. Hatfield and the Island was renamed "Swan Island". It is interesting to note the grist mill located on the south end of Knotts Island and a tavern on Betsy's Marsh.

SWAN ISLAND