David Williams House Museum
The David Williams House is a substantial foursquare with deep hip roof, interior chimneys, asbestos siding, sawnwork eave brackets and hipped front porch with original boxed posts with sawnwork spandrels, two-over-two sash, one-story rear ell with recessed porch and central hall floor plan.
In order to save it, the Ocracoke Preservation Society moved this house in 1989 to its present location on land owned by the National Park Service from its nearby original location just north of the Anchorage Inn, facing the harbor.
The original site had been bought by the Anchorage Inn and the house was endangered. It is believed to have been built by David Williams (1858-1938) who served in the Coast Guard. Williams purchased the original tract from William H. Wahab for $10 in 1890 (DB 19, 497). He was married to Alice Wahab (1865-1953), sister of James Hatton Wahab.
Museum Hours
Monday - Friday, 10:00 - 4:00
Saturday, 11:00 - 4:00
Closed for the winter on Sunday, November 25, 2012. Will re-open in the spring.
Gift Shop
The OPS Museum Gift Shop is a popular destination for perusing and purchasing items related to Ocracoke history. Here you will find an assortment of music, photographs, postcards, cookbooks and books of local interest, as well as various other mementoes.
Gift Shop Volunteers
As always, we are looking for new and returning volunteers to staff the gift shop. Please contact one of our on-site staff if you are interested and available to assist.
A huge thank you to the wonderful volunteer workers who manned the gift shop during the 2012 season, answered thousands of questions and kept on smiling every day:
Ralph Buxton, Jen Esham, Trish Davis, Sally Schwoeppe, Elizabeth Hanrahan, Linda Scarborough, Dean Schafer, Karen Burgan, Bill Jones, Ginny Moss, Vera Buxton, Leslie Monticone, Jim Pierson, Ursula Shears, Phyllis Wall and Jude Wheeler.
A big thanks to Rick Schwoeppe for freshing up the Gift Shop with handmade shelves and a Christmas tree display to showcase our unique, island crafted ornaments.
Gift Shop Hours
Monday - Friday, 10:00 - 4:00
Saturday, 11:00 - 4:00
Closing for the winter on Sunday, November 25, 2012.
Will re-open in the spring.
Internet shopping open 24/7.
Click here to Shop Online
Research Library
Upstairs, our unique research library has a growing number of historical, genealogical, photographic and other resources relevant to Ocracoke history available. Here you can find out how to square dance Ocracoke style, learn more about the island's historic 1823 lighthouse, British Cemetery, wild ponies, hurricanes and the World War II Naval Base on Ocracoke, not to mention tracking down your ancestors. These materials can be viewed by prior appointment - contact us. A lot more information can be found on the Roots Web Hyde County site. A good start for information about the Howard family can be found at the website of Philip Howard's Village Craftsmen. We look forward to welcoming you to our museum in person.
The winter of 2012 will find us working to catalog, organize and digitalize our collections to make them easily accessible to the public.