By Staff
on lodge’s future
Speak now, or forever hold your peace.
No, nobody is getting married, but the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking your input.
In what may seem odd, North Carolina has gained control of the Mattamuskeet Lodge in Hyde County. Now, it is trying to figure out what to do with it. In the business world, you’d think it would be the other way around, but this is government, not commerce.
Without question, the lodge is an impressive thing. The building is a three-story, steel-framed brick and wood structure, consisting of approximately 15,000 square feet. It is situated on the south shore of Lake Mattamuskeet, North Carolina’s largest natural lake.
It was designed to house a pumping station that was so massive it could drain the 50,000-acre lake. The steam boilers that powered the pumps could gobble up to 40 tons of coal a day in the process.
In 1932, the lodge took on a different role. The federal government bought the building and created Mattamuskeet Migratory Bird Refuge. For more than 40 years, it suited that role until it closed in 1974.
That started a period of decline. No maintenance funds were provided, and the lodge just sat there for nearly 20 years. It reopened as a environmental-education facility and community center, but by 2000 it was again closed to the public because of the continued deterioration of the structural steel that bears the weight of the building.
After six years, the federal government passed legislation that deeded the lodge and six acres to the state of North Carolina. That’s where the situation stands today. The state has a building and no solid plans on what to do with it.
That’s where you come in. A second public hearing is set for 7 p.m. March 27 at Mattamuskeet High School to get input.
There is a lot riding on this. It’s expected to cost at least $5 million to stabilize the structure and another $8 million to restore it. That works out to be $2,200 for every man, woman and child in Hyde County. The lodge isn’t just a Hyde County treasure; it’s a North Carolina one.
At the first public hearing, a number of ideas were floated.
Roger Rulifision, on the faculty at East Carolina University, established ECU’s coastal fields program during the 1990s. During the time the lodge was open in those years, approximately 2,700 people worked — off and on — out of the lodge. After the lodge reopens, the university wants to resume operating a field station there.
Others want the lodge designed so people can host weddings and proms there. Yet, others want classrooms and meeting facilities for retreats.
Lewis Forrest, executive director of the Mattamuskeet Foundation, suggested that a display that tells the story of the lodge, the draining of Lake Mattamuskeet and subsequent farming of the drained land. Forrest has more than 40,000 pages of information documenting the history of the lake, the lodge and the work done by the Civilian Conservation Corps to build the Swan Quarter and Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuges.
As hard as area residents have fought to preserve the lodge, we see that reaching the decision on what to do with it may be just as hard to do. The right mix of uses could be a boost to not only Hyde County but the region. In the end, we need to remember it’s our tax money that is being spent, and it should be spent wisely.