Salter Path, North Carolina - Homes for sale

Located along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, Salter Path is an unincorporated beach community with an estimated population of just over 300, an interesting past and questions about how it got its name.

Salter Path is part of Bogue Banks, a 21-mile-long barrier island separated from the North Carolina mainland and the rest of Carteret County by Bogue Sound. Its ocean beaches face south, a situation unusual along most of the East Coast but not in North Carolina. The seaside community allegedly served as a frequent haven for Edward Teach, the infamous British pirate also known as Blackbeard.

There is some question about how the area, situated near Emerald Isle and Indian Beach, got its name. One interpretation of history credits Tom Salter, a fisherman who made his living hauling in fish and shrimp in the teeming Atlantic waters. Legend has it that he would anchor his boat on the Bogue Sound side of the island and walk to the ocean, creating a path that bore his name and eventually provided a name for the town.

Other stories concerning the name’s origin have circulated through the centuries. For example, in the late 1800s, excellent fishing drew many people to the area, including Owen and Riley Salter. As the story goes, when the schools of mullet fish that ran close to the shore on the ocean side appeared, fishermen on the sound side would head for the Atlantic shore, wearing a path in front of the Salter home.

Even without the questions about its name, Salter Path has had an interesting past. In the late 19th and early 20th century, it had a reputation as a squatter’s community because many families had moved there and established their residences without deeds. The land actually was owned by Boston resident John A. Royal and later by Alice Green Hoffman, a distant relative of President Theodore Roosevelt and the daughter of a former governor of New Jersey. She built an estate nearby, in what is now Pine Knoll Shores and sued the residents of Salter Path, who apparently were doing nothing to keep their cows from treating her land as their own.

When the situation was sorted out in the courts, the cows were ordered to stay away from the Hoffman estate, and the village of Salter Path was limited to the 81 acres occupied by the so-called squatters. The residents and their descendants were granted permission to remain on the land, but it wasn’t until 1979 that they could hold title to their property and were granted the privilege of paying taxes to Carteret County.

The town of Diamond City, populated mostly by whalers and fishermen, preceded Salter Path but didn’t last long. A hurricane that brought with it extensive wind damage and flooding might have encouraged residents to move elsewhere. Whatever their reason for leaving Diamond City, little remained of the town when the community of Salter Path was established.

Today, Salter Path offers vacationers a quiet, relaxing beach and the opportunity to participate in activities such as jet skiing, kayaking and windsurfing.