{"nrhp_refnum":"04001389","name":"Midgett, Mattie, Store and House","other_names":["Nellie Myrtle Pridgen's Beachcomber Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4008 S. Virginia Dare Trail","address_restricted":false,"city":"Nags Head","county":"Dare County","state":"NC","lat":35.956639059000054,"lon":-75.62392560499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-12-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A c. 1914 two-story frame store and a 1933 two-story frame house on South Virginia Dare Trail (NC 12) in Nags Head, Dare County, North Carolina. The store was moved to its current site in 1932 and expanded in 1944.","why_significant":"The store served as the central commercial establishment for Nags Head's cottage families and visitors for over half a century, and also acted as a post office, telephone point and gathering place. It is also considered architecturally significant as a commercial building with Shingle Style details that became a prototype for later island businesses. The house was the Midgett family's principal residence and later a boarding house.","narrative":"Built around 1914 in Nags Head's original soundside resort area, this two-story shingled frame store was moved by the Midgett family to the beach road in 1932. Mattie Twiford Midgett ran it while her husband Jethro fished. It sold groceries, fresh fish, crabs, gasoline and cold drinks, and also held the post office and the island's only telephone. A hurricane in 1944 tore off the roof, and a one-story south addition and enclosed rear porches were added afterward. Behind the store stands the Midgetts' 1933 two-story, T-shaped frame house, later run as a boarding house by their daughter Nell. Nell also gathered a large beachcombing collection, and the store is being turned into a museum for it. The buildings were recognized for their role in local commerce from about 1914 to 1954 and for a simple Shingle Style design that matched the nearby seaside cottages. The house is currently vacant and deteriorated.","period_of_significance":"c. 1914-1954","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Other: Commercial Building: Gas Station/Store (with Shingle Style details)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The store is being converted into a small museum; the house has been vacant for a number of years and is in deteriorated condition.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.488989-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/89/7198/47719889/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/04001389.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001389/ac9954558b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04001389/ac9954558b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jasonspsyche","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Midgett_Store.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jasonspsyche</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Midgett_Store.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719889","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattie_Midgett_Store_and_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18217000"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/dare-county/midgett-mattie-store-and-house-04001389/"}