OLD INLET INN circa 1911 
     The earliest part of what became the old Inlet Inn was built in the 1850s as a private residence. Noted on Gray's 1880 Map as "Sea Side House,” proprietor Charles W. Lowenberg sold to the Morris family in the early 1900s.  Known as "Morris House" until Carrie Dill Norcom operated it as a boarding house, the building became "Norcom House." Purchased by Congressman Charles Abernathy in 1911, the house was greatly expanded and named the Inlet Inn. 
     There was a ballroom on the second floor. Fresh water was pumped by windmills. The beach and boardwalk of the 1911 Inlet Inn disappeared as a result of the dredging of Taylor's Creek and extending Front Street. In 1967, before preservation guidelines were in place, most of the inn was torn down for construction of the BB&T Bank building just east of the current 1985 Inlet Inn. One wing of the original Inlet Inn was salvaged and is now a private residence.