HISTORY
The Day President George Washington Met Local War Hero William Gause, Jr. A fictional account of an actual meeting that took place in what is now Ocean Isle Beach in 1791. STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY ED BECKLEY
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The mosquitoes were already making themselves pests on the Gause rice and turpentine plantation in late April 1791. William Gause Jr. spent the day checking the crops in his empire along the ocean, thousands of acres on the barrier island and mainland, at the southern-most coast of North Carolina. At age 46 and missing a leg from a battle in the American Revolution, it’s a wonder Gause could mount his horse and stay saddled all those hours. Finally returning to his magnificent manor house on Gause Landing Road, he plopped sweaty and heavy into his favorite porch rocker,
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