East’ard is a “Down East” local’s reference to the East end of Harker’s Island. “Gonna go to the East’ard” was a commonly heard phrase when there was no bridge to access this remote area until the 1950’s. It was very isolated & seemed forever away only accessible by a walk or bike & later serviced by ferry. (East Carolina University research indicates that Harker’s Island verbiage is the last true Elizabethan form of the King’s English here in the U.S.)
While working for a newspaper, Wilson Davis started East’ard Variety Store, originally named Crossroads, primarily doling out cold drinks & gasoline. He moved the store – a 20 x 30-ish structure – on a trailer behind a truck to it’s 80’s popular Harker’s Island destination where locals & tourists alike made a point to stop almost every time they passed.
Randy Ramsey’s mom first went to work at East’ard, and quickly found her husband, Cab volunteering to help her after the marina he was running was sold in the early 80’s. Mr. Davis told Cab “If you’re going to be here, I might as well start paying you!” Always willing to lend a hand, listen and give advice, and keep an ever-watchful eye on the community’s well-being, Cab developed quite the following that rendered itself as increased sales for East’ard. Mr. Davis believed so strongly in Cab’s efforts, that he reinvested everything the store made into improvements and expansions to the building and products sold.
Cab added so many products to the store, that under his tenure at least 6 additions were added to grow the original modest footprint of around 600 sq ft to more than 20,000 sq ft. Eventually, Mr. Davis offered to sell East’ard to the Ramsey’s with great financing terms. “You built the place, you deserve to own it,” said Mr. Davis. Cab’s entrepreneurial philosophy of “if you don’t have it, you can’t sell it.” gave rise to East’ard also being referred to as the “Harker’s Island Mall”. You could find everything from commercial & recreational fishing tackle, to sundries, coffee, sandwiches, aspirin, ammo, tennis shoes, fish net bunt, waders, flip flops, groceries, and as much hardware as an ACE store…And anything a boat builder, like Jarrett Bay, would use. Diversity like none elsewhere, all in a very homey setting – no shiny counters. What you would expect in an old country store. Somebody once came in from up state and pointed out that Cab had everything but horse collars. So of course Cab soon after bought two horse collars and proceeded to ask this customer what size he needed on his next visit. . . From that point forward, Cab could often be heard telling customers that “If we aint got it, you don’t need it.”
Jarrett Bay Boatworks founder Randy Ramsey recalls “When our company was in its infancy, our largest materials supplier was the East’ard Variety Store on Harker’s Island, referred to by the local’s as “Cab’s”. He was always ready to supply us with any thing needed to build our boats, and often was the last person to get paid.”
While popular with tourists, most store activity was from the same local crowd that gathered every morning drinking coffee & every evening for Pepsi’s to discuss the day’s affairs. East’ard really became a major community gathering spot just like a country store, with purchases mostly on the honor system of telling Cab what you consumed on your way out and adding it to your tab. Cab’s trusting spirit & “on account” business model is best summed up by Billy Willis who built “Lady Melba” – still commercial fishing today thanks to his charge account at East’ard. “I never met better people than the Ramseys. I told Cab that I wanted to build a boat, and I wanted to buy it all from him. I told him that I may come in 10x per day so I asked if I could run a charge account? ‘No problem’ was of course Cab’s answer. He didn’t know me from Adam & trusted me & I didn’t let him down. Words can’t express how much it meant to have that level of trust.” Almost everyone on the Island ended up with an East’ard charge account, with purchases tracked on note cards. When you came to pay your tab, Cab stapled a receipt to your notecard. He would carry people for extended periods of time, whether it was between fishing seasons or just hardship. He wouldn’t let people go hungry, and often didn’t keep tabs on those in need. Cab’s management style was so personal with all that walked through East’ard’s doors that the Islander’s eventually started calling it Cab’s.
East’ard’s influence in the Down East community was so entrenched that the store often found it’s way into area articles and even a couple books (one Randy could remember is Shooting at Loons)
With Mrs. Ramsey’s health starting to decline and buyers in the midst, Cab sold East’ard in 1996. Even though it could have been time to retire, Cab rolled into his next career working by his son’s side at Jarrett Bay. Although Cab & his wife are no longer with us, it gives their son Randy great pride to carry on the heritage of everything East’ard stood for to the community at large. “It is an honor to revive the East’ard name and all that it stood for, said Randy. The community is already enthusiastically demonstrating their support of East’ard’s return. Although it does not have quite the product variety of the original store, it’s reincarnation at the Jarrett Bay Marine Industrial Park is quickly on it’s way to being one of Eastern North Carolina’s largest marine supply stores