Located on U.S.. Highway 158 at Gall Bush Ridge south of Coinjock.  Note door in end near chimney and two front doors.  Mr. Peter Poyner was the grandfather of Mrs. Gladys Sawyer, Mrs. Emma Twiford, Harold Forbes, Russell Forbes and others.  He used to buy furs.  He drove a horse and buggy and in the winter wore a long fur coat and cap to match with ear flaps to cover his ears.  It is said that a man that lived in the house before Mr. Poyner was a coffin maker and had a shop near the road north of the house.  It is said that people passing by on dark nights might hear the sound of hammering.

Addendum by Roy E. Sawyer, Jr.--      This was the home of John S. Poyner (son of Samuel and Lydia Poyner), who was a wheelright and cabinet maker.  He married first Sabrina Dunton (1804 - c1843), daughter of Leven and Polly Dunton.  Their children were:  Edmond Poyner (1829 - mid-1870's), who married Autinzer Jarvis; Fanny Poyner, who married a Mr. Stacy; and Mary "Polly" Poyner who married Nelson McKimmey.  John S. Poyner married second to Dorcas Olds (daughter of David and Keziah Lindsey Olds), and their only child was Peter Poyner (1844 - 1927), who married first Lydia Jane Poyner (1845 - 1876), daughter of Rev. Nathan and Lydia Dailey Poyner.  Peter and Lydia Jane Poyner were cousins, Peter's grandfather, Samuel Poyner, was the son of Nathan Poyner (III) and his wife, Sophia Taylor Poyner.  Lydia Jane's grandfather, Col. Thomas Poyner (III) was also a son of Nathan Poyner (III) and Sophia Taylor Poyner; therefore they were second cousins.      Peter and Lydia Jane Poyner had three children:  Lizzette Poyner (1868 - 1884); Mary Susan Poyner (1871 - 1940), who married Charles Wilson Forbes; and John Wesley Poyner (1874 - 1962), who married first Maud Woodhouse (1872 - 1949) and second Blanche Lucille Forbes (1919 - 2005).  Peter Poyner married second to Martha Ann Poyner (1838 - 1904), an older sister of his first wife, Lydia Jane Poyner.  They did not have children.      The house was torn down in 1961, and it stood across the road and east of the Riviera Motel at Bertha.  A guess would be that the house was built during the 1830's.  Peter Poyner wrote his will in 1905 and it mentions various properties . . . "land I bought of Mrs. Elizabeth Morrisett . . . land I bought of Abrum Halstead . . . the Murcer Patent . . . the Malica Mercer Patent . . . land I bought at the Sheriff's sale known by the name of Rudy Island . . . swampland I own north of the James Gregory truck road . . . Poyner's Creek . . . the Benjamin Poyner patent . . . the Nathan Poyner patent . . . grant that Daniel Lindsey sold to Thomas Lindsey where he sold him the land whereon I now live . . . deed from John Barnard to John S. Poyner. . . ".      Peter Poyner was engaged in the undertaking business with his cousin, David McKimmey, and he was also a farmer and fur dealer.  My grandmother remembered that he always wore a long raccoon coat in the winter time and that he drove his horse and buggy to Poplar Branch every day to take an apple to a young schoolteacher, Miss Carrie Parker, who later married Harry Walker.  Peter Poyner died in the Guide's Quarters at the Currituck Shooting Club, where his son, John W. Poyner, was superintendent from 1909 - 1960.  Winton Poyner shrouded his body.   My father told that he joined his uncles, Russell and Harold Forbes, and drove his Uncle Harold's new Oakland roadster to Poplar Branch Landing to meet the boat which brought Peter Poyner's body across the sound to be carried home for burial.

 

This photo and information are from the project "Old Homes in Currituck County to 1860" originally compiled June 1960 by Alma O. Roberts and Alice Flora of the Currituck County Historical Society.   We are indebted to Barbara B. Snowden, president of the Currituck County Historical Society for permission to reproduce this collection on the internet, and also to Gerri Andrews and Diane Ferebee of the Currituck County Public Library who provided digital copies of the photos.  No part of this document may be used for any commercial purposes; however, please feel free to copy any of this material for your own personal use and family research.  Images are for personal use only, not for redistribution.