More than a century ago, it was part of a cart path from Buxton to Frisco.
Just two decades ago, it was a quiet sand road deep in the Buxton Woods, a retreat for those seeking peace and quiet, natural beauty, and privacy.
Today, Flowers Ridge Road, just off Lighthouse Road in Buxton, has become a nightmare of huge, water-filled potholes and other hazards for some residents.
The story of Flowers Ridge is just another example of the problems that development brings to this fragile barrier island.
It is probably one of the oldest roads on Hatteras Island. The eastern part of the road begins at Lighthouse Road and extends about a mile to a bridge that connects with Hatteras Pines, a subdivision off the Buxton Back Road.
For decades, before Highway 12 was built, it carried horses and carts and then vehicles from Buxton south. It meandered through some of the loveliest parts of the maritime forest, connecting with other sand roads near where the Buxton Woods Coastal Reserve is located today ? and points south of there.
Old cemeteries, including one with wooden headstones, can still be seen along the road.
By 1990, residents and a few newcomers lived in this idyllic setting.
However, in the early 1990s, everything began to change ? slowly at first and then more quickly.
First, the Flowers Ridge subdivision was built in the middle of the quiet road. The developers paved a small portion of the road. Some still call Flowers Ridge an ?illegal subdivision.? But back then the rules for development were apparently much more lenient.
Then came Doc Folb subdivision, which added no paving to the road.
Meanwhile, Hatteras Pines, just off the Buxton Back Road, was being developed.
By the late 1990s, developers had built a bridge of sorts to connect Hatteras Pines with the end of that part of Flowers Ridge Road. Today, folks can cut through from Hatteras Pines to Lighthouse Road to go to the beach.
All of these developments have led to increasing traffic and damage on the sand road, which is considered a private road and is not maintained by the state Department of Transportation or the county, which owns no roads.
Today it is used by residents, others taking shortcuts, sanitation trucks, delivery trucks, and other repair trucks.
Kevin McCabe and his wife, artist Kim Mosher, have lived on Flowers Ridge since the mid-1990s and have seen first-hand the destruction that the increased traffic has caused.
McCabe called Flowers Ridge the ?worst residential road in the county.?
He says it?s ?a washboard surface pocked with deep rain-filled craters.? It?s so narrow that it?s almost impossible in places to go around the craters.
County water lines run under the road and have been regularly exposed ? which also exposes them to damage.
Residents wonder about public safety issues, such as access for fire trucks and ambulances, and the propane trucks that regularly travel on the one-lane road with the huge holes.
At various times, McCabe and other neighbors have tried to fix the big potholes with gravel and sand. Recently, McCabe and his neighbors got some estimates for repairs that they hope they can raise the money for soon.
In addition, McCabe is again asking Dare County for some help.
?Most folks understand that it’s not a county-owned road,? he says. ?However, an essential county water line runs right down the middle of the road, and the pipe is exposed again and again by erosion and weather. God forbid if it were to break during a home fire!
?Residents are not asking for a two-lane asphalt road, just a little help from all those who use it,? he added. ?Many folks would like to keep that ?old-time feel? to the road, but with two-foot deep puddles every 50 feet something needs to be done.?
Bryan Perry and his wife Susie, owners of Frisco Rod & Gun, have lived on Flowers Ridge Road for decades.
Bryan Perry agrees the road is in bad shape and that traffic is increasing. He says he sees cars ?flying though? ? probably kids, he adds.
He?s done his share of trying to fix up with gravel and sand. At one point, he even added some sand ?speed bumps.? He says one man parked on top of the speed bumps and spun his wheels until he wore it down.
Perry is also the chief of the Buxton volunteer Fire Department.
?From a fire chief?s standpoint,? he said, ?I am concerned.?
He says that getting the big fire trucks down the road would be a problem, so Buxton VFD maintains a smaller truck, just for that purpose.
He adds that the road is at times ?on the edge? of being accessible to ambulances.
?The area has grown,? Perry says. ?The old way of doing it was kind of neat ? I could easily go back to 1969 or 1973.?
Perry also does not want a paved road. He?d like to see someone ? maybe the state ? do a one-time fix on the road and then leave it to the property owners to maintain it.
While everyone wants to find a solution to the problems on Flowers Ridge, finding one is not that simple.
There is the problem of paying for fixes, and, in addition, not all of the property owners agree on what ? if anything ? should be done.
Allen Burrus, Hatteras Island?s Dare County Commissioner, says he has talked with McCabe and others who want the road fixed, but he?s also talked to other homeowners who are vehemently opposed.
?They are all my constituents,? he says.
He says the county has gone in a couple times to dump gravel and sand over exposed water lines, but that is about all it can do.
The easy solution, he says, is for the property owners who live on the road to petition the state to take it over.
Some have tried that in the past, but they just can?t get enough folks to agree.
Some believe that if DOT takes over the road that it will eventually become a paved thoroughfare with even more traffic and none of the old-time ambiance. Those folks oppose even some of the maintenance that McCabe and Perry have done, thinking it will just continue to increase traffic.
Owners would also have to give up some property rights for a right-of-way.
Some oppose giving up any property rights, and others have no property they can give up on the narrow road. Bryan Perry, for instance, says his property runs right to the road, while his neighbor?s runs all the way across the road.
And with the placement of houses and septic systems, some homeowners have no property they can give up.
Complicating everything, Perry says, is that a few long-time property owners harbor a deep-seated resentment about the Flowers Ridge subdivision and how it was permitted by the county.
Warren Judge, chairman of the county board, and county manager Bobby Outten drove down to Buxton last week to drive the length of Flowers Ridge Road.
?We?re going to look at what we can do because of the water lines,? Outten said. However, he added, ?We don?t have the resources or the authority to do much.?
Outten also noted that there are others roads in unincorporated Dare County whose property owners face the same issues.
While the county probably will provide some short-term help for the Flowers Ridge subdivision, the long term solutions will remain more elusive.
We can?t stop progress and we can?t go back to the ?70s, but growth and development continue to provide Hatteras and Ocracoke with serious issues to solve.
This is just one of them.
