Pooling Interests
By Greg Bailey | Photos above and above right by Lotta; Photo above left and below by Greg Bailey

Mike and Edith Rowe share life and a swimming pool in a uniquely Outer Banks way. From May to the end of October, the pool behind the Rowes’ new home in Southern Shores is filled with water and used for swimming, but the rest of the year it is drained and used for skateboarding. They have been married for five years and a couple for 10, and their home represents the culmination of years of planning and hard work by both of them.

Edith was born and reared in Kill Devil Hills. Her father was a surfer and building contractor who wanted the Outer Banks lifestyle for his family – a quieter, more family- and community-oriented life, centered around the ocean. "I remember when the beach was a ghost town in the winter," Edith says, reminiscing about growing up on the island at a time when Dare County’s year-round population was under 7,000.

Mike grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia and started coming to the Outer Banks to surf whenever he could get here. Finally, in 1986, he moved to the beach to surf full time, working at Yellow Sub when he had to. From his love of surfing grew an interest in becoming a surfboard shaper, and in 1987 he started building boards.

Like so many other young people on the Outer Banks, Edith and Mike paid their bills through restaurant work and met while both were working at Black Pelican Seafood Company. It took about a year for the romance to blossom and they have been together ever since.

Edith has left the restaurant business and now sells real estate for Twiddy & Company in Duck; Mike works part time as a waiter at The Blue Point Bar & Grill and shapes about 150 surfboards a year under his own label, Hooked Surfboards. They both stay very busy to be able to enjoy their lifestyle.

They bought the lot in Southern Shores in 2001 and finished building the house in June of 2003. We should clarify that Mike and Edith (with Edith’s dad) built their own house – they were the general contractors, and they and their friends did as much of the work as possible. They also shared landscaping and decorating responsibilities, and agree that building a house was not a strain on their marriage, but instead made them a stronger couple.

In talking with Edith, she comes across as being driven and goal oriented, with a natural gift for organization and a real sense of pride for their accomplishments. Mike, on the other hand, seems more laid back, but after a while you realize that his "go-with-the-flow" demeanor is a facet of his natural salesman’s abilities; he is just as goal oriented and appreciative of achievements as his wife. As Mike and Edith talk about some of the compromises they’ve made while building their house, you can see the love and respect they have for each other.

One compromise has been regarding use of the swimming pool. Mike has been skateboarding since he was a kid and has always dreamed of riding in his own backyard pool. While he would prefer that the pool be drained and used all year for skating, Edith enjoys the pool’s traditional use during the warmer months. They have come up with a system that works for both of them, and it’s indicative of how they’ve struck a balance in building a life together on the Outer Banks.

The couple’s friends seem to be evenly divided between which swimming pool usage is better, but the neighbors probably prefer the quieter summer use, as opposed to the grinding sound of metal skateboard trucks on concrete pool coping.

When asked to recount some of the seasons that they love living on the Outer Banks, the Rowes say they enjoy running, boating, fishing, surfing, skateboarding, working on their home, hanging out with friends and the small-town feeling and community spirit of the area. "We’ve been a lot of places – Bali, Hawaii, California, and Colorado," Mike says, "and we wouldn’t live anywhere else."