Final voyage of famed ocean liner with Outer Banks ties passes off the NC coast | Island Free Press
Excerpt about the furnishings and one of the bidders:
Back in 1984, the interior furnishings were stripped down and sold at auction.
Among those who purchased the items at auction was Dr. Sarah Forbes, a native of Currituck County who grew up in Newport News.
Dr. Forbes was Norfolk General Hospital’s first female resident, and the first woman physician to open a private OB/GYN practice in Newport News in 1958.
She also owned the Windmill Point Restaurant which overlooked the Roanoke Sound in Nags Head, as well as a number of
vacation rentals that are still owned by a trust in her name that donates its profits to a variety of charities that were close to heart.
Paying over $300,000, Forbes became the largest private owner of SS United States memorabilia.
That included a model of the SS United States that sat at the entrance of the restaurant, railings adorning the stairway to the upstairs lounge Dr. Forbes named for the ship, the kidney shaped bar, along with tables and chairs from the liner’s First Class Promenade Deck Lounge.
Photos of the SS United States Lounge at Windmill Point Restaurant in Nags Head. [courtesy Joe Koshuta]
Dr. Forbes also acquired the complete First Class dinnerware, the prized ship’s bell, along with artwork and other items.
She proudly touted the SS United States Lounge in commercials with her distinctive voice that aired on Outer Banks radio stations until the restaurant closed in 2007.
Dr. Forbes donated a number of the items to the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News prior to her death in a car crash in Coinjock in June 2011 at age 85, while a collection of the memorabilia that was never unpacked after her purchase more than 30 years earlier was sold at auction in 2017.
The replica windmill that sat outside the restaurant was relocated to Island Farm on Roanoke Island where it still stands today.
She sold the building and property to the Town of Nags Head, it was razed in a training fire by the Nags Head Fire Department in 2011, and the grounds are now part of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s The Soundside event site.