The Whalehead Club

Renovated and open to the public in 2002, The Whalehead Club is the largest and most ornate of the hunting clubs of the Currituck Sound. Its history is fascinating, convoluted, and filled with tidbits of gossip and lifestyles of the rich, famous, and powerful. Originally called Currituck Island, the Whalehead Club was built in 1922 by Edward Collings Knight, for his wife, Marie Lebel Bonat Knight. Rumored, but not proven, the home was built after she was denied membership in a hunt club because she was a woman. Renamed the Whalehead Club in the late 1930s by the new owner, Ray Adams, in the hope of creating a tourist industry in Corolla, the building is a massive 21,000 square foot structure.