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Ben Dixon MacNeill
BEN DIXON MACNEILL (21 November 1889 - 26 May 1960) was an American author and journalist.
Born near Laurinburg, North Carolina, the third child of Scottish parents, he attended Bingham Military A...view moreBEN DIXON MACNEILL (21 November 1889 - 26 May 1960) was an American author and journalist.
Born near Laurinburg, North Carolina, the third child of Scottish parents, he attended Bingham Military Academy, near Mebane, in 1905. He began a teaching career at the Troutman School in Iredell County and Marvin School in Grays Creek, but left to become a reporter with the Wilmington Morning Star. He served in the army during WWI, and was then promoted to city editor at the Morning Star.
In 1920 he joined the Raleigh News and Observer as reporter, where his column, “Cellar and Garret,” became one of the most popular in the South. In 1937 he became publicity director for Paul Green’s symphonic drama, The Lost Colony, the focal point of the celebration on Roanoke Island of the 350th anniversary of the first attempt at English colonization in the New World. The play went on to become the longest running outdoor drama in America.
McNeill re-enlisted in the army during WWII, this time as a major, and then became public relations officer at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He left the army with rank of lieutenant-colonel and resumed his duties as publicity director for The Lost Colony when it reopened in the summer of 1946.
He retired to the village of Buxton, at Cape Hatteras, where he lived until his death in 1960 in a small cottage on a knoll close by the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was there he wrote his novel, Sand Roots, published posthumously, as well as his highly successful personalized account of the people who lived on the Outer Banks, The Hatterasman, winner of the Mayflower Cup award in 1958.view less