Pioneer Part 2
When the “magnet in his backside” began to pull Michael Basnight ’95 back home to Roanoke Island, he had built a successful career in medical technology sales thousands of miles away. Once he was on the island, searching for a house, ideas for new business ventures began to take root and change his future.
Basnight bought a historic 1871 home in Manteo and launched a plan to share it — as its previous family had done — with those interested in a tourism experience. Manteo House is part of Legacy Collective, a collaboration through which Basnight, family members and business partners are restoring and renovating historic properties in Manteo.
On an adjoining property, his sister Jamie Hatchell and her family and cousin R.V. Owens have developed The Pearl Hotel, a boutique hotel that is part of The Legacy Collective.
“We’re building a brand,” Basnight said. “I had to try to figure out: How do you stay home? How do you make this work?”
While working on Manteo House, Basnight and his sister saw a social media post that Manteo’s movie theater was closing and being sold.
“The Pioneer Theater has been such a legacy,” he said. “This is your first movie, your first date, your first time out on your own as a teenager. The theater has meant so much to so many since 1918.”
They created a plan to save The Pioneer, develop it into a business feature of Manteo’s social district, and added the marquee property to Legacy Collective. They bought it in in early 2023, made quick work of renovations and reopened in May 2023. With its original façade and marquee, the oldest family owned independent theater in the United States — where Andy Griffith once held a movie premiere — is a movie house and event space hosting musicians, comedians and movies. An additional garden venue surrounds the building.
All the pieces of the Legacy Collective provide opportunities for Basnight to fulfill his vision of hosting corporate retreats, weddings, charity functions and public events within historic Manteo.
Working on Roanoke Island is not what Basnight set out to do. He expected to live on the island and travel to work in the medical technology field. “It just happened,” he said.
Basnight graduated from the College of Industrial Technology — now College of Engineering and Technology — curious about how to harness what was coming next in technology. His aunt had a pacemaker and told Basnight about the “company man” who talked to her about the device.
“That technology got my attention,” Basnight said. His curiosity led to his first job with Abbott Pharmaceuticals in Chicago. His career led him to San Diego and Austin, Texas. He became an independent entrepreneur as a distributor for a medical device company, St. Jude Medical, returned to Abbott Labs, and then developed a consulting business in health care technology.
“If you’re curious, you’ll figure it out. You might have to take some risks, and if you fall, that’s OK, you learned a lot,” he said. “Maybe you learn to walk in a different career path or industry.”