BUT FIRST

but fi rst...

Native grapevines have long fl ourished on the Outer Banks, but Roanoke Island’s Mother Vine continues to wear the crown. Believed to be more than 400 years old, the Mother Vine is widely considered the oldest cultivated grapevine in North America – even while its origins remain a mystery. Said to have been planted by English settlers in 1587 or possibly the result of careful cultivation by earlier wine-making Native American tribes, the Mother Vine was unquestionably tended for decades by Jack and Estelle Wilson after they built their family home beside the vine in the 1950s. While it is still located on the Wilsons’ private property off Mother Vineyard Road, the vine remains accessible according to the family’s wishes, and a small side parking area is available for those who wish to view this historical landmark. (Photo by Kati Wilkins.)

Cheers!

THOUGH CALIFORNIA HAS LONG LED THE PACK with the most craft breweries by state, North Carolina has consistently ranked in the top 10 states country-wide with the most microbreweries – producing approximately 1,300,000 barrels of beer per year as of 2020.

In 2020 there were nearly 8,800 craft breweries in the United States, which had grown exponentially from about 1,800 just a decade ago in 2010 – and North Carolina continues to have the largest number of craft breweries in the American South, with upwards of 370 breweries and brewpubs at last count. Ashe ville is North Carolina’s top beer-loving hotspot with around 30 breweries inside its city limits, but the Outer Banks is no slouch in that department if you take size into account. There are currently six craft breweries located from Corolla and mainland Currituck to Ocracoke Island – including a couple that have made brewing history. Now located on the Currituck mainland in Grandy, the Weeping Radish Brewery, Butchery & Pub was North Carolina’s fi rst microbrewery when it opened its doors in 1986 on Roanoke Island – an especially impressive feat considering the fact that it was illegal for North Carolina breweries to sell beer directly to consumers only one year earlier in 1985. Established in 2001, Kill Devil Hills’ Outer Banks Brewing Station became the nation’s fi rst wind-powered brewpub when it erected a 10-kilowatt wind turbine on Earth Day in 2008 – and the establishment continues to use 100% of the power that the turbine generates to this day. A NUMBER OF THEORIES have attempted to explain the basis for calling coff ee a “cup of Joe,” but the story of North Carolina-native Josephus Daniels is an enduring fan favorite. Born in Beaufort County and raised in Wilson, N.C., Daniels was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. With Franklin Roosevelt as his assistant secretary, Daniels was largely responsible for crafting United States Navy policy decisions – and his most infamous reform was General Order 99, which banned alcohol from naval ships as of June 1, 1914. Coming as it did just before the onset of World War I, Daniels’ order reportedly wasn’t very well received by the Navy’s servicemen, and legend has it that they took to calling coff ee (the newly strongest drink available to them) a “cup of Joseph” – which was later shortened, and almost certainly wasn’t meant as a compliment either way.