Eastern Living - May 2021

Wilson County

Calling the historic

Bullock-Dew House Home

Story by Andy Cockrell

by Nikki Pruitt & Jason Sessoms

Many occasionally pass by nationally registered landmarks. Some are fortunate to take guided tours inside such places. A precious few are privileged to work in one of these historic buildings.

Then there are people like Joe and Janice Tippett, who call a nationally registered landmark “home.”

Since 2001, Joe and Janice have been the owners of the Bullock-Dew House. While most locals probably do not know it by its official name, the home is as much of a visual

icon in western Wilson County as the Eiffel Tower is in Paris.

It is not every day one sees a Queen Anne home in the middle of rural countryside, miles from the nearest town. However, the most memorable and distinguishing element are the large parentheses brackets between every post of the porch that wraps around the front half of the house.

Before the first piece of its foundation was ever laid (with large rocks quarried locally), the Bullock-Dew House was intended to be extraordinary. Constructed in 1902,

Photos

Washington Plummer Bullock wanted the best house in Wilson County. Designed by renowned architect George Franklin Barber, Bullock spared no expense in building an ornately crafted masterpiece.

The original owner would be so proud if he could see his home now. The Tippetts not only undertook a painstaking renovation, but they have been continually improving the beauty and grandeur of the home – both inside and out – since taking ownership two decades ago.

Growing up in the area, Janice fell in love with the house when she first saw it as a teenager. Over the years she would revisit to see the condition of the house, or if it even still existed. Finding out that it was for sale, she was adamant that “I want that house!”

Knowing the effort and costs they would face, Joe admits that he made an extremely low offer on the property with no expectation that it would be accepted. To his surprise - and his wife’s delight - the offer was accepted and the adventure began.

Before beginning work on the main house, Joe updated an existing apartment that had

originally been a mule barn and corn crib.

Although coming across humorously, Joe is entirely serious in explaining the practicality of that step: “I wasn’t interested in paying two mortgages.”

Once the apartment was ready, the couple lived in it for six months while working to make the main house habitable.

The Tippetts inherited a house that was far from the showpiece it had once been. Before they bought it, the home sat empty and neglected for several years. Prior to that, it had been used as a rental house. Even before then, much work done to the home would be more aptly described as remuddling than remodeling. Previous additions had been done haphazardly, not architecturally correct and aesthetically unpleasant because the roof lines did not match up.

Passersby might have thought they were either demolishing or relocating the home, as they lifted the roof off the rear addition with a crane. This allowed the Tippetts to erase the previous mistakes and create a new footprint and roof lines that were historically accurate

and visually pleasing. The house that stands now looks as if it was erected that way from the start.

The couple made some bold improvements. Foremost among them, they raised the ceiling in the home’s main living area by four feet, making the great room

Living here is unique, you feel the warmth of previous families who lived here. We are just caretakers. I hope this house will be here long after I’m gone.

“ ”

- Joe Tippett

genuinely ‘great.’ In expanding the kitchen, the new trim work was milled to exactly match the original trim. Joe harvested some pine flooring from the second floor of a nearby historic home that had flooded in 1996. This was used in and around the kitchen area, and the painting and stenciling of that floor is now a signature component of the home’s interior.

The most obvious change, though, was the exterior paint. For its first century of existence, everyone knew the Bullock-Dew House as an entirely white house. It was grand and detailed, but everything was white.

In addition, Joe shares, “It had only been painted three times since it was built, so all the paint was in rough shape.”

His vision was to paint the home in a palette more akin to a 1902 Queen Anne home instead of a country farmhouse. He chose pale blue for the main color, accenting with white, yellows and grays to highlight –successfully – the architectural detail.

Joe and Janice were the perfect couple who came along at the perfect time to rescue the Bullock-Dew House. As locals, they already had a deep appreciation for the home and a commitment to restore its glory. Joe brought do-it-yourself skills, patience and a clear vision to the project. And, listening to the couple talk both about the house and their relationship, Janice provided balance while particularly influencing the interior design.

She jokes about the renovation, “I’m surprised we made it through still married!”

Janice prefers a cooler color palette and some modern touches, while Joe is ardent about keeping things period-correct and leans to warmer colors. The result is a residence that looks how it was first built to look while living like a modern farmhouse.

Joe proudly offers, “Everything we did was getting it back to what it was or making it better.”

The couple notes that they were not the only ones to make sacrifices along the way. Their daughter, Caroline, was eight years old when the house was purchased. She was plucked from a neighborhood and moved to a new home where there were no neighbors to play with because there were no neighbors at all. Janice remembers how patient her daughter was when her parents had to devote so much time for a few months to the renovations. Joe and Janice remain more than a little grateful that Caroline has as much love for and pride in the house as they have.

What began twenty years ago was about much more than moving into a nice house.

“ ” - Joe Tippett

Joe’s tone becomes somber as he shares, “Living here is unique, you feel the warmth of previous families who lived here. We are just caretakers, I hope this house will be here long after I’m gone.”

The couple could not have known how life would change once they were in their ‘new’ home. They were not only homeowners, but also preservationists, curators and tour guides.

For two decades now, vehicles routinely turn into their driveway and strangers knock on their doors. The house almost compels folks to seek a closer look. The Tippetts treat these unannounced visitors as guests, sharing with them the home’s rich history and its renovation story. For the Bullock-Dew House, they are indeed the perfect couple for the perfect time.

Andy Cockrell has written dozens of academic papers as well as newspaper articles and weekly columns. In 2016, he wrote and published a novel “A Quarter ‘til Life” which is available on Amazon. Along with his wife and two children, Andy resides in the home in which he grew up in Kenly.

Pound Cake & Strawberries

Rountree Family Farm is rich in memories

Story by Gene Motley Photos by Gene Motley & Contributed

The “ol’ home place” sits tall, grand and majestic just off the highway (N.C. 37) less than half-mile from the road’s intersection with U.S. 158 at Ellenor’s Crossroads, which is about midway between Gatesville and Buckland.

Rountree Family Farm, is also known as the Alfred Patrick Rountree Farm, a historic farm complex located near Gatesville. It consists of the property, buildings and outbuildings constructed by four generations of the descendants of Abner Rountree who acquired the family’s original holding here in 1800.

The Alfred Patrick Rountree House was built in 1904 and expanded about 1916. It is a two-story frame farmhouse sheathed in weatherboard. Also on the property are the contributing dairy (c. 1904-1915), hand-pump (c. 1910-1915), wood shed (c. 1910-1920), smokehouse (c. 1904), privy (c. 1904-1915), three barns (c. 1904, 1933, c. 1910-1915), stable (c. 1935), and chicken coop (c. 1925). The Simmons Rountree House was built about 1830, and is a twostory, one-room plan frame house. It has not been occupied as a permanent residence since 1907.

The Rountree Family Farm, comprises over 87-and one-quarter acres of fields, woodlands and house grounds together with two historic residences, related domestic and agricultural outbuildings, and the family cemetery. It is located in central Gates County, about 2.50 miles north of Gatesville, the county seat.

The irregularly-shaped farm lies on the east side of N.C. 37, just north of the highway’s intersection with U.S. 158 The farm forms part of the rather flat, well-watered rural agricultural landscape of Gates County that extends from the Chowan River, which forms its western boundary with Hertford County, eastward to the Great Dismal Swamp through which carry its eastern boundaries with Camden and Pasquotank counties.

The acreage is bisected by a small creek which flows in a generally northerly fashion and then ‘westerly into Cole Creek which flows to the south and into Sarem Creek, southwest of Gatesville, from which Sarem Creek empties into the Chowan River.’

The Rountree Family Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The property was originally owned by the Spivey family. It is noted on the application for historic places that the Spivey occupation of the residence was well before the 1800s. The date the Rountree’s took the property happened when Priscilla Spivey conveyed 140 acres to her son-in-law Abner Rountree.

The farm satisfies National Register Criteria A and C and holds local significance in the areas of agriculture and architecture. The

eighty-seven-acre Rountree Family Farm is one of the few places in Gates County which has been owned and occupied by a single family for nearly two centuries and where surviving buildings reflect both the family’s domestic and agricultural pursuits over the course of some 170 years.

The Rountree Family Farm, comprising the residual part of the lands brought into the family by Abner Rountree in 1800 and a second adjoining tract purchased by his great-grandson in 1902, two family residences, domestic and agricultural outbuildings, and the family cemetery, is a place of extraordinary importance in the history and landscape of Gates County.

For the period 1900-1940, the farm was just kept in what was considered an ‘oldfashioned way’; the simple Carolina country life.

In 1904 Alfred Patrick Rountree had his new house built in the north junction of the lane and the public road which is now NC 37; all his domestic and farm outbuildings stand behind his house in a rectangular clearing on the northwest side of the farm lane which, in tum, linked his then new house with his boyhood home.

While currently unoccupied, the property is maintained by first cousins Annie Margaret Rountree and Carolyn Rountree Eaton.

“It was just a family farm,” says Annie Margaret Rountree. “The family raised corn, peanuts and cotton, but no tobacco.”

“I grew up just down the road from the Family Farmhouse,” chimed in cousin Carolyn Eaton. “It was a house of yeoman farmers and during family gatherings I remember

I grew up just down the road from the Family Farmhouse. It was a house of yeoman farmers...

“ ”

- Carolyn Rountree Eaton

how we gathered vegetables and strawberries from the garden with my grandparents; and we also picked tuberose flowers.”

A big treat for the younger children had to be dessert served following Sunday dinner. While Rountree vividly remembers the milk puddings her grandmother – also named Annie Margaret – made, both cousins agree there was nothing like their grandmother’s pound cake.

“I remember eating a slice of pound cake,

sometimes topped with strawberries,” said Eaton.

The landscape of the Rountree Family Farm reflects a long history of farming and the process of place-making by four generations of the descendants of Abner Rountree who acquired the family’s original holding here in 1800. Roughly one-third of the acreage is cultivated and consists of two fields of somewhat rectangular shape.

The edges of the farm’s cultivated areas

are crisply defined by woodlands which cover the remainder of the nominated acreage except for the house and farm yard at the Alfred Patrick Rountree House. After the two fields, the third major man-made feature of the historic landscape is the farm lane which stretches in a straight line for about 0.3 mile southwesterly from the Simmons Rountree House to a point just short of joining N.C. 37.

During the period of historical significance, when the farm was worked by oxen, mules or horses, these fields were comprised of smaller cultivated patches and fields which have gradually become merged together.

In the first-half of the twentieth century the family vegetable garden was enclosed in the smaller field, in the area northeast of one of the barns.

“As for chores, we fed shelled corn to the chickens, gathered eggs and watched a cow, a mule and a horse move about near the house. Sometimes we rode in a cart pulled by the mule or horse,” remembered Eaton.

Sundays we spent swinging on front porch seated swing that swayed in the summer breeze.

“About three children could swing together; men adults sat on bench; women in rocking chairs. It could get real crowded.

“For fun we pitched ‘real’ horseshoes in the front yard. Sometimes we would run off into the woods to pick and eat wild huckleberries, only to suffer from chigger (red bug) bites the next week,” Eaton acknowledged.

“We anxiously waited for them to cut watermelon so we could share slices in back yard near hand pump,” noted Rountree. “That was where we always had to wash our hands to get all the juice and sweet stuff off.”

Gene Motley is a retired Sports Editor and Sports Director and regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

Halifax County

The Mother

Church Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church

The Primitive Baptist Church, now dwindling in it’s numbers, was one of the early organized religious groups to take root in eastern North Carolina.

Although no longer an active meeting house, the “Mother Church” of Kehukee Association is still standing thanks to the love and care of those who respect her history.

One of those being Charlie Dunn Alston, a Scotland Neck native who has compiled an extensive history of the Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church.

The original Kehukee Baptist Church stood on the opposite side of Chapel Run, a small stream that flowed east into Kehukee Creek, from the Chapel of the Established Church. This church, established before 1738, was of the Church of England entity which was a forerunner to the current Episcopal Church.

According to Alston’s research, the creek crosses N.C. 903 between

Story & Photos by Sarah Hodges Stalls

Edwards Fork and Sam’s Head. This creek has also been called Bryant’s Mill Run and Steptoe’s Mill Run.

The original Kehukee Baptist Church was organized in 1742 and met in a building measuring 40 feet by 20 feet. It was reportedly built the same year on land donated by William Sojourner, who would serve as the church’s first minister for about seven years.

According to “The History of a Southern State” (Lefler and Newsome, 1964), Kehukee became “the most significant Baptist Church in the eastern part of the Colony of North Carolina.”

By 1755, the church reported 125 members.

From 1742 until 1755, the church was by belief a general baptist church, also called Arminian or Free Will, meaning they “believed that by the death of Christ, salvation was made available to all, and anyone may be saved by believing in Jesus Christ.”

According to Alston’s research, this changed in 1755 following the preaching of Benjamin Miller and Peter P. Vanhorn who were visiting ministers from the Philadelphia Baptist Association. The church was then “reformed to a Particular or Regular Baptist congregation.”

This was inline with Calvanist doctrine

which believes in the doctrine of election or the fact that before the foundation of the world, God chose those who would be saved.

During the pastorate of John Meglamre, the third to lead the church beginning in 1768, the Kehukee Baptist Association was formed.

On Nov. 6, 1769, five Baptist churches met at Kehukee to organize. Alston explained the erroneous date of 1765 is recorded in many places, including the historical marker which stands across from the final church site.

The date of 1769 was verified after the original association minutes were recovered, making the association the fourth oldest association of Baptist Churches in America behind Philadelphia (1707), Charleston (1751) and Sandy Creek, N.C. (1758).

Less than 10 years after the organization of the association, a theological dispute began to disrupt worship. Each faction reportedly held independent association meetings for up to three years.

The disagreement was settled in 1777 when churches adopted the Articles of Faith and rejoined under the short-lived name of United Baptist and continued to be known as the Kehukee Association, according to the writings of Cushing B. Hassell and Sylvester Hassell, church historians.

“They organized the association at Kehukee Church and then when they had

the final split in 1827 that meeting happened to be held at Kehukee Church,” said Alston. “So that’s why it’s of historical significance to the Baptist denomination and the Primitive Baptist.”

The site of the modern day Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church, which is now privately owned, was the second location of the church.

Based on his research, Alston believes the Kehukie Baptist Church, on Sherman Drive in Scotland Neck, sits “on the same site or very close to the same site that the original Kehukee Church was.”

When asked if there is a link between Kehukie Baptist Church – an African American church – Alston feels there is indeed a connection.

“We think so. It’s in the old minutes of Kehukee church, somewhere between 1860 and 1872 or 1873, it mentioned some of the black members asking for letters of dismissal to form their own congregation,” said Alston.

Although not proved by deed - but seen in adjoining landowners deeds, he feels confident the location of the Kehukie Baptist Church was likely gifted to the fledgling new congregation which was likely made up of slaves.

The typical Primitive Baptist Church meeting house was a simple, gabled-front

They organized the association at Kehukee Church, and then when they had the final split in 1827, that meeting happened to be held at Kehukee Church.

“ ”

- Charlie Dunn Alston

entrance with dual front entrances. That was initially how the current Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church was constructed. In 1901, both entrances on the front of the building were closed and one entrance was created through a “bell tower” with steeple which was added.

Alston has found no evidence a bell ever hung in the tower.

According to the daughter of the late John Coughenour, a wealthy lumberman and sawmill operator from Pennsylvania, her father gave the materials to the church to add the bell tower and steeple.

The late Fannie “Rosebud” Coughenour House once explained her father was accustomed to seeing churches with steeples in their native Pennsylvania and wanted such a view from their home across the road.

The history of the Mother Church is extensive. Her last member, Lena Anders Shackel, passed away on Dec. 31, 1979. Alston recalled having met Schackel once.

“She lived to be over 100 years old,” he added. “When she died, the church became extinct and the title to the church was passed to the Kehukee Association.”

At that time, he recalled there were around 20 churches still active in the association. It was a common practice to turn a meeting house over to the association at the time of the last member’s death if other arrangements had not been made.

In 1980, Kehukee was removed from the association list.

A committee was appointed to attend to the potential sale of the property, which

Alston says was the practice in this situation. A group of ancestors of once active members approached the committee and wanted to try and save the building.

Alston was approached about writing an article on the history of the church to help those hoping to save the piece of history raise the funds needed to accomplish this feat.

He agreed to take on the project but realized, “I’m doing this, I want to know what they believe.”

Now 82, Alston had asked similar questions decades before as a boy growing up six miles from Scotland Neck towards Enfield.

When he was just eight or nine years old, a building near his uncle’s country store had served as an adventure land for Alston and some of the boys in the community. He went home and asked his mother about the building they discovered, one his friend said was a church.

“She said that’s old side Baptist,” Alston recalled. His mother went on to explain the actual name of Primitive Baptist. Old side referred to the Primitive Baptist maintaining original views after the denomination splitting.

A few years later, the family again passed the church and this time saw vehicles on site. And again, the young Alston posed questions to his mother, such as what was the difference in the “old side Baptist” and the Missionary Baptist church their family attended.

“Well they all used to be together and they had a disagreement and they split up,” he explained. His mom went on to explain the Primitive Baptist did not believe in sending

out missionaries among other things.

These childhood conversations came flooding back to Alston as he researched the history of Kehukee Primitive Baptist Church for the article. What his mother had shared was all Alston had known about the church up until that point.

It would be Alston’s research and sheer interest that “led him back to the old side church,” as he explained.

He not only wrote the article but became a follower and later a member of the Primitive Baptist Church. Although Alston did not attend Kehukee, he became a part of the effort to care for the abandoned building.

A day came where the group realized their resources were dwindling. At that point, it was Alston that recommended the sale of the church. He recommended it be sold to a neighboring property owner who had been assisting the group for sometime at his own expense.

Although a sad time, Alston and the others took comfort in knowing the sale meant the church would be in the care of a family who had nothing but respect for her purpose and her history.

Today, the Mother Church sits on private property and is cared for by people who have made her a part of their own walk with the Lord.

Sarah Hodges Stalls is a Staff Writer for Eastern North Carolina Living and The Enterprise.

Greene County

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

The historic house on the hill

It is literally the light on the hill.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, one of the many beautiful historic churches in eastern North Carolina, calls to the people of Snow Hill from a hill that is the highest point of the town.

The Gothic Revival style church is in a frame rectangular building three bays wide and four deep with a gable roof chancel extending beyond the rear of the church.

The central entrance features a double door surmounted by a solid narrow vertical boards. The windows contain simply sash without tracery and the walls are covered in board and batten.

The interior of the church is, like the exterior, straightforward Gothic Revival character - well-preserved and intact despite

Story & Photos by Thadd White

vandalism that forced repairs.

Two banks of pews are separated by a central aisle that leads to the chancel. The chancel is set off by a wide-pointed arch that ends in a stained glass window. The window is dedicated to the memory of a young woman – Ann Hyman Harvey – who died at 28 and is buried at St. Barnabas. It depicts the beauty of lilies in a field with the saying of Jesus, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They sow not, neither do they reap, yet Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed as such as these.”

Stained glass also fills the two side windows nearest the chancel. One features Jesus as the Great Shepherd and the other shows Jesus surrounded by a group of children. The stained glass windows came from the original St. Mary’s Church in Kinston after it was torn down.

The pews are believed to be original to the church, which was built in 1884. Other furnishings which remain include the stone

baptismal font, ornate wood organ and other ecclesiastical furniture.

St. Barnabas is surrounded by a historic cemetery which is both shaded and quiet and has a collection of various types of stones, all of which are well-kept by the community.

Though St. Barnabas ceased to be used as a place of worship in the early 1960s, it is still an important home to those who love the beauty of the simple, hallowed building.

One such person is the Right Rev’d Tom Warren, who now serves as Rector of St. Mary’s in Kinston.

“To many people in Snow Hill, St. Barnabas Church is a sacred place, set apart for the unique purpose of experiencing the presence of God,” Rev’d Warren said. “From the beautiful grounds where God’s Creation sings His praises, to the cemetery that is a visual reminder of the Christian hope of the resurrection, to the church building that has held – and continues to hold –

It is not unusual for families to have a special place for significant moments in their lives. For many in the Warren family, St. Barnabas is certainly that place.

“

”

- The Rev’d Tom Warren

countless prayers and celebrations of God’s grace, it is no surprise that St. Barnabas means so much to so many people.”

Frank Warren Jr., Rev’d Warren’s father, was instrumental in having St. Barnabas added to the National Register of Historic Places. He has also written histories of the building and been instrumental in its upkeep.

Rev’d Warren said his family has a long and deep connection with St. Barnabas and has been involved with the church in many ways for many years.

“It is not unusual for families to have a special place for significant moments in their lives,” he said. “For many in the Warren family, St. Barnabas is certainly that place.

“Over the generations we’ve gathered for casual daily prayer and more carefully organized weekend worship, enjoyed community fellowship, celebrated weddings, mourned our losses in funerals, and visited our faithful departed laid to rest there,” he continued.

Those memories flood back, Rev’d Warren said, and there are many of them.

“There are so many special memories, it feels risky to single one out at the expense of any other, but the one that comes to my mind most frequently in recent years is when so many gathered there to give thanks to God for the life of my father, Frank Warren Jr.,” he said. “That was a power day which, to me, was a glimpse of Heaven.

“The congregation overflowed into the church yard, the singing could be heard throughout the neighborhood, the Good News of Jesus Christ was shared and enjoyed, and it all ended with a delicious feast.”

Families like the Warrens have gathered at St. Barnabas for more than a century as they learned to call the beautiful historic church home.

The cornerstone for St. Barnabas was set in 1884 and was located at the highest point in town above Long Branch. W.T. Faircloth and the firm of Porter and Graham constructed the white frame building between 1884 and 1887 and the church was consecrated in 1893.

One of the tragedies of the church came in 1951 when, following an Ash Wednesday Morning Prayer service, the building caught on fire. Extensive damage was done despite the efforts of the Snow Hill Volunteer Fire Department.

The church was saved and then painstakingly restored due in part to contributions made in the memory of Mary Wall Bose Exum, who died in 1973.

Some of the ministers who served St. Barnabas included J.H. Griffin (original minister in 1917), A.C.D. Noe, J.W. Eyes, H.G. England, J.Q Beck with, H.R. Roberson and the final ministers, Hume Cox and Frank M. Ross.

The church ceased having regular services in 1962, but has hosted a variety of community and other services since that day.

St. Barnabas Church was made to be a simple place capable of reminding us of God’s embrace throughout all of life’s fullness and complexity,” Rev’d Warren closed.

Thadd White is Editor of Eastern North Carolina Living, the Bertie Ledger-Advance and The Enterprise in Williamston.

Martin County

Fond memories persist from

W.W. Griffin Farm

Story by Jim Green Photos by Jim Green & Contributed

The W.W. Griffin Farm is located at 1871 Wendell Griffin Road, 0.9 miles north of route 1505 in Martin County and approximately 10 miles east of Williamston in Williams Township.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 20, 2001.

The farm is situated on a 6.8-acre tract of land and is bordered on the west by Devil’s Gut, a tributary of the Roanoke River. Much of the land is swampy and unsuitable for farming. Approximately 100 acres was cleared and put into cultivation, while much of the rest has been timbered for lumber over the past century.

The auxiliary outbuildings were clustered primarily north and west

of the main house.

Landscape features which fanned out from the farm buildings included vineyards, cultivated fields, pastures and wooded areas. Although the farm in its entirety includes approximately 1,200 acres, the nomination comprised only the farmhouse, the immediate surrounding outbuildings and several adjacent fields, amounting to 6.8 acres.

The farm encompassed a stylish, turn of the century I-house, along with five outbuildings and a modern ranch house. The rural setting of the complex continues to evoke the character and setting of the late19th and early 20th-century agrarian society of Martin County.

The W.W. Griffin House is a classic example of the popular I-house built throughout eastern North Carolina around the turn of the 20th century. The two-story frame house with weatherboard siding rested on brick piers and featured a stylish front porch. The sheathed porch wall with diagonal boards laid in opposite directions. A wide board emphasized its function as a warm-weather sitting room. A one-story ell with an engaged side porch is attached to the rear (west) side of the house. Three separate doors on the porch, each flanked on one side by a six-over-six sash window, open into three separate interior rooms. The west end of the porch is enclosed to incorporate a small pantry room with its own entrance.

A standing metal roof has replaced the original wood shingle roof.

An additional room was added to the house in 1930 when W.W. Griffin returned to his farm after spending time in a sanitarium recovering from tuberculosis.

The living room, or parlor, is located on the south side of the central hall. The remaining three rooms housed a kitchen, a bedroom and a dining area. A stove connected to an interior chimney provided heat for the small bedroom.

While the house was wired for electricity in 1946, it was never updated with indoor plumbing or mechanical systems such as indoor heat or air conditioning. There are no

modern kitchen appliances to detract from the historic integrity of the house. The original circa 1926 telephone remains hanging on the wall on the back porch.

Although occupied until 1995, the house was in a somewhat deteriorated condition due to neglect but remained structurally sound and amazingly intact, however, the dwelling underwent renovation following the secretary of the interior’s standards for rehabilitation.

Contributing and non-contributing outbuildings included a storage shed (1920), machinery shed (1970), corn crib/garage (1900, 1940), machinery shed (1960), cotton barn (1910), machinery sheds (1960), hay barn (1940), a well (1930) and an additional ranchstyle house, built in 1994 for Griffin’s youngest son to reside in when he became too sick to live in the “Old Home Place.”

The surviving architectural landscape which continues to contribute to the historic character of the W.W. Griffin Farm consists of a farmhouse, a dirt lane which provides access to the rear of the property for farming and timbering purposes, and two vineyards cultivated by Vernon Griffin, a self-taught horticulturist.

Mary Alice (Griffin) Myers, 89, is the oldest surviving grandchild on both sides of the family. She grew up on the property, as her

As soon as I could hold a hoe, I was helping granddaddy up and down those long fields.

“ ”

- Mary Alice Myers

father farmed on her grandfather’s land.

“As soon as I could hold a hoe, I was helping granddaddy up and down those long fields (in the 1940s),” said Myers, who currently lives in Durham.

“He didn’t have an education but was extremely bright,” she continued. “His wife taught him a lot and he valued education; he was interested in everything and his desk was the front porch. He grew champion sweet potatoes and I helped with the turning of the sweet potato vines.

“We were up at 6 o’clock in the morning, worked till 12, had lunch and then had to be back to the fields by 1, where we worked until dark,” she added.

Griffin was the first farmer in the county to build a sweet-potato-curing house and grow the yams on a large, commercial scale.

Myers, who worked with her grandfather during summers from her preteen years until she graduated from college, said her grandfather’s farm “was a wonderful place to be.”

“I didn’t look at it as work,” she said. “He never allowed any cussing – I never heard a curse word.”

Some of the crops Griffin grew on his farm included cotton, corn, soybeans and peanuts.

He was also referred to as a “champion timberman,” as he sold rights to various companies for more than 30 years for them to have timber rights to his property.

Griffin also served on various committees – he donated a tract of land for a schoolhouse to be built; he bought the first school bus in the county and rented it to the school system. His son, Henry, was the first school bus driver in the county.

Griffin died on July 20, 1957.

The farm is of architectural significance because, in Martin County – as elsewhere

in much of rural North Carolina – the most popular house form between the Civil War and World War I remained the I-house, a traditional two-story dwelling that is one room deep and two rooms wide.

The W.W. Griffin House is a typical I-house found in Martin County with some additional stylistic details. It was built in 1902 and the property is an intact example of a typical early-20th century farmstead in the county after meeting applicable register criteria: the property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of the county’s history, and it embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.

Jim Green is Interim Editor of The Enterprise, Prep Sports Editor of The Daily Reflector and a Staff Writer for Eastern North Carolina Living.

Washington County Somerset Place

Many know their historical ties

“Ibelieve that in order to know where we are going in life, we need to know where we came from,” said Paulique M.D. Horton, the great, great granddaughter of William Spruill, who was born into slavery in 1862 at Somerset Place in Creswell.

Somerset Place is a peaceful, pastoral, sprawling antebellum plantation, and at the same time, a powerful reminder of one of the most turbulent, abhorrent eras in American History. It is a milestone along the nation’s long road toward unity and racial equality, still being traveled today.

Story & Photos by Deborah Griffin

On the northern banks of Lake Phelps, at the edge of where Washington and Tyrrell counties meet, a stately, restored plantation home rests peacefully among deeply rooted pines, regal oaks and sprawling magnolias, seven miles from the town of Creswell.

Generations have passed since Somerset Place was one of the South’s largest, most productive antebellum plantations, made possible only by the backbreaking labor of enslaved people.

During its 80-year span as an active plantation (1785-1865), it is believed over

860 men, women and children were enslaved there - some brought directly to the plantation by boat from their homes in Africa, according to historic records.

About 200 descendants of those enslaved, live only miles from the long shadows cast by the plantation’s remaining structures.

For many of them, the abhorrent stain of slavery does not overshadow how they feel about Somerset Place.

For many, the former plantation is a monument to their history – it is the place

where their stories began. In fact, numerous family reunions and weddings have been held on the palatial grounds, a freedom their ancestors could never have dreamed of.

Paulique Horton and her grandmother, Betsy Spruill, 78, live six miles from the sprawling antebellum plantation, which has been converted into a historic site and museum.

They hold no ill feelings about the place. For these two women, it represents history.

Paulique even serves on the Somerset Foundation Board.

“I believe that in order to know where we are going in life, we need to know where we came from,” said Paulique.

Paulique’s great, great grandfather (Betsy’s grandfather), William Spruill was born into slavery, as was his mother, Betsy Spruill Riddick, for whom Paulique’s grandmother is named after.

“[Somerset] is one place we came from.

That is not something we have to repeat,” added Paulique.

She learned her family’s story as a young child and never forgot it.

“Part of our family originated in Barbados,” she added. “They worked on a sugar plantation and got picked up by the Caribbean Trade and were brought this way.”

Somerset Place was developed when enslaved labor was brought to the denselywooded, swampy land bordering Lake Phelps, to convert it into thousands of acres of high-yielding fields of rice, corn, oats, wheat, beans and flax.

The earliest slaves were forced to dig out, by hand, a six-mile, 20-foot wide, 12- to 20foot deep canal linking the land-locked Lake Phelps to the Scuppernong River, which took two years to complete.

This played a major role in the success of the plantation, allowing for transportation, drainage and the ease of moving heavy freight to and from the river.

By the mid-1800s, Somerset had over 50 structures including barns, stables, sawmills, gristmills, 26 slave houses, a kitchen complex, a laundry, a dairy, a storehouse, a smokehouse, a salting house, a hospital and a

I believe that in order to know where we are going in life, we need to know where we came from.

“

”

-Paulique Horton

chapel, as well as homes for overseers, tutors and ministers.

According to the 1850 census, 288 slaves resided at the plantation. By 1860, it housed 328 slaves.

Records show that Betsy Spruill Riddick, (who would have been Paulique’s great, great, great grandmother) was born at Somerset in 1844. She would have only been 18 when William was born in 1862 – during the midst of the Civil War.

Riddick most likely could never have imagined within three years they would be free.

William was born a year before the Emancipation Proclamation, in which Abraham Lincoln would call on the Union Army to liberate all enslaved people in the areas of the South still in rebellion.

However, the enslaved at Somerset were not immediately affected by the proclamation, according to history.

But, by the end of 1865, all but 10 of the freedmen had left the plantation, according to the official website.

Many of the former slaves fled the area. Some stayed in the area and worked for pay. Some, but not all, were later given retribution in the form of land.

The plantation was never profitable again without enslaved labor. The financially crippled owners eventually sold and left the property, never to return.

In 1939, after 70 years of decay, looting and the loss of most of the original buildings, Somerset’s plantation house and six adjacent structures were incorporated into the newly formed Pettigrew State Park. In 1969, these

buildings and the immediate grounds became a state historic site.

The present-day site includes 31 of the original lakeside acres and seven original 19th-century buildings. The Division of State Historic Sites and Properties reconstructed representative one-room and four-room homes where enslaved families once lived, along with the plantation hospital.

Eventually, Paulique’s great, great grandfather and his wife, received land as retribution. Paulique’s grandmother, Betsy, now holds the deed to the remaining 30 acres.

William Spruill died in 1954, when Betsy was 11. One year later, she left Creswell to live with her brother in Philadelphia. The youngest of 11, she is now the only surviving grandchild of Spruill.

Betsy made her home in Philadelphia for 50 years, marrying a Frenchman with whom she had a daughter. Later, her granddaughter, Paulique, was born, whom she raised.

For years, Betsy continued paying the taxes on the land back home in Creswell. The women would visit during summers and on holidays.

After a long career at Temple University, Betsy returned to her roots in 2005.

She followed Paulique, who had come back to her great, great grandfather’s land, upon high school graduation in 2004, to attend college in North Carolina.

Now, four generations live on the land, including Paulique’s 13-month-old son, Vernon Lamar Rhines Jr.

“I think [Somerset] is part of history and it should stay there,” said Betsy. “Today, I think

we should take part in the history. I think we should know the story and repeat it to our children, and their children.”

“I like to focus on the blessing part,” Paulique added.

Many of Spruill’s relatives would end up owning land around Creswell in the years following the Emancipation Proclamation and became successful farmers.

“I am a business owner in Creswell. I can own my businesses anywhere in the world, but choose where our ancestors did the same,” she said. “Knowing what our ancestors sacrificed...They didn’t spend nights of crying and protesting and doing so much social justice for us to forget about what they did. It is very important to me to open up my business on Main Street, where it was once predominately black-owned [businesses], and to see it flourish again.”

Paulique is owner of Horton and Associates Financial Services, owner of a hair salon on Main Street and has plans to open an eatery named after her grandmother.

Paulique also has big plans for her son, Vernon.

“We haven’t been to Somerset yet because of COVID,” she said. “He is going to have to know these stories - how we got our land - and all the work we are trying to do to better our town and community.

“He’s a special young fellow. He’s going to be doing a lot - I don’t think he knows it yet,” she continued.

Deborah Griffin is a Staff Writer for Eastern North Carolina Living and The Daily Reflector.

Northampton County Woodland-Olney School

Now home to many

Sitting on nearly nine acres of land close to Main Street (US-Highway 258) within the Woodland town limits, the Woodland-Olney School is a historic school building located in northeastern Northampton County.

Originally built in 1929, the two-story, 11bay, U-shaped Classical Revival style brick building boasts a one-story auditorium, flat roof, and two-story three-bay portico, pilasters

and decorative yellow brick horizontal bands. It operated as a public school from the late 1920’s until 1992.

The Woodland-Olney School was nominated under criteria A, significant for its association with education and the school consolidation movement which occurred in North Carolina from the early 1920s to approximately 1947.

The school provided a focal point for the

surrounding region and assisted in drawing the community together. The school and its history have become an integral part of the community and the building stands as a local landmark.

Woodland was known as Harrell’s Cross Roads in 1800, being named for the Harrell family, early settlers in the area. The town changed its name to Woodland when it incorporated in 1884. Although public schools

Story & Photos by Gene Motley

were virtually non-existent in North Carolina prior to 1839, education was always a high priority for the Quaker community; hence, the earliest schools in the region such as the Union School near Eagletown, were established by the Quakers.

The Quakers of the Woodland school district operated Olney School in George, a town several miles south of Woodland and the school was named after Richard Olney (18351917), a Quaker from Oxford, Massachusetts. The school is one of two dominant public buildings in the town of Woodland, founded as a Quaker community.

Large fields for recreation are behind the school and are in use by the town of Woodland still today. A semicircular driveway, with brick entrance piers on either side, curves in front of the building. A rectangular onestory, flat-roofed 1956 brick annex building is situated immediately east of the school and was originally built to provide a cafeteria and office space for the Woodland-Olney School. The annex currently houses a Head-Start day care program, while the general structure is used for low-income housing.

The 1960s brought further consolidation of school districts, resulting in the construction of Northampton County High School in 1964 which reduced the grades taught at Woodland-Olney School to kindergarten through eighth. The later construction of a new middle school in the mid-1970s resulted in converting Woodland-Olney School into

an elementary school, providing education for grades pre-kindergarten through fifth.

Due to general deterioration of the building, it was recommended to the Board of Education that the Woodland-Olney School be closed as of July 1992. Subsequently, in May of 1993, the Board of Education sold the Woodland-Olney School site to Northampton County and several months later the property was sold by the County to the town of Woodland and the Choanoke Area Development Association (CADA), who later renovated the school building and converted it into a housing complex for senior citizens, thereby ensuring the facility

will continue to maintain its presence as an important structure in the community.

“I attended when it was a community school for grades K-thru-12 back in the 1940’s and 50’s, graduating in 1957,” says retired Occupational Therapist Connie Christison. “It was just a regular 12-grade public school like they had in Conway, Rich Square, Jackson, Seaboard, Murfreesboro and all the small towns around it.”

Christison adds that many of the staffers and students were related, but many on the faculty made impressions that lasted a lifetime.

“My first grade teacher was my aunt, Elizabeth Outland, and Benny Lee White was the principal for all 12 years I attended,” Christison related. “My 12th grade English teacher, Mary Ellen Lassiter, was probably my favorite. I enjoyed the writing and how she made us think.

She added, “Hazel Copeland taught 8th grade and did a lot of creative hands-on work with us and that made an impression on me. Using my hands created a love of hand-work which I used in becoming an Occupational Therapist.”

One of the greatest things she says students took away from Woodland-Olney School was pride in oneself and a sense of community.

“It was a close knit community, since so many of us were kin to each other,” Christison said. “It was just a good small town-small school atmosphere. It was a highlight of the community for all of us who went there. Every day when we passed by it we realize how the building and the people who taught there mean so much and will always be a part of us.”

Velma Outlaw was one of 10 children and she attended Woodland-Olney School in 7th and 8th grade during the school’s early years of desegregation in the 1970’s. She later returned as a teacher’s aide before ascending to a full-time teaching position, from which she is now retired.

“My best recollections are when I came back and taught there under Mrs. Mary P. Lee,” Outlaw said. “Teacher, janitor, cafeteria people, whoever, it was just a wonderful place to work. I put teachers on a pedestal in my mind. I can

My best recollections are when I came back and taught there under Mrs. Mary P. Lee.

“ ”

- Velma Outlaw

remember so many of their names.

“It was a transition from an all-black school to an integrated school, but I don’t recall a lot of negativity, any negativity, really,” she added. “They just took time and they were interested in the students. Any ‘ugliness’ was dealt with and just not tolerated.”

Outlaw says the attention the teachers gave to the students made her hungry to learn more.

“Coming from a large family like I did, they

gave you the attention and they took the time, and made it the best part of my day,” she acknowledged. “They knew who your people were; they had an interest and made me feel like I counted. I mattered to my family, but coming from them it was special. These were smart women and I admired and looked up to them, and I’m very appreciative.”

Bill Matthews was the last principal of Woodland-Olney, arriving as interim principal for one month in the late 80’s before taking

over as head of administration for the next three years. He saw it become legacy as its education purpose came to a close.

“It was a good little school,” Matthews maintained. “Everybody kind of knew everybody. The teachers were probably more in contact with the parents and community people than I was, but within a year I had the same connections.

“Louise Cook was the School Secretary when I was there and she was pretty much the glue that held the place together. I could rattle off so many names of the staff but I don’t want to leave anybody out,” he noted.

“It was a good staff, good environment, and part of a good community,” he concluded. “We had somewhere around 300 students by the end.”

Woodland-Olney was listed on the National Register of Historic Places beginning in 1997.

Gene Motley is a retired Sports Editor and Sports Director and regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

Beaufort County ‘The Old Lady’

finds new relevance

Story & Photos by Kelly Grady

Once a beloved school - and now fondly referred to as “The Old Lady” by several of the locals - the Pantego Male and Female Academy in Pantego has since been transformed into a fascinating museum.

Martha (Shavender) Baynor, a graduate of Pantego High School is a wealth of knowledge and always eager to share the history of this special building through her own personal scrapbook and oral history.

In rural Pantego during 1874, a group of men organized themselves to provide education for their children. This would become the first school by subscription in North Carolina. In 1877, the group received a deed for one acre of land on which the Pantego Male and Female

Academy was built.

In later years, when the school could not pay its debt, a beloved town resident, Walter Clark, took on the debt as his own to keep the school open.

The county transformed it into a public school for all students in 1907. As the students grew and expanded, an additional brick building was built for use as a high school, becoming known as Pantego High School in 1925. The original building was then used for elementary classrooms.

Much pride was taken by the students in their education studying Latin, arithmetic, history and music while parents paid for their education by subject. The Academy graduated many students who moved on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and heroic soldiers.

The most notable section of this building construction is the horseshoe staircase leading up to the school’s second floor used by the fifth and sixth grade students. (The fifth grade students walked up one side of the staircase and the sixth grade students walked up the other side.) According to research done by several residents, including Baynor, it is the only building left standing with such a unique exterior staircase.

As for tardiness to school in the mornings, these area students had no excuse to be late for class. In 1879, the

Pantego Ladies Auxiliary raised funds to purchase a bell that sat atop the building. It notified students it was time for school, and the beautiful ringing of the bell could be heard for a three mile radius.

The Pantego community took much pride in their school. In 1955, Pantego High School won the Bellamy Award for their display of citizenship and patriotism. This Award was given by the Francis Bellamy Foundation. Frances Bellamy wrote the draft of the Pledge of Allegiance. The Award was only given to one school in each state, and out of all the schools in North Carolina, the school was chosen to receive such an honor. Governor Luther H. Hodges was one of the speakers at this event.

The Academy closed in 1981 after graduating its last class. Shortly and sadly thereafter, it was vandalized; the building suffered several broken windows and many damaged items.

Fortunately, a group of alumni set goals to restore and protect this beautiful and historic building.

It was then renamed the Pantego Academy Historical Museum and began housing an amazing history of area items.

As one walks through the museum and listens to Baynor share, they will hear stories and see fascinating artifacts from previous generations and stories about how “country folk” lived in the late 1800s.

Visitors may be lucky enough to hear the “thump, thump, thump” sounds indicating the possible presence of Principal Snell.

“ ”

Visitors may be lucky enough to hear the “thump, thump, thump” sounds indicating the possible presence of Principal Snell. Mr. Snell was the first principal of the Academy and, having lost a leg during the Civil War, walked with a peg leg making thumping sounds across the wooden floor. Or, perhaps, you may feel the eerie cold presence of the former music teacher, Lena Windley. Visitors can see the chair where a woman was found deceased from an unsolved murder in the area, and a basket of eggs that promised great riches.

In addition to the school, two other buildings have been added to the alumni’s care. The first being the Pantego Jail (a one cell jail) and the other, a lumberman’s office building owned by George D. Old, one of the founders of the Academy.

Since October 25, 1984, the Pantego Academy has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When asked if she feels Pantego Academy deserves this status, Baynor replied, “Absolutely! This building needs to be on the list to preserve the history of the building and our community during its time as a school building.”

This historical and interesting museum is

open to the public Saturdays and Sundays from 2-4 p.m. and other times by appointment at 46 Academy Street in Pantego. Admission is free but donations are always welcome and are used to maintain the building.

Kelly Grady is a retired educator and a new contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

Edgecombe County

Worsley-Burnette House

‘I love this place’

Story by John H. Walker Photos by John H. Walker & Contributed

The Worsley-Burnette house, located alongside Burnette Farm Road in southeastern Edgecombe County, holds a special place in history, as it is one of a handful of Edgecombe County properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

At 191 years, it is one of the older properties in the county and is considered to be a representative example of a group of well-detailed Federal style plantation houses built during the 1820s and 1830s in rural Edgecombe County.

The house was most probably built in 1830 for Nathan Mayo Worsley and enlarged by Worsley in 1850. It was nominated for inclusion and accepted into the National Register in 1990.

Today, it serves as the home for Noreen and Eddie Dail — the folks who grow delicious strawberries and make and sell homemade ice cream and jam in the community and at their fruit stand on the farm.

“I am honored to have this old house own me for many reasons,” Noreen said. “I have a long history here on this farm. My father was the manager of the farm for the previous owner, Archie Burnette, so I grew up here. Not in the house, but out on the farm. So it has a special place in my heart.”

She said that the house was rented out after Burnette moved to The Fountains at the Albemarle and was in a run-down state.

“My husband and I were approached by my cousin, Earl Roberson, about moving in as renters. We told him we were interested in buying it. The rest is history,” she said.

She said they moved into the house in 2002 following months of renovation.

“I love this place,” she said, adding, “Not just the house, but it and this farm. My husband and I have worked hard to take care of it. We feel we have been given an opportunity of a lifetime. We have been blessed greatly. And give God all the credit. We love sharing it and try to do so as much as possible.”

She continued talking about her home.

“Every day is a discovery in a home built in 1830. The beauty of the floors, the woodwork, the light shining in through the hand-blown glass panes... such beauty that

can not be compared to in newer homes.” Noreen and Eddie Dail have two children — a son, Scott, and a daughter, Emily. Scott and his wife, Tracy, have a daughter, Katie. Emily and her husband, Bryan, have two daughters — Anna Claire and Willow.

According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, neither the parents nor the county of origin of Nathan Mayo Worsley is known, but he was probably born in 1808 or 1809 in either Martin or eastern Edgecombe County.

He was named after Revolutionary War officer and prominent early citizen Nathan Mayo from the same area. He seems to have gone by the name Mayo Worsley throughout his adult life.

Worsley first appears in Edgecombe County records on Dec. 8, 1828, when he married Nancy Wiggins. According to Census records, Wiggins was as much as 10 years older than Worsley, and had been married twice before.

She had outlived both previous husbands, as well as a son, Allen D. Wilkinson, who died in 1826, but had a surviving daughter by Wiggins named Delphia.

Nancy Worsley had acquired considerable personal property and life interests in real estate as a result of her first two marriages, according to Edgecombe County records.

In 1828, she purchased rights to a 200acre tract of land that had been part of

Joshua Wilkinson’s property and on which she appears to have lived.

This tract is probably the one on which Mayo and Nancy Worsley built a house in about 1830. The use of cast iron butt hinges on early doors in the house suggests an early 1830s date.

Nancy Wiggins died in 1841, leaving Mayo with five children — Delphia, Caroline, Edwin, James and Nancy.

Worsley was married again on Feb. 22, 1842 to Mary Louise Staton and they in turn had nine children — Virginia Elizabeth, Laura Melissa, Aneliza, Thadeus Alphonza, Franklin Lafayette, Nathan Mayo, Mary Louise, Frances and Ida.

As was noted in the National Register of Historic Places nomination, with 14 children, the need for a substantial addition to the original six-room house was obvious.

As he aged, Worsley’s wealth grew and was documented through Census records and noted in the nomination. As the Civil War neared, he owned 700 acres, 400 of them improved, worth $25,000.

According to records, his plantation

produced a variety of crops in abundance, but primarily corn and cotton while also maintaining herds of cattle, swine and sheep. The 1850 agricultural census also shows that he experimented with growing rice, producing 460 pounds.

Worsley died at the age of 59 on Feb. 28, 1867, of erysipelas and left a substantial estate, despite the ravages of the Civil War,

including another farm of 282 acres in Martin County.

Daughter Mary Louise received dower rights to 300.25 acres of land, “including the Mansion House, which they think she is justly entitled to.”

Mary died in 1881, and the house passed to sons Thaddeus and Nathan Mayo Worsley, who had paid $6,101 in 1874 for 690 acres of the home tract, subject to the widow’s dower.

In 1882, the Worsley brothers sold the house and home tract to Bryan J. Keech of Tarboro. Keech was the owner of a Tarboro general store and continued to live in Tarboro, presumably using tenants to farm the acreage.

After Keech died in 1902, the property was held in a life estate by his wife. In the early 1920s, a suit led to the property being subdivided and Lot 1 of the Worsley Farm, including the house and 271 acres, was allotted to William A. Hart, subject to Mrs. Keech’s life estate.

Hart apparently lost or sold his interest in the property to the North Carolina Bank and Trust Company, because in 1935 Lot 1 was sold to Archie R. Burnette Sr. for $2,125. Burnette also acquired the remainder of the

Worsley

A native of Edgecombe County, Burnette returned from Hopewell, Va., in 1921. It is possible that Burnette had been living on the farm for several years before he purchased it.

Unlike other owners of the property since the 1880s, the Burnette family lived in the house and farmed the land themselves. They made a number of minor alterations to the house, the most significant of which involved rebuilding the front and side porches. During the 1930s, surviving outbuildings on the property burned, leaving the house the only 19th century building on the tract, which must at one time have included a full complement of outbuildings.

Following Archie R. Burnette Sr.’s death in 1944, the house was lived in by his widow, daughter and son Archie R. Burnette, who farmed the land. The younger Burnette lived on and farmed the property until moving to Tarboro about 1985.

The nomination form noted that between 1985 and its 1990 date, tenants occupied the house and farm.

John H. Walker is a Staff Writer for the Rocky Mount Telegram and a regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

property in 1936 from other Keech heirs.

I have a long history here on this farm.

“ ”

- Noreen Dail

Tyrrell County

Gone but not forgotten

Scuppernong River Bridge

It was beautiful in its simplicity and function.

In fact, the Scuppernong River Bridge was so beautiful and unique it was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Now, unfortunately the two-lane wooden swingspan drawbridge is simply a part of the history of Tyrrell County and Columbia. It is a part of history, however, that is still beloved by many of the people who grew up using the bridge.

In fact, two photos of the Scuppernong River Bridge still hang on the walls of the Columbia Town Hall, celebrating its heritage and history.

“I grew up a mile and a half downstream,” current Columbia Town Manager Rhett White said. “Any time I came to town as a youngster, I would come across the bridge.”

White said the bridge was beloved by the community, even though it could sometimes be tedious to open.

“We had tug boats with wood and others with oil which would

Story & Photos by Thadd White

come through and the bridge would have to be opened,” White remembered. “The guy who was responsible for the opening of the bridge often let the young people of the town help,” White said. “He would take a pipe, if you will, and drop it into the center of the draw. The boys would then push the pipe around and open the bridge.”

White laughed as he recalled he and the other youngsters being stuck out on the bridge until the tugboat passed and they were able to work together to close the bridge.

Unfortunately for those who loved the old bridge, N.C. Department of Transportation officials first built a two-lane bridge over the Scuppernong near Columbia and then a fourlane bridge. The new bridges left the old one obsolete and led to its removal.

The drawbridge was located at the western end of Columbia’s Main Street, taking traffic across the beautiful river and onto Main Street. The bridge, in fact, led straight to another place on the National Registry, the historic Tyrrell County Courthouse.

White said the townspeople loved having the old bridge lead straight down to the historic courthouse.

“It was a sense of pride that you could take the bridge and see the beauty of downtown Columbia,” he said.

The form filled out for the national registry application, which was handled by the Bridge Preservation Committee - headed by Ray McClees and Laura Wolke – said the bridge was “an important visual and historic link to the historic area (of Columbia).”

The two-lane bridge, which was built in 1926, sat on a site of timber trestle. The bridge remained in its original location through it’s entire lifespan over the Scuppernong River. The bridge went through only minor alterations – the most extensive of which was in 1949 which saw the removal of a tender’s house and traffic gates.

White said the building of the new two-lane bridge on what became U.S. 64 didn’t end the historic drawbridge’s use. In fact, both stayed in place from 1964 until 1992.

“At some point they decided it was no longer feasible to maintain the old bridge,” he said. “To say there was considerable resistance to DOT’s decision would probably be an understatement.”

White indicated both Tyrrell County and the town of Columbia opposed the bridge’s removal, but in the end lost their battle.

“DOT made a decision that was not universally accepted,” White said. “The people of Columbia and Tyrrell County

wanted to keep their bridge and what it represented.”

White pointed out that part of the bulkhead can still be seen on one side of the river, while the other side now boasts a town park and pier.

Thadd White is Editor of Eastern North Carolina Living, the Bertie LedgerAdvance and The Enterprise.

In fact, the Scuppernong River Bridge was so beautiful and unique it was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

“ ”

Bertie County

True Americana:

The Colerain Historic District

Colerain sits just off the Chowan River in Bertie County at the intersection of North Carolina Highways 42 and 45.

Originally in the late 1700’s, Colerain was the location of a crossroads with a trading post and a few other buildings. The area developed economically as an agricultural community impacted heavily by fisheries on the banks of the Chowan River of which the last one was destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

The mechanization of agriculture and the reduction in the number of small farmers has reduced the economic viability of the community as the twenty-first century advances. Communities across eastern North Carolina are having to adapt to the loss of revenue providers like the fisheries in Colerain or sawmills in other communities in the region.

Colerain has brought some attention from the nomination and approval of a historic district around, and including, the downtown area. There are numerous structures in the district which highlight architecture from the mid-nineteenth century through mid-twentieth century structures. Michelle A. Michael prepared the nomination

Story & Photos by Lewis Hoggard

application of the historical district and in the application stated, “Colerain’s well-preserved rural setting, extant historic architecture, and rural small-town feeling is indicative of the special character of small rural communities in northeastern North Carolina.”

Someone who helped spearhead the project was Jaquelin Perry, who is a local artist.

“Colerain has such a rich history, I thought it would be important to highlight that history through the recognition of obtaining a historic district designation,” she said. “Additionally, the designation itself may lead to future tourism and to people visiting, and possibly buying and preserving homes in the district.”

The application was approved and listed in April 2020. The Colerain Historic District is part of the National Register of Historic Places under the National Park Service and United States Department of Interior. The purpose of an Historic District is to preserve the original character of buildings and streets within a defined area.

A district consists of contributing and non-contributing properties. Colerain has 175 contributing buildings and sites accompanied by 52 non-contributing buildings. A noncontributing building may be so designated by its date of construction, alterations or other factors that do not contribute to the historical

district.

Some examples of the type of architecture that are found in this district are Greek Revival, Italianate, Colonial Revival, Southern Colonial, Tudor Revival, Gothic Revival, Bungalow/ Craftsman and Art Deco. Notice that in a number of these styles the word “revival” is included. Most of the properties in Colerain range in age from the 1850’s to the 1950’s. That time span encompasses a lot of “revival” periods. In this case the “revival” is just the bringing back of a style of building that was popular in other eras such as the colonial era.

A contributing property is the Colerain Baptist Church, which is located at 202 North Main Street. The church has a Gothic Revival style with stained glass windows across the front of the church with two recessed towers. One tower has the church bell and the other tower is enclosed with stained glass windows. The church was constructed in 1906.

Also on Main Street is the Oaks, a residence built in 1924 that is in the Colonial-Revival Style. A distinguishing feature is the hipped roof portico on the front of the residence. Reportedly the residence was named for the amount of oak trees in the yard on Main Street.

Another structure on Main Street is the Revel-Wade house built in 1858 and

- Jaquelin Perry

remodeled in the early twentieth century. The two storied four column portico is the most visually impressive detail of the residence. Many other residential structures are noteworthy and certainly a number of the Main Street commercial buildings add to the designation of the historical district.

The oldest surviving house in the district is the Henry-Beasley house which was the residence of Dr. Peyton T. Henry and built in 1850. A graduate of Wake Forest College and North Carolina State Legislator from 1858 to 1865, Dr. Henry served the local community and area as a medical doctor. The facade of the house remains basically unchanged, but there was a two-story addition around 1900.

Many more structures and houses are worth viewing and mentioning, but would best be taken in by a visit. The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office has the Colerain Historic District application online, so that it may be viewed or printed.

Around the country there are a few thousand historic districts and within the state of North Carolina there are more than a few hundred. In Bertie County there are three historic districts: Colerain Historic District, Windsor Historic District and Woodville Historic District. The importance of the historical district may include attracting some

Colerain has such a rich history. I thought it would be important to highlight that history through the recognition of obtaining a historic district designation.

“ ”

tourism and retirees to the area.

Reid Thomas, a well-known restoration specialist with North Carolina State Preservation Office, stated “One of the many benefits of having a property listed on the National Register is the availability of historic preservation state and federal tax credits for the rehabilitation of incomeproducing and non-income producing historic properties.”

The availability of these tax credits may well lead to restoration of some of these properties by individuals moving to the community.

Visit Colerain and take in a slice of Americana from a by-gone era. Currently Café 45 operates as a restaurant at 105 South Main Street and provides breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday and would provide an excellent stop for a visit.

Lewis Hoggard is Executive Director of the Windsor/Bertie Chamber of Commerce and a regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

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Hyde County

The Rose Bay Plantation:

It’s

all

about the journey

At the end of a lengthy lane amidst pine, gum and cedar trees, their branches draped in Spanish moss swaying softly, sublimely stands the Rose Bay Plantation — an architect’s vision, a carpenter’s case study, and a family’s dream come true.

An exquisite example of Greek Revival style architecture, the house’s façade leads one’s attention to the four fluted columns that accentuate the porch’s entry as well as the balcony above reminiscent of a Greek temple.

Once inside and beneath the twelve-foot ceilings, four rooms both downstairs and upstairs each share a chimney. Generous amounts of sunlight from the massive six-over-six windows spill into the central hallway that leads in other directions to additional architectural marvels in craftsmanship from three centuries ago.

Because of its unique architecture, the Rose Bay Plantation – the home’s original name - is regarded as one of the most distinctive nineteenth

Story & Photos by Sandy Carawan

century houses in the Rose Bay community of Swan Quarter Township. In 1985, when known as the George V. Credle House, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Now, a new family has brought life and love to the once vacant house that had sat in disrepair for so long. Current owners, Anna and Clark Twiddy, like to think of restoration in two ways: a journey and a story to tell.

“I was raised in a historic home and grew up helping my father work on all the projects that come with an old house,” says Anna. “My husband is an avid history lover and his family has a passion for restoring old buildings.”

As a result of the restoration, the Twiddys have formed a special bond with the descendants of George V. Credle (1831-1914).

Pete Credle and Kevin Gibbs, both distant great-grandsons, recall the house fondly for the memories made there as well as the family stories. Dawn, Pete’s wife, who has shared special memories there, too, is very familiar with the history of the house.

Historical research and family lore both suggest the 1850s-1860s as a two-decade window of initial activity for the Rose Bay Plantation.

“In the Grimes’s family papers, the first mention of the plantation was in 1847. It is widely thought the house was built around 1850, but there is no solid record of it that we

have found,” says Anna. “In the family papers, we saw letters from a caretaker at Rose Bay to the Grimes family, so it’s possible that the Grimes weren’t counted in the census in Hyde County, but at their main plantation. We also saw the records of the ‘Rose Bay Plantation’ added to their other plantation notes about how many crops and animals were harvested.”

While the National Register of Historic Places application states that George V. Credle purchased the 1,798-acre tract in 1855 and speculates he may have built the house soon after, Dawn believes that the house was built in 1859 by Bryan Grimes adding that, “He lived there ten years and it was sold to George V. Credle in 1869.”

Regardless, George V. Credle, a large-scale farmer, merchant and active community

She adds that Nathaniel’s daughter, Martha Ann Credle (1891-1929), owned and operated it.

After her sister’s death, Melissa stayed busy operating the filling station for several years, but she was also active with the Rose Bay Home Demonstration Club that would occasionally meet in her home to talk about topics such as gardening, home beautification and food preservation.

Pete reveals that Melissa was nicknamed Witchy because as a toddler she couldn’t speak her name, and when she tried, it sounded like she was saying “witchy.”

During Pete’s childhood as well as Kevin’s, generations apart, Witchy would not allow them as children to venture upstairs and to keep them in check told them of the satchel man who dwelt upstairs.

“I never went out of the living room until I was twenty years old,” says Kevin.

Because of its unique architecture, the Rose Bay Plantation – the home’s original name - is regarded as one of the most distinctive nineteenth century houses in the Rose Bay community of Swan Quarter Township.

After Melissa’s death, according to Dawn, the house passed to Seth Bridgman Credle, Jr., Pete’s father.

From 1981 until 2014, the house remained unoccupied and the outside wreaked havoc upon the inside.

Upon first entering, Anna recalls, “Saplings and poison ivy were growing inside, bats and critters had taken up residence, the porches were rotten, and no true plumbing or

member, built up the plantation and property during his lifetime.

According to Dawn, when he died, the house and property passed to his youngest child, Nathaniel Credle (1864-1945) who, in turn, left the homeplace to his daughter, Melissa (Credle) Sadler (1895-1981).

According to Pete, he remembers other outbuildings such as a long barn, cooking house, smokehouse, chicken house, orchard, garage, open shelter and filling station.

“The filling station was located in the middle of the yard near the road,” says Dawn.

“ ”

electricity to speak of.

“The house had a grand elegance about it, but was so wonderfully simple at the same time. It was remarkably solid, so much of the plaster still smooth, gorgeous old glass, and the floors and woodwork were stunning— filthy, of course, but beautiful. I can remember being amazed that the stairs and floors didn’t even creak.”

Despite its condition, the Twiddys fell in love with the old house and decided to restore it to be as historically accurate as possible.

They hired Kevin Gibbs of Gibbs Building, Inc., who has twenty-nine years of experience working with his father, Calvin Gibbs.

Bringing the house back to life proved meaningful to Kevin, and he restored just about everything he could.

“The heart of pine floorboards are all pretty much original. All the plaster has been recovered. Just about every bit of the trim is original except for where we had to add a couple of boards,” Gibbs said. “We repainted the original weatherboarding. Some of those old boards hadn’t had paint on them in a hundred years.”

At the beginning of the two-year restoration, Anna says, “We felt like the house was waiting to be saved and it had a good, happy feeling about it. We knew we could restore and preserve it to its original glory without taking anything away from it by adding modern conveniences.”

They divided an upstairs room to make two bathrooms. They enclosed the original pantry and some of the back porch to make a mud room/powder room. In an upstairs room, they built an extra closet and a sitting room. Also, they screened in the upstairs porch.

Being built for centuries and not just for its day, the Twiddys believe that with the house’s strength in materials bolstered by the superior restoration, it will endure another century or longer.

“I’ve always loved old things,” says Anna. “I had the electrician wire for electric sconces where the nails still hung from Witchy’s candle

sconces in the front parlor. I kept the pieces to an old sewing table to make it a functional table again one day.”

Anna even emptied Witchy’s vintage Mason jars, the canned foods having long soured since her death.

“I will fill them with things and use them,” Anna says. “They belong here.”

“We love the house,” Anna says. “We have literally put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it.”

It is remarkable how something as simple as a house, its design, and its remaining possessions not only help to tell a story and connect us to past memories, but how all of it inspires us to appreciate its history and cherish its beauty as we go on to make new memories.

Sandy Carawan is an English Language Arts teacher at Mattamuskeet Early College High School in Swan Quarter and a longtime contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

Discover the beauty & charm

Hertford County

‘It’s MY school...’ Mill Neck School:

n the 2012 documentary, “Children, Go Where I Send You,” by Caroline Stephenson and Jochen Kunstler, detailing the history of Rosenwald Schools in Hertford County, Hertford County native and Rosenwald School alumnus Dr. Dudley Flood talks about the importance of a student’s being able to say, “It’s MY school.”

Thanks to the Rosenwald Foundation (where the funds of Sears CEO Julius Rosenwald made reality of the vision of Booker T. Washington), many students in

Hertford County were able to say, “It’s MY school.”

With a total of approximately 10,000 schools built, there were more Rosenwald schools in North Carolina than in any other state in the union; Hertford County boasted of 10; of them, four survive (about 500 of the original 10,000 do): C.S. Brown (built with Rosenwald funds though not technically a Rosenwald school), Vaughantown, Pleasant Plains (a picture of which graces a recent Smithsonian article about the schools) and

Mill Neck.

Mill Neck School, located on a one-acre tract of land southeast of Mill Neck Road, approximately one mile northeast of Como, and bordered by an area known as “Big Woods,” was built between October 1926 and March 1927. Prior to that time, Mill Neck Baptist Church had operated a one-story frame schoolhouse southwest of the current school. Coming full circle, the later, historic building is owned by Mill Neck Baptist Church, having received it in 1998 by a deed from

Story and Photos by Sarah Davis

the Hertford County Board of Education.

Mill Neck Pastor, the Rev. Darrell T. Partlow, has a vision for the building with plans to engage in adaptive restoration that will bring it up to code while preserving the historic integrity as guided by the National Historic Preservation Society.

Partlow plans a community center that will welcome all from young children to seniors. For the youngsters, he wants to provide an environment with the appropriate learning tools that will give every child the ability to succeed and thrive in life. He anticipates a homework and tutoring center, especially equipped for the digital age.

For the older folks, he imagines senior center support services that will include in-home assistance, shopping, transport to medical appointments, meal preparation and property maintenance. The school will once again become a cultural center for the community, housing arts and crafts, theatrical productions and serving as a museum to educate all about the Rosenwald Schools.

Conforming to the Rosenwald School Floor Plan 20A for a twoteacher school, the standing seam metal roof sits atop a wood weatherboard structure that rises from a concrete foundation. The building still retains much of the original material, especially inside where original beaded board and tongue and groove wainscoting with a chair rail as well as tongue and groove three or four inch pine floors can be observed as can the original chalkboards and built-in bookcases.

Light was provided by a single bulb in a porcelain socket and,

most importantly, window lights. Arranged for maximum benefit, the original windows have been replaced and are now boarded.

In addition to the school building, at least two out buildings were built - a privy and a shed used for firewood and coal, but the dependencies have not survived.

Between 1928 and 1930, a one-story side gable extension added a third classroom, moving the school from a two to threeteacher school, and in the 1940s a bathroom was added.

Significant teachers were Katie Hart, Fostina Worthington and James Felton, who also served as principal.

Originally from Perquimans County, Felton, a Montford Point Marine, earned his Bachelor’s at Elizabeth City State and Master’s at NC Central. First teaching at a Rosenwald School in Snow Hill, he then came to Hertford County, his wife’s home, where he served as assistant pastor at Mill Neck Church and principal at the school.

His daughter, Michele, although too young to remember the actual time at Mill Neck, recalls his recollections of life there, and what it was. The school and church were intertwined, serving as the meeting place, the venue for civic events.

She recalls how much her father loved the community, how he described it as a “sweet” community with the people all working together and being very supportive of the school.

As a condition of funding, Rosenwald Schools required state, county and local support. The school was built on land originally given to Maney’s Neck Mill Neck Missionary Baptist

The school and church were intertwined, serving as the meeting place, the venue for civic events.

“ ”

Church, dating from 1866 but originally a part of Buckhorn Baptist Church, by Julian Picot, who gave the land for a church and school as long as used for that purpose.

In 1925, his son, Guy, deeded the school lot to the Hertford County Board of Education. The African American community raised $200 for the building; Rosenwald Funds contributed $700, and $2,475.00 was provided in public funds to build the school for a total cost of $3,375.00.

The school housed grades 1-7; students then went to Riverview in Murfreesboro and C.S. Brown in Winton for junior and high school

The school operated until 1959 when it was consolidated into Riverview in Murfreesboro.

The school was far more than a building; it was a center of culture; students took great pride in having their school, in being able to say “It’s MY school.”

They thought it the best place you could be, one alumnus even recalling it heresy not to want to go to school. With so many of the students the children of share-croppers, they

often had to miss school in order to work the fields, but they wanted to be in school. Dr. Flood recalls hating to see summer come, finding it absolute “torture” to be away from school.

Noting that one of the greatest influences on education is the student’s perception of self, Dr. Flood talks of the importance to the students of knowing someone cared enough to provide a school for them, thus making the Rosenwald schools a special gift.

Michele Felton remembers her father’s keen support of education, his encouraging all the parents to allow their children to attend school as much as possible in spite of the farming. She echoes Dr. Flood’s statement about the importance of Rosenwald Schools because they showed the youngsters that someone cared enough to build a school in proximity to their homes, to provide a place for them to receive an education.

Perhaps those who could say “It’s MY School” are fewer today than they once were (six alumni of the Mill Neck School died in January 2021 alone), but Mill Neck School still

reminds us of that importance. With the Rev. Partlow’s dream, the Mill Neck School will once again be a beacon of light in the community, the meeting place, the venue for civic events, and all can say, “It’s MY School.”

Information for boxes:

To contribute to the restoration of Mill Neck School, please go online to the GoFundMe page for MIll Neck Rosenwald School Association created by Sonya Lawrence. For more information about the restoration, contact the Rev. Partlow at dtprap59@gmail.com or Paulette Lawrence at lawrencepauletteb@gmail.com

For more information, see the North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places; Solender, Michael J.“Inside the Rosenwald Schools.” Smithsonianmag.com, March 30, 2021;

Keller, Julian. “Sources of Light. Sarah Davis is a retired librarian and regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living. Chicago Tribune, May 25, 2012.

Sarah Davis is a retired librarian and regular contributor to Eastern North Carolina Living.

Explore Williamston

Visit downtown Williamston

Story & Photos by Amelia Harper

While the Red Oak Community Building was constructed more than 85 years ago and was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 2006, it still serves as a hub for community activities for the Town of Red Oak.

The one-story Rustic Revival log building exudes a sense of naturalism, tradition and warmth. It is used regularly by local churches, Scout groups, clubs and other organizations. Families hold reunions and wedding receptions there. When it was built in 1935, it was the only public venue in Red Oak, and it remains so to this day.

Tony Bennett, who serves on the Red Oak Town Council and has called the town home since 1967, says the Red Oak

Community Building not only fulfills the needs of the community, but is a source of pride among its residents.

“I think people enjoy the uniqueness of the log cabin, and I think it is also wellused because of the big open room,” he said. “There are no partitions or anything, which allows people to have 75 or 80 people there comfortably.”

While many local buildings are constructed along more ordinary, functional lines, the history and construction of the Red Oak Community Building lends it a charm that places it out of the ordinary public venue experience.

While the building now has amenities such as appliances and central heating and air, it retains its simple lines and natural features. The log construction

“ ”

I think people enjoy the uniqueness of the log cabin...

- Tony Bennett

and pine floors add a sense of earthiness and solid, old-fashioned appeal.

The building features exposed saddlenotched log construction, according to the documentation provided to the National Registry of Historic Places. It has one large room with an exposed log ceiling. A kitchen with a pass-through window is located on one end of the building while a storage area with a small bathroom and separate entrance completes the construction on the other end of the building.

The building went through a major renovation in 2014, according to Bennett. He said extreme cold temperatures required the building to be wrapped in plastic and heaters to be brought in to help cure the building.

“I guess it was bad timing,” he mused. “But everything came out well and the building is beautiful.”

Bennett said the knockout roses in front of what some locals refer to as the “Red Oak Log Cabin,” add even more beauty to the facility.

The building is located on Church Street in Red Oak, very near the intersection with N.C. 43. Church Street is aptly named as the two oldest surviving churches in the town — the Red Oak Methodist Church and the Red Oak Baptist Church, both have property that touch the street. The Red Oak Community Building — or Red Oak Community House, as it is officially known — is nestled between the

property owned by these churches and still serves as a meeting space for both churches when needed.

However, the building was not constructed for religious purposes. Rather, it was built with a more utilitarian social and educational reason in mind.

The Red Oak Community Building is one of 22 community buildings built under the direction of the Emergency Relief Organization in North Carolina between 1932 and 1935. Most of these buildings are constructed of materials native to each location, such as logs or stone.

In Red Oak, the building was initially constructed primarily as a site for the Home Demonstration Club, a North Carolina Extension Office program designed to provide educational and social opportunities to women in rural communities.

Home Demonstration Clubs were set up and money was set aside through the post-Depression work relief program for construction of buildings to house them. These were seen as a way to improve the plight of farmwomen, these officials decided.

The construction of the Red Oak Community Building and others built for this purpose came through the Emergency Relief Administration. This was a program created by the federal government during the Great Depression as a “temporary means of

relief” for “persons in rural areas or stranded populations” to provide work that was not in competition with private industry. More that 107 public works of “permanent value” were undertaken in North Carolina during this time period using such public funds.

In a letter dated May 8, 2006, former State Historic Preservation Officer Jeffrey Crow announced to former Red Oak Mayor Alfred Wester that the Red Oak Community House had been entered into the National Registry of Historic Places.

“You are fortunate to own and preserve a property that justly deserves this honor,” Crow said. “The National Registry has been justly called ‘a roll call of the tangible reminders of the history of the United States.’ It is, therefore, a pleasure for the Office of Archives and History to participate in this program and thereby make our nation aware of North Carolina’s rich cultural heritage.”

Bennett said like most properties, the Red Oak Log Cabin found itself sitting empty for most of the last year because of COVID-19, but it has returned to usefulness and is being rented on a near-weekly basis. He said it is wonderful to see the historic site so vibrant again.

(Eastern North Carolina Living Editor Thadd White contributed to this story.)

Amelia Harper is a Staff Writer for the Rocky Mount Telegram.

Historic Preservation

Program Sets Edgecombe Community College Apart

On the Tarboro campus of Edgecombe Community College, a unique program in historic preservation is teaching students how to restore historic structures.

The comprehensive program, the first of its kind in North Carolina, includes a two-year degree program in Historic Preservation Technology and two short-term certificate programs in Preservation Research and Historic Construction, as well as popular weekend continuing education classes.

Edgecombe Community College (ECC) is one of only five community colleges in the nation that offers a degree in historic preservation and only one of two in North Carolina that offers a program in preservationrelated building trades.

The program was launched in fall 2008 with a daylong trades school that featured demonstrations by preservationists. This popular Historic Preservation Trades Fair continued annually until the pandemic paused the gathering in 2020.

Story & Photos by Mary Tom Bass

Tri-County Airport opens new terminal

The wait was worth it! The brand-new terminal on Henry Joyner Field at Tri-County Airport opened last week. The modern well-designed terminal now welcomes visitors by air to Bertie, Hertford and Northampton counties. The old terminal had long since served its purpose and needed to be replaced many years ago.

A first impression only happens once. Now visitors from prospective businesses and from current employers will be greeted upon arrival at the airport by a state-of-the-art facility. The new terminal has over 3,000 square feet of space including a conference room for meetings at the airport. Representatives from Perdue and Republic Services were present to celebrate, and also donated for the purchase of furniture for the terminal.

$1.4 million was spent on the facility with the funding from the Division of Aviation of North Carolina Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration program. Around 10,000 aircraft operations are done a year at the airport. The airport has 4,500-hundred-foot runway, that was first paved in 1965.

Bertie County Commission Chair Tammy Lee hosted the ribboncutting for the terminal, as well as serving as the Chair of Tri-County Airport Commission. On the commission from Bertie County and attending the event were Bertie County Chief Deputy Kenny Perry and Steve Biggs, Bertie County Economic Developer.

Additionally, Commissioners Ron Wesson and Ron Roberson were present as well as Bertie County Manager Juan Vaughan II.

Commissioner Tammy Lee said, “We are absolutely thrilled with this beautiful facility” and she went on to thank all of the parties involved including Henry Joyner, who is the general manager of Tri-County Airport and the namesake for Henry Joyner Field.

Joyner actually cut the ribbon. The late Hertford County Commissioner Johnnie Ray Farmer was thanked for his work on this project and his widow, Paula Farmer accepted a plaque on his behalf.

North Carolina Rep. Howard J. Hunter, III was thanked for his work in the North Carolina legislature on this project as well as Rep. Michael Wray. Trey Lewis representing Senator Tom Tillis’s office and Betty Jo Shephard from Senator Richard Burr’s Office were present at the ceremony.

The importance of this new terminal and the impression that it makes on businesses looking to relocate was echoed by Biggs.

“Imagine the owner of a manufacturing company visiting our area to potentially relocate before the building of this facility landing and seeing the old decrepit terminal might tell his pilot keep the engine running because we are not staying.”

The terminal certainly states by its appearance that this area is in the 21st Century. The Wilson Group were the architects of the building with Talbert & Bright Engineering as the planning consultants. Calvin Davenport, Inc. was the general contractor. The Windsor/Bertie Chamber and Ahoskie Chamber served as hosts for the event. A much larger celebration is planned for when Covid-19 conditions are better.

Lewis Hoggard is Executive Director of the Windsor/Bertie County Chamber of Commerce.

S tory and P hoto B y L ewi S h oggard

Views

Liberty Hall (Bertie Co.)

Original Beaufort County Courthouse

Spring Green Primitive Baptist Church (Martin Co.)

Tyrrell County Courthouse

Photos by Sarah Hodges Stalls

Davenport Homeplace (Washington Co.)

ALL IN A Day’s Trip

Story by Leslie Beachboard Photos by Michelle Leicester & Leslie Beachboard

Across the border Suffolk, VA

Those looking to spend a day filled with history, adventure, shopping and a variety of foods to delight the tastebuds should look no further than just across the North Carolina-Virginia state line.

Suffolk has all of these things and more.

The city has a rich history dating back 400 years to the first exploration of the Nansemond River in 1608. It offers a restored and thriving downtown, along with other unique communities for activities for everyone.

Suffolk is nicknamed “Virginia’s Caffeine Capital” because coffee producers from around the world import, roast and distribute from the area.

Lipton Tea has been processing tea in Suffolk for over 60 years.

Planters Peanuts has been processing a variety of peanut flavors in Suffolk for more than 100 years, and the birth of the iconic “Mr. Peanut” began here.

The Suffolk Visitor Center offers excellent displays of the rich history of the city, along with brochures filled with information about local museums and exhibits for anyone’s interest. There is also information about other towns and attractions all over the state available.

Inside, visitors can browse a wide variety of gifts available in the gift shop. There is something for everyone from artwork, clothing, glassware and books.

The Suffolk Visitor Center is located at 524 North Main St. in Suffolk.

The Suffolk Visitor Center Pavilion is a location for many outdoor events hosted. The Suffolk Farmer’s Market is held from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. every Saturday from May through November.

Visitors can browse a variety of fresh produce,

plants, baked goods and more from local participants.

Looking for something a little more spooky, then look no further. The “Legends on Main Street” ghost walk is a guided walking tour through the shadows of historic Main Street. The tour is offered once a month, and reservations are required. For more information, contact the Suffolk Visitor Center at 757-514-4130 or visit www. visitsuffolkva.com.

Suffolk is nicknamed “Virginia’s

Capital” because coffee producers from around the world import, roast and distribute from the area.

Just next door to the visitor’s center is Riddick’s Folly Museum and Gift Shop.

Riddick’s Folly is Suffolk’s only historic house museum, and the only museum in the tidewater area dedicated to the early 19th Century.

The museum is a reminder of times past. Mills Riddick built the mansion in 1837 after the Great Suffolk Fire of 1837. Riddick died five years after the house was complete. After his death, his son, Nathaniel, and his family lived in the house until retreating to Petersburg during the Union occupation.

During the Union occupation of Suffolk, the house served as the headquarters for General John James Peck of the Union Army.

The tour leads visitors through the

museum which showcases period furnishings, art and artifacts many belonging to the Riddick family. Penciled messages on the walls from Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners can still be seen today.

Riddick’s Folly is located at 510 North Main St. in Suffolk.

All aboard. The Suffolk Seaboard Station Railroad Museum is one of Suffolk’s most recognized landmarks.

The Suffolk Seaboard Station was built in 1885 and was used as a passenger train station until the 1960s.

The station was eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair. The building again suffered extensive damage from a fire in 1994, and put the station in danger of being demolished.

The Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society worked to have the station repaired. Inside the museums, visitors will find a wide array of memorabilia including train artifacts, old train menus and other unique items from the six railroads that serviced the city.

The largest display is a two-room model of the railways and Suffolk in 1907.

The museum is located at 326 North Main St. in Suffolk.

Cedar Hill Cemetery dates back to 1802. Originally constructed as Green Hill Cemetery, the 32-acre features a beautiful landscape of hills and cedar trees.

This historic cemetery is the resting place for many Confederate Generals and soldiers, as well as many prominent families, and state and local officials from Suffolk.

Cedar Hill offers many unique examples of tombstones, structures and several family mausoleums.

The cemetery is located at 102 Mahan St. in Suffolk.

Caffeine

Suffolk also offers much outdoor adventure for those who are looking to spend some time in nature.

Adventure awaits on the guided kayak excursions through the Suffolk Visitor Center.

These excursions are scheduled March through November and participants can reserve a slot in one of the kayak adventures through the Great Dismal Swamp’s Lake Drummond, Nansemond River, Bennett’s Creek or the Lone Star Lakes.

These guided expeditions are facilitated by a water adventures outfitter with years of experience.

The excursions are $40 a person and reservations are required.

Participants must be at least 10 years old or older.

For more information or to reserve a trip, call 757-5144130.

The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and Trails offers many ways to experience nature.

The 112,000 acres of forest and wetland, along with 3,100-acre Lake Drummond, visitors may participate is a variety of activities including hiking, biking, nature photography, wildlife observation, hunting, fishing or boating.

Downtown Suffolk boasts a shopping community with stores for everyone. Take a stroll through downtown and browse a variety of unique shops that house antiques, clothing and speciality gifts. While downtown walk over to the park and take a picture with the famous “Mr. Peanut” statue.

If one is hungry while in Suffolk, there is an option for whatever it is one craves. Suffolk is the home of a variety of restaurants with foods, coffee and sweet treats of all kinds.

Amicis specializes in Italian cuisine, including pastas, subs and pizza. It is open for brunch through dinner.

Amicis is located at 159 East Washington St. in Suffolk.

Baron’s Corner Pub serves American comfort food in a casual atmosphere.

These are just two of the many options to choose from. Need a pick-me-up?

Stop in Pour Favor for a speciality iced or hot coffee drink. Have a seat inside or outside by the fire pit to relax.

Suffolk offers activities for all ages and most can be seen in just a day.

Leslie Beachboard can be reached at bertienews@ ncweeklies.com.

Q uestions

with

Shenon Beachboard

Shenon Beachboard is the contractor/owner of Beachboard Carpentry and Repair. He completed a major restoration of the Freeman-Mizelle-Beachboard House in Windsor in 2016-17.

What led to your decision to restore a historic home?

It was the architecture and the charm. The first time I walked into the house it was a diamond in the rough. There were unique features that I could not walk into a building supply or home improvement center and purchase new. I knew that a house that was 154 years old would last a lifetime rather than just for a mortgage. I envisioned what the house looked like back then and not the condition it was currently in. The house had survived the elements, natural disasters and many other things long before me or several generations of my family was born. I wanted to bring it back to life. It was too grand to let it fade into the past. I wanted to preserve it for many other generations to come.

What about your home in particular interested you?

One of the main things was it had never been remodeled or upgraded since its original 1890 Victorian makeover. The house still had many of its original features. I loved the front entry with the marble steps, and the fireplaces with unique mantels with encaustic tile. The house had the original plaster walls that had never been painted, only covered with wallpaper. It had the original hardwood floors and plaster moldings that had survived throughout time.

How different is the restoration of a historic home and one that is not?

You try to save as much of the original features as possible. If you remove all of the unique features it erases the historical charm of the house. You have to try and blend the new repairs to the original features. You don’t want anything to look repaired. You want everything to look as it was originally supposed to be. With newer homes it is easier because you can create any style rather than trying to duplicate a historic home’s original style. It took alot of research. Sometimes I wouldn’t know the proper name or reason for something until I researched it. Historic homes have many features not seen in modern construction.

What was the most difficult part of the task?

My family and I lived in the house through the 14-month restoration process. There were many challenges. We moved in late winter and had no heat. I remember we all laughed about it. The plumbing failed about three weeks later. We went three months without a fully operational kitchen while it was being restored. We moved all of our possessions from room to room as the work was being completed due to fear that everything would be ruined from the dust and debris. One of the bathrooms didn’t have a floor. Finding specific items needed was difficult. There were many trips to architectural salvage dealers hoping to find an exact match of something that was in better condition than what you had. The most difficult part was the amount of work it needed. Every room needed major repairs. I spent every night and weekend working on a project. If I was lucky I would get 4 hours sleep a night. It made for a long, tiring 14 months.

How do you feel now that your family is residing there?

I feel at home. In the beginning many people were watching and I didn’t even realize it. As the project progressed people would stop to cheer us on and offer encouragement. It has made me appreciate the wonderful people in my small town. There was so much relief when it was complete, but truly it will never be complete. The house will always be a work in progress. Something will always need to be done. There will always be preventive maintenance. The plaster will crack and need to be repaired. The paint will chip and need to be touched up. But I know the major work is behind me. I can now concentrate on the things I would like to do and not what has to be done.

Would you do it again?

Most definitely, just for the thrill of it. I have always dreamed of having a big, historic house. Not because it is fancy, but because I appreciate the rich history that comes with it. Plus, as a family of 6 we needed the space. Each historic house tells a story. It is exciting to watch the story unfold as the house is brought back to life. Although, I would want to take my time, and not have to work to meet a deadline.

Grandma’s Kitchen

This issue is about history and I love it. It has been my favorite subject since I was first introduced to it in elementary school. I find it fascinating to learn how people in the past lived. That makes archeology a great love of mine. It seems to prove King Solomon’s observation, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

While it took a great deal more work, people in Colonial America ate some of the same things we do today. Men fished and hunted for food to put on the table. Many of the colonists brought goats, chickens, pigs. cows and sheep with them. They also brought seeds for planting. The seeds were for food, but they brought flower seeds as well.

Women were in charge of the home garden and of making butter and other dairy products. Preserving food for the winter was necessary or the family would starve. Meat was smoked or layered in salt. Some vegetables were placed deep in the ground with sawdust around them. Vegetables, fruits and herbs were also dried. Butter, milk and dairy products were often kept in houses built around springs. Pickling was another method of preserving food.

I can remember vaguely going with my grandmother to a relative’s home in the Shenandoah Valley. It was a dairy farm but they had maintained the old way of living.

The home was built next to a spring and the spring was in a room off the kitchen. The room was constructed of stone which helped keep the room cool. In it were benches built around the spring.

Dairy products were kept on the stools to keep them cool. I think the reason I remember it so well is they gave me a cold glass of milk that was straight from the cow. It was stringy and thick. I thought it was the worst thing I ever tried to drink.

Another memory is of an elderly woman who lived a block up from my grandmother. She still dried the fruit grown in her yard for the winter. My clearest memory is of her drying apples.

She sat on the back steps and cored the apples. Then she cut them in thin rings across the whole apple. She next put them on sheets and covered them with cheesecloth to dry in the sun.

It was a rare and great treat when she would give her granddaughter and me a slice or two of her dried apples. I still love them today. I have dried them in my oven and while they are good, they don’t compare to my memory of those sheet dried apples.

Some of the things we still enjoy today are meat and vegetables cooked together in pot roasts and stews, pies, cobblers, cakes and cookies.

Sylvia Hughes with her grandmother, Bertie Dameron.

Perfect Apple Pie Filling

• 6 to 8 tart apples (preferably granny smith), pared, cored and thinly sliced (six cups)

• ¾ to 1 cup of sugar (to taste)

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons butter

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and a dash of salt.

Mix with apples

Line pie plate with pastry. Fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter.

Adjust tip crust. Cut slits for steam to escape. Seal Edges. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

Note: Can use 5 cups of canned sliced apples.

Dried Apples

Heat oven to 200 degrees

Slice 2 apples as thin as possible (Granny Smith for tart, Honey Crisp for sweeter)

Mix 4 cups of water and ½ cup of lemon juice, place apple slices in mixture to prevent slices browning.

Dry with paper towels

Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake one hour, turn over and bake one to two more hours. Check occasionally, add or reduce time to desired dryness.

Turn off oven, crack the oven door and let cool completely.

Sylvia Hughes is a retired newspaper editor and columnist residing in Windsor. In addition to three sons, she has a gaggle of grandchildren, many of whom love cooking with her just as she did with her mother and grandmother.

Grace & Truth

The person everyone needs

Every person wants to make a difference. We are often unsure of how to do it. We suffer many days believing that we are insignificant, and most people battle feelings of lacking worth. When we get this way, we tend to be needy. We beg others for attention.

It is a sad digression to fall from a purposeful world changer to a whiny leech. You know the kind of person I’m talking about, right? Some need so much. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t care for people like that, but I hope to encourage us to find our adventurous side again and run after being healthy and helpful.

I believe our existence flows from three positions. We are here to discover identity, destiny and legacy. The person that everyone needs is someone who knows who they are, knows what they are capable of, and knows who they are here to help. The person in the Bible that embodies this purposeful living is Jonathan, Saul’s son.

Jonathan knew that his identity emerges from God. He was a man who listened to the Spirit’s leading and was ready to make grand steps when called. One day, his father, Saul, is announced as the first king of Israel. He literally woke up one day a prince. He wasn’t born a prince. He didn’t earn the prince’s title.

One day by the leading of God, he becomes the first prince of Israel. He walked in that favor bringing honor to God and Israel daily.

A few years later, the nation found itself at war with the Philistines. He woke up that morning and said to his armor-bearer, “Let’s go defeat some Philistines today.” The two of them climbed the hill where the army was, and Israel took an incredible victory! Jonathan knew his destiny as a warrior and walked in courage during the battle that day.

Many years later, David, a close and intimate

friend of Jonathan’s, was on the run from Jonathan’s father. Jonathan remained loyal to his father, but also honored the covenants he had made to keep David alive. One day when David was at his lowest, Jonathan got away from the camp to encourage David. Jonathan strengthened the hand of David. This is an action that David would need to do for himself the rest of his life. Jonathan taught David how to be ready for anything.

Jonathan was the type of man that every person needs. He trusted his identity to be formed by God and walked in favor. Prepared to accept his destiny in the Philistine battle, Jonathan courageously met his most intimidating challenge. He was a man of valor and honor. He knew that his real legacy wasn’t to be on a throne but to build the man who would follow his father. Legacy is not what you leave behind, it’s who you leave behind.

The person that everyone needs stands firmly in their identity, destiny and legacy. Someone needs you to be confirmed and comforted in who God designed you to be. When His design and your desires work together, the world is changed forever.

Pastor Emanuel Webb Hoggard is Pastor at Askewville Assembly of God. He can be reached via email at pastorwebb@hotmail.com.

Pastor Webb

Jackie Lyons White

Every year, the United States recognizes May as Lupus Awareness Month.

But for Jackie Lyons White and more than 200,000 other Americans, Lupus affects their lives 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

White, who currently resides in Durham, is a Bertie County native, and the President/CEO of Bertie Alumni Community Association.

She was diagnosed with Lupus 15 years ago, and since then has become an advocate to help share the facts and her story about Lupus.

“Being a Lupus warrior and local ambassador, I want to share information to help the world understand Lupus and raise awareness. I allow myself time to echo my voice to speak for me and the other people living with the disease,” White said. “Lupus is more persuasive and severe than people think. It has a devastating impact on those

who have the disease.”

According to White, research shows that a staggering two-thirds of the public know little about Lupus, have never heard of the disease or know little about Lupus and its effects on those who have received such a

diagnosis.

Lupus is a chronic disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of the body. It is a long-term autoimmune disease. It becomes hyperactive, and the disease attacks the healthy tissues and organs within the body.

Patients with Lupus can experience significant symptoms. The disease can affect many parts of the body including organs, such as the kidneys and liver, may cause severe pain throughout the body, inflammation, extreme fatigue, swelling, painful and damaged joints, hair loss, cognitive issues, cardiovascular disease, stroke, shortness of breath, disfiguring skiing rashes, memory loss, vision problems, sensitivity to sunlight and physical impairments. Lupus can affect daily lives and tasks.

“Lupus is not contagious, and you cannot catch Lupus from someone or give Lupus to someone else. The person’s genes play a role

Story by Leslie Beachboard Photos Contributed

“B eing a L upus warrior and L oca L am B assador , i want to share information to he L p the wor L d understand L upus and raise awareness .”

in the predisposition of the development of Lupus in their bodies,” White added.

According to White, those with the disease can live with Lupus, although many days may be difficult. However Lupus can be fatal in some patients. There is currently no cure for the disease.

“Each individual with Lupus has a different battle,” White insists.

Lupus is known as a silent disease because patients may seem like nothing is wrong on the outside. However, looks can be deceiving. Lupus patients have flares when the disease ravages the person’s body. Sometimes sufferers hurt daily and live in pain most of the time unless medicated with Lupus-specific medications or other treatments.

White said Lupus can affect people of all ages, genders, racial and ethnic groups. However, Lupus is more prevalent among people of color: African Americans, Hispanic/ Latinos and Asians than those who are caucasians.

Lupus is about nine times more common in women than in men.

There are four kinds of Lupus.

White was diagnosed with the most common form of Lupus, known as Systemic Erythematosus.

Cutaneous Lupus is a form that is limited to the skin. It causes rashes or lesions caused by the sunlight. The disease is made worse by the exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sunlight.

“I was also diagnosed with this type of Lupus too,” said White.

The third type is Neonatal Lupus. The disease comes from the antibodies from the mother that affect the fetus. The baby inherits diseases like congenital heart defects, low blood cell count and rashes.

Drug-induced Lupus is caused by certain prescription medications that patients have taken in the past.

“Some Lupus patient’s disease turns to cancer, and they sometimes have organ failure. Lupus can be life threatening. Although there is no cure for Lupus, there are medications, treatments and lifestyle changes that can help patients manage the symptoms and continue to live,” she added.

White said her battle with the disease has been uphill and downhill.

“I never gave up. I will never forget the day I got sick at work in March 2006, and had to receive emergency care. Three days later on March 23, my son’s birthday, my doctor told me the antinuclear antibody (ANA) test came back positive for Lupus,” she continued.

Since her diagnosis, White has been through some life altering changes, a lot of severe pain and four surgeries.

“With me having Lupus, the onset triggered other medical issues including anxiety, depression and other health ailments like degenerative bone disease, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. The battle is not easy,” said White “You must be strong minded, and willing to beat the disease in order to survive.”

She said she has her good days and her bad days, but she is still alive thanks to God.

“Several years ago, Lupus took an effect on my body that left me disabled. I had to close both of my businesses, Dolly’s Cafe formally in Aulander and Flowers by Jackie, a home based florist for the funeral homes,” White continued.

Despite all of the challenges she is faced, White said she is still trying to help others in

Bertie County when she is not in a health crisis.

White’s mission and ministry has always been to help others, especially at-risk youth, promote education, assist with disasters and offer support through her nonprofit organization.

Several years ago, the Lupus Foundation started “Purple Friday” or

“Put On Purple” during the month of May.

The foundation chose the color purple and their symbol as a butterfly.

The butterfly was selected because a lot of patients would have a rash in the shape of a butterfly on their body.

“The organization asks for Lupus warriors and their supporters to wear purple clothing or a purple ribbon for awareness each Friday in May. Every year May 10 is considered World Lupus Day, and there are scheduled walks in October,” said White.

This year the Lupus Foundation of America’s walk will be held nationwide on Oct. 16. This year the walk will be held virtually due to COVID-19 because Lupus sufferers are considered high risk.

The funds raised through the event will benefit research, education, awareness and support for Americans living with lupus.

“I am here to help make a change and advocate for Lupus sufferers. I am committed to making a difference in Bertie and Durham counties to promote the awareness of Lupus. I attend conferences and different programs to keep myself and others informed on research, available resources, educational resources and to be an encouragement to others battling,” White closed.

Leslie Beachboard is Managing Editor of Eastern North Carolina Living, the Bertie Ledger-Advance and The Enterprise.

County: Halifax Marker ID:E-78

Original Date Cast: 1968-P

In operation by 1770.

&

PERSON’S ORDINARY

MARK IT!

To Begin Here

the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

REFERENCES

Information courtesy

The oldest landmark in the Halifax County town of Littleton, Person’s Ordinary is a restored, one-and-onehalf-story house with a three-room plan which once served as a tavern owned by Thomas Person (1733-1800). Active in the Regulator movement and in time a prominent Anti-Federalist leader, Person was also a planter. His nephew and adopted son, William Person Little, inherited Person’s plantation, which took the name “Little Manor.” The town of Littleton, in turn, took its name from “Little Manor.” The town’s first mail service originated at the ordinary and Little served as the first postmaster.

Person’s Ordinary, in operation by 1770, was a stagecoach stop between Hillsborough and Halifax. It became a popular stop for many travelers. The following advertisement appeared in the Virginia Gazette in 1779: “Stolen from the subscriber in Warren County, near Thomas Person’s Ordinary, a sorrel horse, etc. The thief has been seen with the above horse in his possession near the Butterwood Ordinary in Amelia County. Reward $100 etc. signed, Unity Coleman.”

In 1925 the old inn became the property of the Warren County Board of Education. In 1957 the Littleton Women’s Club leased the building from the school board and subsequently restored the structure. Staff of the Department of Archives and History advised on the restoration and state funds were appropriated for the purpose.

Revolutionary tavern

stage stop. Named for family of Thomas Person. Restored by Littleton Woman’s Club. One blk. E.

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Title

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Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996) Rebecca Leach Dozier, Looking Back on Littleton, North Carolina (1994) (Williamsburg) Virginia Gazette, June 9, 1779

NC 4 (Mosby Avenue) at Warren Street in Littleton

PARTING SHOTS

My favorite subject in high school was always history. I think part of that was because my football coach – Bill Hawkins – taught U.S. History with the same gusto he used on the football field.

We had to learn the first 100 words of President Abraham Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and a host of other things that memory no longer allows me to hold onto.

But, what we learned was interesting always. He never let us think our history was dull or something that could be learned simply by answering fill-in-the-blank questions on a test. He made us think, and for that reason, he was one of my favorite teachers and history was my favorite subject.

(As a side note, if any of you Bertie County or Edgecombe County folks know where Bill Hawkins is today, please let me know!)

My mother has also been a history buff for most of her life. She’s done genealogy research that I’m certain I’ll appreciate one day, and taken my children to see some of the historic parts of North Carolina and Virginia.

She and I were talking about a place that was on the National Register of Historic Places a few days before the idea for this edition’s theme hit me. I took a few minutes to look through our 14 counties and found there were a number of historic places, homes and buildings from here that are on the National Registry. That’s when we confirmed the idea of sharing the history of some of those places with you.

I asked our writers to not only tell the history of each place, but to talk to someone

who lived that history, enjoys that history and shares that history. We were lucky enough to talk to some people who wrote the narratives to get places placed on the National Register, people who live in the homes and communities we wrote about and those who grew up there.

Thanks to the excellent work by our staff and contributors, you’ll read the stories of historic homes, neighborhoods and buildings from people to whom they matter. You’ll read not just the history of a text, but the history of having lived there, grown up there and worked there. This is the real history!

We hope you enjoy some of the vast history of our region.

We’ll be back in July with something I believe we have all been waiting for – things to do outside. We’ll take a look at parks, trails, amusements, fishing and more.

Until then, remember… all who wander are not lost. Continue joining us as we wander through Beaufort, Bertie, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Nash, Northampton, Tyrrell, Washington and Wilson counties.

Thadd White is “Out at the Ball Game.”

I asked our writers to not only tell the history of each place, but to talk to someone who lived that history, enjoys that history and shares that history.