Washington the Magazine

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Holiday Happiness Celebrate the season with the Koestlines

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 Washington, North Carolina

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Old-fashioned tasty favorites

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IN THIS ISSUE

FEATURES & DEPARTMENTS 20

28

50 18

38

42 OUR PAST 20 28 62

Ghostly secrets: Walk brings town's history to life Among the moss: Washington Park's half mile of river shore A Rich History: Church illustrates Blounts Creek’s unique past

Shopping 14 It’s all about giving: Traditional holiday gifts for everyone on your list

LITerary LINES

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That's Christmas: Tradition is welcome at the Koestline home

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Plant of peace: River rovers hunt mystical, magical mistletoe

AT Home

LET'S Eat

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 9 18 46 49 58 66

Celebrate, then eat: Classic holiday favorites

FOR YOUR HEALTH

RIVER LIFE 38

14

Unlock the guilt: Enjoy holiday food

A literary occasion: O. Henry Book Club turns 100

Publisher’s Note The Scene Advertiser Index Cast a Line Word on Wine Calendar Why I Love Washington

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ON THE COVER

4 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

In the foyer of the Koestline home, family stockings hang along the mantle. There’s even one for the family cat and one the dogs share. See Holiday Happiness on page 32.

Holidayess Happin eason te the s s oestline

Celebra

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ioned Old-fash rites vo fa y st ta

Live A Little

NOTE FROM ASHLEY

Rich with tradition

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his is an area rich with history. Its stories and legends have been passed down since the earliest European settlers colonized these lands near the Pamlico River in the 1690s.

Bath was North Carolina’s first town.

Washington was the first city in America to be named for General George Washington.

Chocowinity served as the railroad hub of the Norfolk Southern Railway in the early 1900s.

Beaufort County is one of North Carolina’s oldest counties and one of its most intriguing.

In this issue of Washington the Magazine, we take a look back.

• The town of Washington Park is one of Beaufort County’s most charming communities.

The quiet neighborhood has a history sprinkled with surprises including plantations, Civil War destruction and the Washington Collegiate Institute that once served 250 students. Beth Wilder gives a porch-swing view of Washington Park as it used to be on page 28.

• The women of the O. Henry Book Club celebrate 100 years of meetings, minutes, life and literature. Change was the one constant through those years, and often times its agents were members of the social and literary organization that still gathers today. Meet them

on page 42.

• The Gerrard Chapel Primitive Baptist Church sits quietly, tucked away in a corner of Blounts Creek. It looks modest and unassuming, but shines like a treasure to Jean Gurkin, president of the Beaufort County Genealogical Society. The church’s registry reveals a fascinating and unique history. Explore its secrets on page 62.

• History seemingly comes alive through modern-day reenactment. Throw in a little legend by lantern light and you’ve got the recipe for a ghostly good time. Bath is notorious for top-notch tales and the town’s recent Ghost walks didn’t disappoint. Learn the lore on page 20.

And of course, we didn’t forget the holidays.

Celebrate Yuletide traditions at home with the Koestline family, go river-roving in search of mistletoe, check out In Store to learn how to stuff your stocking, then flip on over to Let’s Eat to stuff your belly — all in holiday style.

I hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Ashley Vansant Publisher

would love to hear what you think about Washington the Magazine. Email us at news@ Write We thewashingtondailynews.com or write to P.O. Box 1788, Washington, NC 27889. Letters chosen for publication to us may be edited for length and clarity. All submissions become the property of Washington the Magazine.

6 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

WASHINGTON T

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Publisher Ashley Vansant

Editorial Mona Moore Vail Stewart Rumley Mike Voss Contributors Kevin Scott Cutler Will Preslar Advertising Director Kathryn Powell Marketing & Sales Brandi Bragg Ed Drew Distribution Sylvester Rogers Art Direction Ryan Webb Contact information Washington the Magazine P.O. Box 1788 Washington, NC 27889 Advertising inquiries 252-946-2144 Ext. 221 Subscriptions & change of address 252-946-2144 Washington the Magazine is published six times a year by Washington Newsmedia, LLC. Copyright 2013, Washington Newsmedia, LLC

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OUT AND ABOUT

Police Activities League Annual Dinner and Dance

THE SCENE

The Police Activities League held its annual dinner dance and auction on Nov. 2 at the Washington Civic Center.

Through the league, the event funds programs for local children with special focus on science, technology, engineering and math, as well as aviation.

Michele Oros and Marc Recko

Jule and Laurel MacKenzie and Keith Mason

Justin Depree and Trevor Lescinsky

PAL Director Alvin Powell and Dr. Michael McClure

BCAC at Turnage Theater Beaufort County residents turned out in force for a toast to the Turnage Theater days after the Beaufort County Arts Council took ownership of downtown Washington’s historic theater. Merchants celebrated by handing out glasses of champagne, and arts supporters filled West Main Street as BCAC Executive Director Joey Toler spoke to the crowd.

Dana and Bonnie Eddings

Ann Opello, Andrea Holloway, Jane Boston, Ann Commings and Kathryn Mariani

Pat Holscher and Reba Jakub

Becky Sipprell, Rima Clark and Garleen Woolard NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 9

THE SCENE

OUT AND ABOUT

Humane Society Annual Live Auction Beaufort County Humane Society’s annual live auction is the organization’s major fundraiser every year. Hundreds of people turned out for the event which sponsors the county’s spay/neuter program and helps offset adoption fees at the Betsy Bailey Animal Control Facility.

Angela and Miguel Maldonado

The Cipriano family

Damon and Christy Walcott

Leslie Steele and Mac Cox

Pansy Champion, Tucker Talley and Peter Champion

Jayne Meisell, Wendy Cooper, Cary Robinson, Les Robinson and Joan Meyland

Justin and Carla Toomey

10 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Linda Bissette, Stan and Lois Cohen

OUT AND ABOUT

The Glebe House

THE SCENE

The historic Glebe House is presently being restored with grant funds, generous donations and a team of dedicated volunteers. The restoration is also funded by the annual tag sale, which took place the first weekend of October. This year was a remarkable success, raising more than $10,000. The Glebe House thanks you for making the preservation of history a priority.

The historic Glebe House

Julie Chesson, Cheryl Maguire, Chuck Maguire, Lani LeFevre, Barbara Craig, LaRue Chuman, Bill Pruitt and Betty Pruitt.

David Wheeler, LaRue Chuman, Bill Axness, Lani LeFevre (chairwoman of tag sale), Sue Brown, Chip Ide, Blanche Monroe, Cynthia Haar, Pat Axness, Anne Wester, Monk Wheeler, Jane Spangler, Mary Anne Howard, Annie Griffin and Julie Chesson.

Ruth Peterson, Julie Chesson, Sue Brown, Sylvia Sutter, Monk Wheeler, Jan Cochran, Lani LeFevre, Betty Pruitt and Mary Anne Howard.

Daily News Open House The Washington Daily News held a Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce after hours on Sept. 26 and officially invited the public in for a peek at the newly renovated offices on Market Street.

Bettie Bonner and Derris Bradshaw

Rhonda Lyons, Brad Davis and Alma Friedman

Robin McKeithan and Ryan Webb

Clay Carter and Susan Fowle NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 11

THE SCENE

OUT AND ABOUT

BCAC Annual Art Show The Beaufort County Arts Council’s 49th-annual art show was held at the Washington Civic Center on Sept. 23.

The show draws artists from across the southeast and is launched with an opening reception in which members can purchase the many works.

Justin Moore, Ramos Manning, Melissa Manning-Moore

Rhonda Gray and Shenavery Cherry

Chip and Angela Shackleford

Louise and Jeffrey Barker

Pamela Geist and Chris Nappi

12 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Cathy Waters, Reg Smith and Ellen McCotter

Scott and Cheryl Hollis

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Photo by Larry Boyd

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Sponsored by the Washington Harbor District Alliance NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 13

WHAT’S IN STORE

It's all about giving Written by MONA MOORE PHOTOS by WILL PRESLAR

Tails for tales Your books won’t budge a bit with this very heavy pair of vintage cast iron Scottish Terrior bookends. They’re about 650 dog years old (circa 1920).

Available at South Market Antiques, Washington. $79

Gourmet galore Whether you want to pamper your favorite person or impress your boss, a basket of goodies will be ideal. Find everything from truffle oil to pasta at Wine & Words… & Gourmet, Washington.

Prices vary by content.

14 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

On the half-shell They’re unique. They’re fun. They’re authentic. What better way could there be to represent eastern North Carolina during the holiday season? The oyster shells are also available as globes and wreathes.

Find them at Nauti Life, Washington. $11, $21, $31

Pillow talk If you are looking for a fresh take on Christmas décor, start with these pillows. Each whimsical Christmas pillow is available at Cottage Junkies, Washington. $36

A cure for what ails you This 6 oz. stainless steel needlepoint flask is sure to get the party started (or keep it going) with style. The Smathers and Branson signature needlepoint is trimmed with full grain leather and is permanently fixed around the flask. There is not a better accessory for your back pocket wherever the party may take you. Available at Russell’s Gentlemen’s Clothing, Washington. $65

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 15

Batteries not included Remember when toys were built to last longer than Christmas morning? This Fisher Price Grampa Frog wood toy will take you back to those days. Take him home. He’s at Toy Town Collectibles in Little Shoppes of Washington, 127 West Main Street. $75

Monkey business This cute and cuddly Mrs. Claus sock monkey has friends. The plush toys come in a variety of themes and sizes. They are made at The Blind Center and can be found in the center’s booth at Little Shoppes of Washington, 127 West Main Street. The monkeys have also been known to hang out at The Blind Center Gift Shop, Washington. $25-$30

A tied finish Ties are THE classic gift option. Continue the tradition with these traditional striped ties by Southern Proper of Atlanta, Ga. Each one is 100 percent silk with a wool blend liner, top quality for your top guy. Russell’s Gentlemen’s Clothing, Washington. $75

16 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Let it snow Fill your home with sounds and scenes of the season with this musical snow globe from the Towle Holiday Wishes Collection. Playing “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas,” this snow globe is the perfect decoration to put you and your guests in the holiday spirit. Each globe measures 5.5 inches. They are available at Stewart’s Jewelry Store, Washington. $37

Teatime This charming tea-for-one set comes with a teapot, cup and saucer. With its classic spring garden roses pattern and gold trim, the set will make any cup of tea a special one. Find tea-for-one sets at Cabbages and Kings in Little Shoppes of Washington. $29

Deere heart For every major brand of tractor, there’s a toy to match it. The toys come as small as a matchbox or like the John Deere pictured, the size of small hands.

You’ll even find a few children ages 3 to 7 can ride or pedal. All of the major brands are represented in their distinctive colors. They also come in pink. Find a wide assortment of tractor toys at Mitchell Tractor & Equipment Company, Washington. $7.95

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 17

ADVERTISER INDEX Allstate Insurance, 41

Lautares Jewelers, 59

Amy’s Hallmark, 41

Lone Leaf Gallery, 48

Andrea Heekins, 58

New Trends In Travel, 19

Beaufort County Community College, 67

On The Waterfront, 48

Boston Bags & Tags, 59

Pair Electronics, 5

Brenda Evans, Century 21, 48

Phillips-Wright Furniture, 13

City of Washington, 5

Potash-Aurora Corp., 8

Coastal Insurance, Paige Harris, 19

Precision Eye Care, 8

Coldwell Banker Towne Point Realty, 18

Rich Company, 3

David C. Francisco, 19

Riddick & Windley, 18

East Side Bait & Tackle, 18

Scott Campbell, 47

Eastern Dermatology & Pathology, 61

Senator Bob Martin Eastern

Edward Jones, 60 Electronic Solutions, 59

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Agricultural Center, 61 SilverCare, 60

Eye Care Center, 41

South Market Antiques & Little Shoppes, 13

Feyer Ford, 2

State Farm, 60

Fish Hooks Café, 18

Stewart’s Jewelry Store, 7, 13

Gail Kenefick, 61

Tayloe’s Hospital Pharmacy, 25

Gerri McKinley, 58

Tryon Palace, 27

GoldenWay Home Care, 58

Vidant Health, back cover

Gregory Poole, 47

Washington Harbor District Alliance, 13

Happy Girls, 59

Washington Montessori

Ihrie Supply Company, 59

Fishing Season Is Here...

Public Charter School, 5

Inner Banks Artisans' Center, 13

Wells Fargo Advisors, 31

It’s Sew Wright, 59

Wine & Words…& Gourmet, 25

Down the river

Experience Belhaven

18 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Bait, Tackle & Gun

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OUR PAST

20 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Ghostly secrets

The notorious pirate Blackbeard talks about his connections with Bath and the life he led as a rogue and scoundrel.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 21

Ghost walk participants use battery-powered candles to illuminate their paths.

Ghost walk brings town’s history to life

T

Written by MIKE VOSS AND VAIL STEWART RUMLEY | Photographs by MEREDITH LOUGHLIN

orches line the road, tenuously holding back the enveloping darkness.

Leaves rattle in the soft breeze and a chill rides the autumn air. The sound of a horse’s hooves, a measured gait, reaches through the night. A rider approaches.

Friend or foe? Real or imagined?

Three hundred years ago, these sights and sounds would have been commonplace in the town of Bath.

Today, they evoke a moving picture of the past in a place steeped in history.

For many, they conjure up childhood memories of stories once told, and perhaps forgotten.

They are the legends; the ghosts of Bath. They are tales made of equal

22 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

parts truth, handed down through generations, and imagination, augmented by those same storytellers through the centuries. Some have become legendary in the annals of North Carolina folklore.

Take the rider of that horse emerging from the dark: a young Bath hellion named Jesse Elliot. Elliot couldn’t resist a drink or a bet and on a Sunday in 1802, a stranger come-totown challenged Elliot to a horse race.

It was the Lord’s Day — gambling, racing, both strikes against the profligate Elliot — but lured by a $100 bet, he rode out to meet his fate. He and his steed had the lead in the race when he cried to the heavens, “Take me in a winner or take me to Hell!”

The words would be his undoing: the stallion balked and threw its rider. Elliot died that day, but 200 years later, his legend lives on in the shape of shallow depressions located on private land about a mile west of Bath. The hollowed-out earth is said to be the imprints made as the stallion dug his hooves into the ground and sent Elliot to his death. To this day, the hoofprints can still be seen; any attempt to fill the holes with dirt, trash or other debris, fails. They remain cleared, as a warning, or so the legend goes. They live on as an eternal reminder of the man who, through word and action, was on his way to eternal damnation.

Elliot is just one of Bath’s ghosts

The “ghost” of Edna Ferber (background, center) explains how she came to Bath and how her visit influenced her to write her novel “Show Boat.”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 23

The “specter” of Jesse Elliott tells the tale of the Legend of the Mysterious Footprints, one of Bath’s more famous legends.

24 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

who made an appearance at Historic Bath State Historic Site’s inaugural Ghost Walk this fall. From the darkness, he appeared to tell his story to the crowds of people taking in both legends and history from Ghost Walk tour leader and historic site Director Bea Latham. Down Main Street, Latham led them from one story to the next, from one era to the next, as ghost walkers listened to the wails of a woman mourning a lover lost at sea; another ghost, lamenting her daughter’s death in a poem written long ago.

But Bath’s hauntings aren’t limited to the long dead. The legendary pirate Blackbeard — a scourge of the Atlantic for a brief time before his head was summarily removed from his body in a battle off of Ocracoke in 1718 — has left another long-lasting legacy. It’s Blackbeard’s treasure, rather than the ghost of the man, that haunts Bath. Rumored to be buried near the town, his treasure has never been found. Some argue Blackbeard’s treasure never existed, but rumors of tunnels beneath the creek, of burial sites at Teach’s Point, remain.

Legends abound in and around Bath, but it’s one single curse that will be forever remembered by historians and residents alike: a curse made by a man of God, aimed at a population that refused to be reformed. In his own words, the Rev. George Whitefield appeared to the ghost walkers to tell the story of a fateful day in the mid-1700s.

"There's a place in the Bible that says if a place won't listen to The Word, you shake the dust of the town off your feet, and the town shall be cursed,” he warned Bath residents as he drove off in his wagon. “I have put a curse on this town for a hundred years."

Whether coincidence or the effects of Whitefield’s words, Bath’s prosperity waned: ships found better ports, merchants packed up their goods, new residents settled elsewhere.

Bath still hasn’t grown, though Whitefield’s curse — real or not — would have expired well over a century ago. But what Bath lacks in size, it makes up for with a wealth of history and a significant presence in the folklore of the Old North State —which is more than enough fodder for many Ghost Walks to come.

The inaugural Historic Bath Ghost Walk took place on Oct. 12 and Oct. 26. Its overwhelming success likely means a repeat of the tours in 2014. For more information, call Historic Bath State Historic Site at 252-923-3971.

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26 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Actors and actresses who tell the stories of Bath use lanterns to help them navigate the dark streets.

OUR PAST

Washington Park waterfront

28 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Among the moss Washington Park's half mile of river shore Written by BETH WILDER

T

he smack of pedals followed by an eruption of cheers, turn my attention from the canopy of moss-covered trees. The older homes along the Pamlico River stand watch as another child masters the delicate balance of a two-wheeler. The children and most adults traveling along Riverside Drive in Washington Park have no idea they are cruising past a relic that predates the Civil War. Safely tucked behind the walls of a white sided farmhouse, sits the original kitchen from the plantation known as Cedar Grove. It was the summer home of John Small. Named for the trees that line the drive, the house and outbuildings were built in 1839, and burned

by Federal troops some 20 years later during the War Between the States. Only the kitchen fireplace survived. Like bones in a graveyard, the massive brick oven is a reminder of what once was.

Long before a bridge crossed Runyon Creek or family cars were commonplace, the plantation was accessible only by boat or a journey down Brick Kiln Road. Plans to build a neighborhood came along in 1904. According to the “Early History of Washington Park,” Small’s wife Isabella regretted not calling the development Cedar Grove after the old homestead.

Instead, it was named Washington Park.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 29

Washington Park community pier

The farm became a grid of dirt streets from Edgewater to Walnut Street planted with poplar trees, but few homes. Washington families were reluctant to move to the countryside.

As children play in front of her home today, Sis Thornburg sits in the swing and remembers what the neighborhood was like when she was a girl. Originally, the Hathaway house, the home was constructed in 1909 with the plantation’s old famed chimney as its centerpiece. Today, the home is known as the old Caleb Bell home for Sis’ father. In her mid-90s, Sis doesn’t remember a lot of her home’s history, but she says she loves living in the park. “One reason it’s so special is I’ve lived here so long. I wouldn’t take a million dollars for the view,” she says.

That view used to include a lot of livestock. Cows and goats Sis explains, used to outnumber neighbors. A girl had to find something to do. With a smile, Sis recalls rowing across the Pamlico in 30 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

her own boat as a child and getting in trouble with her mother. Sis says, “I was so proud. Mama was horrified.”

Eventually, more families would move to Washington Park, including area religious leaders. The Baptist Parsonage, Episcopal Rectory and Presbyterian Manse were all built in the new neighborhood. But, perhaps the largest surge in park population came in 1913 when Washington Collegiate Institute opened its doors on 28 acres of donated farmland along College Avenue. At its peak, the respected private school served 250 students from as far away as New York.

Financial struggles during the Great Depression forced the school to close in 1931. It became a private school called Pamlico Community School before the main building was torn down in the mid-70s. The campus property consists now of home sites, the children’s park and tennis courts.

Park amenities, including the waterfront common area,

came with a price. Neighborhood association fees turned into taxes in 1923 when Washington Park was incorporated. Current Mayor Tom Richter says the community learned its lesson about borrowing money during the Depression. “We don’t owe a dime. In 1929, people wanted to be like downtown and pave the streets. We borrowed money and when the bonds came due Washington Park was one of a number of places that didn’t go broke,” he says.

Richter explains, local leaders negotiated a deal to pay 10 cents on the dollar for the bonds to keep the town out of bankruptcy. “We’ve never borrowed a dime since. We pay as we go,” says the mayor of 37 years.

There are more roads and families now on the old farm. Twohundred and seventeen houses in all. Richter laughs when he says, “It’s hard work staying the same.”

Of course a lot has changed. But the charm remains.

WCI School song Washington, Washington, Loud the anthems swell; Sing, oh sing of alma Mater, All her praises tell.

In the halls and on the campus, Float the colors bright; Always calling men and maidens To stand for truth and right.

While the Pamlico continues Flowing to the sea, To our colors and College We will loyal be.

With you when you want to know you’re still on track

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AT HOME

‘That’s Christmas’ 32 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

The Koestlines flanked their front path with two small Christmas trees for the holiday season. Red Christmas bells border the porch where ferns hang in warmer weather.

Tradition is welcome at the Koestline home Written by MONA MOORE PhotographS by Meredith Loughlin

T

he holidays have quite an effect on Ronnie Koestline.

“You know the line from Ferris Bueller, ‘You can never go too far?’

That’s Christmas,” she said. “Even the stuff you get from the dollar store that’s all glittery and tacky.”

Ronnie starts decking her halls the first week of December and continues adding her glittery finds up until Christmas morning.

She seamlessly mixes the $1 bargains with Waterford crystal, handmade reindeer nearly as old as her children with hand-blown ornaments.

“Here’s the dichotomy of it,” explained her husband, Norm. “Ronnie is a very minimalist person 11 months out of the year. And it’s so out of context out of the rest of the year.”

The home was built about 1925 in what is now known as the North Market Street Historic District. When the Koestlines bought their Craftsman-style home in 2006, they inherited 33 holiday wreaths from the previous owner.

Hanging from every window, the wreaths have become a focal point for the holiday décor. Other decorations come and go, but the wreaths are a constant.

“The young man (previous owner) said if we did not hang them he would come hang them himself,” Ronnie said.

It is no easy feat. Norm said the wreaths take about eight hours to hang.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 33

Because the foyer is larger than the living room and the first room guests see, it gets special attention with swags, a wreath and the fullest Christmas tree Jerry can find. A Waterford crystal nativity has a place of honor in the center of the room. The nativity has a different home each year.

Last year’s wreath on the front door was a little bit different. Fabrics & Fringe Interiors made it out of fresh boxwood from the mountains of North Carolina.

“That was gorgeous. It lasted forever,” Ronnie said.

For last year’s Christmas Tour of Homes, the Koestlines flanked their front path with two concrete pots with small Christmas trees. Red bells replaced fern pots along the porch. Norm calls them “jingle bells on steroids.”

Fresh evergreens outlined the front door and banisters. Ronnie said she used pine, magnolia leaves and anything else she could find.

“It was all fresh. I pirated the magnolia leaves from my daughter. Hers is so big; she doesn’t know I took off of it. Actually I would take from anybody,” laughed Ronnie.

She redid the garland shortly before Christmas

34 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

day, cascading fresh holly and magnolia where weeksold cuttings had browned or wilted.

Indoors, votives are always in the fireplaces and a Waterford crystal nativity finds a different spot each year.

The Koestlines buy their tree from the Boy Scouts Troop 99. Ronnie looks for the fattest one she can find and puts it in a foyer that is larger than their living room. Stockings hang from the foyer’s fireplace mantle.

Swags that flank the doorways are an eclectic mix of artificial and fresh evergreens.

Ronnie says her decorations are fairly traditional, inspired by a holiday classic.

“I try to make it look kind of like ‘A Christmas Carol,’” she said. “I heard the word ‘Dickensian’ and liked that. I probably don’t reach it, but that’s my

The dining room table is set with an eclectic mix of family heirlooms and dollar store finds.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 35

With the exceptions of a few decorations and a bit of garland, the living room does not receive much of a holiday treatment.

36 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

goal, more or less.”

She steers off the “Dickensian” path for 45 years of collected memories. She still uses the ornaments made of pipe cleaners that she bought from Woolworth’s for her and her husband’s first Christmas together. There are handprints and reindeer made of Popsicle sticks from her daughters’ school years and an ornament she picked up because it looked exactly like one of her cats.

“And some of these are literally 40 years old,” Norm said.

Ronnie’s lament is as much a tradition as her ornaments. Every year, she says she will use fewer decorations. It hasn’t happened yet.

The Koestlines often have a crowd over for Christmas dinner.

There is usually an adult table and a kid table. But one would be hardpressed to distinguish which was which. Ronnie has been known to seat 30-somethings at the kid table (many by request) and her favorite holiday plates sit before adults and children alike.

She picked up 18 of the plates at a dollar store. Trimmed in gold and garland, the $1 plates accompany heirloom crystal glasses that once belonged to Ronnie’s Aunt Emma.

“You’d be surprised what you can get away with at Christmas,” she said.

The Christmas tree ornament collection has been more than 40 years in the making. Anything goes, including a Christmas pickle ornament that is worth a present to the first holiday guest who spots it.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 37

RIVER LIFE

38 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

River Rovers hunt mystical, magical mistletoe

Plant of peace Story and Photographs by MIKE VOSS

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Capt. Bill Sholl, a pilot of the River Roving pontoon boat, harvests a small bunch of mistletoe from a low-hanging limb.

(N.C. Estuarium)into the summer.

ant to separate the false from the facts when it comes to mistletoe?

Then take one of the upcoming River Roving excursions to gather mistletoe offered by the North Carolina Estuarium on the northern bank of the Pamlico River in Washington. You’ll come back with plenty of mistletoe — it abounds along the river and its tributaries — and plenty of knowledge about mistletoe. The mistletoegathering excursions have been popular since the first one several years ago. It attracted participants from as far away as the Outer Banks.

Jennifer Sable, a Washington resident, waited several years before making the excursion.

“I’ve just known about it. When we first moved here, somebody said it’s one of the things you had to do. That was five years ago. I’ve finally done it,” she said after making that trip. “I just though it was fabulous — seeing the river, seeing the eagles — the bald eagles — the mistletoe and just the camaraderie with the people.

It was just a fabulous trip.”

During the excursions, Linda Boyer, an environmental educator at the Estuarium, provides a brief lesson about mistletoe. On the return trip to the Estuarium, Boyer has been known to give a true-false quiz on mistletoe to the NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 39

On their way to hunt and harvest mistletoe, these River Roving excursionists use binoculars to better obser ve other things, including wildlife. They observed two bald eagles flying above an oxbow on the Tar River.

Sunlight filters through a bunch of mistletoe, loaded with berries, on a downed tree on the banks of Bear Creek.

excursionists, telling them they need to score at least a 70 to be returned to the Estuarium dock.

There are two kinds of mistletoe.

One, phoradendron flavescens, is native to North America and is used as a Christmas decoration. The other type, viscum album, is of European origin. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of mistletoe species.

Mistletoe is a parasite, or more correctly a partial parasite. Mistletoe, like other plants, can produce its own food through photosynthesis. Mostly, mistletoe grows on trees, sending out roots that enter the trees and absorb nutrients.

Several Internet sources note that mistletoe was sacred to the ancient Celtic Druids and Norsemen.

40 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Mistletoe also was known as “allheal,” used in folk medicine to cure many ills.

Several sources indicate that kissing under mistletoe is an English custom, but there are other origins of the kissing custom, according to various sources. According to the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Agriculture website, kissing under mistletoe is associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia and later with primitive marriage rites. There’s also a Norse legend about the kissing custom.

In Scandinavia, mistletoe was considered a plant of peace, under which enemies could declare a truce or warring spouses kiss and make up.

“The common name of the plant is

derived from the ancient belief that mistletoe was propagated from bird droppings,” reads part of an article on the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Agriculture website, written by Sara Williams. “This belief was related to the thenaccepted principle that life could spring spontaneously from dung. It was observed in ancient times that mistletoe would often appear on a branch or twig where birds had left droppings. ‘Mistel’ is the AngloSaxon word for dung, and ‘tan’ is the word for twig. So, mistletoe means ‘dung-on-twig.’”

Mistletoe River Roving rides will be offered Dec 11-13. Interested individuals may make reservations by by calling 252-948-0000.

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LITERARY LINES

Programs through 100 years of O. Henry Book Club.

Headlne

A LITERARY OCCASION

42 42 •• WASHINGTON WASHINGTONTHE THEMAGAZINE MAGAZINE||NOVEMBER/DECEMBER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER2013 2013

The women of O. Henry Book Club gather at the Washington Yacht and Country Club for their monthly meeting, consisting of a book exchange, a presentation and lunch.

O. Henry Book Club turns 100 Written by VAIL STEWART RUMLEY | PhotographY by MEREDITH LOUGHLIN and VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

H

e wrote “The Gift of the Magi” and “Ransom of Red Chief,” two of America’s most loved stories. He coined the term “banana republic” while on the run from embezzling charges.

He spent five years in prison, where he began to write and sell his short stories under a pen name — O. Henry — which some historians believe to be letters selected from

the words Ohio Penitentiary, where he served his sentence.

He was a most beloved author.

Just three years after his death, in December 1913, a group of Washington ladies gathered to discuss forming a literary club.

But every good social and literary organization must have a name and at that very first gathering, inspired by a recent, rousing lecture of the life and works of O. Henry some of

the ladies had attended, they found their name: O. Henry.

The names of these 20 women read like a history of Beaufort County: Blount and Rodman, Brown and Hoyt, Leach, Small and Carter.

But these upstanding Washington women were not just of a literary bent, they were, by all accounts, activists. O. Henry Book Club’s women were literary and concerned with social issues.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 43

Local book clubs tend to meet from fall until late spring each year and the reason just may be found in O. Henry Book Club’s rather wry minutes from May 28, 1914: “On account of the intense heat, the question of postponing the meetings until Fall was brought up and after a most heated discussion, it was decided by a majority that the club would not meet again before cooler weather.”

The minutes of the first meeting of the O. Henry Book Club, dated Dec. 4, 1913.

The first year of its existence, the members met twice a month at an assigned hostess’ home, and the club programs — presentations by individual members — were strictly literary. They touched on the great authors: Thoreau, Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson.

The following year, Shakespeare and his characters were dissected and discussed, from Hamlet’s mother Ophelia to the ghosts that haunt the Bard’s works. O. Henry’s next season was all American: from her native populations to educational progress.

But while they were studying the classics, O. Henry members also voted unanimously to join the State Federation of Women’s Clubs — its parent

44 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

organization the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, instrumental in reforming child labor law, creating juvenile court law, the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, as well as legislation for the eighthour workday, workplace safety and inspection, and workmen's compensation — instrumental, though women had not yet gained the right to vote.

Read through the O. Henry programs of 1917-1918 and the very first lecture is on women’s suffrage. Other weighty topics touched upon that year include “The Labor Problem — Unrest and revolutionary principals among organized workmen,” “Prison Reform,” “The Effect of War on Religion,” “Illiteracy and Its

The ladies of O. Henry Book Club gather at the Washington Yacht and Country Club during the club's 100th anniversary year. Seated, left to right, are Nancy Collis, Ann Peters, Jane McCotter, Frances Lassiter, Betty Cochran, Monk Wheeler and Sylvia Evans. Standing, left to right, are Barbara Walker, Cathy Whichard, Sandra Rhodes, Nancy Hamblin, Gayle Nadel, Emma Holscher, Lois McLaughlin and Betty Jarvis. Not pictured are Hazel Arnold, Wanda Morrow and Alice Stallings.

Abolition,” and “Food Production and Conservation.”

“These women were sort of rock stars of the time,” said Jane McCotter, O. Henry’s recording secretary.

They even used their social position to affect change locally, to benefit those working long shop hours. According to the minutes of March 1916, “The members of the O. Henry Book Club heartily endorse the movement on(sic) foot to encourage the merchants to close their stores promptly at six o’clock and in accordance with this they agree to make an effort themselves and encourage others to do their shopping early in the day.”

Social issues did mix well with the purely social, however. Minutes of each meeting are written in the flowing script of another era, descriptions of delightful repasts are just as numerous as documented debates over

fines levied if a member missed roll call at a meeting. And in 1914, as the recording secretary at the time, Mattie Laughinghouse, resigned her position to marry George Horace Williams, the ladies spent the afternoon making toasts: to the bride, the book club and the Bard.

“Merriment ran high as each guest gave her experiences and advice to the bride to be,” wrote Claudia Simmons, acting secretary.

Through the years, the traditions of the charter members have been maintained, weaving the threads of past and present together. O. Henry’s presentations for its 2013-2014 meetings are strikingly similar to those of 100 years ago, a return full circle to the Romantic greats of American prose — a wonderful way to celebrate a century of life, literature and the fellowship of like-minded ladies.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 45

CAST A LINE

Beat the winter blues, enjoy winter fishing Written by CAPT. RICHARD ANDREWS

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inter is a much revered time of year for Inner Banks sportsmen.

Hunting season is in full swing and the fish have entered a predictable winter pattern, making them easier targets for dedicated savvy fishermen. One of the best allaround fisheries for North Carolina is our estuarine striper fishing during the cooler months. We are so blessed on the Inner Banks to have a healthy population of estuarine striped bass. The Pamlico, Pungo and Neuse rivers and the Albemarle Sound can all produce world-class striper trips on light tackle, and they are all within an easy drive of Washington. Some of the best fishing in all of these systems is right here around downtown Washington.

As water temps drop in the fall, stripers become more active. They are better adapted to cold water, as they are a northern fish. While they range from Canada to the Gulf Coast, they are most abundant in the mid-Atlantic states. North Carolina’s extensive brackish estuaries provide the perfect habitat and nursery grounds for juvenile stripers. In the Pamlico River, anglers typically encounter fish ranging from 15 to 30 inches in length or about one to 10 pounds. A 25- to 30- inch striper on light tackle is a great catch anywhere you go to striper fish.

Like any fishing, the bite is dictated heavily by environmental conditions, but when the stars line up just right, the fishing can be outstanding. I encourage you to venture out and spend as much time as possible fishing during various conditions in the river. You will soon learn when you need to be fishing and when you might want to tend to your "honey-do's" around the house.

Fishing in the winter requires more preparation and attention to safety. Proper clothing will ensure your comfort and you might soon realize that being out on the water during the winter is not as harsh as you might expect. It's actually one of my

46 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Capt. Richard Andrews displays a 25-inch Pamlico River topwater striper caught near downtown Washington.

favorite times of the year to fish. Wear an inflatable personal floatation device, especially if by yourself.

If you fall overboard, it might be the difference between getting yourself to safety or drowning from hypothermia. Proper maintenance of your boat and gear is key as to avoid a breakdown. Anticipate how to get yourself home if you do break down. Joining SeaTow Pamlico and/or proper communication through a dry, fully charged cellphone, VHF radio, and telling a family member or friend with a boat exactly where you are going will give a lifeline if you do get in a jam.

Winter fishing can be a great way to get out and enjoy our resources here in Washington. With time and preparation, you will undoubtedly enjoy some excellent light-tackle striper fishing.

Capt. Richard Andrews is a resident of Washington and the owner of a local year-round guide service offering fishing excursions on the Pamlico and nearby rivers. He can be reached at 252945-9715 or richard@ tarpamguide.com

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WORD ON WINE

In the Deep Mid-winter

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Written by James McKelvey and Yvonne Sedgwick

hen we were children (in London and Chicago) we experienced what the holiday carols call “the deep midwinter.” It was cold; there was often snow and ice; and it was dark. And there was a clutching anxiety that the oppressive season would be with us for a long, long time. Down here in coastal Carolina, it’s not so cold, and we rarely have snow ... but the days do get short, and the sun gets low and dim. Midwinter is a time we look for light and warmth to counteract the dark and damp. Luckily, we live in a culture that has “The Holidays” — Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's ... even Yule, if you want to connect to our ancient past. All of these holidays come at the time of year when our forebears faced a long winter of possible hunger and certain cold. Brrr! We know the feeling. The dates for celebrating cluster around Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s the time of the longest night, the shortest day. But it’s also the time when light begins to return to us.

So fear not! We moderns can hang lights and light candles and fireplaces, and the glint of these on our glassware and our shiny decorations brings a sparkle to the eyes of young and old alike. And we can strike a blow against the forces of darkness, frost and cold with a glass of rich, red wine at hearthside. Or a cup of hot, spiced cider. Or sweet and savory goodies baked with love from the oven.

Sometimes, though, in our milder Southern

climate, we’d like to have something to remind us of the summer only recently past and so soon to come around again.

We might take a note from the Australians, whose Christmas season comes at the Summer Solstice, their longest day. They celebrate with sparkling Shiraz, deep and dark and complex, but chilled to match their season. We often like a glass of chilled sparkling wine at this time, too (you don’t have to wait until New Year’s Eve), watching as the light shimmers on the rising stream of bubbles.

Or we’ll have a glass of one of the white wines of summer that brings to mind the ripe and sunny fields and how good the wine goes down a parched throat.

And our various religious holiday traditions remind us of giving and birth and newness and joy and the miracle of lighted lamps ... even in the deep midwinter. We bake a batch of cookies for a friend or favorite teacher, or tie a ribbon around a bottle of Uncle Joe’s favorite port.

One tradition from Chef Yvonne’s native country that we can certainly support is that of Wassail (from the Old Norse ves heill ­— “be well”). A punch of wine, beer or cider is heated, spiced and served in a large bowl. You dip your cup, raise it to your loved ones, and shout, “Wassail!” We feel better already ... and we wish a hearty “Wassail” to all!

James “The Wine Guy” McKelvey and “Chef Yvonne” Sedgwick are proprietors of Wine & Words ... & Gourmet in downtown Washington.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 49

LET’S EAT

Celebrate, then eat 50 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Surprise Date Bread

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 51

Sweet Potato, Sausage and Apple Casserole

Holiday favorites, the old-fashioned way Written by KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER Food PREPARATION AnD PhotographS By VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

T

he weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are busy ones, with calenders and day planners packed full of holiday parties.

Why not celebrate the season with a few old-fashioned specialties, made with love just the way grandmother used to do? It's worth the extra effort and your guests are sure to rave about the results.

So put away that can opener, unplug that microwave oven and enjoy these recipes from the Washington Daily News' Pamlico Pantry cookbook collection.

Happy holidays ... and enjoy!

Sauteed Apples Heather Jordan Washington Pediatrics 1/4 cup butter; 4 large tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick; 2 teaspoons cornstarch; 1/2 cup cold water; 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about six or seven minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon.

Boil for two minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve warm.

52 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 53

Sweet Potato, Sausage and Apple Casserole

Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies

Helen Alligood

Nicole Mackel

Beaufort County Grange #1233

Washington Pediatrics

1 pound sausage; sweet potatoes; apples, sliced; 1/2 cup sugar; 2 tablespoons flour.

1 cup butter or margarine; 1 cup peanut butter; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 cup packed brown sugar; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon baking soda.

Cook sausage and crumble. Grease casserole dish with sausage drippings. Peel and thinly slice sweet potatoes. Place on bottom of casserole dish and layer first third of dish. Crumble sausage over sweet potatoes and finish with apple slices. (Use potatoes and apples according to size of dish). Mix sugar with flour; add water until consistency of cream. Pour over apples.

Spoon sausage drippings over top of casserole (optional) and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender. (This may be drained if too greasy before serving).

Holiday Citrus Salad Janet Bradbury Saint Peter's Episcopal Church Salad: lettuce cups; red or pink and white grapefruit wedges, cleaned; avocado slices; pomegranate seeds.

To make individual salads, place grapefruit wedges on lettuce. Place several slim slices of avocado among the wedges. Top with a large dollop of onion dressing. Finish with pomegranate seeds over top.

Onion dressing: 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 1 tablespoon grated onion; 1 tablespoon dry mustard; 2 tablespoons white vinegar; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon celery seed; 1 cup vegetable or canola oil.

Combine sugar, grated onion, dry mustard, vinegar, salt and celery seed; mix well. Add oil slowly while constantly beating. Make dressing at least a day or two before using.

54 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies

Surprise Date Bread Mrs. Marshall Cutler Terra Ceia Christian School 3/4 cup boiling water; 1/2 pound dates, finely chopped; 1 3/4 cups sifted flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 egg, well beaten; 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 3/4 cup chopped walnuts.

Pour water over dates; let stand five minutes. Sift together flour, soda, salt and sugar. Add date mixture, egg, cheese, vanilla and nuts. Mix well.

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool on rack. Makes one loaf. This is very good with softened cream cheese and a bit of orange rind.

Perfect with a cup of tea.

Candied Sweet Potatoes Frances Evans Ephesus Free Will Baptist Church 6 to 8 sweet potatoes; cinnamon to taste; 2 cups white sugar; 1 stick margarine; 1/3 cup water; 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Cook potatoes until tender; peel. Cut in halves and place in baking dish. Sprinkle cinnamon over potatoes. Make a syrup of remaining ingredients and boil for five to six minutes. Pour syrup over potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Yield: six to eight servings.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and peanut butter until well blended. Add sugars; cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add to creamed mixture; blend well. Roll dough into one-inch balls. Place balls two inches apart on large baking sheet. Press with tines of a fork to flatten.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Favorite Hot Cocoa Jean Bowen Bath Christian Church Single serving: 1 heaping teaspoon Hershey's Cocoa; 2 heaping teaspoons sugar; 1 dash salt; 2 teaspoons milk; 1 cup milk.

Add cocoa, sugar and salt in mug; add two teaspoons of milk and stir until smooth. Heat one cup of milk; fill mug. Stir and serve.

Four servings: 1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa; 2/3 cup sugar; 1 dash salt; 1/3 cup hot water; 1 quart milk; 3/4 teaspoon vanilla.

Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in saucepan.

Blend in 1/3 cup of hot water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil and stir two minutes. Add milk; stir and heat. Do not boil. Remove from heat; add 3/4 teaspoon vanilla. Beat with rotary beater until foamy.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 55

56 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Unlock the guilt of holiday food

I

f you are like most people, losing weight will be one of your New Year's resolutions.

What better gift can you give yourself this LAUREL holiday than MACKENZIE maintaining your weight through all the parties, cookie exchanges, office feasts and acts of gift-baking martyrdom that present themselves as obligations or even true joys? To avoid gaining weight, though, true effort and planning will be required.

It’s not a time to throw in the towel and make the holidays your scape goat. By changing your approach, becoming selective with your activities, and keeping control of your time, you can tip the scales the same amount coming out of the bustle as you did going into it. You’ll enter your new year with aspiration rather than guilt and drudgery.

Unless you plan to increase your exercise intensity, frequency and minutes every week, you can’t afford to eat everything that comes your way. When it comes to holiday treats at work, bring your own snacks from home and stay away from the break room. Make your office party contribution a relatively healthy one.

You may even suggest that the whole group bring only healthy, low calorie treats or even suggest an activity outside of the office that doesn’t include eating such as bowling, ice skating or going to a holiday concert

or program as a group.

Parties usually involve plenty of rich, fatty foods and sweets, not to mention libations such as cocktails and eggnog. Just one evening at a cozy gathering can easily put you 1,000 calories over budget. This can add an extra pound of weight after just three or four holiday gatherings! Make sure that food is not your focus during these events.

Eat at home beforehand to avoid showing up ravenous and then, choose only a few special items in small amounts. Focus on people, not refreshments, by intentionally having many conversations and meeting new people. After your first plate of refreshments, mingle far from the hors d’ouvre table and maintain your distance. Cut wine calories by adding seltzer or diet soda and then alternate alcohol drinks with a plain seltzer, diet soda or water.

Many calories are consumed as a result of ‘quality control’ tasting of your own kitchen creations. If you are known as the neighbor who gives loaves of bread or tins of fudge and divinity, consider changing over to something healthier like canning salsa or fruit preserves. Or try your hand at some craft, such as candlemaking, for example, for gift-giving.

In the case that you are the recipient of a tin of goodies, this would be a good application of ‘re-gifting’ etiquette. By all means, get it out of the house. After all, you only taste treats for a brief instant, only to experience them again on the scale.

Along with keeping your food and drink consumption under control, the flip side of the equation is making time for exercise. Time

management is important any time of the year but the holiday season is fraught with shopping, wrapping, decorating and socializing. Start your shopping as early in the season as you can and streamline shopping time by finding gift ideas online and then using a list when you visit Main Street. Take advantage of store giftwrapping. Simplify your home decorating to save time before and after the season and choose which parties are most important to you, forgoing the others. You’ll head off extra calorie temptations and save time for exercising, other home needs and even rest. If evenings become impossible, consider if early mornings before work are the new best time for exercise. You’ll feel energized and accomplished all day, while being more mindful of your food choices.

Most plans for staying ‘on track’ involve ‘keeping track.’ Monitoring yourself by logging your exercise time as well as the foods and amounts you eat daily keep you accountable.

There are desktop applications for this purpose such as My Fitness Pal and Map My Run. Each of these have accompanying mobile apps for smartphones and tablets. Additionally, both have ability to calculate the calories you’ve eaten and those you’ve burned from exercise.

Truly, the holidays may not be the most realistic time to start something new like a diet or exercise but if you’re already in the habit, it’s best to keep it up. If you’re still waiting until the New Year to get serious, at least start small and do ‘push ups’—‘push up’ from the table before getting second helpings.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 57

CALENDAR

OUT AND ABOUT

Dec. 6-7 Annual Holiday Arts & Crafts Show

Dec. 7 Hometown Holidays

• Washington Civic Center • Visit the Beaufort County Arts Council’s annual Holiday Arts & Craft Show. The two-day craft show will feature a variety of original, quality handmade items for sale by more than 45 artists and craftspeople from eastern North Carolina, including many who are new exhibitors in the craft show. Friday hours, noon to 6 p.m., Saturday hours, 9 a.m. to 5p.m. Suggested $2 donation at the door. Call 252-946-2504 for more information.

• Downtown Washington • Begins at 10 a.m. Featuring the Christmas parade, Toys for Tots campaign, merriment and festivities. Great fun for the whole family.

Dec. 7 Candlelight Tour • Historic Bath • View Historic Bath’s Bonner House by “candlelight,” decorated for the Christmas season. Guided tours will be given on the halfhour beginning at 5 p.m. with the last tour being at 8:30 p.m. Fee charged: $4 for adults, $2 for children. For more information, call 252-923-3971.

Dec. 7 Holiday Homes Tour • Downtown Washington • To benefit the Beaufort County Arts Council. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets $20 in advance, $25 day of tour. Tickets on sale now. Call 252-946-2504.

Dec. 8 Christmas Open House • Historic Bath • Enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of Christmases past with music, food and decorated homes.

Noon until 4 p.m. Free. Call 252923-3971 for more information.

58 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Youngsters on a float are a long-standing tradition of the Washington Christmas parade set for Dec. 7 in the downtown area.

Dec. 11-13 Mistletoe River Roving • N.C. Estuarium • Mistletoe river roving rides on the river. Call 252-948-0000 to make reservations.

Dec. 12 Senior Dance • Washington Civic Center • 7 p.m. $7 admission. There will be a 50/50 drawing and door prizes. No alcohol, smoking.

Dec. 13 Christmas Concert • Washington Civic Center • Annual HeART of the City Christmas concert featuring the Beaufort County Choral Society and the River City Ringers. 7 p.m.

Free and open to the public.

Dec. 15 Christmas Concert • Bath • Annual concert given at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Bath.

Beaufort County Choral Society will present an array of song.

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Photo by Ryan Webb NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 59

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In-State $24/year Out of State $34/year International $54/year NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 61

OUR PAST President of the Beaufort County Genealogical Society, Jean Gurkin thumbs through a copy of the church’s first registry. Many of Gurkin’s ancestors attended the Blounts Creek church.

A rich history

62 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Church illustrates Blounts Creek’s unique past

V

Story and Photographs by VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

enture out onto county roads and you’ll see them: the long-abandoned, the crumbling, structures once filled with life, now struggling to remain standing as the elements claim them.

They are homes where children once said their prayers before bed, now overcome by walls of vines. They are businesses, once thriving, now chipped away — a door, a window, a roof at a time. But there are others — weathered, battered, ancient — that have withstood the test of time and nature.

The Gerrard Chapel Primitive Baptist Church is one. Round a curve on Core Point Road in Blounts Creek and you may miss it, tucked back in a clearing, surrounded by a copse of pines.

It’s no more than a single, large room, a bare minimum for a gathering place, where those who preached stood on a small dais before a congregation seated on crude, wooden benches. Established in 1808, it closed its doors in the late 1970s; its parishioners having moved on to bigger, newer churches.

But this chapel, once known as the Baptist Church of Christ of Blounts Creek, has a unique history: it was integrated from its beginnings.

“In the 1850 census, there were almost as many freed blacks in Blounts Creek as whites,” said Bunyon Keys, a native of Blounts Creek and amateur historian. “From Core Point Road, down Durham Creek Road to Stilley Town, it was a magnet for freed blacks.”

The area was known as “Green Swamp” and it’s where many of Keys’ ancestors lived and died. Many attended the plain Blounts Creek church, as well: a great-great-great grandfather

Set back in a small clearing on Core Point Road, the Gerrard Chapel Primitive Baptist Church may not catch the eye of passersby.

who took the name Stilly when he was freed; a great-great-great grandmother, Grace Keys and her sister, Nancy. Their names still exist in the first church registry, alongside the ancestors’ names of another Blounts Creek native and president of the Beaufort County Genealogical Society, Jean Gurkin.

Gurkin lives on the farm bought by her family in 1824 — it was her greatgreat-great-grandmother’s brother, Lowdowick Redditt, who donated the land on which the church was built.

But as Gurkin thumbs through a copy of the registry that has been painstakingly scanned, page by page, it’s apparent it was no easy task to become a member of the church, or stay a member. Roll was taken at every meeting — if a member wasn’t

in attendance on that day, someone was tasked with finding out why.

Gurkin’s own great-great-grandfather, Richard Cratch, was received into the church in September 1854, only to be excommunicated months later.

“A charge was brought against Richard Cratch, by (initial) Jones and others for the sin of intemperance and the case was considered by the Church and he was unanimously excluded from the fellowship of the Church,” reads the entry dated February 1855.

In fact, the church’s congregation served not only as a place to hear God’s word, but a tribunal that enforced moral character and, in the absence of law, as moderator for many a feud, such as this one, dated June 29, 1833: “Br(other) Levi Stilly arose up in conference adress NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 63

The doors are boarded shut, but for nearly two centuries, the Gerrard Chapel Primitive Baptist Church was home to slaves, free people of color and whites.

64 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Left: Small details, like the porcelain doorknob and keyhole on the church’s back door, provide a glimpse of the past. Above: Cobwebs cling to crude wooden benches inside Gerrard Chapel Primitive Baptist Church.

the moderator and conference stating his greevances with Br Piter Dowty for his unchristian like conducts which he stated was a publick affense in chalenging a man for a duel His pashion was so exasperated that he declared he feard neither father son nor holy ghost And at another time at abner Jones turned out in publick company and danced what he called Jim-Crow His witnesses not being present the trial is laid over until our next quarterly Meeting. Brethren Joseph Tripp & Benjamin Keel was by the conference appointed a committee to give the (said) Br Peter Dowty a citation to attend our next conference to answer these charges fully Br Thomas Tutten got up and requested the clerk to take his name (off ) the Church Books as he was not willing to be as considered a member any longer The church considered it as a

transgression For which they expelled him done in conference this day & date written above.”

Today, the passion transcribed in the excerpt above is lost to cobwebs clinging to the rows of pews. Now, the grandson of the last member of Gerrard Chapel, Mumford Warren, still mows the lawn, and according to Gurkin, much work needs to be done to save one of the oldest churches — if not the oldest church — on the south side of the Pamlico River, one that Keys believes played a part in the transition from slavery to a freed population after the Civil War. “There were no great big plantations in our area like in Mississippi. There might have been one or two, but they were mostly small farms. The transition from slavery to free people — we had so many free people in the area they could lean on,”

Keys said. “The tolerance that went on for all of the people that wanted to have faith, they didn’t make no matter … the minutes show how well the people got along in our area. That’s what amazes me, that you had slaves and free people of color and whites.

They were received — if they weren’t outside, they were received. That church played a role. … There’s a very rich history here that has never been written.”

Gurkin said she’d like to see Gerrard Chapel Primitive Baptist Church listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its history preserved. Ideally, she’d have it restored and its doors open once again.

“We know the importance of saving the history because so much of it is being destroyed so fast,” Gurkin said.

“If we don’t get some account of it, we’ll lose it.”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 | WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE • 65

Y’ALL COME BACK

Why I love Washington

Shimmering in the sunshine

I

Written by PAMELA GEIST PHOTOGRAPHY by VAIL STEWART RUMLEY

like to think I am on a spiritual journey. I don’t practice a religion per se, but I spend an awful lot of time attending seminars, reading books and blogs, meditating and journal writing as a way to propel myself further along “The Road Less Traveled.” My journey to Little Washington is part of that process.

Two months before my move here, I was approaching a new phase in life. My children were heading off to college: Evan, a junior at Colorado State University; Jenna, a freshman going to East Carolina University on a soccer scholarship. While I am thrilled they are following their dreams, it also means I’d be living alone for the first time in over 25 years.

It may have been easier to continue living in Denver where I had a successful business, many friends and a wonderful spiritual community, but something in me felt I was playing it safe. Spiritually, I wanted to expand my life. A voice said “Jump, and let the universe respond.”

So, to be a support to my daughter her first year at ECU, I decided to travel up and down the east coast to find a new home. I stayed in coastal towns, in little beach houses and high-rise condominiums. I wanted beauty, a little slice of heaven, but more importantly, I wanted to be inspired. Inspiration, itself, is a tricky thing. It’s not something you can just locate or think up. True inspiration has spontaneity and an innovative quality about it. Pablo Picasso wrote, “Inspiration exists, but it must find you.” I knew that if inspiration were to show up, I wanted to be ready.

In early July, a realtor in Washington called me to let me know she had found the perfect place for me. I came out to visit and by mid-August, I decided to jump.

I moved into a beautiful loft on Market Street, very close to the Pamlico River in downtown’s historical harbor district.

Since, I’ve seen the sun sparkle on this beautiful old coastal town from the deck of a sailboat; I’ve attended art shows where I’ve actually met the artist and talked

66 • WASHINGTON THE MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013

Pamela Geist

about how their work evolved; I’ve sat on front porches chit-chatting with interesting people; I’ve witnessed a historical moment for Washington and the Beaufort County Arts Council as the marquee was relit at the Turnage Theater; I’ve listened to a wonderful flutist at a Music in the Streets and tasted the pork at Smoke on the Water.

This place has already touched me deeply. Not a day goes by that I don’t meet someone that says, “Oh, you are the Lucky Lady in the Loft.” People I’ve never met before greet me on the street and ask me how my daughter is doing at ECU. Each person takes time to talk, to listen and to offer assistance. They easily share their own stories as well. Reflecting on the day often gives rise to moments where I realize I stumbled upon a gem: one of the friendliest towns imaginable.

Every day, I sit on a waterfront bench observing the water shimmering in the sunshine. And you know what?

This place inspires me. The sun, the boats, the friendly smiles passing by — all warm me from the inside out.

This little town, the people that breathe life into it, inspire me to do more, to be creative again, to be kinder, to live more deliberately in a loving space. All of this happens in Little Washington. And as each day passes, I feel grateful to be here.

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