Tyrrell County’sCountry Magazine Published Quarterly

Summer 2013

Cover Photo of Barbara Fleming’s painting, by Ingrid Lemme

The Call of the Wild! Full Circle's roadside, wild caught, cooked to order, seafood kitchen will be serving every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the month of May. Beginning June 1st they will be open every day. Check out the menu on their website: www.fullcircleseafood.com/takeout

nnn

Welcome to Columbia and Tyrrell County

..nature's buffer zone, sprawled between the urban mainland and the popular stretch of North

Carolina's Outer Banks. Here is where the red wolf howls. Bald eagles and northern harriers soar across the sunset. American alligators live at their northern limits near ancient pocosin forests. www.visittyrrellcounty.com

Ahh, the weather feels more like summer now, and the crabs in the sound are finally moving. My sister Yordanka and her fiance came to visit from Bulgaria, and we showed them all around Tyrrell County, ‘The Beach’, Chapel Hill and Ocracoke Island. Then my mother-in-law came to visit bringing New York Cheese Cakes and Bagels. Ingrid took them to Hyde County, Lake

Mattamuskeet and Big Al's Soda Fountain in Manteo, because Tihomir loves all the old Coca-Cola stuff. I'm looking forward to the new

“Sip, Dip, and Dab Painting (classes) with Ms. Barb” at Flemz Market. We wish ya’ll a successful crab season and a wonderful summer. Oh and before I

forget: “Dear Ms. Anna, Happy 91st Birthday!” ~ Love Neli

z Quote of the Quarter z"Columbia...the town I've imagined in my dreams but never

believed existed."....Cora Barksdale, early 20th century

DEAR READER

P U B L I S H E R N E L I & I N G R I D L E M M E / E D I T O R I A L S U P P O R T : T I M N I E L S E N

2 0 1 3 S U M M E R E D I T I O N

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

a few simple strokes and a couple of jokes. For a relatively small fee you get to take your own painting home, material and lots of laughs included. It is best to sign up in advance, since Ms. Barb’s classes are always packed. She says: “...these people are

producing some good paintings.....and 90 % of the students in the classes (Mondays and Thursdays 7pm) have never painted before!” Call 252-394-5441 or visit Barb’s facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sip-Dip-and-Dab-Painting-with-Barb/153855998106782

Photo courtesy by Wanda Ralph Cherry

Sip, Dip, and Dab Painting with Barb! The painting classes at Flemz Market & Deli are the bomb! Owner Barbara Fleming, who has portrayed the beauty of Tyrrell County with her brush for decades, is the gifted artist that painted the amazing

mural off Historic Main Street in downtown Columbia. Of course there is never a dull moment when Ms. Barbara teaches her painting classes, as she is not only incredibly talented but she is a master of explaining ‘how to’ create your own painting--with

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Teens of the Quarter

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Kid of the Quarter Cutler Woolard

This cute fellow is Cutler Woolard. Cutler is 2 yrs old and the grandson of Fred and Debbie Swain of Columbia and the son of Stephen and Allyson Woolard of Washington, NC.

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

...On the Board Walk ...Baby of the

Quarter Rebecca Lynn! Her parents are Derek and BB Hopkins. Photo by Megan Lane Photography

Organization of the Quarter

Our Inner Banks Hotline, doing a whole lot good.

Website of the Quarter

PointClickFish.com on Facebook.

Kid of the Quarter

Cute Cutler Woolard

Lady of the Quarter

Herbalist Shari Crail

Business of the Quarter

Maggie Dukes Antiques on Historic Main Street

Man of the Quarter

Mr. Steve Bryan

Teens of the Quarter

These fun guys we met at the Scuppernong Millhouse Cafe

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Visit www.pocosinarts.org

Lady of the Quarter Shari Crail

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

NOT JUST COFFEE!

~ ELEMENTS

ON THE SCUPPERNONG

“elements” of Columbia is a small and unique ‘corner coffee shop’ located in ‘Vineyards on the Scuppernong’ on 117 S Elm Street right of Hwy 64.

John and Shari Crail, along with their daughter Gabby manage elements on the Scuppernong, - and they do one fine job. I was

especially impressed to find a good

assortment of teas from “Mighty

Leaf ”, a delightful organic tea which I had become accustomed to at the Karkloof Safari Spa on my trip to South Africa last fall.

While my daughter-in-law Neli enjoyed her cappuccino and studied the wonderful wines of the Scuppernong on the shelves, I sat down with Ms. Shari for a small (tea) talk. I had met Shari Crail over a year and a half ago for the first time with her husband John at the Old Salt

Oyster Bar. The Crail’s are the team that transformed and restored the historic ( White's ) Ben Franklin on Main Street into a fabulous seafood restaurant with an impressive, oversized bar. They had done an amazing job there, until they decided that it was time to move on. Shari is all about healthy living and herbalism, a fact reflected at elements. Here you may sweeten your tea with local honey or perfect your coffee or cappuccino with organic milk. Honestly, I can’t wait for our next health talk at elements in the small corner by the window. ~ Ingrid Lemme

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Man of the Quarter Steve Bryan

Steve Bryan, Founder, President and Funeral Service licensee. Steve Bryan came to Eastern North Carolina with a firm personal commitment to "provide the finest in professional service in the area" and he has held fast to that commitment since he purchased the former Owens Funeral Home in Hyde County 1986. In 2007 he opened a second funeral service facility in Columbia. Now in a new building located at 162 L. A. Keiser Drive just off U.S. Highway 64-East he is proudly serving Tyrrell County as well, where he resides most of the time.

www.bryanfs.com

( This photo of Mr. Steve was taken at “elements”,

a place he loves and visits often.)

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Asked what color paint he'll use on his building's fading facade, Tim replies: "It looks like an antique store, and I like it just the way it is. It's perfect. It's just like Columbia."

If you are a Facebook friend, you may want to check out Maggie Duke’s new arrivals on line before they hit the road . . .

https://www.facebook.com/maggie.duke.90

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

MAGGIE DUKE ANTIQUES

After nearly a year of renovation and setup, Maggie Duke Antiques has removed the paper from windows and opened the doors on Historic Main Street in downtown Columbia. Shop hours are 9 to 5 daily, and later on weekends. Maggie will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, unless it rains, or the fishing's no good,

according to Tim Nielsen, proprietor.

Maggie Duke specializes in antiques for the collector, and displays countless unusual items. Shelves and showcases are filled with high-quality early cloisonne, oriental pottery, sterling and coin silver, Arts & Crafts metalware, Art Deco alarm clocks, and Victorian and 19th Century objects of value. You'll find pattern and other pressed glass, porcelain,

stoneware and primitives. Handmade brass tools and scientific instruments are abundant, including dozens and dozens of candlesticks, scales, slide rules, wristwatches and transistor radios from the fifties. Look for Maggie's Civil War and other military items as well as fishing gear and nautical specialties. See the cap guns and doll houses, sundials and steam gauges. The walls boast many oil paintings and prints; there

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Some of the more unique items in the store include a pair

of tall gilded candlesticks by noted sculptor

Edgardo Simone; they are in the form of Art Deco nudes.

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

are books on all subjects and furniture that fits in your car.

Asked how he came to have such an in-depth variety of unique stuff, Tim says, "Sometimes collecting can be cheaper than therapy." And collecting is what he did for the past 25 years while raising his family. In the 1970s Tim operated a used and rare book shop in the Adirondacks, then partnered in an antique mall for awhile. In addition he was constantly travelling New

England displaying at various antique shows. "When my children were born it was important to spend more time at home, so I fell back on my construction experience and moved to Knoxville, TN to build houses." When he was ready to retire, he said every closet in his four-bedroom home was filled to the ceiling with boxes of antiques and books.

Tim found Columbia nearly eight years ago on his way to the beach; he and his kids spent

summer vacations, schools breaks and odd weekends in Frisco and Hatteras Village. "I actually saw my building for sale, online, about five years before I bought it," he says. "At night, when the kids were in bed, I'd often go to the webpage to see it, just wishing I could afford to buy it." Finally, when our real estate troubles began, and the price came down, it was time for Tim to retire, and the rest is Historic Columbia. When asked how the shop came to be called "Maggie Duke"

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

antiques, he only replies that Maggie Duke has been an important part of his family for many years.

Some of the more unique items in the store include a pair of tall gilded candlesticks by noted sculptor Edgardo Simone; they are in the form of Art Deco nudes. There is a small postage scale with its original label from Vonnegut's Hardware, of Kurt Vonnegut and American literary fame. An authentic wooden Confederate canteen sits near a brass "New York

style" fishing reel circa 1850 and a pair of large hand-painted 19th century bobbers from Lake Michigan. Recent arrivals are a large school bell dated 1886, a 10-tube cathedral-shaped radio of 1931 vintage and a lithograph of Andy Warhol. One area of Tim's particular interest is "Outsider Art," which is often described as accomplished art by those with no formal training. Maggie Duke represents the artist Asa McEwan, and several of these works are available as paintings and posters.

Last December Tim's mid-twenties daughter visited during the Rivertown Christmas celebration. She walked the streets of Historic Downtown Columbia, the boardwalk trail by the Scuppernong, and visited with her father's 900 new friends. She said, "I get it, Daddy. It's like living in a 1920s movie set." Asked what color paint he'll use on his building's fading facade, Tim replies: "It looks like an antique store, and I like it just the way it is. It's perfect. It's just like Columbia."

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 - To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

PRECIOUS TYRRELL COUNTY

HISTORY

Located on the south shore of Albemarle Sound, Tyrrell County was formed in 1729 from  Chowan, Bertie, Currituck and Pasquotank counties. 

Named for Sir John Tyrrell, one of the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony. Tyrrell County's original  boundaries originally stretched westward from Roanoke Island to near present-day Tarboro,. In 1870 the territory was divided and resulted in what is now known as Tyrrell, Martin, Washington, and Dare counties.  Elizabethtown, later renamed Columbia, was established on the banks of the Scuppernong River in 1793 and became the Tyrrell County seat in 1799. (Sharpe 1965: 2125-2128).

While settlers from Virginia streamed southward into the Albemarle region during the early eighteenth century, the development of Tyrrell County proceeded slowly. The county is part the region's most extensive

tract of low-lying, poorly drained land that extends between Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound. The swamp forest as well as vast wetlands of muck-peat, pocosins, and pines restricted the penetration of the interior. Consequently, the county has been one of the most isolated and sparsely populated parts of the state. In 1840, there were 4,448

inhabitants in Tyrrell County. The population peaked at 5,556 in 1960, and in 1990 fewer than 4,000 people resided within its borders (Weeden 1990: 10-12).

Geography shaped the pattern of settlement which took place first along the Albemarle shore and the Alligator River, defining the eastern and northern boundaries of the county. The Secota villages of Mecopen along the Scuppernong River near present day Columbia and Tramaskecoc on the Alligator

River near Gum Neck were  shown on maps as early as 1585.  Artifacts unearthed in fields, dense woodlands, and along waterways testify to communities of inhabitants long before that. 

The first permanent white occupation probably occurred about 1700 at Fort Landing, located near the mouth of the Alligator River. Other families

later occupied tracts along the Scuppernong River and Kendrick Creek or ventured up the Alligator River and cleared lands along the coves and creeks in the southeastern part of the county. This section became characterized by modest farms, river landings, and hamlets – all

linked together by canals that facilitated farming and small-boat transportation. Inland settlement took place later, as small farmers settled along the edges of peat and muck bogs and on the ridges of high ground. However, a great deal of the interior remained undeveloped until the twentieth century when timber and pulpwood interests cut roads and drainage canals through the swamplands. 

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

James Adams Floating Theatre; visit to Columbia ca 1927. Floating Theater docked near where Voliva Oil later stood.Photo credit: www.pettigrewlibraries.org

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 - To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

The economy during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was largely based on subsistence farming and fishing though the Albemarle Sound and Alligator and Scuppernong rivers provided for the shipping of forest assets, especially shingles and staves. These products were transported across the sound to Edenton, the commercial center of the Albemarle region, where they were exported abroad or the northern markets (Merrens 1964: 96-98). By the antebellum years, goods were regularly shipped up the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City where the Dismal Swamp Canal linked Albemarle Sound to the port of Norfolk, Virginia.

Although small-scale agriculture marked the area in the colonial period, this land also sustained a collection of large plantations. In 1736, the first recorded deed in Tyrrell County was filed by Joseph Buncombe, a planter from the West Indies, who bought 1,025 acres of high ground on Kendrick Creek (in present-day Washington County) and erected a residence on the tract (Davis 1963: 21). About 1766, his nephew Edward Buncombe built the plantation seat of Buncombe

Hall on the property. On the west side of the Scuppernong River, in present-day Tyrrell County, the Spruill family, whose patriarch was Dr. Godfrey Spruill, established Round About Plantation in the early eighteenth century (Davis 1963: 22-23). No architectural evidence of these early estates survives.

By the late eighteenth century, the local planter class also included the Collinses and Pettigrews. These families, using vast amounts of slave labor, transformed the swamps bordering Lake Phelps into immense agricultural estates. The Collinses established Somerset Plantation in what is today Washington County, and in 1838-39, Josiah Collins III built the substantial Greek Revival residence that still stands by the Lake shore. Adjacent to Somerset, in Tyrrell

County, the Reverend Charles Pettigrew established Bonarva Plantation in 1779. Also known as Lake Plantation, Bonarva was developed in the antebellum years by his son Ebenezor. In 1843-1844, Ebenezor Pettigrew built the plantation seat of Magnolia north of Lake Phelps along a stretch of the Bonarva canal. The unusual two-story, two-bay, frame house featured an encircling shed-roofed porch and, tradition has it, gargoyles along the cornice. The house no longer exists.

These lakeside plantations thrived in this thinly settled region of swamplands and bog. With slave labor, canals were laboriously dug from Lake Phelps to the Scuppernong River, a distance of six miles. the first canal was completed at Somerset as early as 1787. Lands were drained and cleared, and sawmill, grist mills, and shingle mills were constructed along the canals. Shallow-draft boats plied the 20-foot-wide canals transporting the forest products as well as rice, cotton, wheat, and corn to the Scuppernong and then on to Edenton or Columbia for export. Canals associated with both Somerset and Bonarva,

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

including the Bonarva and Bee Tree canals in Tyrrell County, survive essentially intact.

During the Civil War, Union forces occupied the Albemarle region beginning with the surrender of Roanoke Island in 1862. Although Tyrrell County saw little serious military action, the town of Columbia was bombarded. As throughout much of North Carolina, the social and economic ramifications of the war were profound. The Pettigrew and Collins estates never recovered from the war and deteriorated into underutilized, subdivided tenant farms. In 1930, the federal government acquired most of these plantation tracts and launched the Scuppernong Farms Project, a short-lived resettlement program for small farmers. This part of the county contains a scattering of one-story, frame 1930s farmhouses that may represent this federally sponsored project. In 1939, the

State of North Carolina purchased the plantation house at Somerset and a portion of Bonarva for Pettigrew State Park.

The county seat of Columbia was laid off on the east side of the Scuppernong River between

1793 and 1802. Primarily a fishing and trading center before the Civil War, the town grew in the late nineteenth century as a result of the expanding lumber industry.

Between the 1880s and turn of the century, the population of Columbia rose from 166 to 382, as lumber mills appeared on the waterfront. The major employer was the Branning

Manufacturing Company of Edenton, which built a substantial planing mill at the south end of town and laid a railroad spur into the rich timberlands. In 1908, the Norfolk and Southern Railway extended its tracks to Columbia, but withdrew to Creswell in

Washington County in 1948 (Davis 1963: 62; Pezzoni 1994).

Photo Tyrrell County Courthouse - Nancy Meekins Ferebee

The remainder of Tyrrell County developed slowly in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,

characterized by small, isolated farms and commercial fishing operations. Farm tenantry led to a steady decline in the average size of farms, which dropped from 127 acres in 1890 to only 67 acres in 1940. Farmers raised corn, some cotton, livestock, and, increasingly, Irish potatoes. By the late 1940s, Tyrrell County ranked as the number

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

one potato producer in the state (Davis 1963: 62).

The success of agriculture as well as the lumber and fishing industries was made possible by advancements in transportation. In addition to the Norfolk and Southern Railway, new, paved roads and bridges slowly improved access to selected parts of the county. During the 1920s, U.S. Highway 64 was paved through the county and, in 1926, a bridge was built over the Scuppernong River at the west end of Columbia's main street. N.C. Highway 94 was constructed across the heart of the county in 1933, linking Columbia with Hyde County to the south. The discontinuation of rail service after World War II was partially compensated for by a renewed road-building campaign, and, in 1962, the monumental three-mile-long Lindsay C. Warren Bridge was erected across the Alligator River to Dare County.

In the 1970s, corporations such as First colony Farms purchased

large sections of Tyrrell and adjacent counties for agricultural use (Schoenbaum 1982: 112-115). The result was the systematic transformation of the natural landscape on an unprecedented scale. A vast network of drainage ditches was constructed and thousands of acres of swamp forests were drained and cleared for row crops. Consequently, Tyrrell County is today not only one of the most remote and sparsely populated areas of the state but also one of the most recently transformed. Small, isolated, turn-of-the-century farmsteads and agricultural communities, such as Gum Neck near the south end of the county, stand

in juxtaposition to  enormous, flat tracts of recently cleared farmland controlled by out-of-state interests. 

Tyrrell County's wild and remote nature may have contributed to its sparse population and light development in the past. Today, however, abundant water, forests and wildlife are recognized as some of its most valuable assets and are helping to build a healthy, sustainable future for this beautiful part of North Carolina.

Source: www.visittyrrellcounty.com/AboutTC/History.htm

McKeel DrugstoreLeft to right: McKeel Drugstore; Sam Holloway Grocery; Yerby & Son Clothing Store; large building on end - Davis & CofieldSource: Nancy Meekins Ferebeewww.pettigrewlibraries.org

To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Tyrrell County

Crabs Are the Best!

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

GIGGIN’

Gigging is the practice of hunting fish or small game with a gig or similar multi-pronged spear. Commonly harvested wildlife include freshwater suckers, saltwater flounder, and small game, such as frogs. A gig can refer to any long pole which has been tipped with a multi-pronged spear. The gig pole ranges in length from 8 to 14 feet for fish gigs and 5 to 8 feet for frog gigs. A gig typically has three or four barbed tines similar to a trident; however gigs can be made with any number of tines. In the past people would attach illuminated pine knots to the end of gigs at night to give them light.

Flounder or flatfish live in coastal saltwater areas, and lie at the bottom of the shallow waters waiting for shrimp or minnows to swim nearby. Flounder gigging can be done in daylight, but is often more successful done at night using

powerful lights. This method targets nocturnally foraging fish. The light is used to spot the normally camouflaged fish. Historically hollow bamboo poles filled with coal were used for lighting, and more recently kerosene lamps. Modern lights usually use halogen or led lamps. This method is effective

in shallow, clear water where fish are easily observable from the top. The temporarily blind fish are speared with the gig, or

sometimes can be collected by hand. During fishing events, an experienced person holds a lamp in the hand and points out fish for other people to collect.

Professional fisherman, Bryan Goodwin, takes you on a flounder gigging trip sponsored by Sea Striker. Step by step you will learn: -- The proper use of underwater lights and

gigs. -- To spot flounder.

WATCH on YouTube !!! Please Click!

Below is featured a vintage, six-prong barbed flounder gig sans pole that would have been used to stab, or gig, flounder as they lay on the bottom of a shallow

water bed waiting to attack their prey.

Click to check out.

The annual Tyrrell County Livestock Show 2013 was again a well attended event with lots of happy smiles!

Photo by Christy Maready Cottage Photography & Design

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Annapolis Group to Perform at Local Area Churches

Soul Searchers, an Annapolis-based Christian musical group, will perform at the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Columbia on Thursday, June 27 at 7:00 p.m. Additional performances will occur at Mt Olivet United Methodist Church in Manteo on Sunday, June 30 at 10:30 a.m., and at Soule United Methodist Church in Swan Quarter on Sunday, June 30 at 6:00 p.m.

The show, Rise Up, is a musical that includes an explosive collection of some of today's most exciting Christian songs. Featuring Rise Up, the work also includes favorites from Casting Crowns, Matthew West, Chris Tomlin, and Toby Mac. Sketches between songs tie the piece together to create an exciting drama that captures the issues faced by today’s youth. The group, which is in its 41st year of performing, is directed by Scott and Nicole Hughes, a husband-and-wife team who are both teachers in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County public school system.  The group is based out of Eastport United Methodist Church in Annapolis, but is inter-denominational and comprised of children from many area churches.  The kids range in age from fourth graders on up through high school and college.   Before coming to NC, the group performed at seven churches in the Annapolis area (their season runs from late May to late June).  For more information about Soul Searchers and a complete list of their touring schedule, please visit the group’s web site at www.soulsearchers.org.

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com

Scuppernong Gazette436 Bridgepath RoadColumbia, NC 27925

www.ScuppernongGazette.comNeliLemme@Yahoo.com

Photo by Wanda Ralph Cherry

Scuppernong Gazette Summer Issue 2013 To purchase your own print copy please visit: www.ScuppernongGazette.com