February 2010 Hyde County’s Country Magazinewww.SwanQuarterly.net

Issue # 17 www.SwanQuarter.net Cover Photo by Ingrid Lemme

For Online Readers Click Here to Our Fan Page

...On the Board Walk...Hyde County Garden of Eden Meet Hyde’s Valentine’ s CoupleMeet Hyde’ s ‘facebook’ fans Lady and Man of the Quarter Hyde Biologist Kelly Davis on TV

Lake Mattamuskeet [HD]by Pete Bell - 3:45 minA Clay Johnson Production for NC Weekend, PBS

FOR EVERYONE WHO MISSED THE PIECE ABOUT LAKE MUTTAMUSKEET’S WINTER WATERFOWL ON TV THE EVENING OF JAN 29TH HERE IS A LINK TO A CLIP ON facebook

Music by Bill Leslie.

For all our ‘facebook’ users: you may watch this amazing piece @

“I spent an afternoon and a morning shooting at the lake with my XDCAM pdw-330. The temps were around 25ºf and the winds were whipping... as you can see from some of the shots. I had some knee high muck boots that allowed me to wade in past some of the reedy lake shores to get a better look. Sadly the shots of the Hawk and Snowy Egrets didn't make the edit. Maybe I'll make a directors cut.” wrote Pete Bell

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1315817328707&ref=share

North Carolina Weekend - PBS

features Kelly Davis

Hyde County Wildlife Biologist

All images are from the film and belong to Clay Johnson Production for NC Weekend

@ the Swan Quarter Volunteer Fire Department

Every last Saturday of the month, or check

www.SwanQuarter.net for updates!

nnn

“Made in Hyde County”

Dear Reader We invite you to send us your photos and stories of things that you or your family members and friends are producing. “Made in Hyde County” is a

series of interesting handmade products that we are looking to start with the next issue. Email Ingrid ilemme@mac.com

February is here and we have 6 more weeks until winter is over, that is when we want to believe the people from Punxsutawney, I have watched that movie many times and will watch it again. - Now I have become a fan of facebook and many of you will be thinking “Get a life!” or “Don’t you have anything better to do?” -

You are right! - However, they started a facebook page for Engelhard and now they have

already more fans than Swan Quarter has on facebook and that in less than a week. I guess you got to flip this magazine all through to the last page to see

what we are all talking about. Happy Valentine’s Day. xox Ingrid

z Quote of the Quarter z

“Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offense. There is

nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and endurance. In a word, there are three things that last forever: faith, hope,

and love; but the greatest of them all is love.”

DEAR READER

P U B L I S H E R S : I N G R I D A N D N E L I L E M M E

2 0 1 0 F E B R U A R Y I S S U E

...On the Board Walk...Couple of the

Quarter Doug Alt & Judi Raburn of Ponzer, NC is the Valentines’s couple this month. pg 5

Lady of the Quarter

Ms. Edith Harris Simpson, a very caring lady and a native of Hyde County. pg 7

Men of the Quarter

Wayland Moore reading the paper at Newman’s fish house at Swan Quarter Landing, pg 6

Pet of the Quarter

Malori Spencer’s dog Rylee who always hangs out at Pat’s Gas Station in Swan Quarter

Movie of the Quarter

GROUNDHOG DAY

Boat of the Quarter

“Wonder Woman” seen in Engelhard

See her on page 14

Organization of the Quarter

Lots of work and a fine team is behind this event www.engelhardseafoodfe

stival.com Business of the Quarter

Martelle’s Feed House

www.martellesfeedhouse.comGot great comments on their

steaks on Engelhard’s facebook page

Website of the Quarter www.SwanQuarterLanding.com

Valentines Day 2000, Doug & Judi’s Wedding Day AFTER JUDI FINALLY SAID YES,

DOUG MADE ALL THE WEDDING ARRANGEMENTS. WE BOTH HAD BEEN MARRIED BEFORE (WON’T

SAY HOW MANY TIMES), BUT WE’VE HAD ALL THE

TRADITIONAL WEDDING STUFF. NO NEED TO DO THAT ALL OVER AGAIN. SO HERE’S WHAT DOUG

DID:

He had me go to work as usual. Said he’d surprise me at lunch. When I came down at noon, there was a white stretch limo out front of my building to pick me up. Inside were our two dear friends,

Joan and Jim Shea (to be our witnesses). Also inside was Judge Dick Greco, Jr. whom Doug had made arrangements to pick up at his office at the courthouse (to perform the ceremony). We were headed to a delightful luncheon at Mise en Place, a really nice restaurant near downtown Tampa. But on the way, the judge performed the wedding

vows and by the time we arrived at the restaurant, we had exchanged vows and popped a bottle of bubbly!

To top off a really different kind of wedding, we had a wonderful lunch and carrot cake wedding cake (Doug’s favorite); then off work for the afternoon. After all, the honeymoon was already planned for October to go to Paris, France. Now that’s not all folks.

Doug is from Milwaukee, Wi and I am from Ponzer, NC. Yes, we crossed the Mason Dixon Line. I brought Doug to a class reunion of mine in NC previously and he fell in love with the area. He said he wanted to make my dreams come true and built the house we live in now in Ponzer in the middle of the woods on the Pungo River. So how’s that for a romantic Valentine’s Day story?

COUPLE OF THE QUARTER DOUG ALT & JUDI RABURN

OF PONZER, NC

MAN OF THE QUARTER Wayland Moore

Photo by Ingrid Lemme

desired effect, first having bandaged the boy’s leg above the wound remembering the old adage that “the hair of the hound would cure the wound.” But seeking no further friendship for the snakeship, took a toad frog, cut it open and bound the bleeding side to the wound; she then sent her little patient to his home. Dr. William O. WHITFIELD

was called at once, but upon examination of the case found that Miss WHITLEY had so treated in the outset that the patient need not fear for the safety of the child. The little boy is well and out again declaring his intentions to bruise the serpent’s head.

(The Washington Gazette (Washington, Beaufort Co. N.C.) - Thursday, August 14, 1889; pg. 3; column 2) [Kindly submitted by Robert Henderson]

Lady of the Quarter: Ms. Edith HarrisSteve Bryan, owner and funeral director of Bryan Funeral Service says on his website: Edith Harris has been a part of our organization since returning to her native Hyde County in 1994.  An integral part of our service, Edith has served as corporate secretary, receptionist and records manager during these times.  Edith took a time of leave following Hurricane Isabel and worked some two and one-half years with MERCI, the disaster response arm of The United Methodist Church.  During this time she continued to work in the funeral home and took an active role in directing much of the work done in the county for many who lost their homes or either suffered extensive damage.  She has demonstrated a keen interest in helping people and continues to serve in a support capacity in our organization.  Edith is active in Soule United Methodist Church where she serves as secretary to the Church Council.

What a Woman Could & Can Do

SWAN QUARTER, Hyde Co. N.C. 1889 -  Miss Jennie WHITLEY one of the principals of the Misses WHITLEY and BROWN High School, at Washington, now teaching a public school at Otales Chapel,

in Hyde county, had one of her pupils bitten by a ground rattlesnake. There being no physician near by and the little boy two or three miles from home, Miss WHITLEY sent to a near neighbor’s house, procured a pint or more of Holland gin and gave her little patient a sufficient quantity, as in her good judgment would have the

Hyde County Garden of EdenSOME IMPRESSIONS OF HYDE COUNTY

THE TAR HEEL, AN ELIZABETH CITY NEWSPAPER - FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1903Editor Visits the Fertile Fields of the State's Corn Crib.  What He Saw and Heardby Walter L. CAHOON

    I remember having heard "Tom" SPENCER say on one occasion that "if the Garden of Eden was not located east of the Chowan River, it should have been".  And these words of Eastern North Carolina's great commoner came forcibly to my mind as I looked over the broad and fertile fields of Hyde County unprecedentedly rich with magnificent crops.  From an agricultural point of view Hyde is by far the richest of the 97 counties in North Carolina.    This year the crops are the biggest since the Civil War.  It can truthfully be called the corn crib of the State.  It's vast acres of corn stalks bowing under the weight of this staple food product is truly an inspiration.

THE FARMERS OF HYDE COUNTY

    A few years ago the Hyde County farmer was in debt.  A disease fatal to horses had swept over the county; unfavorable seasons had brought poor crops and he was discouraged.  But today conditions are different.  Providence has smiled upon him and his rich fields are free of encumbrance.  Today the farmer of Hyde, more than any other of my knowledge, approaches that ideal agriculturalist of which the poets have sung and the novelists have dreamed.

    It is no uncommon sight to see a college diploma hanging from the wall of the home of the farmer of Hyde.  He is educated.  For generations it has been the ambition of the youth to graduate at the State University and return to the farm of his boyhood.  It is therefore safe to say that there is a larger percent of intelligence here than in any other county in the State.  In not a few instances there is a piano in the parlor and a rubber-tired buggy in the barn.  On the center table are magazines and newspapers, and in the bookcase are books which give evidence of culture.  In addition to this, he has a bank account and is able to lend money to his neighbor.

FOUNDATION OF THE NATION'S WEALTH

    I was elated to witness such conditions for upon such conditions rest the safety of the republic.  As the farmer prospers so we all prosper.  The farm are the real foundation of the nation's wealth.  On the prosperity of the farm is built the prosperity of the factory, the railroad and the tradesmen.  The speculator is only on the surface and Wall Street is powerless to dictate financial conditions so long as the farmer's barns are full.  The present wave of prosperity is due not to Wall Street financiers nor to any political administration, but solely to a general confidence stimulated by the large crops of both the Western and Southern farmer.  He has in reality been responsible for the prosperity of the whole county, for when the farmer has no crops to exchange for the product of the factory, the noise of the factory is hushed, the railroads must sidetrack their rolling stock for want of traffic, and commercial activity is generally impeded. cont

FARM LANDS THAT ARE VALUABLE

    But I started out to write about Hyde County. There are vast acres of farm lands here that have been in cultivation for more than 100 consecutive years and which will easily produce forty to fifty bushels of corn to the acre.  Many acres of farm lands that are tilled only for the cultivation of cotton and corn will sell for $100 per acre. In fact I have been told of a farmer in Fairfield township who made a loan of $500 on a mortgage of 5 acres of bare farm land in that township.

SOME OF THE PROMINENT FARMERS      Among those most successful farmers of Hyde, I mean those operating on a large scale are: H.C. CARTER, T.H.B. GIBBS, A.L. CUTHRELL, D.H. CARTER, T.B. JONES, W.D. MURRY, J.A. MANN, and R.N. CARTWRIGHT of Fairfield.  J.S. NORTHERN, Jno. MANN, C.E.P. GIBBS, A.S. GIBBS, E.L. GIBBS and T.J. MANN of Engelhard.  T.E. SAUNDERSON, H.B. CREDLE, T.H. JENNETT, J.C. McCLOUD, and Robt. JENNETT of Lake Landing.  E.O. SPENCER, M.S. CREDLE, I.R. CREDLE, C.E. CAHOON, T.W. HARRIS, JR., J.M. WATSON, L.H. SWINDELL, B.F. MIDGETT, Edgar O'NEAL and G.V. CREDLE of Swan Quarter.  D. WAHAB, C.M. WATSON, Z.T. FORTESCUE, T.E. WARREN and Walter JARVIS of Sladesville.  Mr. D.H. CARTER of Fairfield is the largest rice grower in this county and one of the largest in the state.  He has modern machinery for flooding his rice lands and for the cultivation of this product.

By Walter L. Cahoon --  The Tar Heel, an Elizabeth City newspaper - Friday, December 4, 1903; pg. 1.

Thank you to Kay Midgett Sheppard who ministers “Welcome to HYDE COUNTY Part of the U.S. & NC GenWeb Project” and copied this text from microfilm into a spiral notebook by hand and typed it u p f o r t h e w e b s i t e h t t p : / /www.ncgenweb.us/hyde/HYDE.HTM which she maintains. Without her support many of these wonderful old stories of Hyde County’s history, would soon be forgotten or never be known today.

Hyde County Garden of EdenMY HOST DILATES ON PROHIBITION It was my pleasure to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my friend, Mr. W.B. SWINDELL, for many years the leading merchant of this county.  He is a close observer of men and events.  No one is better posted on the conditions of this county than this man whose every heart throb is in kindness for his fellow creature.  Our conversation drifted on the temperance question.  He says that it is a mistaken idea for men to believe that the sale of whiskey helps a town.  Hyde is a dry county and Elizabeth City will not lose one dollar's worth of trade by abolishing its bar rooms.  "The captains of our sailing vessels are disgusted with the idea of transporting jugs and they prefer to trade with a dry town", said my host.  He said that the people of Hyde County preferred to trade with Elizabeth City and as a trading point it was superior to either Washington of Newberne.  "Your merchants need not entertain fear that the Hyde County trade will be diminished after the first of January.  Instead of bringing refilled whiskey jugs, our captains will bring more provisions from your town", thus continued my friend.

ANXIOUS TO TRADE I find that the people of this county are anxious to trade with Elizabeth City.  It has only been in very recent years that Elizabeth City has been getting any trade from Hyde.  The bulk of trade went to Washington and Newberne.  Our merchants have been slowly but surely making a conquest of this territory by a marked superiority of goods and prices as compared with the merchants of Newberne and Washington. The people of Hyde have been quick to recognize the superior advantages our town offers the trading public and it may reasonably be expected that with the proper transportation facilities,

Elizabeth City will get practically all of this Hyde County trade.

HYDE COUNTY WANTS TRANSPORTATION I find the people practically unanimous in a desire for proper transportation with Elizabeth City.  In this connection I was talking with Mr. E.L. GIBBS, a prominent merchant and planter of Middleton.  He says that the people here would meet the businessmen of Elizabeth City more than half way in any movement looking to steamboat communication.  "Some years ago," said Mr. GIBBS, "our people raised $5000 with which to build suitable wharves for a steamboat line.  This was done at the instigation of Mr. M.K. KING of Norfolk & Southern Railroad.  He promised to give us steamboat transportation and afterwards attributed his failure to do so to an unsettled state of political sentiment.  This was when BRYAN and free silver seemed so popular.  But we must have transportation.  The same fertile lands which brings cotton and corn in such abundance will produce peas, potatoes and other truck.  We are 10 days in advance of Elizabeth City.  We can grow truck cheaper and in greater abundance than the farmers on the north of the Sound, but these advantages are of no value to us if we haven't the transportation facilities to get our produce to marker.  We have despaired of any aid or encouragement from Mr. KING and his railroad.  We are entertaining hopes that the Suffolk & Carolina railroad will help us, together with the businessmen of your city.  If your businessmen are the wide-awake men I believe them to be, they will spare no time in helping us to establish a steamboat line between Elizabeth City and Swan Quarter, making stops at intermediate points." - The Tar Heel, an Elizabeth City newspaper - Friday, December

4, 1903; pg. 1. 

‘Twas the Hand of Providence For the Ladies of Hyde County

THE TAR HEEL, AN ELIZABETH CITY NEWSPAPER - FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1903; PG. 1. 

TWAS THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE By Walter L. Cahoon

      My host, Greely BRINN, is the authority for a singular incident which occurred here several years ago.  It was in the year 1876.  The Methodist folk were about to build a house of worship.  There was division in the membership on the question of locating the edifice.  The ladies were a unit in favor of locating it on Pamlico Avenue, while the male members were united in their determination to have it on a site about 400 yards from the one desired by the ladies.  The men won out and the building was in course of erection when the memorable storm of '76 swept this vicinity.  The singular feature of the story is that the unfinished church structure was floated and carried by the storm to a point within twenty feet of where the ladies had desired that it be erected.  The men believed this to be the work of a divine hand and it is needless to say that this house of worship remained where the storm had driven it.  And to this day the men of this community let the women have their way in church matters as well as in many other respects.

WE UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS ANOTHER INTERPRETATION

OF THE ‘SWAN QUARTER CHURCH MOVED BY THE HAND

OF GOD’ STORY IN CIRCULATING. - BUT IT IS THE MONTH OF VALENTINE’S, AND

SO WE DECIDED TO PUBLISH THIS ‘MORE ROMANTIC’

VERSION!

THIS ONE FOR THE LADIES OF HYDE COUNTY!

The latest story about Swan Quarter’s Church “Moved by the Hand of God “ comes from Chaz Allen of Oklahoma’s Edmond Life and Leisure Magazine. Mr Allen also hosts his

syndicated radio show “Little Known Facts” www.littleknownfactsshow.com

“Folks, I want to tell you a story and like all of our stories, it’s true. And I make no pretensions of telling you the meaning of this story. Besides, it wouldn’t matter; you’d make up your own mind anyway. It’s the story of a church, the Methodist Church of Swan Quarter, N.C. It was a poor church, located in the bottom land of the town. It’s called the bottom land because it was below sea level. Not a good thing when the rains come. Especially the kinds of rain they get in North Carolina. And the rains did come, frequently and with a vengeance. The Methodist Church was often rendered unusable because of the flooding. If the church itself wasn’t half filled with water then the roads leading to it were flooded. Then it was the clean-up. The mud, the tree limbs the debris. There was one spot in town that was ideal. It was the highest point in Swan Quarter, immune from flooding and perfect for a church. Would the owner sell? Yes, for a great deal of money. More than this poor congregation could ever afford. After all, it was the choicest property in town.... “

Well and to read the whole story, ya’ll just have to click ....

Photo by Ingrid Lemme

Hyde Co. Mgr. Carl Classen enjoys a Pot Luck Dinner prior to January's Service Group mtg.

This is country cooking at its best.

Coach Lee Padrick, the Rural Center's Misty Herget, and NC Dept. of Commerce's Trey

Smith attended the January meeting.

Photo by Neli Lemme

Photos by Ben Cahoon

Keeping Hyde

County Beautiful!

~Swan

Quarter Service Group

Boat of the Quarter “Wonder Woman”

As seen in Engelhard, NC

Photo by Ingrid Lemme

There’s much more: Emerge Gallery and Art Center; Swan Quarter; ChooseAneed.org; Long’s Brigade, a Civil War Tour; and, Inner Banks news and tourism information.

 Finally, we honor the memory of Inner Banks scholar, teacher, leader, friend, gentleman and literary visionary, W. Keats Sparrow.  In our opinion, no single person has played a deeper and more meaningful role in nurturing and inspiring the culture and arts of eastern North Carolina.  His spirit, intelligence, wit, tenacity and grace under fire will be sorely missed.

To read “IBX Lifestyles” in online magazine format, simply click on the following link (http://issuu.com/webstrong/docs/ibx_lifestyles_winter_2010_final) and engage the “Fullscreen” button in the top left corner of the page.  Turn the pages by using the arrows to the right and left sides of the image of the magazine.  This is by far the best way to enjoy “IBX Lifestyles” magazine.

To receive a four-color, glossy hardcopy of this issue, simply follow this link to make your purchase: http://magcloud.com/browse/Issue/59955 This issue of “IBX Lifestyles” is also available in PDF format @ www.ibxlifestyles.com under the “IBX Newsletters” button at the top of the page. A special thank you goes out to our contributors, supporters, advertisers and friends across the Inner Banks.

Swan Quarter featured in the Winter 2010 issue of

Publisher and Managing Editor Frank Dooley wrote: The Winter 2010 issue of “IBX Lifestyles” magazine is now available. In this issue:  Inner Banks film, fiction and more. We are pleased to present

short stories by three talented Inner Banks writers:  Erica Plouffe Lazure, Brian Lampkin and Dean Marshal Tuck.  Also, “IBX Lifestyles” celebrates the work of three successful IBX film productions, two on the wildlife sanctuaries at Lake Mattamuskeet and Pungo Lake as well as a documentary

on one man’s struggle to invent a new career for himself in “Beyond Burlington.”

Amy WolfeOhio

Kimberly Snead Moss

Lora Byrd

Dan Poland

Rhonda Peeler Ballance

Gayle Hester

Joey Smith

Ashley Tankard

Cheryl Rauf Tankard

Suzanne Snead Taylor

Brandon Stotesberry

 Jennifer Allen O'Neal

Amy Williams

Bryon Schmitt

 Jennifer Watson

Dail Berry

Frankie Bender

Angel Jones

Shannon Monterrosa

Wesley Rose

Coalvin Woods

Laura Coleman

Kim Randalls Smith

Brandon Berry

Mandy Collier McCune

Aleta Smith Cox

Sherry Mann Stotesberry

Chuck Robinson

 

...meet a whole bunch of our facebook fans...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Swan-Quarterly/253035583410

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Engelhard-NC/270215813558

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Swan-Quarterly/253035583410

2nd Annual Festival Dates

November 20th & 21st, 2010

www.hydewaterfowl.com

Photo: Ingrid Lemme

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 0

To:

SWAN Quarterly137 NC Highway 45Swan Quarter, NC 27885ilemme@mac.com 252.796.4513

Photo by Chuck Lemme

www.SwanQuarterly.net www.SwanQuarter.net