Bland Simpson, who teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is author of The Great Dismal and The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey. A member of the Red Clay Ramblers, the internationally acclaimed string band, he has collaborated on such musicals as Diamond Studs, Fool Moon, Kudzu, and King Mackerel and The Blues Are Running. Ann Cary Simpson has worked for a number of conservation groups, including the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, Ducks Unlimited, Conservation Trust for North Carolina, and N.C. Coastal Land Trust. She is associate director of development for the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill.
Contents
The Sound Country
Betsy: The Northeast
Scuppernong: Around the Albemarle Hulls
Sunny Side: The Roanoke Valley
Ghost Pocosins: Between Albemarle and Pamlico
Croatan: Valley of the Neuse
Tar
The Big Empty: Lower Carolina
Maco: Southeasternmost
Rough Side
Coratank: Northeasternmost
Haystacks: Heart of the Coast
Selected Sound Country Sources
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Maps
Index
Illustrations
Sunset, Leonard's Point, Albemarle Sound, October 1996 / frontis
Chowan River cypress
Stacking peanuts, Northampton County, about 1939
Perquimans River, October 1996
Water lilies
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's motorcade passes the Carolina Building, Elizabeth City, August 1937
Motorcar crossing Albemarle Sound railroad bridge, longest in the world over navigable water at the time, about 1910
James Adams Floating Theater, docked in Edenton, about 1928
Scuppernongs, Perquimans County, October 1996
Jesse Perry's scuppernong vineyard, Perquimans County, October 1996
Polish farm buyers with agent at St. Helena Vineyard, Pender County, 1914
Boatbuilder Bryan Blake, Gloucester, November 1996
Boatyard, Marshallberg, August 1996
Jesse Perry aboard the Sea Jay, 1930s
Old trawler near Bonaparte's Landing, Brunswick County, August 1996
Barnhill Supply, Everetts, Martin County, March 1993
Robert "Kooles" Bonds at the steamer, Sunny Side Oyster Bar, Williamston, March 1993
Sans Souci ferry, Cashie River, March 1993
David Earley, ferry operator, Cashie River, March 1993
Capehart Fishery, near Black Walnut Point, Albemarle Sound, 1880s
Herring nets, near Edenton, May 1949
Holy Innocents Episcopal Chapel, Avoca, Bertie County, September 1996
Scotch Hall bluff overlooking Albemarle Sound, September 1996
Train of poplar, pine, and tupelo logs, Roper Mill, Belhaven, 1907
Upper Alligator River, January 1989
Tupelo, Sweetwater Creek, Martin County, September 1990
Gardners Creek, East Martin County, September 1990
Big fields west of Kinston, 1991
Pitcher plants
Osprey
Bayard Wootten, Great Lake, Craven County, about 1910
Porte Crayon's Scraping Turpentine, 1857
Young longleaf-pine and wiregrass savanna, Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge, November 1996
Wilmington welcomes President William Howard Taft, November 1909
Strawberry festival, Wallace, Duplin County, 1936
Breaking new ground, Dutch settlement of Van Eden, Pender County, about 1913
Black River, March 1996
Out of the channel, Black River, March 1996
Bald cypress, Black River, March 1996
Ivanhoe Landing, Black River, March 1996
Old Curiosity Shop, windows still taped after Hurricane Bertha, Southport, August 1996
Treasures, Old Curiosity Shop, Southport, August 1996
Steamer Wilmington, Southport, early 1900s
Palmettos, Bald Head Island, about 1905
Cape Fear River pilots' tower, Southport, August 1996
Lone chimney, Halifax County, September 1996
U.S. revenue officers attack smugglers, Masonborough, New Hanover County, 1867
Ruin of the Daily Record, black press burned by white mob, Seventh and Church Streets, Wilmington, 1898
Old fishing shack, Core Sound, Carteret County, late 1970s
Egret rookery, Monkey Island, Currituck Sound, early 1980s
Earl and Mary Baum, on Currituck Sound near Monkey Island, early 1980s
Beaufort waterfront, from Piver's Island, about 1900
Girls with horseshoe crab, Beaufort, early 1900s
Ghost tree, Sea Level, November 1996
Front Street cottage, Taylor's Creek, Beaufort, with the Cheryl Jean and Carrot Island beyond, August 1996
Venus on Taylor's Creek, Beaufort, August 1996
Gregory Poole moored at Beaufort Fisheries, Taylor's Creek, Beaufort, August 1996
Davis Island Hunting Club, Core Sound, August 1996
Drum Inlet Coast Guard station at Core Banks, burned in 1970s, with Core Sound in foreground, Atlantic Ocean beyond
The Thorofare, Cedar Island marshes, Carteret County, November 1996
Wooden grave markers, Sea Level, 1996