North Beach Sun Spring 2023

SPRING 2023

FEELING GREEN AT NATURE’S HARMONY GETTING BURNED IN STYLE

PRETTY FLY

THE ART OF TYING FLIES

The Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Group is now Outer Banks Health.

Our new name reflects two decades of growth and innovation in meeting the changing health needs of everyone on the Outer Banks. As your needs evolve, we will continue to innovate, we will continue to expand our services, and we will continue to attract the best and brightest medical professionals. In fact, that work is already underway with our new state-of-the-art cancer center, an expanded hospital laboratory, and our reinvestment in programs focused on community wellness. Because with each new day, your health is our highest priority. Together, our future is bright. OuterBanksHealth.org

Reaching new horizons in health.

Images above courtesy of Noah Snyder (top), Diana & Rachel Saddlemire (middle left), Dave Rollins (middle right), Elizabeth Neal (lower left), and Lori Douglas (lower right). Cover illustration by Dave Rollins.

Savor every second of spring.

SPRING HAS ALWAYS BEEN A BIT OF A TRICKY CONCEPT HERE ON THE OUTER BANKS. In part, at least, that can be chalked up to weather – with sub-zero temps one moment, sweltering highs the next – but on an even more fundamental level, spring can simply start to feel a little inconsequential.

Think about it: Winter means the holidays, maybe a bit of downtime or traveling, and then chances are you’re either planning or gearing up for summer, some fun in the sun or (quite possibly) the chance to pick up a few extra shifts. With an offseason that’s markedly less pronounced than it was even just a few years ago, spring here can seem more like a blip on the radar rather than a distinct interval of time.

But maybe – just maybe – that’s only a matter of perspective? While that feels like a pretty fair assessment to the two of us, who have lived and worked on the Outer Banks for many years, the truth is that this area attracts people from all over for a variety of different reasons – and you don’t have to love sunbathing to fit right in.

Recently, that got us thinking about the parable of the blind men and the elephant. The gist of the story is that a group of men each try to make sense of the odd animal by examining its parts, but the man touching its ear, say, comes to radically different conclusions about what the animal looks like than the men who only encounter its tail or its tusks. By the end, the blind men are so caught up in their descriptive disagreements that none of them have solved the full puzzle in the slightest.

Funnily enough, there’s actually a rather famous real-world example of that tale’s basic premise. In 1515, the German artist Albrecht Dürer created a seminal woodcutting of a rhinoceros – the only problem was that he’d never actually seen the creature with his own eyes. Basing the animal’s appearance on one hastily written description, Dürer’s somewhat fanciful masterwork went on to become THE gold standard of mass-produced images in natural histories for the next two centuries.

More true-to-life depictions of rhinoceroses weren’t widely available until much later in the 1700s, but by then, Dürer’s rendering had secured its place in the world’s collective imagination. As many have pointed out over the past 500-plus years, his image is really only inaccurate when viewed from a purely scientific perspective – as an enduring work of art, it’s truly so much more than the sum of its parts.

And in a very roundabout way, that’s perhaps the best way to think about the Outer Banks – an area that can similarly defy description: To some, it’s an exciting island escape; to others, a close-knit community of sleepy neighborhoods. People flock here for everything from charters to charming locales, historic sites to sunsets, and everything else in between.

So, no matter what’s brought you here, please don’t forget to slow down while you’re here. To take in each moment, or even, possibly, consider entertaining another perspective of said moments. And, above all, don’t let the seasonal notion of a calendar rush you. While summer can be wonderful, there’s a lot yet to be gained by savoring every second of spring.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue!

PUBLISHERS

Adam & Cathy Baldwin

PUBLISHERS

EDITOR

Adam & Cathy Baldwin

Amelia Boldaji

EDITOR

ART DIRECTOR

Amelia Boldaji

Dave Rollins

ART DIRECTOR

WRITERS

Dave Rollins

Cathy Baldwin

CONTRIBUTORS

Amelia Boldaji

Steve Hanf

Cathy Baldwin

Catherine Kozak

Amelia Boldaji

Katrina Mae Leuzinger

Lori Douglas

Amanda McDanel

Cory Godwin

Steve Hanf

Maggie McNinch

Corinne Saunders

Catherine Kozak

Katrina Mae Leuzinger

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Maggie McNinch

Benny Baldwin

Diana & Rachel Saddlemire

Lori Douglas

Corinne Saunders

Cory Godwin

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Ryan Moser

Elizabeth Neal

Dylan Bush

Diana & Rachel Saddlemire

SALES MANAGER

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Helen Furr

Dylan Bush

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

SALES MANAGER

Faith Turek

Helen Furr

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Faith Turek

The North Beach Sun is published quarterly by Access Media Group. All works contained herein are the property of the North Beach Sun

The views expressed in the articles contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, editor or Access Media Group. The published material, advertisements, editorials and all other content is published in good faith. Access Media Group and North Beach Sun cannot guarantee and accepts no liability for any loss or damage of any kind caused by errors, omissions or the accuracy of claims made by advertisers.

The North Beach Sun is published quarterly by Access Media Group. All works contained herein are the property of the North Beach Sun

The views expressed in the articles contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, editor or Access Media Group. The published material, advertisements, editorials and all other content is published in good faith. Access Media Group and North Beach Sun cannot guarantee and accepts no liability for any loss or damage of any kind caused by errors, omissions or the accuracy of claims made by advertisers.

NORTH BEACH SUN

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NORTH BEACH SUN

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115 West Meadowlark St. Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948 252.449.4444

editor@northbeachsun.com

Albrecht Dürer's famous 16th-century woodcutting of a rhinocerous.

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Fun Family Events!

Mark

Downtown Market

May 13th - September 16th, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at George Washington Creef Park

Dare Days

June 3rd, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM,

June 4th, 3:00 to 5:00 PM

July 4th Celebration

July 4th, events begin at 3:00 PM, ending with fireworks after dark

MANTEONC.GOV

but first...

All Washed Up

SHIPWRECKS AND WARTIME RELICS, thousand-year-old coins and 18th-century Spanish olive jars. Though no one’s found Blackbeard’s treasure (yet), plenty of strange things wash ashore on the Outer Banks – but one of the oldest and oddest was a fossilized walrus skull. Discovered by a visiting beachcomber on Hatteras Island in 1989, the skull was promptly analyzed by researchers at the Smithsonian Institute who determined that the find was more than 36,000 years old. Despite the Smithsonian’s interest in acquiring what they deemed the most well-preserved specimen of its kind, the Stone Age skull remains part of the National Park Service’s cultural artifact collection right here on the Outer Banks. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service, Cape Hatteras National Seashore.)

when the supercontinent Pangea reigned supreme, NC was actually pressed up against present-day Morocco. Like most of the southeastern United States, it was also largely submerged under a shallow body of water until about 200 million years ago during the Triassic period – but that doesn’t mean that prehistoric life didn’t have a chance to flourish. From a trilobite-like creature known as a

Pteridinium to early reptiles such as the Carnufex and the Postosuchus, a lesser-known dinosaur called Hypsibema, and giants of the deep like the Eocetus and the mighty megalodon, ancient remains abound in North Carolina –reminding us that footprints were once quite a bit bigger in the Tar Heel State.

Class: Erniettomorpha

Time Period: Pre-Cambrian –more than 550 million years ago

First found in NC: 1973

CARNUFEX CAROLINENSIS

Class: Reptilia

Time Period: Late Triassic –approximately 231 million years ago

First found in NC: 2005

POSTOSUCHUS KIRKPATRICKI

Class: Reptilia

Time Period: Late Triassic –approximately 225-208 million years ago

First found in NC: 1992

approximately 75 million years ago

First found in NC: 1869

A River Runs Through It

EOCETUS WARDII

Class: Mammalia

Time Period: Early to Late Eocene –approximately 40-37 million years ago

First found in NC: 1990s

CARCHAROCLES MEGALODON

Class: Chondrichthyes

Time Period: Early Miocene to Pliocene –approximately 23-3.5 million years ago

First classified in 1835, numerous megalodon teeth have been found off the coast of NC, and they were named the official state fossil in 2013

LONG BEFORE THE OUTER BANKS’ COASTLINE earned the moniker “The Graveyard of the Atlantic,” something else was buried in the deep: An ancient river system. Thanks to a team of geologists who surveyed offshore areas along the towns of Kitty Hawk and Nags Head, evidence of a series of old channels dating back to the last ice age was discovered below our present-day sea floor. Researchers estimate that this river system developed around 75-80,000 years ago and lasted until sea level rose over the continental shelf about 10,000 years ago – but it isn’t all just ancient history. According to scientists, narrower portions of the Outer Banks – like those found around Kitty Hawk Bay – are often the direct result of those old channels, which continue to affect the shape of our barrier islands to this day.

spring events

The Outer Banks is always full of fun things to do! Some of the following events were still being modified or added as of press time, so please don’t forget to check individual websites for the most current information.

RUNNING OF THE LEPRECHAUNS

March 18

Prolong St. Patrick’s Day festivities with this 5k and 10k race in Nags Head. obxse.com

32ND ANNUAL KELLY’S ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

March 19

Grab your green to cheer on the longestrunning St. Patrick’s Day parade in North Carolina as it marches down Virginia Dare Trail in Nags Head. kellyhospitalitygroup.com

OUTER BANKS TASTE OF THE BEACH

March 24 – 26

Savor three days of this foodie festival that includes activities such as wine tastings, vegan dinners, oyster tours, cook offs and more. obxtasteofthebeach.com

BLACKBEARD’S REVENGE 100

March 25

Ultra-runners will love the challenge of this 100-mile, 100-kilometer and 100-mile relay race from Corolla to Hatteras. triviumracing.com

FIRST FRIDAY

April 7, May 5

Downtown Manteo comes alive on the first Friday of each month from 6 to 8 p.m. townofmanteo.com

FLY INTO SPRING KITE FESTIVAL & EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA

April 7 – 8

Welcome spring with a kite festival and an Easter egg hunt at Jockey’s Ridge. Bring your camera to get photos of the Easter Bunny himself! kittyhawk.com

EASTERTIDE IN THE GARDENS

April 8

Follow a map of the Gardens’ paths to gather eggs at designated “egg stations” and enjoy contests, games and vendors on the Great Lawn. elizabethangardens.org

THE LOST COLONY WINE & CULINARY FESTIVAL

April 15

Enjoy a Vintner’s Reception Friday night and then sample wines from around the world on Saturday at the Grand Tasting, held on the grounds of The Lost Colony’s historic Waterside Theatre. tlcwinefest.com

FLYING PIRATE HALF MARATHON & FIRST FLIGHT 5K

April 21 – 23

Run 13.1 miles through the Outer Banks in this fun, pirate-themed half marathon that culminates with a Pirate Jamboree in Nags Head. obxse.com

OUTER BANKS BIKE WEEK

April 26 – 29

Rev up your engines for a week of guided tours, contests, live music, vendor sites and more. facebook.com/DCMCharityGroup

ESA MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL SURFING CHAMPIONSHIP

April 28 – 30

Watch surfers compete at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head during this Eastern Surfing Association regional contest. surfesa.org

OBX ROD & CUSTOM FESTIVAL

May 5 – 6

Auto enthusiasts will love the chance to check out unique, custom hot rods at The Soundside event site in Nags Head. obxrc.com

14TH ANNUAL KIDSFEST

May 12

The Children & Youth Partnership for Dare County sponsors this free, family-friendly event at Roanoke Island Festival Park that includes stomp rockets, bubble play, arts and crafts, music and more for children ages five and under. darekids.org

DOWNTOWN MARKET

May 13 - September 16

Buy fresh local fruits, veggies and crafts at this farmers' market every Saturday in downtown Manteo from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. townofmanteo.com

34TH ANNUAL ARTRAGEOUS KIDS ART FESTIVAL

May 13

This free community event with live music, activities and art vendors at Dowdy Park in Nags Head encourages children of all ages to explore their creative sides. darearts.org

COUTURE BY THE SHORE

May 13

Fashion and fundraising unite during this annual fast-paced musical fashion show and silent auction at the Duck Woods Country Club. All proceeds benefit the Outer Banks Relief Foundation. obrf.org

51ST ANNUAL HANG GLIDING SPECTACULAR

May 18 – 21

Watch professional hang gliders compete in the longest-running hang gliding competition in the world during this free event at Jockey’s Ridge. kittyhawk.com

2023 SEASON OF THE LOST COLONY

June 2 – August 26

This longest-running outdoor historical drama in the United States brings to life the mystery of what happened to the first permanent English settlement attempt right here on the Outer Banks. thelostcolony.org

DARE DAYS

June 3 – 4

Spend the weekend celebrating Manteo’s diverse history with music, crafts and food vendors. townofmanteo.com

Imagine the Possibilities

organization that connects area families with a variety of helpful resources. Since even Dolly Parton doesn’t have the personal resources to fully fund a program on this scale, CYP is one of many local champions that bridge the gap between Dolly’s organization and an individual child’s mailbox.

BY AMELIA BOLDAJI

“A BOOK IS A GIFT YOU CAN OPEN AGAIN AND AGAIN,” as author Garrison Keillor once succinctly put it. But for superstar Dolly Parton, that isn’t just a lovely sentiment – it’s become a cornerstone of her philanthropic legacy that directly impacts young children both globally and right here on the Outer Banks.

The program that pulls off this gargantuan feat is known as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and its core concept is perhaps deceptively simple: Every child from birth to age five can receive a free age-appropriate book in the mail each month regardless of their family’s income level.

When Dolly came up with the program in 1995, it was initially designed to benefit the kids in her Tennessee hometown – but it wasn’t long before the idea grew. Only five years later, nationwide replication efforts were well underway, and by 2003 the organization had gifted a whopping one million books.

A Canadian branch of the Imagination Library was launched in 2006, followed by other international operations in the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. And, as of early 2023, the numbers are truly staggering: A total of nearly 2.3 million children are currently registered with the program, and the organization has gifted 199,703,329 free books since its nationwide inception in 2000.

With about two million free books being mailed globally each month as of 2022, those numbers are only getting larger – and that growth hasn’t left the Outer Banks community behind.

The Imagination Library officially launched in Dare County in 2008 thanks to the Children & Youth Partnership for Dare County (CYP), a nonprofit

The way it works is this: The Imagination Library covers all the overhead and administrative costs associated with things such as organizing an annual book selection committee as well as placing and fulfilling monthly book orders. By partnering with other businesses such as Penguin Random House to print books in bulk specially for this program, the organization is able to keep rates reasonable for local affiliates to take over from there.

Affiliates such as CYP agree to come up with the funds to cover each child in their distribution area – at a monthly wholesale cost of about $2.20 per child on average – in addition to handling community enrollment and promoting the program.

It’s a lot of moving parts logistically, but for CYP, bringing the Imagination Library to the beach was a no-brainer from the beginning. After hearing about the organization at a conference, CYP secured a three-year grant from the Outer Banks Community Foundation along with funds from some generous private sponsors in order to get things started, but eventually the program became so popular they had to put some new registrants on a waitlist.

child,” says Carla Heppert, CYP’s education and program evaluation manager. “The experiences a child has in their early years, such as quality reading time with a parent, help mold that child’s brain…and strengthen connections for later learning.”

It can be hard to overstate the benefits of providing kids with early access to books. A 2019 study showed that young children who were read to daily can enter kindergarten knowing as much as 1.4 million more words than those who lacked that experience – while other research has shown that even having as few as 20 books in a home can significantly impact a child’s future academic success.

With 85 affiliate Imagination Library programs covering around 295,551 NC kids, the future for our state’s children looks bright indeed.

With 85 affiliate Imagination Library programs covering around 295,551 NC children – including 868 in Dare; 3,170 in Currituck; and another 1,745 as part of a partnership between nearby Beaufort and Hyde counties – the future for our state’s children looks bright indeed. But Carla also notes that supporting literacy is part of a continuum that doesn’t end with the Imagination Library, which is why CYP offers several other reading programs designed with school-age children in mind – and why the last book each Dare County child receives from the Imagination Library (Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!) arrives with a local library card application.

All that changed in 2017 when the North Carolina General Assembly approved a multi-million-dollar portion of the state budget to expand Imagination Library coverage statewide. That was great news for Dare County, and even better news for Currituck County where the program didn’t yet exist.

“One of the best things about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is that it provides a gentle reminder to families about the importance of reading with a

While the majority of Imagination Library recipients will welcome a variety of monthly titles depending on when they first sign up, one other constant is the first book they’ll receive: The Little Engine that Could

As Dolly writes in the book’s end notes, deciding on a single volume to represent the program might have seemed daunting – but it only took her a minute to choose. With memories of her father’s early struggles with literacy and her family’s gentle encouragements to follow her dreams, the classic message behind the story of a determined little engine is exactly the type of hope she wants to continue sending out into the world.

Thousands of local kids have gotten a leg up on reading skills thanks to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Sweet siblings: Sam Baldwin reads an Imagination Library book to his younger sister, Charlotte (photo courtesy of Benny Baldwin).

SAY

YesMess TO THE

BY AMANDA MCDANEL

BEING A PARENT IS A JOYOUS ADVENTURE. You get to witness the wonders of life develop like the magical shake of a Polaroid picture as you watch your DNA evolve, your curls grow on a precious little head and your partner’s sense of humor emerge in a toddler-sized body.

Yet with that comes the volatile mixture of both of your most taxing traits being shaken haphazardly like sprinkles on top of an ice cream sundae. Even more difficultly, someone always has to be the “responsible one” – the one who puts the vegetables on the table, enforces bedtimes and threatens the loss of limbs if children do not turn that screen off. RIGHT. NOW. Mostly, we want to be the “fun parent” instead – the one who wrestles on the floor, purchases Wendy’s Frostys multiple times per week after school and brings home drum sets after a week on the road for work. This is often referred to as “Disneyland Parenting.”

While that’s not always possible with your own children, what is highly underrated is being the “Fun Aunt/Uncle” who’s able to spoil your sibling or friend’s children with things that elicit both wide eyes of delight from the kids and face palms from their parents.

Case in point, my best friend bought my daughter a Band-in-a-Box for her second birthday and for months we were woken with a six a.m. cymbal performance accompanied by shrieks of, “Wake up, Daddy!” at the top of her lungs. Another birthday brought a slimemaking kit equipped with a gallon of glue, a five-pound box of borax and an assortment of more than 12 shades of glitter. In short, the type of gestures that are fun both for the recipient and the giver, but maybe not so much for the one whose carpets are now flecked with glittery slime boogers.

Mostly, we want to be the “fun parent” – the one who wrestles on the floor, purchases Wendy’s Frostys multiple times per week after school and brings home drum sets after a week on the road for work.

Yet, I also have a crystal-clear memory of my Aunt Annie taking me and my cousin on an outing some 30-odd years ago. Annie often took us on trips to the children’s zoo in town during the summertime. She would pack a lunch that we enjoyed at the top of a mountain under a picnic shelter before we walked down a wooded trail to the entrance of zoo. Along the way was a small stream that ran into a pond filled with goldfish and hundreds of copper pennies that had been donated to benefit the zoo.

When we got there, Annie would always produce two shiny pennies so my cousin and I could make a wish and throw them into the fountain. On that particular day, the

heat was almost unbearable, and having already spent a whole hour outside, we begged for a chance to splash in the pond and cool off. To our shock, Annie said yes, and we plunged into the two-foot-deep algae-filled water with the joy of convicts freshly released from 10-year prison sentences.

As if the elation of the cool water wasn’t enough, we dared to push our luck and ask if we could collect the pennies from the fountain (we had just seen the wishing well scene in The Goonies at the theaters a few weeks before). To say that the moment where my aunt agreed to our coin collection was a pivotal point in my childhood is an understatement. With utter astonishment, my cousin and I collected handfuls of slimy pennies and shoved them into our pockets, socks and underwear until we were weighted down with both wealth and water. We climbed out and walked with squishy shoes to the entrance of the zoo where my aunt not only paid our admissions, she also dropped a $20 in the donation box to cover the cost of our fun – which to me was the best investment I’d ever seen in my then-eight-year-old life.

With this memory fresh in my mind, when my seven-year-old daughter asked for a “Yes Day” for her birthday – a concept derived from the aptly titled movie where the parents agree to participate in their child’s every whim for a day – I seized the chance to be the fun parent! What I didn’t know was that the day would entail baby goats and parakeets, climbing treehouses, a pool party, a trip to Red Robin with unlimited refills of raspberry cream sodas, two visits to Chick-fil-A, a brewery dance party, midnight swimming and milkshakes the size of her seven-year-old head. Despite the sugar rush, and not a vegetable in sight, I don’t know who the day surprised more – myself or my daughter.

Riding my “fun parent” high, that evening I promptly went online and ordered a 10-person candy bar breakfast package – complete with syringes of icing, syrup, sprinkles and whipped cream – to be delivered to my best friend’s daughters for their birthday. On a WEEKDAY. Band-in-a-Box be damned.

With love,

Your Fun Aunt Amanda

The McDanel girls enjoy some sweet treats.

Whether served fresh or mushy, in a salad or as a stand-alone snack, peas are a springtime staple –particularly here in the South.

STYLED BY CHEF DAN LEWIS PHOTO BY ELIZABETH NEAL

Peas, Please

THOUGH THERE ARE NEAR-ENDLESS VARIETIES TO CHOOSE FROM, peas generally fall into three different categories: garden or “English” peas, snow peas and sugar snap peas. While the latter two boast crisp, edible pods, garden peas are the most traditional version that require shelling due to their tough, fibrous casings.

But these characteristics are also what make peas so versatile – and to top it all off, these cool-season crops are relatively simple to grow virtually anywhere. In coastal North Carolina specifically, they can be planted as early as mid-January or as late as February in order to be ready for harvest by spring, while those without home gardens can easily purchase fresh farm-grown quantities of these legumes at markets and roadside stands from at least May through June.

Regionally speaking, founding father Thomas Jefferson was also known to be especially fond of peas. In his mountain-top garden at Monticello he commonly grew as many as 15 different types of peas during the 1800s, and he was famous for organizing an annual neighborhood contest to see who could bring the first Virginia peas to the table – with the winner hosting a pea-centric dinner in honor of the other competitors.

While Jefferson’s sun-soaked estate should have given him an advantage in that yearly race, historians have noted that he almost always lost to a nearby wealthy landowner named George Divers – prompting the third president of the United States to ask for “more peas, please” whenever springtime rolled around.

Pictured here: In a more modern take on a classic dish, this serving of harissa-roasted heirloom sugar snap peas and carrots takes center-stage on a bed of pureed chickand green-pea hummus alongside a carrot-top pesto. A garnish of tender pea shoots – which is a highly soughtafter microgreen that comes from the delicate leaves and tendrils of immature pea plants – adds the final touches to this mouth-watering meal.

Lauren Nelson 252-207-6504

Fly Guys

WISPY FEATHERS. INTRICATE EYES. SPARKLY COLORS. Designs in every imaginable shape and size. As fly fishermen pull one ornate fly after another out of their cases, an obvious question begs to be asked:

Are these creations truly to lure fish? Or the fishermen themselves?

“It’s an oft-repeated saying that if you go into a fly shop and you see a bin of beautiful flies, you can tell which ones are designed to catch fly fishermen, not fish,” Biff Jennings admits with amusement.

“The art comes in designing a fly you know will catch fish and also anglers,” adds fellow enthusiast David Rohde, who most locals know simply as Rohde. “Because half of catching fish is catching the guy that’s gonna catch the fish.”

While most people equate fishing on the Outer Banks with deep-sea trips and quick-spinning reels, plenty of folks also enjoy the timeless tradition of fly fishing. From wading trips around Oregon Inlet to paddling through the marshes in a kayak, there are plenty of local opportunities for fly fishing, and near-endless ways to haul in everything from speckled trout to stripers, red drum, flounder and more.

and selling, both in local shops and online – ages ago.

“I’ve been to the Bahamas, Florida, South Carolina – and I haven’t fished with anything else but this fly, or a version of it, for probably 12 years,” Harry says of his masterwork that performs particularly well in the often-murky waters of the Outer Banks.

The fly’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder, both for the angler and the fish. With subtle changes in materials and colors, the Dirty Harry can look like an insect, a shrimp or a crab – or any other kind of tasty morsel an unsuspecting fish might want to strike.

Muted orange and pink hues with UV treatments help the flies sparkle both in shops and on the go. Need your fly to linger a bit below the surface? Add a little foam. Fishing in calmer waters? Play with the tail to make it dance more. With so many combinations, Harry jokingly calls his Dirty Harry “the lazy man’s fly.”

For some local fishermen, catching the big one is truly an art form.

Guys

explains. “It’s the exact same thing when I paint: I start doing one thing, and I

While pre-made flies are widely available, it’s not uncommon for die-hard fly fishermen to be bitten by the DIY bug. With a few tools, some materials such as beads and wire, and a little extra time on your hands, the sky’s the limit on the array of imaginative items any angler can come up with to hook a big one.

But generally speaking, the artistry of fly tying seems to attract those who are already predisposed to other artistic pursuits to begin with. Harry’s also a professional painter. Rohde builds custom surfboards, and Biff is a talented photographer.

While Harry and Biff love experimenting with their flies, Rohde is more of a perfectionist whose flies all have to come out just so – with Biff even joking that you can find Rohde’s picture in the dictionary under the word “methodical.”

“It’s what drives me. There’s no point in doing this if you’re not gonna do it better than everybody else,” Rohde says of his style. “I built surfboards for Wave Riding Vehicles for 37 years, so I’m more of a technician than an arty guy.”

Photos by Ryan Moser / Story by Steve Hanf

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder with fantastical creations by local fly fishermen Biff Jennings, David Rohde and Harry Meraklis.

business briefs

Rohde, who is also a boat captain, first learned the skill of fly tying in the 1970s courtesy of his ex-father-in-law and “a bunch of old coots” in San Diego – but he didn’t get serious about fly fishing until the early ‘90s, and he really honed his craft on guided fishing trips to places like Chile.

“Tying flies was a huge part of that – [some] clients were terrible casters and they’d just burn through flies, so you had to show up with a full fly box every day,” Rohde recalls. “There’s a lot of designing, studying and figuring out what the fish eat. I think the most important thing is getting in front of them and having a fly that swims properly, then [things like] color and size.”

From his workshop lined with vises, countless spools of thread and tubs of materials like synthetic fibers and feathers, Rohde makes flies for himself, his clients and local tackle shops such as TW’s and Oceans East.

“Honestly, I’ve never invented a fly – all of them are composites of something else…and we’re not on the cutting edge of this sport,” Rohde says. “But you go to these fly-tying events and see what other guys are doing, and then you come home and you’re like, ‘How can I do this simpler?’ The real artistry is the

On the flip side of the “inspired machine,” as his fishing buddy calls him, is Biff.

“I have a limited attention span, and I’m good for about four flies before I go, ‘What would that look like with a longer tail? What would that look like if it was this, or if I change that?’” Biff says with a laugh.

Like many fly fishermen, Biff keeps a duffel bag full of flies for any and all types of conditions. And it’s pretty much a universal maxim that most fly fishermen own more flies than they could ever hope to use. After all, if you build them right, you can fish for days at a time on one design. But everyone also agrees that there’s something magical about catching fish on something you personally made.

And there are, of course, masters of the craft who design such intricate patterns that their flies are more suited for display stands than rushing streams. Biff, for instance, follows fly-tying experts like internationally-renowned Junji Ichimura, and he can’t help but admire the beauty of something that’s clearly designed to hook a human.

“The best artists, their flies will never see the water: They’ll go into a shadow box with UV acrylic over it so the colors don’t fade,” Biff says. “They’re so precise – I absolutely can’t imagine throwing a work of art like that into the gaping maw of some savage beast.”

Flies come in all shapes and sizes –and it’s not uncommon for die-hard anglers to be bitten by the DIY bug when it’s time to fill their tackle boxes.

If you build them right, you can fish for days at a time on one design.

Meet the driving force behind Manns Harbor's beloved local nursery

Harmony IN

Sherry Foreman moves energetically around her Manns Harbor home. Her slight frame belies the fact that she and her late husband, Ron Foreman, built this house themselves when they were in their 20s, along with some help from her father. They also assembled a crabbing boat they used for more than a decade, and they painstakingly constructed another central structure that still graces her front yard: Nature’s Harmony nursery.

“I don’t know why we felt like we had to build everything,” she laughs, shaking her head of short white hair and turning to gaze out a window.

Now in her mid-70s, Sherry grew up on this land, and she’s continued to reside on it for most of her life. Once part of a larger 48-acre family property, her grandmother gave small parcels to Sherry’s parents and two of Sherry’s aunts before selling the rest for $1,800 in 1952.

“Manns Harbor wasn’t very valuable back then,” Sherry explains. “Before it was developed, it was just dry marsh in the wintertime where I played.”

But that’s exactly why her roots here run so deep. After graduating from Manteo High School, she attended East Carolina University for a year before homesickness drove her back to the Outer Banks. With a natural flair for storytelling, Sherry recalls the time her mother – who she was particularly close to – sewed a prom dress for her based on a Seventeen magazine cover photo. Even without a pattern,

her mother not only managed to finish the dress, she also stitched matching red gingham “dancing slippers” 30 minutes before Sherry’s date arrived.

“My mother just did so much for me,” Sherry adds with obvious affection. “The amount of crabmeat she picked for me wouldn’t fit in this room.”

Getting up from her desk, Sherry makes a short trip to the kitchen and returns with a heavy hardback book her father, fisherman Melvin Twiddy, wrote about his life in Manns Harbor. It’s a treasured piece of her family’s past that she helped edit, and it’s ties like these that have spurred her to slowly buy back some pieces of her grandmother’s original acreage with help from her late cousin Rob Baum.

“I feel like I cannot leave this land,” she says. “There’s something about this place that helps me spiritually.”

Part of what makes the land that Nature's Harmony sits on so enchanting is – without question – its location. It’s not a place you’d likely stumble upon unprompted, but when you do arrive there’s something hypnotically labyrinthine about the seemingly endless rows and arrangements of everything from shrubs to succulents, herbs and houseplants, towering trees and trailing vines that stretch out over every corner of the property.

Much of what you’ll encounter depends on the season, but that – and the sage advice Sherry’s gardeners can offer on the habits and hardiness of virtually any

Photos by Lori Douglas / Story by Corinne Saunders

Nature’s Harmony owner Sherry Foreman spends her morning watering in one of the nursery’s large greenhouses.

specimen – is precisely why Nature’s Harmony has built a quiet but dedicated following over the past three decades.

Though people fairly regularly tell Sherry she should charge an admission fee, she’s never considered doing that – even when they compare the experience of being at Nature’s Harmony to visiting The Elizabethan Gardens on nearby Roanoke Island.

“It is a bit more compact [here],” she simply admits with amusement.

It’s an observation that comes from some hard-won experience: At the age of 30, long before opening Nature’s Harmony’s doors, Sherry was actually the first woman on The Elizabethan Gardens’ official payroll. Prior to that, Louis Midgette, who served as the Gardens’ superintendent during its first 28 years of operation, had only ever hired women on a volunteer basis.

During the six months she spent there, Sherry was paid the then-minimum wage of $2.22 an hour, and Louis would only allow her to do certain types of jobs

like weeding. “’You’re a girl; you don’t dig irrigation ditches,’” she recounts lightheartedly. “But it was [still] the hardest work I ever did.”

Most of the other staff members then were 20-something boys who were fresh out of college and thought being over 30 meant being over-the-hill, but they still had her back – including one time they helped get rid of the evidence after she accidentally weeded some of Louis’ precious groundcover.

“My favorite job – and the worst sunburn I’ve ever gotten – was from picking pansies,” she recalls. On that particular day, she was deadheading the flowers in the full sun when her t-shirt slid up to expose a small strip of skin on her lower back.

She still has a scar from that burn. And pansies still remain her favorite flower.

As a whole, Sherry truly enjoyed her job at the Gardens – and for all his rough edges, Louis taught her some valuable lessons about things like propagation.

But she also cried every day when it was time to leave her husband’s side. “[Ron] and I hated to part every morning,” she says. “It was just painful.”

In order to be together more, she quit the Gardens, and the couple began crabbing. Over the next decade or so, they also ran a videography business for weddings and special events, which kept them doubly busy. After their daughter went off to college they thought about retirement, and spent a few years tinkering around in their organic garden during their downtime.

As fate would have it, the outboard motor on their boat finally gave out, however – to the tune of $5,000 for a replacement. Inspired to try a new venture, Sherry noted that it would cost the same amount to build a fully functional greenhouse. Though Ron was a bit reluctant at first, she announced that she was doing it with or without him – and by the end of the week, he was so enthusiastic about the project that he came up with the name they still operate under today.

More than 30 years have passed since then, and Nature’s Harmony has grown well beyond its original footprint. Other life changes have occurred as well: In 2017, Ron passed away from cancer on the day of their 51st wedding anniversary. The couple was on vacation at the time, as they had been decades earlier when they also suffered the unexpected loss of their then two-year-old son.

“I try to make light of death,” Sherry says of surviving those very real heartaches. “[It’s] not the end, just the beginning of something better.

“And we had a really good life together,” she adds before pausing a moment to think about all the places – both hard and heartwarming – that her journey has taken her. “Gosh, I’ve had fun!”

Though people fairly regularly tell Sherry she should charge an admission fee, she’s never considered doing that.

From flowering annuals and perennials to trailing vines and colorful shrubs, Manns Harbor-based Nature’s Harmony positively brims with life come springtime.

Go l d advent e!

Nouvines

With over 100 wines from around the world at your fingertips to choose from, one glass just isn't enough. Let our resident experts cater to your tastes with a wine flight. Indulge yourself with a charcuterie board and gourmet chocolates to pair with your wine.

105 Budleigh Street NouVines.com

*21 and Over

The Wheel House Lounge

The newest cra cocktail bar located inside of Outer Banks Distilling, specializing in Kill Devil Rum cocktails. The distillery gi shop is open from 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. and the Wheel House Lounge is open from 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

510 Budleigh Street 252-423-3011 outerbanksdistilling.com

Sleeping In, Ltd.

Celebrating 23 years in 2023! Fashion, sleepwear, jewelry, home textiles and more! It’s a “go a have it” kind of place.

101B Fernando Street

252-475-1971

Like us on Facebook

Sisters

Boutique & Gifts

For your wardrobe + home. Secondhand luxury scores + more.

207 Queen Elizabeth Avenue 252-305-8582 sistersofmanteo.com @sistersofmanteo

nest

Distinctive clothing by CP Shades, Frank & Eileen, Juliet Dunn, Wilt and other niche brands. Sophisticated accessories, jewelry and fragrances for you and your home.

Magnolia Lane 252-473-5141 nestobx.com

DISCOVER

Sam & Winston

A family-owned shop with fine art, books, gourmet kitchen goods and high-design gi s for ladies, gentlemen, children and dogs.

108 Sir Walter Raleigh Street 252-475-9764

@shopsamandwinston

Avenue

Grille & Goods

Indoor and outdoor waterfront dining. Local seafood, specialty burgers, pizza, cra beers, wine and cocktails. Gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan selections. Visit our NEW eco-conscious and small business-based shop! Clothing, jewelry, crystals, metaphysical books, yoga gear, gourmet items and more!

207 Queen Elizabeth Avenue 252-473-4800 avenuegrilleobx.com avenuegoodsobx.com

Lighthouse Studio

Join a class or book a private session at this NEW waterfront studio overlooking Marshes Light. O ering yoga classes in the morning and evening, special events and reiki. Sign up online for a class, private yoga or reiki session, or community reiki session!

207 Queen Elizabeth Avenue 252-473-4800 lighthouse-obx.com

Downtown Books

Books for all ages and genres, the best selection of Outer Banks titles and the biggest collection of greeting cards on the OBX. Join us on First Fridays for author signings, book launches, and all sorts of literary shenanigans

103 Sir Walter Raleigh Street

252-473-1056 ducksco age.com

Big Buck’s Homemade Ice Cream

Dozens of homemade ice cream varieties, smoothies, shakes, sundaes, handmade Belgian chocolates, fresh fudge, ice cream cakes and delicious espresso drinks.

207 Queen Elizabeth Avenue 252-423-3118 bigbucksobx.com

Charlotte’s

Full-service ladies’ boutique specializing in fashions that are traditional with a contemporary flair. Seasonal makeup events with Trish McEvoy and designer trunk shows. Check website for details.

103A Fernando Street 252-473-3078 shopcharlo es.com

Laughing Lollipop

Take a walk down memory lane in this li le mom and pop sweet shop! Ice cream, throwback candies, chocolates, homemade co on candy, fun gummies, bulk candy and more!

101 Budleigh Street 252-473-2579 laughinglollipop.com

Like us on Facebook

Town of Manteo

Join in the fun this spring with these fabulous town events: Downtown Market (Saturday mornings, begins May 13), Spring Li er Pick-up (April 30), Dare Days (June 3-4), and the July 4th Celebration (starts at 3pm).

407 Budleigh Street 252-473-2133 info@manteonc.gov

Bloom Boutique

A fashion-forward boutique o ering unique, high-quality women’s clothing and accessories. Pop in for an enjoyable, personalized shopping experience.

107 Fernando Street 252-305-8638 bloomboutiqueobx.com

The Tranquil House Inn & 1587 Lounge

Visit the 1587 Lounge & Restaurant, featuring locally sourced dishes that complement the breathtaking views of the Bay, and enjoy all that downtown Manteo has to o er.

405 Queen Elizabeth Avenue 252-473-1404 tranquilhouseinn.com

BY CORINNE SAUNDERS

On the Go

Many migratory animals follow predictable, seasonal routines and move in groups. But the Atlantic blue marlin? Not so much.

The highly sought-after, large billfish travel thousands of miles, often alone or in small numbers, and their mapped movements can seem erratic. In a 2015 Marlin magazine article that ranked the 10 longest marlin migrations, several fish swam from the Caribbean islands to locales off the coast of Africa – but the one that logged the most miles was a blue marlin that was tagged right here on the Outer Banks.

Captain Charles Cabell and angler Lisa Hawkins tagged the fish off Oregon Inlet on June 29, 1991. It then swam more than 6,610 miles over the course of 587 days, at which point it was recaptured off the coast of Angola, Africa, on February 5, 1993.

Information like this is invaluable in terms of understanding the habits of highly migratory species such as marlins – and that type of data is a goldmine for marine scientists with an interest in marlin migration patterns. The Billfish Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to billfish conservation efforts, started the tagging program that informed that top 10 list in 1990, and the information they’ve gathered over the decades since continues to be a cornerstone for researchers on a global scale.

But scientists and fishermen alike acknowledge that not enough research has been done to fully understand the patterns behind blue marlin migration paths – or if they even exist.

“People thought, ‘Oh the animals move south, or they do this or they do that;’ [but] tagging has shown they pretty much go wherever they want,” says Dr. John Graves, professor emeritus of fisheries science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

While you won’t find these fish in cold water – they prefer tropical or subtropical waters – marlin can be located over much of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. According to Graves, they can also move incredibly quickly, covering as much as 20 to 30 miles a day.

“Blue marlin spawn in the Caribbean,” adds Charles Perry, an Outer Banker who is regarded as one of the best wiremen in the world. “[But] I think they can spawn in any area if the water temperature is correct.”

Blue marlin appear off the coast of the Outer Banks only during the summer season, and their numbers can vary from year to year. Knowing exactly where they’ll pop up is another variable, though both Perry and Graves have noticed that larger fish are often caught farther north.

“Females, because they’re bigger, will move more,” Graves explains. “You’ll see males occasionally up in our areas, too, [and] if you go to spawning areas, the sex ratio is very characteristically dominated by males.”

Blue marlin appear off the coast of the Outer Banks only during the summer season, and their numbers can vary from year to year. Knowing exactly where they’ll pop up is another variable.

Female blue marlin can reach 1,500 pounds, while males generally don’t top 250 pounds – which is important in the game-fishing industry, where bigger is nearly always considered better. On the Outer Banks, which is a recognized hotspot for blue marlin activity, people regularly flock from around the world in order to set records, test their skills and experience the adrenaline-pumping show a “grander” (the term for a blue marlin weighing more than 1,000 pounds) can put on.

Other sailfish and closely related white marlin also draw sportsmen to the Outer Banks, but Graves notes that they can be “finicky” catches, while blue marlin are considered the most aggressive of the Atlantic billfish. Black marlin, which are mainly found in the Indo-Pacific, also share a similar personality.

The migration patterns of Atlantic blue marlins remains a puzzle that researchers and fishermen alike are actively looking to solve.

Dalling

“Blue marlin just explode on the bait,” Graves says. “The fights are something else…they’re peeling line off the reel; it’s amazing.”

Due to his interest in the survival rate of these massive fish, Graves has both personally tagged marlins and also supervised a number of other tagging efforts over the course of his career. In one study of nine blue marlin that were initially tagged in Bermuda, the eight surviving animals each moved 100 miles over the course of five days – each in a completely different direction.

In another study Graves supervised, a student tagged blue marlin over the course of two summers to study catch-and-release survival rates. That turned out to be about 85%, a high which Graves attributes in large part to the development of the “circle hook” that replaced the more lethal “J-hook” in the game-fishing industry.

Though that hasn’t always been the norm, many countries have now adopted catchand-release laws for billfish, and it’s become the most common method used in the United States. Unfortunately, the most recent population counts indicate that the Atlantic blue marlin is still considered overfished according to a 2022 study published by North Carolina Sea Grant.

“We’re the last of the fish assassins,” Perry says of his generation of fishermen. “When we grew up, it was a big deal to catch a blue marlin. We killed [them], if nothing else for the sake of pictures.”

In his opinion, catch-andrelease trends are a positive change, but research dollars remain hard to come by for gamefish like blue marlin.

A LONG HAUL

According to The Billfish Foundation, one of the longest blue marlin migrations on record was achieved by a fish that was caught in June of 1991 off of Oregon Inlet. After being tagged and released, it was caught again more than 6,600 miles away off the coast of Angola, Africa, in February of 1993.

“They’re finally doing something I suggested years ago: Big tournaments are trying to get people to buy satellite tags,” Perry says. The tags, which transmit data such as temperature, depth and location, are auctioned off to be deployed on blue marlin, and the winner – whoever tagged the fish that travels the farthest – receives a prize.

But the initial investment is hefty. Each tag costs around $3,000 (though Graves notes that people who can afford big-game fishing tend to be fairly well-to-do), and the tags are typically designed to fall off after about eight months.

On average, a blue marlin fight lasts around 45 minutes. The fish that survive being caught recover in three to 16 hours, with an average recovery time of nine hours, according to a February 2023 article in Marlin magazine by billfish researcher Ryan K. Logan. That study only looked at fish that remained in the water throughout the process, however, since fully removing them from the ocean can dramatically increase their stress levels.

In addition to these hurdles, analyzing any data collected on blue marlin habits can take a significant amount of time, too. But understanding animal behavior is a critical part of protecting them, so scientists remain hopeful.

“You’d have to tag a whole lot of marlin in one area, at sort of one time, and repeat that year to year,” Graves explains. “There’s so much variation from the few animals we’ve tagged [so far] – and to see a trend would take a lot more tags.”

OREGON INLET

ANGOLA

town report

Manteo

COMPILED BY CATHERINE KOZAK

Currituck County

A proposed new development on the northern Outer Banks known as the Corolla Boat Club overcame an initial hurdle this past January when the Currituck County Board of Commissioners passed conditional approval of the project’s first-phase preliminary plan and a special-use permit. Developer Outer Banks Ventures intends to eventually build a combined commercial and residential project on 36 acres at Monteray Shores, just north of the Timbuck II shopping center, that includes a total of 36 residential units, three commercial retail buildings and a boat basin with 10 boat slips. For now, the first phase of their plan calls for five single-family homes and one commercial operation.

Duck

The United States Army Corps of Engineers’ Field Research Facility – better known as simply as the Duck Research Pier – officially unveiled a significant new research annex at a ribbon-cutting ceremony held in January. Known as the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), the $4.3 million annex includes laboratory and research spaces as part of center’s expanded military research mission. The Corps’ pier, founded in 1977 and now part of ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, has gained worldwide attention for its research on nearshore processes and engineering studies. The secure 176-acre site, with an 1,840-foot-long research pier and 140-foot-high observation tower, is located on the north end Duck.

Southern Shores

Southern Shores Town Manager Cliff Ogburn announced at a January council meeting that the beach nourishment contractor for the town’s most recent project agreed to return in March 2023 to deliver an additional 37,500 cubic yards of sand to the shoreline on the north end of the town.

Contractor Weeks Marine initially completed work on the $11.5 million project in November, widening close to four miles of beach with about 894,500 cubic yards of sand, but a discrepancy in the distribution of sand resulted in complaints about the skimpy appearance of beaches north of Fifth Avenue. Ogburn also noted that Weeks Marine had not shortchanged the town, however, and that the problem arose at least in part due to differing rates of natural erosion.

Kitty Hawk

Melody Clopton, who served as Kitty Hawk’s interim manager after Andy Stewart’s resignation in November, was officially named the new town manager at the Kitty Hawk Board of Commissioners meeting in December. Clopton, who lives in Manteo, joined the Kitty Hawk staff in 2010 according to the town website, and served as their administrative services director prior to taking over for Stewart.

The town also announced that Kitty Hawk Police Chief Joel Johnson retired as of February 1 after nearly 21 years of service with the town police department. A search is currently being conducted for his replacement as of press time.

Kill Devil Hills

Faced with a speeding problem on some of its roads and neighborhoods, the town of Kill Devil Hills has decided that a lower speed limit is not the correct remedy. At the town’s board of commissioners meeting in December, a divided board ultimately voted against decreasing the speed limit from 25 miles-per-hour to 20 miles-per-hour in westside neighborhoods.

Kitty Hawk Town Engineer Pete Burkhimer, speaking as a town resident, expressed doubt that a lower limit would discourage those who drive at high speeds, and instead recommended installing stationary speed-recording machines to collect more data. Assistant Police Chief Dana Harris also noted that only a fraction of the town’s speeding tickets issued in 2022 were the result of incidents in westside areas.

Nags Head

The town’s first Estuarine Shoreline Management Plan was approved by the Nags Head Board of Commissioners at its February 1 meeting, establishing a comprehensive, scientific approach to mitigate erosion, flooding and storm damage along 17 miles of the Roanoke Sound shoreline. The plan includes a study of the existing and historic shoreline, examines regulations and legal issues, and considers the impacts of coastal hazards. With a primary goal of coordinating both restorative and proactive actions whenever possible, the plan’s innovative solutions include green bulkheads, resiliency terraces, living shorelines and geo-textile tubes, among other things.

In order to create this plan, the town has partnered with the Coastal Studies Institute, The Nature Conservancy and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, along with assistance from the consultant teams of Biohabitats and Moffat & Nichol.

A building that once housed the local telephone company office in downtown Manteo will soon become a new health clinic after the town’s planning and zoning board voted to change the property’s use during a special meeting held on January 31. Working off of recommendations from the town’s healthcare taskforce, the change will allow for a medical facility that serves all community members at the 402 Budleigh Street property.

The Manteo Board of Commissioners created the healthcare taskforce on July 20, 2022, in response to the lack of medical care in the community. The taskforce has worked with staff from the Ocracoke and Engelhard medical centers, Manteo planning and zoning board members and Manteo officials in order to determine a suitable location for what will be known as the Manteo Medical Center. The zoning permit application and an attached building plan have been submitted, but more details about the construction of the center had yet to be determined as of press time.

Dare County

In response to requests from Rodanthe property owners for a beach nourishment project designed to widen the severely eroded shoreline in the village, the county has authorized a beach survey to update a 2013 report on the feasibility of nourishing Hatteras Island’s northern-most beach.

Rodanthe’s shoreline has the highest erosion rate on the Outer Banks, averaging a loss of about 14 to 20 feet a year. Three beachfront houses collapsed into the ocean last year alone, and many others remain threatened. A grant from the NC Division of Coastal Management will provide $25,000 toward the study, with Dare County supplying $8,335. During a January meeting, Dare County Manager Bobby Outten told commissioners that the study is expected to be complete by the end of summer 2023.

What’s happening in your town? Here’s a report from all over the Outer Banks.

business briefs

COMPILED BY CATHERINE KOZAK

New Shopping Options Coming Soon

Construction of Marshalls and Rack Room Shoes at The Marketplace shopping center off U.S. 158 in Southern Shores is scheduled to be complete in time for their projected opening this spring. Marshalls, a small-box store, is owned by TJX Companies, which also owns the T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods stores currently located in Nags Head. A new Target department store is also expected to open this spring on a site that was formerly occupied by Kmart in Kill Devil Hills.

Brand-New Branding for Health Care

In February, The Outer Banks Hospital and Medical Group announced that it has changed its name and logo. Now known as Outer Banks Health, the new name will be introduced gradually in the community over the coming months, according to hospital president Ronnie Sloan.

“Our refreshed brand brings 500 individuals together under one name,” he said. “We are stronger than ever and laser focused on the needs of this community. Together, our sights are set on the brightest horizons for health, and we rise every day to meet this opportunity head-on.”

In addition to the Outer Banks Hospital in Nags Head, Outer Banks Health includes six primary-care and six specialty-care practices, two urgent-care centers, and an outpatient rehabilitation therapy center. A new stateof-the-art cancer center in Nags Head – the Carol S. and Edward D. Cowell, Jr. Cancer Center – is also slated to open in late 2023.

Millions Still Flocking to Outer Banks Parks

Even as air travel has largely returned to normal post-Covid, car travel to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has barely slowed, with the 2022 season being ranked the seashore’s third busiest on record. According to a press release from the National Park Service, a total of 2,862,844 visits were made to the seashore last year, including outdoor lovers who booked 60,973 campsites during their stay – numbers which were exceeded only by the total quantity of seashore visitors in 2021 and 2002. With the addition of trips to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, the combined number of visits to Outer Banks national parks in 2022 totaled 3.6 million.

Negotiated Insurance Rate Lowered for Some Properties

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey announced in January that dwelling insurance rates have been negotiated down to a 9.9% statewide average rather than the originally proposed average increase of 42.6%. The NC Rate Bureau, which represents property insurance companies, proposed the increase in August 2022, according to a NC Department of Insurance press release.

With the settlement, which is 32.7% lower on average than the rate bureau initially requested, homeowners in NC will save a total of more than $104 million a year in premiums, Causey said. Dwelling policies cover non-owner-occupied residences of four or less units, including rental and investment properties. The highest average premium increase, which will go into effect on or after June 1, would be $31.

Currituck Welcome Center to Remain

After entertaining an offer to sell the Currituck County Welcome Center property to a developer for a Wawa convenience store, the Currituck County Board of Commissioners voted at a special meeting in November to keep the center at its current prime location. Although the spacious building, situated by the VirginiaNorth Carolina border in Moyock, is barely more than 12 years old, an unsolicited offer for the site that was hundreds of thousands of dollars over market value prompted commissions to consider the deal before ultimately declining. Numerous community members likely contributed to the board’s decision by vocally defending the value of the Welcome Center to visitors and the local business community.

Real Estate

market snapshot

Although Outer Banks real estate sales figures may not be as financially sunny as they’ve been in recent years, the bright side is that median sale prices are going up, according to the Outer Banks Association of Realtors’ (OBAR) December 2022 MLS Statistical End-of-Year Report.

To illustrate, the number of year-to-date sales in the town of Duck dropped 44% from 2021 to 2022 – the largest decrease in property sales from Corolla to Ocracoke – but, at the same time, Duck reported the highest median sale price increase of 38%

On the Outer Banks overall, residential median sales pricing is up around 17%, while lot/land median sale prices are up 20%. And while sales were down 28% at the start of 2023, inventory shows promising signs of recovery – with 872 units for sale in December 2022 versus 757 units available for sale in December 2021, a jump of 15%. According to OBAR’s report, this trend is expected to continue with inventory further increasing by this spring.

Photo courtesy of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.

a golden goose

38.1%. Dare County’s population is also projected to grow by a slight 12.3% over the same time period, while nearby Hyde County’s population is expected to shrink by 9.9%.

BY CATHERINE KOZAK

CURRITUCK COUNTY, LAND OF THE WILD GOOSE, has taken off to new heights far beyond its origins as an isolated duck hunters’ paradise and farming community. Now a behemoth of tourism on the northern Outer Banks and a booming Hampton Roads-adjacent community on the mainland, Currituck’s Algonquin namesake is more golden than wild these days.

“We’re seeing another spurt of unprecedented growth,” says Currituck County Manager Ike McRee. “In the late ‘80s [and] early ‘90s, it was all Corolla, and now the northern mainland has certainly become very attractive [too].”

McRee, who previously served as the county attorney for a total of 14-and-a-half years is now poised at the helm of Currituck County’s astonishing transformation from a quiet rural area to one of the region’s hottest addresses. In fact, by the time the next census rolls around, Currituck is on course to be the fastest-growing county in North Carolina.

According to the NC Office of State Budget and Management’s growth projection for 2020-2030, Currituck’s population is estimated to expand by an eye-popping 46.1%, from approximately 28,298 in 2020 to 41,335 in 2030 – with net migration most likely being responsible for an additional bump of around 12,835 new residents.

For comparison, the forecast for the second fastestgrowing county in NC over the course of the next decade is Brunswick – which encompasses suburbs such as the port city of Wilmington – with a population increase of

In the last few years alone, numerous Currituck subdivisions, schools and other expansions have either been built, are under construction or are in the initial planning process. A waterpark opened in lower Currituck in 2017, a larger ABC store in Corolla is about to be built to replace the existing liquor store, the improved county airport in Maple is bustling with aims to rehabilitate its runway, a new public safety building has been completed, and the first Royal Farms convenience store in NC is slated for construction in Grandy by the end of 2023.

As part of a recent restructuring to manage these rapid changes, the county replaced the former planning department with a Development Services Department that’s responsible for everything from planning and zoning to code enforcement, permits and building inspections – and the county is currently awaiting state approval on its draft of an updated land-use plan called “Imagine Currituck 2040,” which is a comprehensive document intended to help guide development well into the future.

“There’s a different kind of development on the mainland,” says the county’s new Development Services Department Director Kevin Kemp, who readily acknowledges that this growth is happening at an unprecedented rate. “Especially up in Moyock, you’re seeing what was farmland transitioning to single-family neighborhoods. On the other end of the spectrum, you have Corolla, [where developers] are buying older homes and replacing them with larger ones.”

In Moyock, the county’s northern-most community bordering Chesapeake, Virginia, it can be hard to keep track of the new neighborhoods. Two such subdivisions at various stages of development include Fost, a mixture of townhomes and large homesites that will eventually

total 479 living units; and Flora, a 277 single-family home subdivision that has yet to break ground.

Prices of the townhomes will likely start in the low-$300,000s, while single-family homes will likely start at about $400,000 and up according to Kemp, which is a typical range for the current Currituck market.

Other subdivisions such as Waterleigh, Glenmoor Ridge and Wentworth, could ultimately supply a total of about 425 new Currituck-area homes, while a proposed 80-lot community called Baxter Station is also under review for residents ages 55 and up. An even more ambitious proposal for a combined commercial, residential and industrial-use area on 3,000 acres of land in Moyock known as Currituck Station doesn’t currently have any projects attached to it, but the plan to develop it was adopted several years ago.

In order to address concerns about school capacity in light of these various projects, Kemp notes that the county is expanding both the elementary school and the middle school in Moyock. Though it’s only in the preliminary stages, the county is also planning to construct a new $50-million elementary school off Tulls Creek Road near the proposed Fost and Flora developments, and the two existing school expansions are already under construction with anticipated completion dates that will allow them to be ready by the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

In lower Currituck, a few proposed developments also include the potential for more multi-family housing: Currituck Way, with 60 units, and another called Jarvis Landing, with an estimated 39 units. In Corolla, a new residential and commercial subdivision called the Corolla Boat Club has also been proposed in Monteray Shores, while recent changes to the flood maps have resulted in a flurry of construction in the off-road community of Carova, where 32 new certificates of occupancy were issued within the last year alone.

A large part of addressing the explosive growth on the mainland in particular requires upgrading the county’s utility infrastructure, according to McRee. To this end, plans are in the works to expand the capacity of the Moyock wastewater treatment plant from 100,000 to 300,000 gallons a day – with the potential for expanding wastewater facilities at the commerce park in Barco and another in Waterside Villages as well. When it comes to freshwater, McRee reports that the county is in the process of expanding its reverse-osmosis plant in Maple, and another deep well is also being developed to provide an additional 200 gallons per minute.

Like most of the coastal areas in northeastern NC, drainage remains an ongoing issue too, so the county has been focusing on efforts to clear outlets such as blocked canals and ditches. The county’s Unified Development Ordinance also requires extensive best management practices for stormwater, such as including holding ponds, in new developments.

Moving forward, McRee notes that an additional public safety location will likely be needed in Moyock, along with further expansions of other public works such as the county’s solid waste facility. But with the tax base currently hovering around $7 billion and growing, the county certainly seems to have the deep pockets necessary to sustain this type of progress.

“There are some challenges,” Kemp says. “But it’s also exciting to see this much growth.”

Explosive growth (and the challenges that come with it) are coming to Currituck County.

The new Fost subdivison sits on former farmland in Moyock.

Upgrade the Easy way

WHETHER YOU’VE JUST made a move or are in need of a fresh start, upgrading rather than overhauling can be a great way to scratch that redecorating itch – and the impact could cost less than you might think.

BY MAGGIE MCNINCH

Let it all hang out

If you’re limited on space, consider hanging a few things – the right items won’t only be eye catching, they’ll also add a layer of depth and texture that might not be there otherwise. For a wall that feels particularly stale, consider stringing fairy lights to automatically freshen things up, or draping a dried-flower garland over furniture and window ledges for a touch of low-maintenance romanticism. A multipletier hanging basket is another option for freeing up counter space (bonus points for tacking on additional storage) – while a set of budget-conscious decorative wall hooks can be the perfect go-to for hanging everything from plants to tapestries, photos or even coats.

Make the most of it

Living in the same space for a long time can make it seem hard to stay in the present, so sometimes it’s best to take a step back and take a good look at what you already have – because finding new purposes for items you already own is perhaps the easiest way to upgrade your home. Upcycle an old trunk as a coffee table, transform a wooden ladder into a blanket rack or simply add a few sprigs of wildflowers to some otherwise unused glass jars or bottles. And if you’re on the search for something you don’t already own, thrift stores or flea markets are some of the best places to find vintage décor of all types – from stools to glassware and funky picture frames. With a little ingenuity and imagination, the sky’s the limit!

Optimal organization

Organizing doesn’t have to be ugh – there are plenty of different ornamental options that can combine functionality with flair. Overwhelmed by a stack of bedside books? A set of floating shelves is perfect for that, while also adding dimension to room that otherwise falls a little flat. You can also add a bed skirt to your bed – it not only conceals under-the-bed storage, but the right pattern can liven things up quickly. For a finishing touch, woven baskets (whether cloth or wicker!) can minimize clutter by providing a home for everything from toys to extra linens in virtually any space while still maintaining your desired aesthetic – and without breaking the bank.

Under cover

If you’re operating on a really tight budget, remember that a bucket of paint can go a pretty long way. Painting a single accent wall can completely change the ambience of a room and revitalize it with a pop of color – and you can also design a gallery wall for a similar effect with a creatively arranged display of curated photos, posters or prints. Peel-and-stick wallpaper or small accent rugs can be another way of sneaking in subtle bursts of color, particularly if you’re open to mixing various textures and going bold. And don’t forget that other items like decorative pillowcases and slipcovers can be used to swap out color accents when you want to revamp things on the fly.

OF THE L d

Reclaimed

BY STEVE HANF

THE DISHES SIT STACKED IN NEAT

on wooden shelves in the corner of the kitchen, just like in countless other kitchens in countless other houses.

These, however, are no ordinary shelves.

“These are from an oak tree that was literally right about here,” homeowner Louisa Farr says with a wave of her hand toward a nearby window and the ground below.

Same goes for the bookshelves in various rooms throughout the house. And those beautiful pine floors? They also came from this very spot in Nags Head Woods, where an ever-so-careful culling of the heavily wooded lot opened up just enough room for Louisa’s beautiful new home overlooking the Roanoke Sound.

But a transformation like that doesn’t just magically happen overnight. When it was time for Jason James of Albemarle Contracting Services (ACS) to clear the lot and start building, he had to contend with a unique set of instructions from Louisa first: Rather than simply removing the trees on the property, she wanted to use as much wood from the lot as possible throughout the home.

“My mom’s an environmentalist, so I was raised very aware of our consumption and recycling,” Louisa explains. “I really appreciate the land a lot and think it’s beautiful, so I wanted to live on it while respecting it – to be the least destructive that I can.”

For the most part, trees are regarded as impediments to getting the job done when it comes to new construction – so

ROWS

timbers ground the soul of this eco-friendly Nags Head home.

even for Jason, a well-respected builder with more than 20 years of experience working on the Outer Banks, this wasn’t exactly a common request.

While pine trees from local worksites might get hauled to the pulp mill in Plymouth, Jason notes that many oaks and other trees can unfortunately end up at the dump. His first hurdle for this project, then, was the tricky prospect of figuring out the logistics for a mini-logging operation.

From the property’s wooded lot located near The Villas condominium complex in Nags Head, the smaller felled trees – none larger in circumference than 17 inches per the town’s zoning ordinances – first made a short trip to East Lake on the

Dare County mainland where Bill Beety of Beety Lumber Company turned them into manageable pieces of timber. Then came a long trip to Wilmington, NC, where the boards were kiln-dried by Old Growth Riverwood to remove any excess moisture. Afterwards, Louisa personally drove down there to bring her wood home.

“Everyone I worked with thought it was really cool,” she says.

“I met so many interesting people during this process, honestly.”

Once back on the Outer Banks, Tri-H Molding in Powells Point took the newly dried pieces of wood to mill and plane them before turning them into tongue-and-groove flooring. Finally, Jason Riddick of Custom Wood Floors installed, sanded and sealed them.

A wood-centric home known as “Bootleg Shoals” fits right in with the natural landscape in Nags Head Woods (above left). The house boasts a spacious deck overlooking the Roanoke Sound, as well as stylish mid-century modern details in areas like its bathrooms (above, from top to bottom). (Photos courtesy of Rachel and Diana Saddlemire.)

Clockwise from top left: Personal details like a stained-glass transom add a pop of color; Reclaimed wooden bookshelves and flooring provide an earthy appeal that extends to the home’s cable rail stairways; A wide view of the house’s open living space is washed in of plenty of natural light. (Photos courtesy of Rachel and Diana Saddlemire.)

“It was quite an extensive process just to line everybody up,” Jason admits. “And it’s unusual for somebody to do because there are extra costs involved: This flooring probably cost twice the amount it would’ve if you just went to the store and bought it off the shelf. But they’ve got a distinctive look, and they turned out really nice.”

Besides cost, time is also a factor. From purchasing the lot to having it ready for move-in day took close to two years, with the first year alone reserved for getting through the initial permitting and planning stages – during which Louisa and Jason worked closely with engineering project manager Brian Rubino of Quible & Associates and engineer Michael O’Steen on the site plan and design.

For Louisa, it was well-worth the extra effort – because in addition to utilizing the natural resources on hand, she was also inspired by the passive house concept that emphasizes energy efficiency to further reduce a building’s ecological footprint

“I wanted something that looked like it came out of the land and meshed well with the surroundings,” she says of the house’s eco-friendly design. “I also wanted it to be really wellbuilt, and to be as green as possible in order to respect this property.”

So, while the breathtaking views of the sound through the windows might steal the show at first glance, visitors to the house Louisa’s dubbed “Bootleg Shoals” can’t help but notice the natural beauty along the home’s walls, at their fingertips and under their feet.

“It was a little bit more involved than most that I’ve built,” Jason says good-naturedly. “But it was definitely quite a fun project, for sure.”

“I love it!” Louisa adds enthusiastically about her new home. “It feels like my forever place.”

Treasure Legends in Corolla.

Ready To Explore Corolla, NC

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse

A beacon helping guide travelers for well over a century, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse towers over the Outer Banks landscape. For a small fee, visitors can climb the winding staircase for a wide-open view of the Currituck Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.

Whalehead in Historic Corolla

In the heart of Historic Corolla Park you will find the Whalehead Museum, a restored 1920s era Art Nouveau architectural masterpiece with a storied history. Whalehead is host to several seasonal events, and offers tours Monday through Friday.

The Currituck Maritime Museum

Located just across the park from Whalehead, the new Currituck Maritime Museum tells the integral story of the history of wooden boats on the northern Outer Banks and their craftsmen through exhibits and artifacts. Open Monday through Friday.

OBX Center for Wildlife Education

The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education houses exhibits on the area’s natural wildlife history, and includes an impressive decoy collection and a theater for viewing an educational film, and offers free educational programs on the Currituck Sound.

With the arrival of spring, many families are planning to hit the road and find their way here. So head north up Hwy. 12 to Corolla where you will find the legendary Corolla

Wild Horses, iconic sites like the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, Whalehead and the new Currituck Maritime Museum. Find your local treasure in Corolla Outer Banks.

877.287.7488

First Colony Inn THE

BY KATRINA MAE LEUZINGER

THE FIRST COLONY INN HAS THE DISTINCTION of being the oldest building on the Outer Banks that has continuously operated as a hotel. Since it opened its doors in the early 1930s, its cedar-shake tiles and cottage-style appearance have blended in well with many of its neighbors in Nags Head’s historic district along the southern end of Virginia Dare Trail – but its history is more colorful than its tastefully classic exterior might suggest. Now in its 91st year, the old building has seen a lot: From the burgeoning beginnings of local tourism to brushes with fame – and even a dramatic relocation that split the building into pieces before placing it in just the right spot.

A Seaside Start

While visitors first started flocking to the Outer Banks in the 1800s, tourism looked a lot different back then – and only very well-to-do families could afford to make the trip by boat. That all changed when a flurry of new roads and bridges paved the way for more visitors by the 1930s, and a businesswoman named Marie LeRoy was one of the first to recognize the opportunity in offering shorter-term beach accommodations. Pivoting away from her original sound-side rental home, LeRoy’s Cottage, Marie purchased eight adjacent oceanfront lots for approximately $750 apiece to build a hotel she named LeRoy’s Seaside Inn in 1932 – which rented more popularly affordable rooms for about $14 a night on what she dubbed the “American Plan.”

2

Adding on the Amenities

Marie didn’t hold onto her seaside investment for long. In 1937, she sold the inn to Captain Neil Midgett and Ernest J. Jones, who rechristened it the First Colony Inn. With Neil at the helm alongside his wife, Currituck native Daisy Harrison (who was more widely known as “Miss Daisy”), the inn kept pace with the changing times and tastes of its visitors over the next 24 years. Sixty small 12-square-foot rooms transformed into 27 more spacious quarters with private bathrooms, air conditioning units and even water heaters – amenities that were practically unheard of then. But their crown jewel was an on-site restaurant headed by a man named John White, whose culinary creations drew crowds – when he wasn’t also serving as the inn’s night watchman.

3

Big-Time Business

Rumor has it that Miss Daisy was particularly fond of entertaining “big shots,” and during the Midgetts’ tenure, the First Colony Inn had its fair share of illustrious guests. United States Congressman Lindsay C. Warren, who served the North Carolina House of Representatives for eight terms, once stayed there, as did 12-term Congressman Herbert C. Bonner – both of whose names eventually wound up gracing Outer Banks bridges. In addition to the hotel proper, the First Colony Inn also boasted a number of more private cottages while it was under the Midgetts’ care, including one that became known as the “governors’ cottage” because no less than five NC governors stayed there, including the state’s 60th governor, Joseph Melville Broughton.

4

Little-Known Lost Colonists

In hindsight, the Midgetts turned out to be pretty good at name dropping. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green’s The Lost Colony premiered in 1937, the same year that the Midgetts rebranded LeRoy’s as the First Colony Inn. Wanting to capitalize on the play’s near-immediate success even more, the Midgetts also renamed the inn’s rooms after individual members of that ill-fated British settlement attempt in the New World. While many surely recognize monikers such as Ananias Dare (room #5) and Simon Fernando (room #9), other early British colonists such as Elizabeth Glane (room #10) and Ambrose Viccars (room #25) memorialize some of the lesser-known women and children who made the journey to Roanoke Island in 1587 – and subsequently vanished without a trace.

5 Three’s Company

Time took its toll, however, and by 1988 the once-majestic building had sustained extensive storm damage. A developer named George Kemp purchased the property with the intention of setting it ablaze to make way for duplexes until Nags Head passed an ordinance against burning historically significant buildings. Unwilling to pay for a conventional demolition, Kemp offered a deal: Anyone who wanted the inn could have it for free – they just had to move it elsewhere. Lawrence Property Management claimed it and hired Virginia Beach-based Expert House Movers to carefully saw the inn into three sections, haul the pieces several miles south, and reassemble them on a 4.4-acre site on the west side of the beach road – in the location where it still remains to this day.

Photo courtesy of Village Realty.

Coastal Comforts

EVEN WITH DECADES OF EXPERIENCE IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY, this four-bedroom Powells Point home presented a lot of firsts for Stan Belvin of The Rosewell Group – including the opportunity to partner with his wife, Jacqui, on nearly every element of the finishing details. For them, the main vision for this property was to show what they could accomplish as a well-established company building thoughtful custom homes designed for year-round living – while also making a high-end statement.

“We had a lot of spirited discussions,” Stan says of their collaboration with a laugh. “But in the end, it was a very organic process.”

1 Solid Oak Kitchen Cabinets

With a open floorplan of nearly 1,100 square feet to accommodate the living, dining and kitchen spaces, the Belvins focused first on the kitchen’s sleek flat-paneled oak cabinets before making any major decisions on items such as countertops or flooring. Once the cabinets were in place, they were finally able to select other elements to complement – and, at times, even contrast – that soft wooden hue for an overall “old world meets coastal modern” vibe.

2 Going With the Grain

Rather than relying on stark whites to create a neutral backdrop, the Belvins opted for warmer touches – including engineered plank wood floors with a wire-brushed appearance that matches up against the cabinets more seamlessly. “It’s a blank space, but it isn’t,” Jacqui explains. “There’s so much to look at when it comes to the grains and the colors – [plus] the lighting really plays on the textures so it never looks the same way twice.”

3 Cobalt Blue-Veined Countertops

Though the Belvins originally imagined using a deeper type of nautical décor, they quickly realized that dark navies and heavy brass accents were perhaps too specific. In the process of toning that idea back a bit, inspiration struck: For a cleaner, crisper appearance, cobalt blue-veined countertops ultimately amplify the surrounding wooden finishes – while simultaneously sneaking in a touch of something seaworthy.

4 Island Adventure

As avid home cooks themselves, a “dream kitchen” was always part of the Belvins’ goal. With a number of luxurious details such as a commercial-grade range hood over a black gas-powered cooktop, the next step was to deliver a fully functional island masterpiece, complete with a dishwasher and wine cabinet. Stan also decided to equip the island’s overhang with free-floating legs – rather than enclosing that space – in order to further emphasize the room’s comfortably open theme.

Compiled by Amelia Boldaji • Photo courtesy of Cory Godwin

Ray Meiggs Briann Mehfoud Hunter Davis

Matt Preston Bill Hogan Ashley Ladd

Kim Endre Jason Summerton

Rob Ladd Kaleigh DiPietro Steven Gross Mitzi Thompson

sun salutations

Beach Realty & Construction

Ilona Matteson Named Agent of the Year

For the third consecutive year, Ilona Matteson was named the Beach Realty & Construction / Kitty Hawk Rentals’ Agent of the Year. Ilona was also named agent of the year in 2012, 2015 and 2016. Her knowledge of the local market, industry trends and superior negotiating skills combine to offer her clients a comprehensive customer-focused experience. You can reach Ilona at ilonamatteson@gmail.com.

Beach Realty & Construction/Kitty Hawk Rentals

Welcomes Carolyne Haas and Brenda Davis-Williams to the Firm

Carolyne Haas will assume the role of business development director. Carolyne has more than a decade in real estate sales and vacation rental management experience, and she will work primarily to generate and oversee inventory growth. She can be reached at carolyne@beachrealtync.com.

Brenda Davis-Williams comes to Beach Realty with 15 years of valuable property management experience. She joins the vacation rental management team in an administrative role alongside the director of property management. Brenda can be reached at brenda@beachrealtync.com.

Brindley Beach Vacations and Sales

Brindley Beach Vacations Announces Catherine Strachan and Edith Rowe as Top Two Sales Agents, Year-to-Date

A resident of the Outer Banks since 1988, Catherine Strachan has worked as a fulltime broker and realtor for the past 17 years. She is passionate about her job, working diligently to see that all of her clients are satisfied, whether buying or selling. Contact Catherine at (252) 489-9540 or obxproperty@gmail.com.

Edith Rowe has won the Top Sales Agent Award for the last six years. This award is based on closed sales volume. She holds a broker’s license and has been in sales on the Outer Banks since 2000. She brings to the table a degree of local sales acumen and familiarity with the area found in few agents. Contact Edith at (252) 202-6165, or by email at edithroweobx@gmail.com.

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty Names VanderMyde Group 2022 Team of the Year

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty is pleased to announce that the VanderMyde Group is the firm’s Top Producing Team for the sixth consecutive year. Heather VanderMyde, along with team members Kiirsten Farr, Will Gregg, Kasey Rabar and Trish Berruet ranked number one in listings, sales volume and units for the year. They also earned the prestigious Coldwell Banker International President’s Elite Team award, ranking them in the top 7% of all Coldwell Banker teams (4+) worldwide. Team leader Heather VanderMyde can be reached at (252) 202-2375 or hvandermyde@gmail.com.

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty Names Brook Sparks 2022 Agent of the Year

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty is pleased to announce that Brook Sparks is the Top Producing Agent for the firm. This award is based on closed sales volume for 2022, and this is the second year in a row that Brook has taken home this award. Brook also earned the Top Listing Agent Award and was awarded the Coldwell Banker International Society of Excellence award, which is presented to less than 1% of all agents worldwide. Brook can be reached at (252) 619-1177 or brook@cbseaside.com.

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty announces the Heather Sakers Team as the Top Producing Kitty Hawk Team

Heather Sakers, along with team members Charles Gill and Ann Taylor Lusk, has once again earned the firm’s Top Producing Team Award for the Kitty Hawk location. This award is based on closed sales volume in 2022. The team has also earned the Coldwell Banker International President’s Circle award, which is presented to the top 14% of all teams (1-3) worldwide. Team leader Heather Sakers can be reached at (252) 599-6814 or heather@cbseaside.com.

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty Welcomes New Agent Kim Hansley

Kim Hansley has joined Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty in the Elizabeth City location. Kim recently relocated from Savannah, Georgia, where she was a successful Coldwell Banker agent. Kim will work in both the Elizabeth City and Outer Banks markets. She can be reached at (912) 660-3647 or kimhansley@cbseaside.com.

Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty Welcomes

Chardae Brightman to the Kitty Hawk Location

Chardae Brightman has joined Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty in the Kitty Hawk location. Chardae and her husband relocated from West Virginia where they owned and operated a successful security business. Chardae is also an online health and fitness coach and can be reached at (252) 202-9990 or chardae@cbseaside.com.

Joe Lamb, Jr. & Associates

Joe Lamb, Jr. & Associates Acknowledges Sales Team of Shelley O’Grady and Bobby Williams

Shelley O’Grady has been with the Joe Lamb family for more than a decade. Due to her extensive counseling and communication experience, she provides an ethical approach to the buying process. She is also involved in various Outer Banks community activities and is a member of the OBAR board. Contact Shelley at (252) 261-7721 or shelley@joelambjr.com.

Over the course of his career, Bobby Williams has been one of Joe Lamb’s longest-serving team members. He

knows Joe Lamb, the Outer Banks and the real estate world better than most. He shares his joys of the beach, fishing and camping with all of his clients. Contact Bobby at (252) 261-7721 or bwilliams@joelambjr.com.

SAGA Realty & Construction

SAGA Realty & Construction Announces Sarah Pritchard and Jessica Arnett as 2022 Top Producers

Congratulations to Sarah Pritchard and Jessica Arnett for an extraordinary year. Sarah and Jessica provide a wealth of knowledge and top-level customer service for each of their clients who are looking to build, buy or sell. SAGA Realty & Construction is a full-service real estate firm that provides an innovative approach for all your real estate needs. Contact our experienced team today at sales@icrsaga.com or (252) 301-3090.

Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty

OBX Homes Team Joins Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty

The OBX Homes Team and Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty recently joined forces with a new Duck location. Since the beginning of 2021, this team, led by broker-in-charge Heather McLay, and assisted by Crystal Swain and Mandi Jones, has generated more than 140 million in sales. Contact them at team@obxhomes. com or (252) 678-5867.

Top Producer Brad Beacham Joins Landmark

Sotheby’s International Realty

A top producer on the Outer Banks for more than 22 years, Brad Beacham joins Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty. “I am excited and grateful to partner with Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty,” says Brad. “Their rich history, unrivaled marketing and global reach are creating amazing opportunities for me and my clients.” Brad can be reached at (252) 202-6920 or brad@bradbeacham.com.

Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty Welcomes Melanie Day Real Estate Team

Renowned realtor Melanie Day, and buyer specialist Chris Corbett, have proudly joined Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty. With decades of experience, Melanie is a top 1% realtor with sales of $54 million in 2022 alone. Dedicated and energetic, Melanie and Chris are passionate about helping clients achieve their goals. Reach out at (252) 207-6138 or melanie@melanieday. com.

Southern Shores Realty

Southern Shores Realty Names Mike Ross Agent of the Year

For the thirteenth time, Mike Ross, associate broker for Southern Shores Realty has earned the Agent of the Year award. Mike has been the recipient of many sales awards, is a graduate of The Realtor Institute, and is an accomplished multi-million-dollar producer year after year. He values his success not in dollars but in the satisfaction in helping so many people realize their dreams. Mike can be reached at (252) 202-4444 or rossobx@gmail.com.

Southern Shores Realty Adds New Agent

Southern Shores Realty welcomes Rick Thompson as its newest sales agent. Rick grew up just north of the Outer Banks before serving on active duty in the Air Force for 20 years. After he retired, he moved with his family to the Outer Banks. Rick can be reached at (405) 434-6769 or rickthompson76@gmail.com.

Sun Realty

Michael Davenport Named 2022 Agent of the Year

Sun Realty recognizes the 2022 Agent of the Year, Michael Davenport. Also recognized as a 2022 Sun Realty Diamond Agent, Michael has been in Outer Banks real estate for more than 35 years. With a consistently high sales volume at Sun Realty year after year, Michael upholds the highest standard of service and professionalism as designated by the REALTOR® Code of Ethics by the National Association of Realtors. Michael volunteers his time in positions on committees for both the state and local levels of NC REALTOR® associations. Michael can be reached at the Sun Realty Kill Devil Hills office or at (252) 202-6113.

Richard Hess Honored with 2022 Agents’ Choice Award

Richard Hess was named the 2022 Agents’ Choice Award recipient. Voted on by their peers, this award is given to the agent in the company who provides the most support to their fellow realtors. Richard is always available for guidance and recommendations, and is a successful agent in own right. Richard understands the changes in technology in the real estate industry and is positioned to stay ahead of the game. He uses innovative advertising and marketing techniques to attract potential buyers for sales listings. You can find Richard at the Sun Realty Kill Devil Hills office or at (252) 256-2112.

Twiddy Premier Sales

Matt Preston Named Top Agent for January

Twiddy Premier Sales congratulates Matt Preston on becoming the top agent of the month in January with more than $3.5 million in sales to start the year. An Outer Banks native, Matt possesses a wealth of information about the area and is a tremendous advocate for his clients throughout their ownership and investment journey. Contact Matt today at mpreston@twiddy.com or (252) 207-6143

Jason Summerton Celebrates His 18th Year with the Firm

Jason Summerton is consistently one of Twiddy & Company’s top agents and is a leading agent on the 4x4 beaches. Twiddy & Company is honored to celebrate Jason’s 18th year with the firm in 2023. His clients become clients for life, and he’s helped countless individuals and families realize their Outer Banks real estate dreams. Contact Jason at jasonsummerton@twiddy.com or (252) 202-0105.

Kim Endre Celebrates Her 3rd Year with the Firm

Twiddy & Company is thrilled to celebrate Kim Endre’s 3rd year with the firm. Her passion for real estate and her active role within local, state and national organizations make her the perfect agent for any client. Kim was also recently selected for the extremely competitive National Association of Realtors' Leadership Academy. Call Kim at (252) 202-3696 or email kendre@twiddy.com.

burning up

From F iery details to F ine-art

F

BY AMELIA BOLDAJI

FLAMES SIZZLE THROUGH THE SURFACE of a wooden plank as Noah Snyder gently nudges an electrical current along a ridge that he’ll ultimately transform into the lip line of a wave. There’s a lot yet to be done before the piece will be complete – but this elemental first step is undeniably thrilling.

“You want to look for the direction of the grain,” Noah muses as he works. “It’s a constant process that’s really meticulous – and timing is everything.”

With a carpentry background and a roughly 20-year pro-surfing career under his belt, Noah knows a fair bit about the discipline of precision – and that component was one of the first things that attracted him to fractal burning when he started learning about the technique back in 2017.

Though it’s a relatively new artistic trend that the internet’s helped popularize, the principals behind fractal burnings are much older. As a technique, fractal burnings were introduced by German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg – a contemporary of fellow electrical enthusiast Benjamin Franklin – during the 18th century, and his discoveries had wide-ranging future implications, including laying the groundwork for modern conveniences like Xerox machines.

As an artform today, it’s part science experiment mixed with a healthy dose of pyrography that can have strikingly stunning effects – though the outcomes might not always be what you’d expect.

“I’ll think it’s going one way, and then end up somewhere else,” Noah says with a laugh. “And different types of wood can burn differently, too. Some wood is stubborn, so you have to be persistent – but the material has a depth that you just can’t get on a normal canvas.”

While the more textural details require some high-voltage heat, the finishing touches include more traditional tools like paint –which is second-nature to Noah who grew up watching both his father and grandfather produce artwork.

“If I had to define my work, I’d say it’s abstract meets fine art,” Noah adds. “It’s a combination of both worlds – and it’s a gift that’s come full circle.”

inishes, n oah s nyder proves that working with wood is as simple as riding the currents.

For Noah (pictured above), a lifetime of surfing made waves an obvious choice when it came down to subject matter, but it wasn’t long before he took his wife Corissa’s advice to stretch out of that comfort zone.

“A lot of my images come from what’s in my head,” he explains of both his waves and his depiction of Kill Devil Hill’s Avalon Pier (pictured bottom, far left). “I’ve been there…and then I try to recapture that. And the pier’s irregular aged pilings just lent themselves so well to fractal burning – it seemed like there were no wrong moves.”

Adding vibrant colors as part of the finishing process is another thing he enjoys –though balancing that with giving a piece of wood the opportunity to speak for itself often means approaching each project differently. His sea turtle (pictured bottom, far right) is a perfect case in point. After fractally burning the area that became the turtle’s neck, Noah spent near-countless hours handetching each of the animal’s scales – which made the decision to maintain a simple wood-grain backdrop rather easy.

“I lost track of time on that one at some point,” he says with a grin. “But my wife insisted on keeping [the original] – and if I’ve impressed her, then I know I’ve done a good job.”

Artist photo by Cory Godwin.

h ow it works:

After drawing a rough outline of the basic shape he wants to create, Noah applies a specially blended conductive solution over his sketch. Then it’s time to crank up the heat: Using the voltage from his Lichtenberg machine, Noah carefully traces an electrical current along the outline until he thinks he’s achieved his desired effect. Finally, he scrubs off the excess charcoal and sands down the surface of the wood in order to check his progress. “You have to take your time,” he says. “And I’m constantly reevaluating where I’m at with things.”

From top to bottom: Noah was given mostly free rein when it came to one of his first commissions of an octopus – though his client had a color scheme in mind, he was otherwise told to go for it in terms of execution, resulting in an eye-popping underwater image. The fluid fractal edges of this wave are the payoff from going with the grain. “That’s just the beauty of wood,” Noah notes. “You can really put it through the ringer.”

Photos by Cory Godwin.

From top to bottom: Though Noah was initially unhappy with the dark fractal burns that led to this multi-hued wave, the happy accident spurred him to experiment with adding color directly into the scorched grooves to create a piece he subsequently dubbed “Unbridled.” After playing around with a piece of high-end plywood, the fractal details were so interesting that they inspired this regal-looking profile of a lion with minimal painted effects – resulting in the first piece Noah ever submitted to the Dare County Arts Council.

Ed Duffey

Metal Detecting Specialist

PHOTO BY CORY GODWIN • STORY BY AMELIA BOLDAJI

IF YOU’RE ON THE BEACH WITH A METAL DETECTOR, chances are that it’ll generate a lot of conversation starters with curious bystanders – and no one knows that better than hobbyist Ed Duffey. From sentimental jewelry and watches to key fobs and phones, Ed is frequently the first call someone makes when they’ve lost something, and they’re not quite sure what to do next. With his infinite persistence and a flair for sharing recovery stories that often beat the odds on social media, Ed also insists on not attaching a price tag to his good works.

“I’ll accept tips,” he says good-naturedly. “But I’ve had a few people who couldn’t afford it, so I just rely on people’s generosity.”

What got you interested in metal detecting?

I’ve been metal detecting about 25 years, but just every once in a while, at first. After my wife and I moved down here, I started doing it every day and got better equipment [by 2017] – but it’s still a hobby, not a business. I have all these odd things in my truck because it’s amazing what a detector can pick up…could be a knife, a flashlight, a dime. And I find a lot of lead sinkers, but I dig almost everything up. I’m 90% a trash collector, and only 10% something else. [Laughs] Plus I’m not always successful, but using it to help people just gradually happened.

How often can you help someone find a lost item?

I’d say I can help about 95% of the time if something’s lost on the beach, but it’s not in the water. If it’s in the water, it all depends on currents, tides and wave energy. Some searches take seconds, some hours…and you might never even find it. I found a class ring about two years ago in maybe two sweeps, but it certainly doesn’t always happen that way. The longest I’ve ever taken to find a ring in the ocean was eight days – I was detecting along the wave line when it rolled right past me. But I’m a believer – sometimes God just puts me in the right place at the right time. [Laughs]

Do certain factors either help – or hinder –the probability of finding a lost item?

If you lose a ring or anything on the beach, the most crucial thing is time – acting fast before the weather changes or your memory changes. If you’re in soft sand, don’t dig for it – it can be like quicksand – and mark the spot. Your odds will go up dramatically if you can pinpoint the location, even if it’s in water. When you go up to people who have lost something, it’s kind of like being a detective. You have to spend some time with them asking questions, but then I’ll get right to work – if someone calls me even at 10 p.m., I’ll go right out at 10 p.m.

What’s your favorite part of offering your services?

There’s nothing like the feeling of giving something back to someone that they never thought they’d see again and they can’t replace –that’s why I do it. My favorite was this time a guy’s fiancée lost her ring after about two days…when I found it and gave it back to him, he knelt down right there and proposed again. I didn’t expect that! [Laughs] But every ring has a story, and I know pretty much all of them. There’s really something about mankind – I think we all just love a happy ending.

2022 LEADERS

LEADING

LEADING THE OBX MARKET FOR Nine YEARS!*

LEADING THE OBX MARKET FOR Nine YEARS!*

For the 9th year in a row, Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty has sold the most real estate on the Outer Banks! With over 30 years of local knowledge and experience, our family-owned and operated company offers real estate services across the entire Outer Banks as well as all of northeastern North Carolina.

THE OBX MARKET FOR Nine YEARS!

For the 9th year in a row, Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty has sold the most real estate on the Outer Banks! With over 30 years of local knowledge and experience, our family-owned and operated company offers real estate services across the entire Outer Banks as well as all of northeastern North Carolina.

For the 9th year in a row, Coldwell Banker Seaside Realty has sold the most real estate on the Outer Banks! With over 30 years of local knowledge and experience, our family-owned and operated company offers real estate services across the entire Outer Banks as well as all of northeastern North Carolina.

BROOK SPARKS INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF EXCELLENCE

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heather sakers TEAM INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE

BURRUS KING TEAM INTERNATIONAL STERLING SOCIETY

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JOANNA KANE INTERNATIONAL STERLING SOCIETY

EMILY BRAY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S ELITE

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MELISSA MORGAN INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND SOCIETY

LAUREN RICKARD INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND SOCIETY

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MARTY GRIFFIN INTERNATIONAL STERLING SOCIETY

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