WALTER Magazine - December 2022

Joshua Steadman (RITCHER); Trey Thomas (LONGLEAF SWINE)

57 Small Prayer by Betty Adcock

illustration by Constance Pappalardo

58 Southern Spirit

Culinary star Nathalie Dupree shares her home-cooked Christmas by Addie Ladner

photography by Eamon Queeney

68 Light Bright

A brilliant tradition on the coast to celebrate the holidays by Ayn-Monique Klahre

photography by Dylan Ray

The Historic Turner House on Oberlin Road holds an untold piece of Raleigh history by Courtney Napier photography by Catherine Nguyen

Dylan Ray (FLOATILLA); Catherine Nguyen (TURNER HOUSE)

74 Home & Heritage

Love Your

The first weekend in November, I hit the Crabtree Valley Mall with my daughters so they could spend a little of their birthday money. (Tweens: just as obsessed with Athleta as they are with Build-a-Bear.) I was both shocked and not-shocked to see Santa’s sleigh and photo booth already in position, and to hear holiday music over the speakers.

These days, it’s a pretty common complaint that stores start pushing Christmas even before Halloween. But I have to admit: the front porch looked a little bare without its cobwebs and pumpkins. So this year, I put up the twinkle lights before Thanksgiving.

But really, I start thinking about Christmas well before Halloween. By May, my family (Type-A planners, the lot of us) are already talking about exactly which dates we’ll spend together over the holidays. We do mental gymnastics trying to figure out how — or if — we can see all of our relatives up and down the Eastern Seaboard over our kids’ twoweek break.

And as far as Christmas shopping… well, I think I started that in August. I’ll pick up gifts as I find them for my nephews or parents, hoping to avoid a shopping blitz once the stores get crowded. Of course, the key is to remember what I have… and where I put it!

But it’s also a reminder that goodwill

and gifts don’t only come around the holidays. Once a month, my coworker Julie bakes us delicious, orange-infused brownies for “Ship Day,” the last, stressful stretch of finalizing the magazine to send to the printer. My kids tuck little notes into my purse to bring into the office, reminding me that they love me. (I love you, too!) On Fridays, when we’re both working from home, my husband often surprises me with an iced coffee from The Optimist in the afternoon, a treat that signals our transition into the weekend. (My cat recently expressed his love by hunting down a Palmetto bug and bringing it to me — still alive— in bed. That gift, I wasn’t so into.)

These are just a few of the little blessings that keep my Christmas spirit alive all year ‘round. I hope I express my gratitude often enough. But I probably don’t, so that’ll be my New Year’s resolution for 2023: say thank you, early and often, to all the wonderful people in my life.

Ayn-Monique Klahre Editor

Left: Some notes from my daughters. Right: Staffers Addie Ladner (left) and Laura Wall (far right) with Nathalie Dupree.

Ayn-Monique Klahre (NOTES); Eamon Queeney (DUPREE)

POPS

S HOLIDAY POPS

FRI, DEC 9 | 8PM

SAT, DEC 10 | 3PM & 8PM

ARE THA: A TRIBUTE ARETHA:

FRI, JAN 20 | 8PM

SAT, JAN 21 | 3PM & 8PM

R E V O LU T I O N: REVOLUTION:

T H E M U S I C O F THE MUSIC OF

T H E B E AT L E S THE BEATLES

FRI, FEB 10 | 8PM

SAT, FEB 11 | 3PM & 8PM

I N T H E A I R IN THE AIR

TO N I G H T: TONIGHT:

T H E M U S I C THE MUSIC

O F P H I L CO L L I N S OF PHIL COLLINS & G E N E S I S GENESIS

FRI/SAT, MAR 17-18 | 8PM

EDITORIAL

Editor

DECEMBER 2022

AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE ayn-monique@waltermagazine.com

Creative Director

LAURA PETRIDES WALL laura@waltermagazine.com

Associate Editor ADDIE LADNER addie@waltermagazine.com

Contributing Writers

Betty Adcock, A.J. Carr, Catherine Currin, Jim Dodson, Mike Dunn, Hampton Williams Hofer, David Menconi, Courtney Napier, Liza Roberts

Contributing Copy Editor Finn Cohen

Contributing Photographers Bob Karp, Catherine Nguyen, Eamon Queeney, Matt Ramey, Dylan Ray, Joshua Steadman, Trey Thomas, Workshop Media

Contributing Illustrators

Gerry O’Neill Constance Pappalardo

PUBLISHING

Publisher

DAVID WORONOFF

Advertising Sales Manager

JULIE NICKENS julie@waltermagazine.com

Senior Account Executive & Operations CRISTINA HURLEY cristina@waltermagazine.com

Events Manager

KAIT GORMAN kait@waltermagazine.com

Finance STEVE ANDERSON

910-693-2497

Distribution

JACK BURTON

Inquiries?

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Please contact Ayn-Monique Klahre at ayn-monique@waltermagazine.com for freelance guidelines.

Owners

JACK ANDREWS, FRANK DANIELS III, LEE DIRKS, DAVID WORONOFF In memoriam FRANK DANIELS JR.

© WALTER magazine. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Published 12 times a year by The Pilot LLC.

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COURTNEY NAPIER / WRITER

Courtney Napier is a writer, publisher, curator and host from Raleigh. She is the founder of the Black Oak Society, a collective of Black artists and creatives in the Raleigh area, which produces BOS Magazine and the BOS NOW Podcast. She has also written for other local and regional publications such as Scalawag Magazine and The Carolinian. When the computer closes, Napier can be found spending time with her family and friends or listening to elders’ stories with a glass of sweet tea on their front porch. “Writing about Mrs. Williams and the Turner House was truly an honor. She is a warrior for the preservation and uplift of our history. She is a true inspiration.”

TREY THOMAS / PHOTOGRAPHER

A lifelong passion for architecture and interior design, coupled with a serious love of photography, led to Thomas switching careers in 2012 to focus exclusively on interiors and architectural photography. “I first met Marc at a mutual friend’s birthday party about five years ago. He was kind enough to cook a pig for the event and I knew then that he was on to something special. It’s been a pleasure passing by their location and watching it come to life, so it was especially enjoyable being able to photograph the end result. As an Eastern North Carolina native, take it from me: this is some legit BBQ.”

A.J.

A.J. Carr embarked on his 50year sportswriting career while playing football, basketball and baseball at Wallace-Rose Hill High School. He began writing as a teenager for The Wallace Enterprise, worked with the Greensboro Daily News in college, and spent four decades at The News & Observer. Carr has received several media awards, including three national awards for college baseball coverage, and twice was voted N.C. Sportswriter of The Year. “It was a great joy to visit with Jim Ritcher to hear about his stellar football career at NC State and in the NFL, and to learn about his strong Christian faith.”

DYLAN RAY / PHOTOGRAPHER

For almost two decades, photographer Dylan Ray has documented the unique culture, people and environments of coastal Carteret County and Eastern North Carolina. In that time, he has received dozens of awards from the North Carolina Press Association for excellence in photojournalism as well as fine arts awards and recognition. Ray resides in Beaufort with his wife and two daughters. “This was my fifteenth covering of the annual Beaufort Christmas Flotilla and the variables are always different. Fog, rain, sleet, wind and the occasional Nor’Easter never seem to keep the crowds at bay. It is a wonderful community event.”

CARR / WRITER

Leather clutch

517 W Cabarrus St. Suite A, Warehouse District shop and visit

“Wiley Cash is a wonderful North Carolina writer. To have these two artists collaborating for this piece [on Scott Avett] is pretty awesome.”

— Alison Winzeler

“We are totally obsessed with Sarah Shook and The Disarmers as well as the new sound on the album Mightmare. Both are truly immersive. Thanks for featuring her. She is one of a kind. But now it’ll be harder to get in to see her at Cat’s Cradle. Dangggg.”

— Stacy T.

“So true about aprons and family [in the November editor’s letter]. Here is granddaughter Josie with Mimi in our matching aprons I made for special biscuit making. I have some ‘fancies’ but I love the sentimental ones best!”

— Violet Rhinehart

M a r c i B a i l e y Marci Bailey

OUR TOWN

Joyful, joyful — it’s a busy month in the Triangle! Take in these festive performances, craft markets, light shows and more.

by ADDIE LADNER

CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL

All month | 6 - 10 p.m.

NOTED

Now through Jan. 8, Cary’s pine-filled Koka Booth Amphitheatre has transformed into an illuminated village of Chinese lanterns in the shapes of flowers, animals and other fantastical designs. More than 40 of the handcrafted lanterns at this annual event will be completely new, some consisting of thousands of LED lights. In addition to walking amid the glowing forms, guests can expect a different cultural performance of dancing or music each night on the main stage. “We take seriously our commitment to awe and delight visitors year after year, so we have some extra-special lanterns and performances planned for 2022,” says William Lewis, Town of Cary cultural arts manager. The experience can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, including the VIP (“Very Important Panda”) tour, which delves deeper into the history of Chinese lantern festivals and how the luminaries are fabricated, and a Twilight ticket for early access to enjoy the works of art with fewer people against the setting sun. From $11; 8003 Regency Parkway, Cary; boothamphitheatre.com

NIGHT OF LIGHTS

All month | See website

If it’s true what they say — that the third time’s the charm — then this year’s WRAL Night of Lights at Dix Park will offer even more holiday cheer than the previous two. Fill your car with friends or family to enjoy an illuminated 1.3-mile route through the park’s ancient oak trees and rolling hills, with stops like Glas Studio’s whimsical neon Elf Forest and the bright blue tunnel. There are some new elements to the light extravaganza this year, including a a Holiday Outpost package, where guests can take photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus and purchase refreshments from the InterFaith Food Shuttle’s The Spinning Plate food truck, and the Igloo Experience, where they’ll spend 45 minutes in a glowing igloo that comes with a festive snack box and carafe of hot chocolate or hot apple cider. From $20; 1251 Goode Street; wralnightsoflights.com

EMMA

Dec. 1 - 4 | 2 & 7:30 p.m.

Head to 21st-century Highbury with a comical take on this Jane Austin classic, produced by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s PlayMakers Repertory Company and directed by Meredith McDonough. Emma, a young, self-made matchmaker, prides herself on her successful romantic facilitations — but she’s thrown for

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a loop when her own match is right in front of her. “One of PlayMakers’ signature programs is reimagining classic stories like Jane Austen’s, and others,” says Diana Pineda with the company. “This is the first year we are producing this particular adaptation, it’s fresh off its world premiere in Minneapolis this summer and we are so excited.” From $28; Joan H Gillings Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Road, Chapel Hill; playmakersrep.org

CINDERELLA

Dec. 2 - 22 | See website

For kid-friendly holiday entertainment, consider Raleigh Little Theatre’s annual take on the Charles Perrault classic. This comical rendition of the timeless fairytale offers festive singing, dancing and costumes mixed with a bit of folklore — and culminates at a grand Christmas Eve ball where there just might be opportunities for the audience to partake in caroling. From $32; 301 Pogue Street; raleighlittletheatre.org

DELTA RAE AT LINCOLN THEATRE

Dec. 7 & 8 | See websites s NOTED

Americana band Delta Rae will bring the magnetic energy of its six members to Lincoln Theatre for a special two-night show. The first show will be a full performance of their album Acoustic, recorded last February, with some fan favorites to round it out. The second show will be a full performance of their recently recorded holiday album Hours Before Morning, plus a mix of other Delta Rae fan favorites. After this gig, the Durham-born band, known for its melding of rock, folk and soul sounds, will be back on the road for its national Return of the Witch tour. “We always look forward to coming home to North Carolina to play a hometown show. Some of our favorite live experiences of all time have been in Raleigh at the Lincoln Theatre and, as our only headlining shows of the year, these two nights stand to be especially magical,” says band member Brittany Hölljes. From $45; 126 E. Cabarrus Street; lincolntheatre.com

Free admission; Boylan Heights neighborhood; boylanheights.org/art-walk

museum store; plus local favorites like Logan’s Garden Shop, One and Only Paper, BOHO Beads and dozens more. With ticket purchase, guests receive a limited-edition WALTER tote bag, heavy hors d’oeuvres by Catering Works and libations by Lonerider Spirits and Brewery and Westgate Wine. From $25; 501 W. Martin Street; waltermagazine.com/celebrate

BOYLAN HEIGHTS ART WALK

Dec. 4 | 12 - 5 p.m.

Shop locally made ornaments, ceramic pots, jewelry, paintings and more at the annual Boylan Heights Art Walk, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Dozens of selected local and regional artists will set up shop on the porches and front yards of the neighborhood to showcase work like Micah Mullen’s colorful cityscape paintings, River Swirl Creation’s glass mosaics and studio artist Marina Bosetti’s clay pieces. Pop into Rebus Works for a warm beverage to sip on while you mosey around the historic community.

CELEBRATE THE SEASON

Dec. 7 | 6 - 9 p.m.

Browse a curated selection of local makers and businesses at Union Station for WALTER’s annual Celebrate The Season event, a festive evening of great food and wine, shopping and live music. Look for vendors like Peppertrain, selling their colorful handmade earrings; selections from the NCMA’s

STORYBOOK TALES

Dec. 8 - 10 | 2 & 6 p.m.

Raleigh Dance Theatre will present its annual Storybook Tales at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Children and teen dancers will take the audience through several different whimsical children’s tales including Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly, based on the popular Jane O’Connor children’s book series; Rayne and the Yellow Dress, inspired by the children’s book about experiences of Black ballerinas in the 20th and 21st centuries; and Act 1 of Coppelia, which follows a

courtesy Lincoln Theatre (DELTA RAE); courtesy Boylan Heights (ART); S.P. Murray (CELEBRATE THE SEASON)

girl, a boy and the doll that comes between them. This performance is great for people of all ages, but especially young ones who aspire to twirl on the stage one day. From $17; 2 E. South Street; raleighdance.org

RALEIGH WINE SHOP X LOCALS SEAFOOD

Dec. 9 | 5 - 8 p.m.

Don’t have time to cook as much this time of year with all the cookie parties and holiday performances? Raleigh Wine Shop and Locals Seafood have you covered with a fun pop-up at the wine shop’s newish location. A dream collaboration for oenophiles and ocean fare enthusiasts, savor dishes like fish and chips and North Carolina oysters for dinner and sip a glass (or two) of perfectly paired wine. Price dependent on order; 317 S. Bloodworth Street; theraleighwineshop.com

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Dec. 9 - 18 | See website

An award-winning Triangle tradition since 1974 — that’s also toured in England and France — the Ira David Wood III production of A Christmas Carol infuses the classic Charles Dickens story with humor, warmth and Raleigh nods. Perennial audience members are known to keep their eyes and ears open for new cultural Easter eggs each year, from movie references to political jokes. From $36.50; 2 E. South Street and 123 Vivian Street, Durham; theatreinthepark.com

Bryan Regan (CHRISTMAS CAROL)

BLACK NATIVITY

Dec 10 | 11:30 a.m.

Grab your coziest blanket and comfiest picnic chair for this soul-satisfying show (free and open to the public!) from The Justice Theatre Project at the Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Amphitheater at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Helmed by ar tistic directors Dr. Asabi (Stephanie Howard)

SEAGROVE POTTERY OPEN HOUSE

Seagrove is a nationally known pottery destination just under an hour from Raleigh, and this month its resident artists are hosting a holidaythemed open house each weekend. It’s an opportunity to discover North Carolina pottery, see makers at work and check a few gifts off your list. Eighty working potters live within 15 miles of Seagrove, attracted by its abundance of natural red clay. Westmoore Pottery (4622 Busbee Road) will have its historically inspired redware, saltglazed stonewares and green-glazed vessels on display. Jugtown Pottery (330 Jugtown Road), the oldest continuing pottery shop in the state, will offer both gas- and wood-fired pottery, including vases and candlesticks. “Everybody here is hand-making their work, and they put their whole heart and soul into it,” says Jennie Lorette Keatts, marketing chair for the Seagrove Potters Association. “What a beautiful way to share North Carolina’s deep-rooted history in clay.” Free admission; various locations; discoverseagrove.com

Joshua Steadman (NATIVITY); courtesy Seagrove Potters Association (POTTERY)

and Ray Watkins, the lively 45-minute rendition of the birth of Jesus Christ is told through West African and contemporary dancing, powerful gospel singing and vibrant costumes. Free but donations suggested; 2110 Blue Ridge Road; thejusticetheaterproject.org

THE NUTCRACKER

Dec. 10 - 24 | See website

Most folks know the story of The Nutcracker, in which a young Clara ventures through the Land of Sweets where she battles the Mouse King and meets the Sugar Plum Fairy. This year, Carolina Ballet director Zalman Raffael has updated the choreography and reenvisioned the story to be more inclusive, with same-sex couples and interracial families represented within the cast. “We will honor past productions by George Balanchine and Robert Weiss and move this holiday classic forward into our times,” says Raffael. From $50; 2 E. South Street; carolinaballet.com

OAKWOOD CANDLELIGHT TOUR

Dec. 10 & 11 | 1 - 7 p.m.

Take a walking tour through Raleigh’s oldest neighborhood and the unique architecture that’s preserved there, from Victorian-era Queen Anne cottages to Neoclassical Revival manors to contemporary designs. With structures dating to the 1800s, the 10-home tour brings guests through interiors while sharing stories of the homes’ history, architecture and inhabitants. “The

Trey Thomas (OAKWOOD)

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sights of these beautiful homes in their holiday best is the perfect way to kick off the season,” says Naudain Machen, tour chairperson. “Whether this is your first year attending the Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour or your 51st time, I have no doubt it will put you in the holiday spirit.” From $30; start at 418 N. Person Street; historicoakwood.org

JOY OF THE SEASON

Dec. 13 | 7:30 p.m.

Get your evening humming with a playlist of modern holiday tunes like “Silver Bells” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” mixed with classical carols from the voices of the North Carolina Master Chorale. Directed by Alfred E. Sturgis and featuring a brass ensemble, this year’s performance marks a milestone of 80 years for the esteemed choral group. From $28; 2 E. South Street; ncmasterchorale.org

HOLIDAY CRAFT MARKETS

All month | see websites

North Carolina is rich with talent from craftspeople — and these destination craft markets offer a chance to support local and explore at the same time. The Durham Hotel’s Holiday Market (Dec. 7; 6 - 9 p.m.; $10; 315 E. Chapel Hill Street, Durham; thedurham.com) will serve champagne and eggnog while guests get to know local businesses like Exotique, which offers Africanstyle clothing, art, instruments and decor; Lo & Behold Naturals, a maker of natural body care products; and Vert & Vogue, a boutique for upscale-casual contemporary clothing. Along the Haw River, The Saxapahaw Holiday Market at the Haw River Ballroom (Dec. 10; 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Dec. 11 8a.m. - 4p.m.; Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road; hawriverballroom.com) will offer wares from loads of local makers with a special appearance from the Paperhand Puppet Intervention.

E.C. Hanes

“Hanes’ prose is tight, forthright, and no-nonsense as he illuminates the lives of multiple characters willing to risk everything for a chance at survival.”

-Kirkus Reviews

Author,

The Bus to Beulah is a taut thriller that culminates in a massive, heart-pounding chase to save a young woman--before she disappears forever.

Light Up your Holidays

Unpack more than your decorations this season. In Winston-Salem, we’re offering a whole new way to experience the holidays.

. Come join us — and spend an evening touring candlelit estates festooned with century-old decorations. Enjoy cocoa and carols and a million twinkle lights. Or feast your eyes — and soul — on Moravian love sweets you can only find here. So grab your keys. Reserve your favorite hotel. And experience the magic of Winston-Salem for the holidays.

Plan your well-crafted getaway now at VisitWinstonSalem.com

WINTER GREENS

Finding a splash of color in the chilly woods

words and photographs by MIKE DUNN

In these few months without as much color, I appreciate the earth tones and textures of the winter woods. In fact, that’s one of the things I love about this area: there are four distinct seasons, each with its own unique beauty. And yet seeing a hint of green amid the mostly brown and gray forest is a nice surprise on a cold morning walk.

When we think of green plants in winter, the word “evergreen” comes to mind — usually meaning those trees that don’t lose their leaves in winter, like our deciduous trees do. The dominant evergreen tree in this area is the Loblolly Pine. I love seeing our pines in winter snow, the way their needles droop under the weight of the white blanket. In our backyard woods we have a few pines, but the most common evergreen is the American Holly, best known for its spiny leaves and beautiful red berries in winter. Branches are often collected this time of year as Christmas decorations. Unlike many trees, male and female holly flowers appear on separate trees, so only female trees produce berries. The fruit is a valuable late-winter food source for many birds, including American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Hermit Thrushes and Eastern Bluebirds (though humans should not eat the berries).

The dense evergreen foliage also provides important shelter for birds. Every year I find Northern Cardinal nests in our hollies, hidden away from the prying eyes of nest-robbing crows and jays. One winter day, I watched as a Sharp-shinned Hawk dove at some birds at our feeder; they escaped into a nearby holly. The hawk kept chasing the small birds around the densely packed branches until it gave up and flew off. Yet another attribute benefits us more than the birds: The wood is fine-grained and white, making it a great choice for carvings and other woodwork.

If I had walked our land 75 to 100

Spring Beauty

Clockwise from top left: American Holly, Little Brown Jug flower, Partridgeberry, Eastern Red Cedar.

years ago, there would have been another species as the dominant evergreen, Eastern Red Cedar. We still have some large cedars and a few saplings along the sunny roadsides, but now our woods are dotted with the sun-bleached skeletons of those of the past. This hints that our land was once cleared and probably used for pasture and crops. Red Cedar grows best in open landscapes, where its bluish berries and dense foliage mimic the wildlife values of holly. Squirrels will often use strips of cedar bark in their nests, and the stringy fibers make a great firestarter. We have several dozen fence posts, a cedar chest and some tables and benches made from the beautiful and rot-resistant wood.

A walk in the winter woods may also provide some patches of ground-level greens. Clumps of Christmas Ferns adorn much of our land, one of the few ferns in our area that remain green all year. I learned a tip years ago to help me identify this common species: A close look at the leaflets shows a noticeable bump at one end. When viewed sideways, the leaflet is said to resemble Santa’s sleigh. When held vertically, by the tip, it looks like a tiny stocking you might see on an elf’s mantel. New fern fronds start growing by late winter and the fiddleheads are often topped in snow.

I prefer Little Brown Jug, named for its unusual jug-shaped flowers, which are generally hidden under leaf litter at the base of the plant in spring.

It requires a close look to find the diminutive creeping plant, Partridgeberry. The bright red berry is often the easiest way to spot the plant nestled amongst the dried leaves on the forest floor. In summer, look for a small pair of white flowers joined at their base. The two flowers produce one fruit.

Look for Striped Wintergreen on your next walk — its genus name, Chimaphila, is Greek for “loves winter.” The dark green leaves have white stripes along their length. It and a close relative also go by the common name Pipsissewa, a Native American word meaning “to break into small pieces.” This refers to the use of compounds in both plants to treat urinary tract infections and kidney stones.

Why do these plants stay green when most of our flora shed their leaves and go dormant during the coldest months?

One of my favorite woodland evergreens goes by several common names: Wild Ginger, Heartleaf and Little Brown Jug. I first learned it as Wild Ginger because a crushed leaf is aromatic, smelling like ginger to some or maybe even licorice (but don’t eat this, either). That name can cause some confusion with another Wild Ginger in our mountains that has deciduous leaves. Heartleaf is apt because of the shape of the thick, mottled leaves. But

One of the more unusual green plants you may see this winter is the single leaf of a Cranefly Orchid. This plant sends up a leaf in the fall that persists through the winter. The leaf dies back in the spring, so by late summer, when the slender flower stalk appears, the leaf is already gone. Its scientific name, Tipularia discolor, refers to the two colors of the leaf: green on top and purple underneath. No one is sure why this color disparity exists. One theory is that the dark purple underside helps absorb light that’s reflected off the forest floor, thus maximizing the low angle winter light; another is that it acts more like a sunscreen to help protect the plant’s photosynthetic machinery. (Fun fact: the leaf is called a hibernal leaf because it is present only during the winter when many other plants are dormant.)

A similar strategy in terms of leaf timing is employed by a less common

orchid, Putty-root. Its pin-striped leaf appears in fall and disappears before the flowers in spring. Settlers used a gooey substance obtained from the corms (part of its underground food storage system) to glaze windows and repair pottery, hence the common name. The corms are paired, which gives rise to another common name, Adam and Eve Root.

Why do these plants stay green when most of our flora shed their leaves and go dormant during the coldest months? The ability to photosynthesize during winter has obvious advantages, especially for ground-dwelling species that may get little light in the shade of a leafy summer forest. But they also must avoid the hazards of severe cold and lack of water that can occur in winter, so many have adaptations like waxy coatings, thicker leaves or a low-profile growth form, each of which may help shield them from drying winds and provide some warmth from the sun hitting the forest floor.

And for those of us that love a walk in the winter woods, the splash of color that helps us remember that the greens of spring are not far away.

These Christmas Fern leaflets resemble Christmas stockings.

the Season Celebrate 2022

FEATURING A LIVE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

DECEMBER

1 0-24, 202 2

Presented by

CAROLINA BALLET’S RESTRUCTURED ADAPTATION IS INSPIRED BY ROBERT WEISS’ NUTCRACKER WITH MAGIC WE KNOW AND LOVE, WITH MUSIC BY PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY.

The Ballet will re-invision The Nutcracker for today’s audiences while staying true to its historic roots

“We will honor past productions by George Balanchine and Robert Weiss and move this holiday classic forward into our times.”

– Zalman Raffael

EXPERIENCE NEW COSTUMES AND REDESIGNED SETS

After 20 years and over 400 performances, more than 140 costumes have to be replaced. Our creative team will bring a fresh new take to the production that will celebrate this iconic ballet.

Costumes will be co-designed by Victor Lytvinenko, co-founder and designer at Raleigh Denim Workshop, and Terry Baker, Carolina Ballet’s Costume Director. Sets and backdrops will be designed by Matthew Strampe and Andrew Armas, members of Carolina Ballet’s Production Team

DPAC • Raleigh Memorial Auditorium | December 10-24

gift

LOCAL

The most sought-after holiday goods — all from Triangle retailers.

FINK’S JEWELERS

Bold yet feminine, this 18 karat gold medallion necklace from the Roberto Coin Obelisco Collection features .20 carats of diamonds. $5,250

GREAT OUTDOOR PROVISION COMPANY

Whether they’re camping or on the couch, the packable, quick-drying Rumpl blanket will keep them toasty. From $69

ALLEY TWENTY SIX

Make superior cocktails at home with cocktail syrups handcrafted in Durham by one of America’s best bar programs. $13 each

RELIABLE JEWELRY

Inside a white-gold setting, blue topaz and diamonds combine to create delicate floral studs that can be dressed up or down. $495

NOTHING FINER

For the Carolina fan: the Tar Heel Toile print on this set of bamboo pajamas features delicate illustrations of Chapel Hill icons. From $84

ELLA’S POPCORN

This delicious limited-edition Holiday Collection is perfect for everyone on your list. Peppermint Cookie-O, Gingerbread & Hot Cocoa. $33 for trio box

PAYSAGE HOME

Around four feet tall and rendered in antiqued brass, this Majestic Stag Statue makes a seasonal statement indoors or out. $1,065

MAIN & TAYLOR SHOE SALON

From the street to the slopes, this showstopping solid knit hat with a genuine fur pom-pom will keep them warm. From $90

USU CANDLES

Six gifts in one! The Mini Candle Sample Box holds 2-ounce scented candles, from mandarin and coconut to amber and bergamot. $35

THE RALEIGH RINGERS

Gift the sounds of the season: tickets to The Raleigh Ringers’ concert December 17 & 18 at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. From $14

DESIGNED

FOR JOY

This handmade tote bag is large enough for a small laptop and comes in eight colors with a mix-andmatch strap. Its sales benefit women in crisis. $159

ZEST CAFE & HOME ART

In brilliant hues with chic modern styling, these glasses make any beverage holiday-worthy $12.95 each for stemless glasses, $14.95 each for stemmed glasses

TOURISM PARTNERSHIP OF SURRY COUNTY

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at the north carolina museum of history

Curated by the GRAMMY Museum orth histo®r

now through

february 26, 2023

Highlights f rom country music ’ s female trailblazers shared through their instruments and costumes, this exhibition features artists f rom Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton to Taylor Swift and Rhiannon Giddens.

exhibit programs:

Southern Songbirds Sooututh S emceed by legendary country music artist Jim Lauderdale: cou co

• Tift Merritt: Sat., Dec. 10 at 7 p.m

• Alice Gerrard: Sun., Dec. 11 at 3 p..m.

• Rissi Palmer: Sat., Jan. 21 at 7 p.mm.

Musci + Prose emceed by award-winninng jouranlist and author Dave Menconi:

• Black Country Music: Listening f for Revolutions, Dr. Francesca Roysster Fri., Jan. 13 at 7 p.m

NEW: Museum members exhibition tickets are FREE! Visit ncmuseumofhistory.org or scan the QR code for details, full exhibition program listing, and tickets!

Courtesy of the

photo by Reb ecca Sapp.

Boots worn by Emm ylou Har ris.

Tickets

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When you’ve played your last game, the cheering subsides and the fanfare fades — then what? Jim Ritcher pondered that question after 16 seasons in the National Football League, then launched a second career as an airline pilot, fulfilling a boyhood dream.

“I always wanted to fly,” says Ritcher, who as a child attended air shows with his father in Ohio.

These days, Ritcher travels each week from Raleigh to Charlotte, climbing into the cockpit of a Boeing 777-200 American Airlines jet transporting as many as 273 passengers to international destinations like Rome, Milan, Munich,

TOUCH DOWNS

A look at Jim Ritcher’s football career — and the one that followed

by A.J. CARR

photography by JOSHUA STEADMAN

Frankfurt and Madrid.

Much like in football, flying gives Ritcher pleasure and pressure. “I’m responsible for a lot of people,” he says. He strives to provide passengers with a safe, smooth flight — and a perfect “touch down.”

“When people tell you great landing it’s like you won the game,” he says.

Before ascending to the friendly skies professionally — first with Continental Express, then with American Airlines for the last 25 years — Ritcher had already made an indelible mark on earth.

He starred in football (All-State) and wrestling (state runner-up) at Highland High School in Medina, Ohio, became a two-time All-American football player

at North Carolina State University, and was an award-winning lineman during 14 seasons with the Buffalo Bills.

His interest in NC State was piqued when Wolfpack recruiter Bruce Mays paid him a visit at Highland High. Later he heard head coach Lou Holtz give an inspiring banquet speech and met star NC State players Dave and Don Buckey, who told him there were “a lot of pretty girls” in Raleigh.

“I didn’t know much about North Carolina other than watching the Andy Griffith Show,” Ritcher says, but he was convinced it was the place to be after listening to Holtz and the Buckey twins.

He chose NC State over several schools and arrived on campus expecting to play

defensive end, sacking quarterbacks and tackling running backs the way he had in high school. That didn’t happen. Bo Rein was named Wolfpack head coach after Holtz left for the New York Jets and moved Ritcher to center on the first day.

“I said, Please don’t do that,’’ Ritcher remembers. “I felt like crying!”

To make matters worse, he got roughed up going against rugged lineman A.W. Jenkins the first week of practice. He begged again for a chance to play defense. “Stay at center,” Rein mandated.

It turned out the perceptive Wolfpack coach knew best. Ritcher became a starter during his freshman season and developed into a center who garnered national attention. In addition to earning All-America accolades, he won the 1979 Outland Trophy awarded to the nation’s best offensive lineman and helped the Wolfpack claim its last ACC football title.

Rein, quoted in a College Football Hall of Fame story, explained: “[Jim’s] talent

enabled us to outline certain plays we wouldn’t have considered with normal players.” On one mesmerizing play against Wake Forest, Ritcher took out three defensive players — a nose guard, linebacker and defensive back — further validating Rein’s decision to utilize his blocking talent.

Beside opening holes with knockdown blocks for all-time Wolfpack leading rusher Ted Brown, Ritcher earned a

degree in sociology at NC State and met Wolfpack cheerleader Harriet Kalevas, now his wife of 41 years and mother of their three sons.

“It (all) worked out better than I ever could have imagined,’’ says Ritcher, still a neon name in Wolfpack lore. In 2012, he was inducted into NC State’s first Athletics Hall of Fame class and was chosen to give the acceptance speech on behalf of the 10 honorees, which included David Thompson, Ted Brown, Roman Gabriel, Jim Valvano, Kay Yow and Everett Case. Ritcher also is in the North Carolina Sports, College Football, Greater Buffalo Sports and Medina County Sports Halls of Fame.

After his NC State days, Ritcher, a first-round NFL draft pick, shuffled off to Buffalo, played center one year and then was switched to left guard to maximize his speed and agility. At 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds, he could trap, block and knock down linebackers on sweeps, which he did after gaining a starting spot in his fourth season.

The Bills could count on him as surely as they could those annual Buffalo snow storms. He was the living definition of “durable,” starting every game over an 11-season span and never missing an offensive snap, except to repair broken equipment.

“He may be the best athlete among offensive linemen I’ve ever coached,’’ former Bills Coach Marvin Levy says. “He was the best conditioned athlete I had. He had great values, was clean living and was by far one of the most respected players I ever coached.”

Ken Jones, a stellar Bills lineman who played with Ritcher, amplifies Levy’s comments. “He fit right in when he came up,” Jones says. “He was smart, quick, mobile and strong as a bear. He could bench press 310 pounds 10 times over his head, standing. Not many can!”

“There’s nothing bad to say about him,” Jones continues. “Nice, good family man and did whatever he was asked to do in the community.”

Ritcher made All Pro one season, played in two Pro Bowls, won four AFC

Clockwise from top left: All-star game in Honolulu January 1980; with Joab Thomas, NC State chancellor from 1976 to 1981; a sign from his high school celebrating Ritcher going to the Super Bowl; Ritcher with John, his oldest son, in Buffalo; a shot from his first year in Buffalo; with Conrad Dobler in Los Angeles.

“He was the best conditioned athlete I had. He had great values, was clean living and was by far one of the most respected players I ever coached.”

— Coach Marvin Levy

championship rings, started in four Super Bowls and wound up on the Bills Wall of Fame. He competed in one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, helping Buffalo rally from a 35-3 halftime deficit to beat the Houston Oilers 41-38 in a 1993 Wild Card game.

Along with the fun and games, there were some disappointments (four Super Bowl losses) and physical pain. He broke his foot while playing for the Atlanta Falcons, where he spent his last two seasons, and has had five shoulder surgeries. But overall, football and life were good at Medina, NC State and Buffalo.

His sons John, Harrison and Nicholas were born in Buffalo. John and Harrison played at NC State and are NFL scouts, John with Houston and Harrison with Washington. Nicholas, a former All-American lineman at Richmond, is a building supply company warehouse manager and an intern

A snapshot from NC State picture day.

with the British Columbia Lions football team.

Ritcher naturally taught his boys a thing or three about football — and much more than how to compete, block and tackle. “He was a very good role model, a man of faith, even-keeled,” John says. “He says, do the right thing, be a man of integrity. I’m blessed to have him as a father.”

It was in Buffalo that Ritcher’s interest in flying soared again. Quarterback Joe Ferguson took him for a short flight on his private plane to Rochester and allowed Ritcher to pilot the aircraft on the return trip. After that celestial experience, he went all-out airborne. Ritcher bought a plane, became a certified pilot and flew frequently in the off-season.

Two years later, in 1997 and after retiring from football, he landed his first major airlines job. Since then it has mostly been enjoyable trips in friendly skies — except the time his plane was struck by

lightning, forcing an emergency landing in Newark, N.J.

Although spending countless hours in the air, Ritcher remains down to earth, soft spoken and spiritually focused. He’s a deacon at Raleigh’s Christ Baptist Church, shares his testimony at speaking appearances and is in his fourth year as a Bible study fellowship leader. Looking back, Ritcher says he was influenced by several Christian teammates while at NC State and matured in his faith through Bible studies in Buffalo.

Now, at age 64 and still physically fit, he wants to remain active, keep serving and keep flying. However, next spring he will celebrate his 65th birthday, the mandated retirement age for American Airlines pilots. What then?

With a pilot instructor’s license and continued interested in aviation, chances are he won’t be grounded very long.

Jim Ritcher at RDU Airport.

Building COMMUNITY

An artist and teacher, September Krueger finds connections through her practice

by LIZA ROBERTS

September Krueger’s intricate quilts and silk paintings use subtle, watery colors, delicate stitching, layered images and the unexpected juxtaposition of organic and designed shapes and lines. They honor the natural world: birds and plants, and the environments they share. And they are the work of an artist with a deep appreciation for her subject and her medium.

From an early age, Krueger loved to draw. She studied textiles as an undergraduate in Philadelphia with the idea of becoming a fashion designer, but her graduate work at East Carolina University between 2007 and 2010 opened her eyes to the potential of textiles as an artistic medium, inspiring her to “develop layers of information on woven cloth.”

A kimono she made at ECU was the turning point. She was on

familiar ground when it came to the sewing and structure of the garment, but found herself pulled in a new direction with the fabric itself and the stories it told. “All of the motifs were of cloth that had been batiked,” says Krueger, referring to the artistic process of using wax-resistant dye to create patterns, “and all of the batiked imagery related to religion, which comes up a lot in thinking about myself and my family.” From that point forward, function took a back seat, she says: “‘Wearable’ became less and less important.”

Krueger uses silk and other fluid fabrics in her work today, enabling her to “build up the surface in so many ways, almost like a collage artist,” often using repeated motifs like a small bird or a leaf. Her quilt Release: Reward: Reveal, for example, repeats silkscreened leaves on cotton sateen, with textural additions from

Two quilts by September Krueger, Goatsucker (left) and Her 77th Year.

machine emboidery and organza.

Central to Krueger’s artistic calling, she says, is an instinct to share it and use it to build community. As director of lifelong learning at Wilmington’s Cameron Art Museum since 2020, one of her central goals is to open the museum’s offerings to new populations. Paradoxically, she says, the pandemic could have helped with that effort, because people who might not have taken themselves to the museum in ordinary times were compelled to visit virtually. Krueger’s community focus goes beyond Wilmington. In Kinston, for example, she and Anne Brennan, a fellow artist and the executive director of the Cameron Art Museum, designed tile mosaics for installation in Kinston Music Park. They were inspired by the work of iconic North Carolina artist Romare Bearden, known for his work in collage, and created it together with the young women of a community development organization called The Gate.

In addition, Krueger’s work as head of the art department at Southeastern Community College, where she has been a teacher since 2011, takes her to nearby Whiteville regularly.

“I found a community immediately here in Wilmington, between the university and the community college. I found that there are outstanding artists in our community college system,” Krueger says. “And I met people who were at different stages of life and were going back to study and figure out what they might want to do… Art connects them all.”

“I met people who were at different stages of life and were going back to study and figure out what they might want to do... Art connects them all.”

— September Krueger

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After Ed “Charlie Brown” Weiss died from cancer at 81 in October, it was impossible to imagine North Carolina’s radio airwaves without the legendary DJ’s voice.

In six decades on the air on radio stations across North Carolina, Weiss played just about every style of music in the book, but especially beach music. This R&B dance music was perfect for “shagging” — the state dance in North and South Carolina. The genre took shape in the years after World War II, when vacationing white listeners would play and dance to R&B songs, almost all by Black artists, on jukeboxes and at dance parties in coastal towns.

Because the phenomenon started out from records rather than live performances, the DJs spinning the tunes at sock hops and on the radio became popular. Charlie Brown was one of the signature on-air personalities playing beach music.

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Weiss did his first radio work as a teenager there before coming to Chapel Hill to attend the University of North Carolina in 1959. He went to work

Behind BEACH MUSIC

by DAVID MENCONI

for a series of stations in Virginia and North Carolina after graduation. And even when he was a Top-40 DJ at Raleigh’s WKIX-AM at the height of “Beatlemania” in the mid-1960s, his favorite music to spin was R&B acts like The Drifters and The Temptations.

His on-air name came from an R&B classic, The Coasters’ 1959 hit “Charlie Brown.” Craig Woolard, frontman of beachmusic legends The Embers, recalls being in awe of Charlie Brown and the rest of the 1960s-era “Men of Music” DJs at WKIX-AM.

“I knew about Charlie Brown growing up in Washington, North Carolina, when I saw he wrote liner notes for a Drifters’ Greatest Hits album,” says Woolard. “That blew my 14-year-old mind. All the KIX ‘Men of Music’ were some of the biggest celebrities in town, Charlie especially. He’d emcee dances where The Embers would play. I don’t think we ever said no to him. He made a lot of things happen and was just a treasure.”

Indeed, if you went to a popular-music event in Raleigh during the 1960s, there was a good chance you’d see Charlie

Ed Weiss was a longtime DJ who helped popularize the shag-dance genre

MUSIC

Brown onstage introducing the talent. He seemed to know everybody in the music business: pop star Dionne Warwick was a friend; General Johnson, lead vocalist of Chairmen of the Board (of “Give Me Just a Little More Time” fame), used to have Weiss listen to his recordings for prerelease advice; and when the Rolling Stones played North Carolina State University’s Reynolds Coliseum in 1965, Weiss picked them up at the airport and took them to get a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken before the show.

“We ended up at my apartment off of Buck Jones Road talking about old R&B records,” Weiss told me in 2015. “That was the music we had all grown up with and were into, and they wanted to see my collection. So they went through my 45s and ended up with a few.”

As Weiss continued playing beach music through the 1960s, an unofficial canon of classics began to develop. Weiss made that canon official with Beach Beat, a pair of Atlantic Records compilation albums he programmed from 1967 to 1968, selecting songs by artists like The Drifters, Coasters, Clyde McPhatter, Barbara Lewis and Willie Tee. (He was elected to the Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame in 1996.)

Over the course of six decades, Weiss also amassed an impressive archive of interview recordings and autographed photos of the likes of Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke and Stevie

this page: Early days at music station.

right page: The WKIX Men of Music courtesy Suz Weiss

Wonder. Much of that will wind up at his alma mater, in the Wilson Library’s Southern Folklife Collection.

Weiss worked behind the scenes, too, as manager of various stations across the Carolinas. But he never stopped DJing, launching the syndicated show On The Beach With Charlie Brown in 2003. Even after he went into “semi-retirement” in 2014, the show continued airing on 40 stations. Weiss would prerecord episodes from his home in Hillsborough, playing beach-music classics and telling stories.

Upon news of Charlie Brown’s death, there was a huge outpouring of remembrances from his farflung circle of friends and associates. Suz Weiss, his wife of more than 50 years, says she received 500 messages within the first 15 minutes from people posting about his passing on Facebook. A pair of memorial gatherings in his honor are tentatively scheduled for early 2023 — one in Raleigh and one in Burlington, the two cities he worked in the most.

“Most people just knew ‘Charlie Brown’ on the air,” she says. “This fun-loving knowledgeable guy who knew everything about beach music and loved every minute of it. Off the air, Ed

was one of the kindest gentlemen I ever knew. Whether they thought of him as Charlie Brown or Ed Weiss, everybody who knew him loved him.”

And as it turns out, we won’t have to stop hearing his voice, at least for a while. On the Beach With Charlie Brown will continue airing in reruns on 40 stations, including Raleigh oldies station WKIX.

“I am happy to report that all 40 stations have said it’s OK to have the show continue as a best-of,” says Chris Beachley, the show’s producer. “Charlie Brown’s always been an easy sell because you could say his legend preceded him. When we first started and I was calling stations, one in Columbia said they had no room for another show. But when I told him who the talent was, the guy said, Charlie gave me my first job. Sign me up! He was the best.”

courtesy Suz Weiss

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Bryan Regan

HISTORY in SUEDE

A pair of gloves worn by North Carolina-born star

Ava

Gardner resides at The Gregg

by HAMPTON WILLIAMS HOFER

In a publicity shot for the 1946 film The Killers, Ava Gardner dons a pair of brown suede elbow-length gloves as she leans moodily into her co-star, Burt Lancaster. The Academy Award-winning film, based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, skyrocketed Gardner to stardom, making her the most famous North Carolinian of the 1940s. And the gloves, still in excellent condition, are now situated in their new home: within a gold frame in Raleigh, at The Gregg Museum of Art & Design on Hillsborough Street, a piece of history preserved and free to the public.

Mary Hauser, registrar and associate director at The Gregg, notes that while Gardner’s gloves are significant as a highquality example of the fashion of the ‘40s and ‘50s, their story is enriched by the fact that we know they were worn by one of the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. “The chance to be so close to an object that someone powerful, interesting and famous once used or touched is exciting,” says Hauser. “Perhaps it makes the chance that we could achieve such status seem a little more attainable.”

Ava Gardner, who would have turned 100 this month, was the seventh and youngest child of struggling tobacco farmers in a community in Johnston County known as Grabtown. Her rags-to-riches story began with a chance photograph in New

courtesy of The Gregg Museum

York City and included an accent coach and a move to Los Angeles, where she became a leading lady of Hollywood, known for movies like Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and On the Beach (1959). Her breakout role was in The Killers (1946), the film noir associated with the brown suede gloves, a film that even Hemingway — who was notoriously critical of Hollywood’s depictions of his stories — openly admired.

Twenty-five miles southeast of The Gregg, in Smithfield, is The Ava Gardner Museum, whose collection spans her entire life, including personal costumes, jewelry, photographs, papers and memorabilia. Johnston County’s hometown pride for Gardner is evident in the museum, which has an expert staff and board who work closely with the Gardner family to preserve Ava Gardner’s lasting legacy. The museum’s original collection began in 1941, when a 12-year-old boy named Thomas Banks had a chance encounter with Gardner while she was studying at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson. Banks grew into

a superfan who — along with his wife — followed Gardner’s career, diligently collecting memorabilia. When the Bankses visited Gardner in London later in her life, she told them that their extensive collection of items should live in her home state of North Carolina, and thus began the Ava Gardner Museum. She might have been glad to know that the gloves from the movie that began her stardom would also find their way to her home state.

On the paper backing of the gloves’ gold frame are handwritten notes recording the label information stamped inside the gloves themselves: Real Kid / Made in France / 6 3/4 / TREFOUSSE. The notes also reveal: Betty Madry bought these gloves at a store near Disneyworld, Florida in 1975. Madry, who was a Raleigh local, gifted the gloves to the museum in 2013. The notes on the back of the frame — which also indicate that the gloves were worn by Gardner during the publicity shot for The Killers — are essential to the history and preservation of the object: “Without these notes and the story from the

“The chance to be so close to an object that someone powerful, interesting and famous once used or touched is exciting. Perhaps it makes the chance that we could achieve such status seem a little more attainable.”

— Mary Hauser

Film posters from the 1946 film The Killers, in which Ava Gardner wore the brown suede gloves. courtesy of The Gregg Museum

donor, would these gloves have been cherished and framed?” Hauser asks.

“Or would they have been used and appreciated in a different way? Would they have made their way to a museum collection?” Thankfully, someone took the time to make the notes, and the gloves found their way to The Gregg, where their story is shared and protected.

Elbow-length gloves were a trend during Gardner’s time, something important to The Gregg’s collections committee. Even had this particular pair not been connected to a celebrity like Gardner, the museum would have been interested in a pair of such gloves.

The elbow-length style became all the rage just after World War II, when people were reintegrating into society, seeking forms of elegance after years of work and struggle. The Gregg’s director, Roger Manley, can vividly recall his own mother going out to buy a pair of elbow-length gloves. “The fact that these belonged to Ava Gardner, and that you can actually see them in the movie posters, anchors them to a particular person and year,” he says. To have an artifact is one thing, but to know exactly who wore it and when adds another layer entirely.

The gloves themselves, having most likely been worn only briefly, are in very good condition. It also helps that they were finely made, with a sueded leather material that would have provided an intriguing contrast to the glimmering satin dress Gardner wore in the photo.

Manley says that when Ava Gardner’s gloves were gifted to the museum, he knew they would be important markers of an underrepresented time period: “We had a good bit of clothing from the 19th century through the 1920s, but people are just now getting to the point where they are giving us objects from the 1950s, because those kinds of objects belonged to people who are still living.” Generally, greatgrandchildren are the ones cleaning out attics and donating artifacts. “After two generations, it’s been just long enough for people to not remember somebody wearing them,” says Manley. As donors discover treasures, The Gregg continues its variety of offerings, with regularly rotating exhibitions and endless stories to tell.

courtesy of The Gregg Museum

SLOW-COOKED SUCCESS

Longleaf Swine BBQ finds a permanent home on Edenton Street

by CATHERINE CURRIN photography by TREY THOMAS

Good things take time — especially good barbecue. And sometimes, it seems, so do good barbecue restaurants. After nearly six years of pop-ups, pick-ups and permit issues, Longleaf Swine BBQ opened its permanent location in early November. Now, it’s serving up North Carolina classics like pulled pork and cole slaw alongside cold beer for lunch and dinner in a newly renovated historic building with a sprawling patio.

At the helm of the venture are Marc Russell and Adam Cunningham, two Raleigh food industry veterans who will serve as chef and general manager, respectively. Prior to Longleaf Swine, Russell had worked as a cook at Poole’s and, most recently, at Ashley Christensen’s Death & Taxes, while Cunningham worked front of house at State of Beer. Longleaf Swine was born when the pair were ready to branch out on their own after years in the industry. “Adam and I both wanted to do our own thing,” says Russell. “We saw

there was a missing piece and it was wood-fired barbecue.”

Cunningham and Russell both grew up immersed in North Carolina’s barbecue culture, and both always loved to entertain. They got their first

old-fashioned way: experimenting and absorbing from those around him. But his time at Death & Taxes lent to his expertise in smoked meats and veggies, which have landed a place on the Longleaf Swine menu.

The pair started with a food trailer and a pop-up at Fayetteville Street’s Foundation Bar in 2018, building momentum with offerings like a smashburger, Frito pie and classic banana pudding. In 2019, they started working toward a brick-and-mortar space inside the Transfer Co. Food Hall, but it fell through. In early 2020, Russell and Cunningham pivoted to meal delivery service and catering to ride out the pandemic — but the end goal was always to have their own restaurant.

smoker in summer of 2016 and taught themselves from there. While food has always been a part of Russell’s culinary career, he’s learned barbecue the

Ben Davis, who’s now a business partner, met the duo through their catering, and knew he wanted to be involved. “I don’t have a background in barbecue, but a big reason I wanted to get involved was the character of these guys,” Davis says. “I tried the food and I was in.” As broker and managing

From left to right: Ben Davis, Marc Russell and Adam Cunningham. One of their menu items.

partner of Insight Real Estate, Davis’ real estate background proved to be handy when the perfect space, on the corner of Person and Edenton Streets, became available in late 2020. “I was on a run and saw the ‘for sale’ sign going up for the old Oakwood Cafe space,” says Cunningham. “I called Ben immediately.” Davis enlisted Gordon and Lori Grimes as investors in the space, and they closed in November 2021.

The historic building was one of the original Walter Teague-designed service stations from the 1930s, an industrial design landmark on the way into Raleigh from points east. It had operated as Oakwood Cafe for the previous 21 years, serving Cuban and Argentine cuisine to devoted neighborhood fans. Davis was excited to get Cunningham and Russell into their permanent space, but soon discovered that the cafe had been grandfathered in on many City of Raleigh rules for restaurants — and that Longleaf Swine would have to make major changes to the building to

get it up to code. “We completely gutted the space,” says Davis. “We literally peeled back all of the walls.”

In the meantime, Russell and Cunningham kept up the catering end of their business with private events and holiday meal pickups. Through the back half of 2021, they took Longleaf Swine over to Standard Beer + Food on Sundays, serving up brisket, smoked chicken wings, nacho fries and BLTs on Standard’s picnic tables. Cov DeRamus, a partner at Standard, says it was serendipity to have Russell and Cunningham in their space. “Back when we were opening, we felt like we needed

a food option. Here, we had this full kitchen we weren’t using and a group of guys who we really like and respect,” says Deramus. In addition to their regular appearances at Standard, Russell and Cunningham lent their meatsmoking expertise to partnerships with other industry friends like Longleaf Lounge, Fine Folk and Locals Seafood.

The new space pays homage to its history: simple and no-frills, with exposed brick walls, original windows, polished concrete floors and industrial beams in the 13-foot ceilings. Outside, a massive angled metal awning over the patio offers cover for sunny or rainy

The new Longleaf Swine BBQ location.

At lunch you’ll find an old-school barbecue slicing line — available ‘til it’s gone — with sides like slaw, mac and cheese with homemade pimento cheese, and a creamy potato salad.

days, and the food is served up on classic wooden picnic tables. “We really want to cherish the space,” says Cunningham.

Beyond the counter service, there are two full-service bars offering a cocktail and wine program, along with local draft and canned beer, to sip with your ribs, homemade sausages and seasonal veggies. “About 85 percent of our produce will come from the State Farmers Market,” says Russell. At lunch you’ll find an old-school barbecue slicing line — available ‘til it’s gone — with sides like slaw, mac and cheese with homemade pimento cheese, and a creamy potato salad. Oak and hickory-smoked meats and veggies will grace the menus all day, from Southern favorites like boiled peanuts and sausage balls to a few unexpected sides like smoked cauliflower or Esquites, the Mexicaninspired corn off the cob.

“We’re trying to do something style-wise that no one is doing around here,” says Cunningham — not just the typical grab-and-sit barbecue joint, but a spot that invites folks to linger for a drink and order as they go. Today, you can order a collard green melt on Union Special’s sourdough or a classic barbecue sandwich for dinner, or simply sit outside for happy hour. He notes that they’re especially excited to have a place for their industry community to hang out — they plan to serve brunch Saturday through Monday as well as late-night diner fare, aptly nicknamed the “Swiner Diner.”

Davis commends the resilience he sees in Cunningham and Russell. “These two are the heart and soul of the business,” says Davis. “Ten out of 10 people would have given up.” The community is behind them, too, their many pop-ups and partnerships a testament to all the friends in the industry who want the duo to succeed. “I can’t say enough good things about Marc and Adam,” says DeRamus. “They’re great people who really improve the Raleigh food scene.”

“For Marc and myself it’s a sense of

relief and excitement,” says Cunningham about getting the restaurant open. “It’s been a real journey. We have finally

found our forever home, where we can share our passion for food and drink with our community.”

Clockwise from top: Guests inside the restaurant and at the counter. Marc Russell in front of the giant smoker in the ktichen.

Miss Jan for Christmas

A few of her favorite things

by JIM DODSON illustration GERRY O’NEILL

As she eats her Sunday morning breakfast, Miss Jan looks across the table at me and cheerfully remarks, “You look very nice. Why are you so dressed up?”

As usual, I have a silly answer ready.

“Actually, Jan, I’m planning to address Congress today. I’m proposing a constitutional amendment promoting universal kindness, a four-day work week and the importance of using proper turn signals in traffic. Thought I should look my best.”

She laughs. “Good for you! What a great idea. I hope they listen to you!”

In fact, my wife, Wendy, and I are just heading off to church. But this is a kind of game I play when Miss Jan — Wendy’s mother — comes to our house on weekends. She loves a good joke or a silly story that makes her laugh.

During the week, a lovely caregiver named Waletta looks after her needs at

the independent senior living facility where Miss Jan lives, while my busy wife brings her groceries and takes her mom out to lunch at least once a week. She’s incredibly chatty with the waiters and a bit of a flirt. Miss Jan is, too.

Every day is like Christmas when Miss Jan — as her art students called her — is at our house. She eats her favorite foods, drinks a little wine, plays with Gracie the dog, clips beautiful things out of magazines for her scrapbooks, watches Love It or List It and enjoys long afternoon naps.

As her world narrows down, the past features more and more in her conversations. She takes genuine pleasure in the smallest of things.

“I love bacon,” she declares that same Sunday morning. “And eggs, too. They are my favorite foods.”

I know what’s coming next. She tells me how, when she was a little girl growing up on a farm in rural Connecticut,

her mother would make bacon and eggs gathered from the farm’s henhouse every Sunday morning. How Jack, the hired man, would sit at one end of the table as her father, the architect, sat at the other with Mike the dog between them, waiting for scraps to fall. She even slips into the stern Irish voice of her mother, admonishing her daughters not to feed Mike. For it is a sin in the eyes of the Almighty to waste food.

I’ve heard this sweet story probably a hundred times over the past five or six years.

“I like that tie you’re wearing,” she declares next, buttering her biscuit. “Where did you get that?”

It came from a clothing shop in Edinburgh, Scotland, I explain, a Sinclair hunting tartan necktie I purchased for my daughter Maggie’s recent wedding, in honor of our Scottish heritage.

Miss Jan beams, speaking in excla-

mation points. “That’s wonderful news! When did she get married?”

“Two weeks ago yesterday. Up in Maine.”

“Oh,” she sighs, “I love Maine. It’s my favorite place. We lived on the water.”

“I know. You and Bill had a very nice life there.”

This prompts her to tell me about their cottage on the water in Harpswell, where they watched boats come and go all day and the harbor lights at night; about the little kids she taught about the importance of art; about the clear starry nights of winter. This opens the door to other memories. She tells me about the trips to Europe she took with Bill — to England, Germany and Switzerland; her favorite sights; the colorful characters they met.

“Switzerland was my favorite place. I loved the mountains and the people.”

“How about Swiss chocolate?”

“Oh, I love Swiss chocolate. It’s my favorite!” She says this with an impish grin, like a little Irish girl sneaking a piece from the cupboard.

She tells me more about Bill, who I knew for more than two decades. “He was quite a dancer, you know, in his day. He played the accordion beautifully. The girls loved hearing him play.”

I never tire of hearing Jan’s stories again and again. Memories are like summer’s fireflies. They carry us through the darkness, but vanish too soon.

“I love biscuits,” she suddenly exclaims brightly. “Don’t you? They’re my favorite food. What’s yours?”

Before I can answer, she chuckles like Chaucer’s Wife of Bath.

“I like you. You’re a really good guy. You make me laugh.”

“Just doing my job, ma’am.”

Not long ago, Miss Jan asked her daughter, “So who’s that funny man who stays in your house?” Perhaps she thought I was Jack, the hired man.

“That’s Jim, mom. We’ve been married 21 years.”

“Oh, right,” she said with a good Irish laugh. “I forgot. I really like him. He makes me laugh.”

According to the CDC, in 2020 about

5.8 million people in the United States had Alzheimer’s disease or some form of related dementia, most of whom are aged 65 and older. Miss Jan is 84. She jokes that she might live to be 100 — or just pass on “next year.”

“Don’t do that,” I say. “Who will laugh at my stupid jokes?”

Save for when she grumbles about having to take a shower and wash her hair — my wife’s weekly ordeal — she seems remarkably happy, even a bit of a cheerful con artist. At dinner parties, for instance, she will listen intently before nimbly

Perhaps I cherish such days because they remind me how fleeting this life is, how short the time we are given. Miss Jan also reminds me of my own sweet Southern mother and her cheerful dance with this silent, insidious disease. She, too, was what I call a “happy forgetter.”

After my dad’s passing in 1996, I brought her and her half-blind yellow lab, Molly, to live with us in Maine. She delighted in the fiery leaves of autumn and the deep snows of winter. She loved our big, crackling fire and the sight of the herd of white-tail deer I faithfully fed at the edge of the forest on frigid nights.

When her memory began to fail, we moved her to a fine independent living facility where she became the belle of the ball in the evening dining room, squired around by a celebrated Episcopal bishop who’d marched across the bridge in Selma with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They were quite the talk of the place for a while.

One summer afternoon I drove her out to the seaside restaurant where she and my father always ate when they came to Maine to see their grandbabies. It featured a 10-mile view of the rocky coast that looked like a living postcard.

As we sat drinking wine, she told me about the day she met my father, remembered their first date and commented that I laughed just like him.

joining the table’s flow of conversation, for the moment sounding like the wise, compassionate, opinionated and highly intelligent mother and social activist she was most of her life.

When she Zooms with her younger sister, Alice, every other weekend or so, you’ll hear the two of them cutting up and gabbing away about people, things, places and memories that only a shared lifetime can provide.

True, every year her boat seems to drift a little farther from the shore. But for now, at least, she seems to be holding her own, defying the outgoing tide, happy as a kid on Christmas morning on days when she’s with us.

“I sure miss him,” I admitted. “I bet you do, too.” He’d been gone for five years.

She sipped her wine and smiled. “You have no idea, sugar. But don’t worry. I’ll see him very soon.”

She sounded so sure. Two days later, she suffered a stroke and peacefully slipped away.

I have no idea how long Miss Jan will be with us. With our four kids grown up and scattered to the winds, it will probably just be the three of us again this Christmas. Five, counting the dog and cat whose names she can’t remember.

But having Miss Jan for Christmas will be perfect. She says it’s her favorite holiday ever. We have that in common. Plus, I can always make her laugh.

Every day is like Christmas when Miss Jan — as her art students called her — is at our house. She eats her favorite foods, drinks a little wine, plays with Gracie the dog, clips beautiful things out of magazines for her scrapbooks, watches Love It or List It and enjoys long afternoon naps.

The Sock Burning

A unique winter ritual brings family together — and declutters the laundry

words and photo by LAURA PETRIDES WALL

Many moons ago, I was on a work trip, staying at the W Hotel in Chicago. I went down to the lobby for breakfast and noticed an impeccably dressed man sitting across from me: handsome with dark wavy hair, elegantly sipping a cappuccino in a tailored navy suit. And when he crossed his legs, he exposed pinstriped socks with a large red heart on his ankle. So cool, I thought.

It was then that I decided that my own husband, Steven, should retire his boring, basic business socks and introduce funky socks into his work wardrobe. He was completely game. At the time, finding crazy socks in the men’s department proved to be a challenge. So Steven embraced wearing funky women’s socks. He’s confident like that.

Steven went all in: socks with bananas, Weimaraners, cheeseburgers, old trucks,

fish and chili peppers. Word spread and soon family and friends started adding to his sock collection (it is hard to find presents for a grown man). Needless to say, Steven now has a lot of socks.

Then our kids came along. Their feet grew from 0-3 months to adult size in the blink of an eye. Socks came and went. We are currently at a stage where we can all wear almost the same size socks — and there seem to be millions of them. In addition to the above-mentioned fashion statement socks, we have “no-see-ums,” “shortys” (for fashion sneakers), ankle socks, compression socks for travel, and short and long moisture-wicking socks for sports. We have wool socks for camping; long, cushy socks for boots; and extra-long, fold-over socks for Wellies. We save prestained socks for yard work and have an entire box of Christmas socks we break out for the holidays.

Socks, I’ve decided, are like rabbits:

They multiply quickly. And while they are initially cute and fun, they soon become sort of tiresome and overwhelming. Socks have become a real chore for me. Like matching the bottom and top of Tupperware, it’s impossible to find sock mates. When I’m doing laundry, I’m always so happy to find a pair! I quickly roll them together into a tight ball and place them next to my perfect stack of folded clothes. (After working retail for years in high school, I can wash and fold anything so that it looks like it is brand new. I’m proud of that.) The socks that don’t have a pair go into a bin in the laundry room. Perhaps it’s a false hope that one day the missing sock will appear in my dryer and find its way home.

About five years ago, we were visiting my brother and his wife in Annapolis, Maryland. My sister-in-law Katie mentioned a local tradition that got my attention: the Sock Burning. At the

spring equinox, everyone in town gathers for the beginning of boat season in the harbor town. At the celebration, they roast oysters and burn nasty old winter socks.

That’s it! I thought. That will solve my problem.

I immediately shared my epiphany with my husband and teenagers. And despite the lackluster response, it has become a custom in my family.

Now, twice a year — at the winter solstice and summer solstice — we have our own ritual Sock Burning. First, we locate every sock in the house. We empty all the sock drawers and all of the laundry baskets. My kids have to check under their beds (insert eyerolls here) and I add in the bin of single socks I’ve collected. We dump them all into a huge

pile in the living room.

It’s immediately apparent that we have too many socks. And honestly, I do not know where they come from. Sure, I bought some no-see-ums for a recent trip for myself, because those kinds of socks literally evaporate. And my son got some new athletic socks, because his were worn out. But the rest? I have no idea. Between the four of us, we only have eight feet.

We look at each pair. Everyone has to choose their favorites and to keep only what they need. They groan. They complain that this is not a Christmas tradition.

But then we sort gently used socks into a pile to go to the homeless shelter, where we know they are appreciated and greatly needed. Socks with holes go into a different bag for recycling (to be made

into more socks — the cycle continues!). The socks we really love and wear go back into the drawers.

We don’t actually burn any socks, but this is almost as cathartic.

Sometimes, we fight over our best socks (FYI: balls of socks are fun to throw at one another!). We usually agree on the ones that need to go — maybe they slip down, or the elastic is shot or they don’t fit right. But often, we don’t end up talking much about socks at all: despite the eye rolls and the complaining, it’s an hour we spend together, just our family, in the midst of the busy holiday season. Our many socks are a reminder of the plenty in our lives, that we have more than enough to share.

And in the end we all feel more organized; our drawers and minds are both a little less cluttered.

As I was doing laundry this weekend, I noticed my single sock bin getting full. Come winter solstice on December 21, we’ll be ready.

At the celebration, they roast oysters and burn nasty old winter socks.

Small Prayer

by BETTY ADCOCK

We see this ground as if through a spaceship’s faceted metal eye. Having seen the blue round as small as a child’s ball, having solved just enough of mystery to be lost in what we think we know. We’ve thought to play with it, to make the planet smaller yet.

Now we do with it what we will, forgetting how its vastness left us speechless, worshipping. We lose forest and furrow where we began. And the kindred animals have begun to leave. The water’s gone that married time and loved the stone into a canyon’s grace. We’ve forgotten how to stay — how to say: this place.

Let the earth grow large enough again that only clouds and stories can encircle it entire. Let rockets land for good, satellites fall dumb, and wires unspan enough that distances grow wide to dwarf our wars. May mystery loom large enough again to answer prayers and keep us.

illustration by CONSTANCE PAPPALARDO

Culinary pioneer Nathalie Dupree shares her favorite Christmas memories and recipes

Southern SPIRIT

by ADDIE LADNER

photography by EAMON QUEENEY

Legendary Southern chef Nathalie Dupree has traveled the globe, published 14 cookbooks and received multiple James Beard and lifetime achievement awards. She’s run restaurants and a cooking school and hosted hundreds of nationally aired cooking shows. To many, she’s known as the Julia Child of the South, credited for putting the region’s cuisine on the national food map and being one of the first to pay homage to other cultures’ influence on its foodways.

Dupree grew up in New Jersey, Virginia and around the South. As an adult, she moved to London with her second husband — or as she likes to say, “favorite former husband” — David Dupree. Wanting something to do, she enrolled in a class at the famed Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. That single lesson turned into enrolling full-time and graduating with honors. Her expertise allowed her to run a restaurant in Spain. Then they moved back to Social Circle, Georgia, David’s hometown, where she opened the restaurant Nathalie’s, then her own cooking school. From there, her career took off: She published best-selling cookbooks including New Southern Cooking and Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking, which was co-written with Cynthia Grauhart. This book — a hefty six-plus pounds with more than 600 recipes inside — garnered a James Beard award. Her first cooking show, New Southern Cooking, aired for eight seasons, and she’s hosted more than 100 cooking shows on public television.

Dupree turns 83 this month and will spend Christmas with her husband, retired journalist and professor Jack Bass, to whom she’s been married for nearly 30 years. The two moved from Charleston, South Carolina, to Raleigh in 2020, just before the pandemic, to be closer to children and grandchildren.

In their cozy home, Dupree’s James Beard awards hang on a folk art statue she found in the North Georgia

mountains years ago. It’s a woman carved from a single block of wood. “I loved her at first sight, so proud and determined,” she says. Their apartment is full of reminders of a life filled with culinary adventures: table linens from Provence, framed menus from Paris, a giant mortar and pestle from Mexico. Art from all over the globe fills the walls, alongside accolades from her successful career.

Some of Dupree’s favorite culinary adventures have taken place over the holidays. One December, she found herself in a predicament in Marbella, Spain. While exploring the area with a few girlfriends, they were stopped by the Guardia Civil. The group had been taking turns driving and changed drivers after passing the border checkpoint, which caught the guards’ attention. “They came out of the early morning mist and surrounded the car, terrifying us,” says Dupree. “They half-heartedly accused us of smuggling drugs because we stopped the car so near the border. They left and we drove to the nearest town.” Disaster averted, the group followed locals into a bakery as the sun came up, where they enjoyed warm bread for breakfast. Then, Dupree collected local Seville oranges from a roadside stand to practice for a marmalade-making exam she had coming up at Le Cordon Bleu.

In the 1960s, when Dupree was living in London, she and David took a cruise to Morocco over Christmas. The trip happened while she was studying for her exams at Le Cordon Bleu, so she had her schoolwork with her. “I had this huge cookbook and the maître d’ from the cruise ship asked if he could borrow it,” laughs Dupree. “The chef had never seen a foreign cookbook.”

In the late 1980s while filming her first TV series, New Southern Cooking, she hosted culinary legends Edna Lewis, Paul Prudhomme and Craig Claiborne for the Christmas episode. “It was a terrific group of people. It was an important show,” Dupree says. “There weren’t many videos of Lewis or Clairborne at the time. We made stuffing, a turkey, greens and some other traditional holiday dishes.

Another favorite holiday memory of Dupree’s was in the 1990s. “It was a time

when there were many chateaus on the market,” she recalls. “I believe the French tax system had changed, so people were selling their big properties, and then others were buying these chateaus as a group.” Conveniently, some friends of hers had purchased a chateau in France’s Loire Valley, so they hosted a big group gathered for the holiday. Dupree ventured out to the nearest market to find the ingredients to make a big batch of bouillabaisse, the decadent French stew. “The markets in France are wonderful, there’s so much variety,” she remembers. “It was just this spontaneous meal and the herbs and fish at the market were so fresh.”

Some holiday memories aren’t as exciting and worldly. Growing up, she says, “we never instituted a big Christmas event. We just didn’t make a big deal of it.” This was in part because a dark story had haunted her family for years before she was born: Dupree’s grandfather was tragically killed in front of her mother just before Christmas, when her mother was a young girl. As a result, her mother struggled with long-term depression, particularly around the holidays. “It was just more of a religious holiday, not a flashy one,” she says. “We got a tree and decorated it. We went to church, just as we did on Thanksgiving.”

But as Dupree entered adulthood, she chose to set a different tone for her own holidays. “I always just liked having people over, no matter the circumstances,” she says. “Even as a small child, I’d invite people over for parties and tea and I still do. I was gregarious. I still like to entertain.” Over two decades living in Charleston, she hosted tons of dinner parties and

holiday meals. Her menus always include delicacies like her soft, decadent Chocolate Roulade dusted with powdered sugar, savory roasts or quail and her famous vegetable dishes. “I think holidays are the time for a lot of vegetables,” says Dupree. “You can feed the vegans and vegetarians, you can fill people up but not so much where they feel so full.”

With all the fabulous meals and culinary success, if you ask Dupree what she considers her career highlight, the answer is one you might not expect: it’s teaching someone to make a pie crust. “Making a pie crust is one thing. Teaching how is another,” she says. “Having people turn out pie crusts — to make them successfully and see those aha moments — is a real thrill.”

Ever warm, witty, honest and honest, Dupree is looking forward to a cozy and, dare we say, traditional Christmas this year. She’ll pull her French linens out and set the table for herself and Jack, and whoever else might mosey in. She’ll use her long-standing entertaining tricks, making things ahead of time and keeping it simple. “The holidays shouldn’t be too hard on the host; they should be enjoyable,” she says. And she’ll count her blessings for her life of moveable feasts, friends and family and career successes. “I never planned any of these things, my life just happened,” she says. “It’s all so lovely.”

Jack Bass and Nathalie Dupree

Standing Rib Roast

“I love doing a basic roast like this to have to make decadent sandwiches afterwards for leftovers.”

INGREDIENTS

1 (3 to 5 pound) rib roast, trimmed, with cap removed

Salt

Vegetable oil

1 garlic clove per pound, finely chopped 1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary leaves per pound

Freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS

Remove from the refrigerator up to 3 hours before cooking. Sprinkle salt on the surface area of the meat and let sit, lightly covered, until at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel. Rub the ends with the oil and rub the meat with the garlic, rosemary and pepper. Place the meat, bone side down, into a low sided roasting pan large enough to hold the meat with an inch of room all around. Cook for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350. Continue to roast, about 20 minutes per pound, checking temperature after half an hour, until meat registers 120 on a meat thermometer. For a more rare roast, do 20 degrees below desired temperature. Remove from oven, tent it with foil and let stand at least 30 minutes (it will continue to cook while resting) before carving and serving.

Turnip Gratin

Dupree says blanching the turnips tones down their harshness but keeps the earthy flavor. “This is a different gratin with a little more oomph. I always make this during the holidays as soon as turnips are in season. You can make it in advance and people like to have something unusual.”

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds white turnips, peeled and sliced inch thick

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, thyme and/or oregano

3 garlic cloves, crushed with salt

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 to 1/3 cup butter

1 1/2 to 2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the sliced turnips and return to a slow boil. Simmer 3 minutes for young, small turnips, or up to 10 minutes for larger ones; you want to remove excess sharpness but still leave a bit of pep in them. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Butter a long casserole dish that will accommodate three layers of sliced turnips and the cheese — preferably no more than 3 inches deep. Spread a layer of parboiled turnips to cover the dish (they may overlap slightly) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix the herbs with the garlic and sprinkle a third over the turnips. Combine with cheeses and sprinkle the turnips with a third of the mixture. Dot with a third of the butter. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake for 45 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the breadcrumbs are nicely browned. Serve hot. This freezes well for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, defrost then reheat in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Potatoes Anna

“I learned this at cooking school. It’s such an easy and elegant way to serve potatoes. You essentially just slice them, then layer them with butter and salt.”

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 to 1 1/3 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and sliced inch thick

Salt

Black pepper

5 to 8 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Thickly butter a 6-inch heavy, nonstick or well-seasoned frying pan or cake tin. Arrange the potatoes in overlapping circles to cover the base of the pan, making a pretty design. Add a second layer, continuing to overlap, and season with salt and pepper; dot with 4 to 5 pieces of butter. Continue to fill the pan with layers of potatoes (the first two and the last are the only ones that need to be pretty; the rest can be haphazard), seasoning and butter every other layer. Butter a piece of aluminum foil and cover the potatoes and the pan. Put an ovenproof plate or heavy saucepan on top of the foil to press down on the potatoes. Cook the potatoes on the stove over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes to brown the bottom, checking to be sure it is not burning. When medium brown — the color of light caramel — move the pan to the oven, leaving the ovenproof plate on if it fits. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft, depending on the number of potatoes. Using oven mitts, turn out upside down on a serving dish, To serve, cut with a knife or scissors. This may be made ahead to this point and set aside if necessary, but it will suffer a bit. Reheat for 10 minutes, then serve as above.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

“People got a bad impression of Brussels sprouts because their mothers cooked them until they were soggy. Now we know to halve them and crisp them up. They’re so tasty, and when cooked right they’re so delicious.”

INGREDIENTS

1 pound Brussels sprouts

2 to 4 tablespoons butter or oil

Salt and pepper

Cranberries, bacon and/or pecans for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the halved or quartered sprouts in the oil and spread in one layer on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Roast 15 to 20 minutes or until crisp but tender. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with cranberries, chopped bacon or pecans.

Chocolate Yule Log

“This is such an elegant dessert that’s not too fussy. And one you don’t have to worry about since it's supposed to be cracked and log-like!"

INGREDIENTS FOR LOG

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chips or chopped

1/4 cup water

5 large eggs, separated

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Confectioners’ sugar for garnish

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract or bourbon, optional

DIRECTIONS

Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line a 15 ½ x 10 ½-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper, slightly extending over the edges. If using waxed paper, oil the pan and the paper or spray with nonstick spray. Melt the chocolate with the water in a heavy pan over low heat or in the microwave. Beat the egg yolks vigorously with the sugar until light. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer or wire whisk until they form stiff peaks. Fold the melted chocolate into the yolk mixture. Add a dollop of the white mixture to the yolks to soften and then fold the heavier chocolate mixture into the lighter whites until incorporated. Spread out in the pan, smooth the top and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Remove and let cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, whip the cream with the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla or bourbon into stiff peaks, taking care not to overbeat. Sprinkle another sheet of waxed paper with confectioners’ sugar. Flip the pan over so the lightly browned surface is on the sugared paper, and remove the pan. Tear off the baked-on paper in strips. Trim off any dark or crisp edges. Spread the whipped cream over the entire chocolate soufflé. Lift up the squared paper and use the paper to roll the soufflé into a spiraled, filled roll. The dessert may be rolled vertically or horizontally. A horizontal roll will result in a thicker roll for six larger servings. A vertical roll will serve eight people with smaller servings. Roll as tightly as possible. Move the edge of the paper onto the platter and lift up for the final roll, centering the roll with hands if necessary. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Slice into 1-inch thick pieces and serve. This may be made ahead, filled and served up to 8 hours later.

Recipes adapted from Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking by Cynthia Graubert and Nathalie Dupree.

The coast welcomes the holidays with a festive flotilla

BRIGHT LIGHT

by AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE photography by DYLAN RAY

TThe first weekend of December, they descend — or rather, they glide: a host of vessels sporting their holiday best, traveling along the intracoastal waterway to the delight of landlubber spectators.

For about 30 years, this waterborne parade has been part of Carteret County’s Christmas tradition, first organized by the tourism board and a local yacht club and these days helmed by the Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort. (There are similar events in Wrightsville Beach, Wilmington, Swansboro and Pleasure Island.) Anywhere from 20 to 30 boats participate, led by the Coast Guard. They start at the Morehead City Waterfront, then travel through the State Port into Taylor’s Creek along the Beaufort Waterfront. There’s no fee to enter, and all the boats that participate are volunteers. The participants are a mix of individual owners, commercial boats, charter boats and tow boats.

Each vessel is used as an opportunity to showcase their owners’ enthusiasm and creativity. “There’s definitely a spirit of very friendly competition,” says Brent Creelman, director of operations for the Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum. “There’s some serious technical wizardry — people build all kinds of crazy structures — but on the other end of the spectrum, you’ll also see families in a skiff with a Christmas tree and Dad dressed as Santa Claus.” One year, someone created a superstructure to hold up a lit-up Grinch, complete with motion and sound. Another participant likes to hang upside-down Christmas trees. Lighthouses and dolphins are popular motifs, but the shape of the boats themselves, outlined in lights, are delight enough.

Raleigh residents Kevin and Shannon Bellamy, who have a place in Atlantic Beach, have participated in the flotilla for a decade. “We always take at least one other couple with us and turn it into a whole weekend-long event,” says Kevin. “We don’t decorate before this; this is our first holiday thing,” says Shannon. “It’s usually a three-day process to get it ready.”

DECKING THE DECKS

Their friend Derek Graham has helped out many times. “At home, my wife and I are more candles-in-the-window type people — this is my chance to unleash my inner Griswold,” Graham laughs.

Not that there’s much of a plan, says Shannon: “We just fly by the seat of our pants and make it up as we go along.” The couple uses 30 to 40 strands of string lights to decorate their boat. “We kind of get a pattern going, with some areas in all white and other areas with the multicolor lights,” says Kevin. One year, Graham found some giant inflatable string lights at a yard sale. “I thought, These are so cool, but they were too big to use on a house,” he says. “So I bring them out every year.” This group has

figured out a few things over the years, like that it’s easiest to attach all the lights with zip ties, and to make sure all the cords end in the right place to plug everything in (they learned that the hard way).

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but it’s low-stress. “We had a big rain a couple of years ago, but just continued as usual,” says Shannon. The tow boats also come in handy. “Occasionally we have a breakdown and a boat has to be towed,” says Creelman, noting that it even happened to him once. “But we always seem to make it work.”

The flotilla is part of a bigger day of festivities: Beaufort has their holiday parade that day and Morehead City does a

chowder crawl. So by the time the flotilla kicks off, the bars and restaurants along the waterfront are packed, with thousands of folks there for the event. “People cheer and hoot and holler and yell Merry Christmas,” says Creelman. “It’s always a great reception — the crowd is amazing,” says Graham. “You wave and they wave back, everyone is so gracious and they applaud everybody’s effort.”

After the flotilla’s over, the boats dock up to toast the holidays. The next day, the lights come off. “The undecorating is much faster — we just snip them off and roll them up,” says Shannon. The lights are packed up to travel home to Raleigh, ready for their second, onshore stage.

Derek Graham helps his friends Kevin and Shannon Bellamy decorate their boat.

“At home, my wife and I are more candles-in-the-window type people — this is my chance to unleash my inner Griswold.”

— Derek Graham

A few scenes from the 2021 flotilla.

ANCESTRAL HOME

Cheryl Crooms Williams in front of the Turner House, a historic home on Oberlin Road that has been in her family for more than a century. Opposite: Furniture inside the home.

&HOME HERITAGE

The Turner House on Oberlin Road holds an untold piece of Raleigh’s history

by COURTNEY NAPIER photography by CATHERINE NGUYEN

In 2001, Cheryl Crooms Williams’ daughter, Brooke, then in the fourth grade, came home from school in Los Angeles County with a project. “She was tasked with creating her family tree,” Cheryl says. Having inherited a passion for American history from her own mother — a high-school educator — Cheryl was excited about the prospect of learning more about her heritage. So Cheryl and Brooke spent countless hours on the phone with family members living in North Carolina and New Jersey, listening to their stories. The oral histories they collected for Brooke’s project stretched back generations, but there were gaps. And those gaps became the inspiration for Cheryl to start a vast genealogical exploration of her own, one that would fill the next two decades — and is still ongoing.

For many Black families in the United States, researching one’s family tree produces more questions than answers. Records become sparse once you cross into the 19th century and earlier, when Black people were seen by much of the South as either property or refugees. According to the “Records of Enslaved People” page of the State Library of North Carolina website, “Slaves were enumerated on all federal census records from 1790 to 1860, but not by name.” That means family historians and genealogists must acquire the 1870 census, the first to

list all persons by name, then cross-reference it with “the 1860 and 1850 slave schedules that list, under the name of the owner, each slave only by sex, specific age and color.” It’s an inexact process that makes finding ancestors exceedingly difficult.

While all slaveholders had to list their human property by name in the census starting in 1870, families with large amounts of enslaved Africans and African Americans started the practice much earlier. The Cameron family, the largest plantation owners in North Carolina, used each enslaved person’s full name (as given by the slaveholders) in their records. Cheryl knew her family had lived in the Raleigh area for many generations, so she started going through these records and connecting the dots. This provided her family with something most Black families will never see: the birth papers and the bills of sale of their ancestors. For Cheryl, it was a gut punch.

“I had always assumed that this was my heritage, but holding this piece of paper was an emotional experience,” she says. She’d found this connection to her ancestors, but it was stark evidence of the reality that they’d faced as enslaved African Americans.

Cheryl learned that Sin’ Tha (sometimes referred to as Cynthia in official documents) was her great-great-grandmother, an enslaved laborer at Peaksville,

part of the Stagville plantation. This plantation was one of a conglomerate of forced labor farms and family mansions owned by the Bennehan and Cameron families that spanned what is now Durham, Orange and Wake Counties. The family was described by their contemporaries as having the largest land holdings east of the Mississippi River — a vast holding that by the 1860s included 30,000 acres of land, worked by nearly 1,000 enslaved Africans and African Americans, according to North Carolina Historic Sites.

Sin’ Tha’s life changed in 1865. The Civil War ended and those slaveholders resisting the Emancipation Proclamation of two years earlier were forced to free their enslaved Americans by Union soldiers. Sin’ Tha and her husband, Walker Turner, made their way from Orange County to a new settlement of free and recently freed Black families on the rural, western outskirts of Raleigh. In the area that would eventually be known as Oberlin Village, they hoped to find opportunities to prosper and experience a sense of freedom. They also moved there to be near family, including their grown son, John Thompson Turner, and his wife, Mary.

Dr. M. Ruth Little, an art and architecture historian, has contributed greatly to the research and modern documentation of Historic Oberlin Village. Along with assisting in the applications for joining

I am Cheryl, daughter of Geraldine, granddaughter of Tulia. Great granddaughter of Mary Jane, who was born into slavery, and great granddaughter of Sin’ Tha, who had 14 children. Great, great granddaughter of Patsy, Sin’ Tha’s mother.

SLAVE RECORDS

Detailed records in the North Carolina State Archives show Cheryl Crooms Williams’ enslaved ancestors, including their ages, jobs and enslaver’s price.

VICTORIAN CHARM

The front portion of the Turner House is a two-story addition from around 1900. The back portion of the house is the original, one-story structure.

The Turner Family Tree

Twenty years ago, a school project launched a deep dive into Cheryl Crooms Williams’ family history that’s taken nearly two decades. Here is what Williams has learned.

Tulia & John J. Turner

Slave Documents

Turner House sign

Geraldine & John H. Turner

JOHN VIRGIL 1924 - 2007

JOHN HALL TURNER 1927 - 1989

GERALDINE MARIE TURNER 1928 - 2015

CHERYL CROOMS WILLIAMS 1955 - living

ALLEN CROOMS 1928 - 2017

IRA/EZRA TURNER 1899 - unknown

LULA TURNER 1889 - unknown

ANNIE TURNER 1891 - unknown

MARGARET TURNER 1894 - unknown

JOHN JEROME TURNER 1898 - 1971

TULIA MARIE HALL 1902 - 2000

JOHN THOMPSON TURNER 1861 - 1922

MARY JANE DICKERSON 1863 - 1955

Fairntosh, part of the Stagville plantation, Durham Durham

WALKER TURNER 1831 - 1907

SIN’ THA WILSON 1835 - unknown

DANDRIDGE WILSON 1814 - unknown

PATSY WILSON 1815 - 1880

the list of National Registry of Historic Places, Dr. Little also wrote one of the most comprehensive research papers on the legacy of Oberlin, entitled “Rooted In Freedom: Raleigh, North Carolina’s Freedmen’s Village of Oberlin, an Antebellum Free Black Enclave,” published in The North Carolina Historical Review. She describes the significance of the community this way:

[Oberlin] is no ordinary freedmen town but an antebellum free Black enclave that grew into an African American municipality, built away from White supervision…. Oberlin Village provided a legacy of freedom and land ownership, creating an enduring Black settlement with an elevated degree of home ownership, artisanal pride, and an irreproachable reputation.

John embodied a quality Cheryl refers to as “an entrepreneurial spirit that flows through my family line.” On Feb. 5, 1889, John, a grocery proprietor, purchased a one-story, three-room house on Oberlin Road for $500. By 1891, he owned $2,650 worth of real estate and $100 of personal property. According to Dr. Little’s research, the Turner family was among the wealthiest families in Historic Oberlin Village, including “Reverend M. L. Latta [founder of Latta University] and Willis M. Graves [a brick mason and justice of the peace].” John later opened the Raleigh Shoe Co. on Hargett Street. One of his partners was businessman and banker Berry O’Kelly of the Method neighborhood, a nearby freedmen’s settlement.

Ten years after first purchasing the home, as their wealth and status grew, John transformed his home by adding a two-story, Victorian-inspired I-House addition to the front. It created a grand sight for passersby on Oberlin Road: the facade features a polygonal bay, Tuscan porch columns and a two-story, pedimented portico. Through the Turner House’s ornate double doors, a central staircase and short hallway are flanked by two parlors. The home boasts fireplaces in every room, with the most elaborate mantels surrounding the shared fireplace between the north parlor and the dining room. The original, one-story section of the home in the rear opened up to a flat,

shaded yard with brick-lined flower beds and magnificent oak trees.

John and Mary had five children: Lula, Annie, Margaret, John Jerome and Ira (also known as Ezra). As the eldest son, John Jerome inherited the Turner House after his parents passed away, and lived there with his wife, Tulia, and their three children, John Virgil, John Hall and Geraldine. John Jerome also took over the shoe store his father started, but the business did not make it through the Depression Era. Miraculously, the family retained ownership of the home on the small earnings of Tulia’s work as a seamstress.

After John Jerome passed away in 1971, John Virgil moved into the Turner House to care for the home and his aging mother. John Virgil had graduated from Raleigh’s segregated Washington High School in 1941, then enrolled in the North Carolina College for Negros, which is now North Carolina Central University. He became a prominent alumni and educator at NCCU, serving as associate dean of the business school, then becoming the concierge for the chancellor. In 1984, he was awarded North Carolina’s highest honor — the Order of the Long Leaf Pine — for his 35 years of service at NCCU. John Virgil worked at his alma mater another 15 years, getting the privilege of hosting dignitaries such as Guinean President Ahmend Sekou Touré, United States President Gerald R. Ford and South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. (Today, there are multiple statues and references to eagles, the NCCU mascot, around the Turner House and its yard.)

Meanwhile, his sister Geraldine met her future husband, Allen Forest Crooms, as a student at Shaw University, from which they both graduated in 1950. After giving birth to their first child, Cheryl, at St.

Agnes Hospital in 1957, they moved several places with the U.S. Air Force, then to Allen’s native New Jersey, where he continued his career as a dentist and Geraldine became a high-school teacher. Their brother John Hall attended North Carolina Central University, where he played baseball before starting a career in the military.

In 2001, Tulia Hall passed away and, like his father before him, John Virgil became the owner of the home on Oberlin Road. He soon began the process of preserving his family’s home by submitting an application for its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The John T. and Mary Turner House was listed in 2002, along with Oberlin’s Reverend M. L. Latta House, the Willis M. Graves House and the Reverend Plummer T. Hall House.

John Virgil passed away in 2007 after leaving a legacy as an educator and community leader, and starting the grand task of preserving the history of his family. Neither John Virgil nor John Hall had any children, so their sister Geraldine inherited the Turner House. In 2008, she and Allen, then in their late 70s, decided to move back to Raleigh and become the next stewards of her childhood home.

Geraldine and Allen soon called on their eldest daughter to assist them in caring for the home and each other. “I can’t tell you how surprised that ended up being me, because I was the defiant child,” Cheryl says. She had married and moved to California decades earlier, after graduate school. Realizing it was the right next step for her, Cheryl retired from her career as a banking executive and moved to Raleigh in 2010. Her eldest, Bryce, had already made a life for himself in Los Angeles. Cheryl remarried in 2012, and her daughter Brooke made the move to Raleigh a few years later.

When Cheryl returned to the Oberlin Road house, she became the next genera-

courtesy Cheryl C. Williams (PORTRAITS AND SLAVE DOCUMENTS); Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State Universi ty Libraries (ITEM NUMBER BH0135P01; FAIRNTOSH)

“I had always assumed that this was my heritage, but holding this piece of paper was an emotional experience.”

— Cheryl Crooms Williams

tion in its 120 years of continuous family ownership. She found that it had aged beautifully on its exterior, but needed someone with the strength and interest to bring it back to its former glory. Inside, the home had become a treasure trove of family photographs, papers and fascinating antiques, particularly thanks to John Virgil’s interest in history and travel. Paintings depicting Asia and Africa hung on the wall, striking brass and marble-like figurines were displayed on the ornate mantles and antique mahogany and cherry wood furniture filled the rooms. The photographs and historic documents she found fed her research and created new threads to pursue.

Shortly after moving to Raleigh, Cheryl met Sabrina Goode at the church their families attended for generations, Wilson Temple United Methodist Church. The

women became fast friends, learning of their families’ connected history — Goode descended from one of its founding families, the Morgans. “During one of our many conversations,” Cheryl says. “I learned of our fathers’ friendship during their military service in the U.S. Air Force.” They were also both deeply concerned about protecting their families’ legacies and that of Historic Oberlin Village. The two women, along with a handful of other descendants and supporters, founded the Friends of Oberlin Village in 2012, and Cheryl became chair of its education and cemetery committees, and served on the Board of Directors.

After a decade of managing countless research projects, education programs and historical tours for the Friends of Oberlin, Cheryl used the skills she had gained to focus on the history of her own family.

She spent her days online using resources from several of Raleigh’s cultural, genealogical and historical entities. She received generous help from historians and genealogists at the State Archives of North Carolina, Historic Stagville in Durham, and North Carolina State University. She poured over results from AncestryDNA at night.

Through her research, Cheryl found the names of six generations of family members that she hadn’t learned in her first phone calls for Brooke’s research project. One of the earliest and most important discoveries, thanks to the research of Kathy Staley, was the birth record for Sin’ Tha, her great-great-grandmother, among the Cameron family’s slave ledger. The collected Cameron Family Papers are preserved at Historic Stagville and the University of Chapel Hill’s Wilson

HISTORIC DETAILS

Rising from the entry hall of the Turner House, an original staircase showcases the ornate woodwork popular in Victorian architecture, as does the tongue-and-groove paneling along the walls.

SERVICE & LEARNING

Classic books printed in the early 20th century highlight the family’s interest in literature. John Jerome Turner was a WWI veteran and charter member of the Charles T. Norward American Legion Auxiliary Post 157.

LIVING ROOM

In the early 1900s, the parlor in the front of the house would have been used for hosting guests and entertaining. Here, a curio cabinet holds a collection of glassware and decorative objects collected over time.

PERSONAL TOUCHES

The home contains family photos, antique furniture and mementos from past generations, including a sample of sewing repair work by Tulia Hall and costume jewelry.

Special Collections Library. Along with the birth records, Cheryl found a bill of sale that recorded 27 enslaved persons being sold to the Cameron family by the Umstead family, a record listing the shoes made by Walker and the laborers who received a pair, and documentation of Margaret Cameron’s inheritance upon her father’s death, totalling $15,000 (more than $500,000 in today’s economy).

As long as Cheryl can remember, there has been a unique treasure hanging on the wall behind their classical staircase. It is a late-18th century portrait of one of Cheryl’s great aunts, Lula, daughter of John Thomspon. Taken before starting her freshman year at Saint Augustine’s Normal School (now Saint Augustine’s University), the beautiful young woman has a gentle countenance and dark hair hanging down her back. Sadly, Lula fell ill shortly after beginning college and died.

Several months later, Cheryl was cleaning the top of a mahogany armoire in what had been John Virgil’s room when her hand grazed a stack of documents. She pulled them down and there, among the papers, was a photo that appears to be her aunt as a child. The gentle face and dark, wavy hair are nearly the same, and Cheryl hopes research will verify the connection.

After Cheryl’s parents passed away in 2015 and 2017, she started to imagine opening up the family home to the public. “Our family represents an important American story,” she says. “We represent an African American family living a middle-class life. Our story is an inspiration.”

Indeed, while students learn about slavery and the Civil Rights movement in schools, they rarely learn about local Black history. The Turner home is a window into another historic Black experience: newly freed families that built wealth, political power and compassionate community during the Reconstruction period that sustained some families for

the next century and beyond. These Black families survived slavery and the Civil War, but also the Jim Crow Era and segregation. They attended college, built businesses, bought real estate, traveled the world, collected art and lived fulfilling lives into old age. This is the story that Cheryl wants people to hear: her family’s story.

In August, Cheryl formed the Historic Turner House Foundation and Turner House Tours to provide home tours, develop educational materials, host events and fund the home’s preservation. She envisions bringing in visitors, from school children to international tourists, to understand that the Turner House was built by the hands of the formerly enslaved, and that these people went on to become prominent, successful North Carolinians. “This home is the physical representation of the untold stories in our state’s history,” Cheryl says. “We want to expand knowledge and offer triumphant perspectives of the American-African experience, before and during the 1800s and early 1900s.”

A PLACE IN HISTORY

Rocky Mount artist Marion Clark Weathers included the Turner House in her book, Raleigh North Carolina City of Oaks

This year, she hosted landscape design students from North Carolina A&T University as they worked on proposals for Historic Oberlin Cemetery, Historic Morgan and the Historic Turner House. She previously welcomed a class from William Peace University, in partnership with NC State University, to do an archeological dig on land surrounding the home. “Those kids learned what to do in archaeological digs,” she explains. “You don’t have to go to Egypt. You can learn and uncover great artifacts right here.” And indeed they did. Among their findings were artifacts from the original Oberlin School, started by the villagers shortly after the community was founded.

In a time where many communities struggle with how to teach the past, Cheryl believes everyday citizens will make the difference. “Those of us with important family stories cannot sit idly by,” says Cheryl. “We must open our doors and provide an engaging and supportive way to learn our history. All of it.”

“This home can be the physical representation of the untold stories in our state’s history.”

— Cheryl Crooms Williams

THE WHIRL THE WHIRL

Workshop

TASTE OF THE WILD

On Oct. 12, WALTER hosted its annual Taste of the Wild event athe Merrimon Wynne House. This event celebrates the joy of eating food grown and raised in North Carolina. This year, WALTER brought in chef Dean Neff from Seabird restaurant in Wilmington to create a collaborative menu with pit master Wyatt Dickson of PICNIC in Durham. They each served their meals up whole. Neff smoked a whole tuna in applewood and topped it with a harissa and root vegetable slaw. Dickson prepared a whole hog, served up with green onion slaw and baked beans. Locals Seafood and Firsthand Foods sourced the featured ingredients. Sean Wilson, owner of Fullsteam Brewery,

spoke about crafting local beer, and Jennifer Curtis, CEO of Firsthand Foods, talked about sustainable agriculture.

In between the eating and drinking, guests had the chance to practice their fly-fishing casts with presenting sponsor Great Outdoor Provision Co. and to relax in the lounge created by supporting sponsor Green Front Furniture. They learned about local land conservation efforts with the Triangle Land Conservancy and enjoyed tunes from the band Old Habits.

Thank you to additional event partners Attended Events and Alphagraphics for making the evening a success.

The Old Habits

Guests at the Merrimon-Wynne House

Chuck Millsaps

Sean Wilson

Wyatt Dickson Dean Neff

At Home with FRANCES MAYES

What makes a place feel like home? Renowned author Frances Mayes explored this question in the Nov. 9 WALTER Book Club event, hosted at Whitaker & Atlantic. The author discussed her recent essay collection, A Place in the World: Finding the Meaning of Home, sharing stories from her travels through Italy, Central America, Africa and the United States — and the common threads that anchored her to each place.

Mayes was joined for a Q&A with her longtime friend, VIETRI CEO Susan Gravely. The two kept up a lively discussion and fielded questions from an

engaged audience about Mayes’ past work, writing routine and more. Afterwards, Mayes signed books for her avid fans.

Thank you to presenting sponsor Fink’s Jewelers, which offered a fun giveaway to guests, as well as supporting sponsors Main & Taylor Shoe Salon, VIETRI and Green Front Furniture for creating a jovial, beautiful literary evening.

Thank you to event partners The Country Bookshop, Alphagraphics and Attended Events for making guests feel at home with Italian-inspired food, wine and a dreamy ambiance.

An Italian-inspired spread

Flowing libations

Green Front’s “La Piazza” lounge

Matt Ramey

Frances Mayes, Susan Gravely

Frances Mayes Table settings by VIETRI

THE WHIRL

STARS & GUITARS

On Oct. 27, the North Carolina Museum of History celebrated its new exhibition, The Power of Women in Country Music, with a Stars & Guitars preview party at the museum for donors and sponsors. Dozens of country musicians attended, dressed in their country finest, and performances included an appearance by a local Dolly Parton impersonator.

RECEPTION WITH DEAN PAUL REIS

On Oct. 6, Joyce Fitzpatrick, Natalie Best and David Woronoff hosted a reception to celebrate Dr. Paul Reis, the new dean of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Many local media figures attended to welcome him.

Laura Wall

Rissi Palmer, Grace Palmer

Laura Pendleton, Gary Pendleton

Shannon Montgomery, Vaughan Adams, Anne Adams

Dana Phelps, Starr Sink

Stuart Phoenix, Rick Roeder, Christie Roeder

Jim Jenkins, Thad Ogburn, Colin Campbell Julie Nickens, Danita Morgan, Katherine Snow Smith

David Woronoff, Joyce Fitzpatrick, Paul Reis, Natalie Best

Haley McGraw, Peyton Burgess, Emily Brice Billy Warden, David Woronoff

Ayn-Monique Klahre

A NIGHT FORE CHAMPIONS

On Oct. 19, First Tee of the Triangle recognized outstanding members of the community and their contributions to the area by inducting them into the Champions Circle. This year, First Tee inducted Robert “Bob” Hatley to the Champions Circle and had Roy Williams as the keynote speaker. CHARLES

On Oct. 6, Charles & Colvard celebrated its Grand Opening for its flagship store in the Raleigh-Durham area. The RTP-based jeweler is known for its premium quality lab created diamonds.

Bob Hatley, Brandon Baker

Guests at the eventBecci Monge, Karolyn Martin

Houston Loper, Cushing Donelan

Roy Williams

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THE WHIRL

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY BASH

On Oct. 20, CreativeMornings RDU hosted a party to celebrate its 10 year anniversary at The Factory in downtown Raleigh. The event featured live art battles from the team at Munjo Munjo, beverages from Ponysaurus Brewing and Trophy Brewing, and snacks from Benchwarmers and Pineapple Sol.

Matthew Ramsaur

Guests participate in a live art battle

Swetha KumarAustin Collins

Owner, Maribeth Geraci

Alysse CampbellJaime Radar

ARTSPLOSURE ANNUAL PARTY

On Sept. 21, Artsplosure held its annual party for friends and sponsors at Caffé Luna. During the event, they offered thanks to outgoing executive director Michael Lowder and welcomed the new executive director, Jaci Field, as well as other new board members.

Spend

Mary-Ann Baldwin, Michael Lowder

Jaci Field, Jennifer Nusbaum

Cameron Laws, Hannah Liebel, Michael Lowder, Glynda Westerbeek, Lucy McInnis

Ella’s

TRY OUR HOLIDAY TRIO!

THE WHIRL

NC ARTISTS EXHIBITION

Raleigh Fine Arts Society celebrated its 42nd North Carolina Artists Exhibition on Oct. 19 at The Woman’s Club of Raleigh. This year’s juror was Dorothy Moss, curator of painting and sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery and coordinating curator of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

Cindy McEnery

Janet Chesson, Joyce Watkins King, Lindsay Newsom

Jermaine Powell

Caroline Russell, Dorothy Moss, Anne Allen, Melanie Rankin

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CATCHING UP WITH DELTA RAE

The North Carolina-born musical group on their latest creative endeavors and working from afar.

Postcards from Bynum, including Clyde Jones’ Haw River Critter Crossing.

Aura Marzouk Photography (wedding, lounge) Chris Nieto Photography (food)

The December Desk

’Tis the season to be harried.

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