Fall 2009
Welcome to North Carolina’s Inner Banks!
Come home to North Carolina’s Inner Banks IBXHOMES.com brings you comprehensive, up-to-date real estate offerings from across North Carolina’s Inner Banks region, including resort and retirement homes, town homes and condominiums, commercial properties, raw land and office and manufacturing facilities. North Carolina’s Inner Banks region offers more than 3,000 miles of largely undeveloped coastline; two deep water ports; numerous rivers, estuaries, lakes, the Albemarle Sound and the Pamlico Sound; the Intracoastal Waterway; rail; the state ferry system; the 29-county regional hospital network of University Health Systems; and, 36 institutions of higher learning.
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Volume 1, Issue 3
Fall 2009
Welcome to North Carolina’s Inner Banks!
CONTENTS Fountain’s Spirit
North Carolina’s Inner Banks towns and counties offer these unparalleled assets: —————
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Edgecombe CC Historic Preservation 6
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Chefs move from NYC to the IBX 10 • IBX Fiction 14 • IBX Arts Spurred by • IBXarts.org 18 •
Soul Food Celebra- • • tion in Columbia 20 • Magnolia Arts Cen- • ter Inspires 22 • IBX News
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IBX Tourism Info 30
20,000+ square miles of lush landscape—three times the size of New Jersey 3,000 miles of largely undeveloped inland coastline (the Inner Banks) Inexpensive real estate, relative to many markets Temperate climate Pristine rivers Albemarle and Pamlico sounds Intracoastal Waterway: ICW Two deep water ports State Ferry System 29-county hospital network of University Health Systems 36 universities, colleges and community colleges
IBX Lifestyles: Your Inner Banks Resource We’re grateful to the following Inner Banks businesses whose advertising helped make this issue of “IBX Lifestyles” possible: Inner Banks Media, Swan Quarterly magazine, Scuppernong Gazette magazine, Magnolia Arts Center, Bertie County Peanuts,
IBXarts.org, IBXhomes.com and IBXlifestyles.com. In this issue we’re also welcoming two new advertising partners: InnerBanks Wealth Management and Brantley’s Studio.
IBXlifestyles.com and the “IBX Lifestyles” magazine are marketed directly to media, business, real estate and tourism professionals in the northeastern U.S., Canada, England, Ireland and western Europe.
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Saving IBX Towns, One Idea at a Time
by Alex Albright
Most nights, there’s rarely a car parked on Fountain’s main street. Most Friday and Saturday nights, though, parking is scarce and the crowds are big at Fountain General Store, where they’ll be enjoying live music, homemade ice cream and fresh-squeezed orangeades. It’s a place where generations of local families sit side-byside, sometimes watching three generations of another family perform together. The venue—a 1916 brick two-story building that originally housed R.A. Fountain & Sons—was well-preserved, with only minor renovations necessary for its re-opening. Its hardwood floors and high ceiling with wooden crossbeams make it a near-perfect venue for acoustic music, as dozens of the performers who’ve played here will attest. But weekend musical performances were not in the plans when my wife, Elizabeth, and I opened, in October 2004, an internet café and retail shop specializing in local arts and what we dubbed “curious debris.” Instead, those performances accidentally became our saving grace, the thing that allowed us to stay afloat. People came out for music at our grand opening, though, and within a few short months we had added live music to the mix of ways we uses to coax folks to come to Fountain, where we were the only retail business. And floundering. We shut the doors on daily operations after two long years; Saturday and Sunday hours and summer concerts were cut after another year. Through those long first three years, we failed in myriad ways: as a newsstand, cheese shop, consignment shop and local arts gallery, to name but a few of our attempts. But we found that one thing that makes folks get in their cars and drive a half-hour or more is our smoke- and alcohol-free family atmosphere, where anyone can bring their children, grandchildren and grandparents. The historic ambience complements the outstanding acoustic music. And we’ve found that it’s fun. Along the way, we’ve managed to secure a bit of a niche in retail sales by focusing on regional and music-related books and CDs by Inner Banks musicians, many of whom we’ve featured in our concerts. Still, most of the retail income is internet derived, from an Ebay store, our own e-store and book sales on Amazon.com. As a result of our slow crawl back toward being in the black, we’ve reopened again for retail on Saturdays. We’ve expanded our regional books list and added Melissa and Doug hand-made toys and more piratethemed items to our offerings. But Fountain hardly thrives. Today, a game room, a flea market and a consignment shop are open, but struggling. Like us, they find it tough to make much headway from local traffic alone. For the really small towns across the Inner Banks—Fountain’s population is about 550—it’s our relative isolation that makes any attempt at filling our empty storefronts with profitable retail businesses such a tough proposition.
Presenting live music remains our primary focus, and it’s a model that wouldn’t be hard to follow in many of the downtowns throughout our region. Much of the potential for success, however, will depend on securing an appropriate venue to convert into a music hall—one that doesn’t present too many obstacles to re-opening under current fire and building codes. Unfortunately, only buildings that have been designated historic are eligible for re-opening without having to be up to current building codes; their restrictions can be onerous and so costly, especially in an old building, as to scare developers away. And only those buildings designated as “historic” are eligible for the tax credits that might make rehabilitation possible. As a result, it’s more likely that our small towns will continue to see more buildings torn down than preserved. In the last 15 years, Fountain has lost three landmark buildings. While it’s not easy, efforts to renew our downtowns can push “clean” development, and a successful effort can restore a community’s identity. Every one of our small Inner Banks towns offers unique potential that can’t be replicated anywhere else. Only Fountain had R.A. Fountain & Sons, which, in another time competed with six other general merchandise businesses for the locals’ attention. Saturdays, folks say, the sidewalks were shoulder-to-shoulder with shoppers who came from all up and down the East Carolina Railroad. Fountain’s heyday, though, came at the expense of Falkland’s. We were a railroad town, Falkland a river one. Then the roads came, shifting development away from the railroad towns, and then the bypasses, leaving towns like Fountain to struggle to remain vital. Light rail, connecting the small towns along the railbed of the old East Carolina Railway—Tarboro, Conetoe, Pinetops, Macclesfield, Farmville, Hookerton—would be one way to get people back into our towns while helping the towns’ citizens get from the towns to shopping and medical facilities that are absent or in short supply locally. But, to re-connect our small towns with light rail is as far away from current political thought and dialogue as is the urgency to do something about our disappearing downtowns.
http://www.rafountain.com/
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Edgecombe Community College’s Historic Preservation Program: An Interview with Monika Fleming by Ralph Scott Editor’s Note: Recently Author Ralph Scott (whose new book “The Wilmington Shipyard: Welding a Fleet for Victory in World War II” was featured in the Summer ‘09 issue of “IBX Lifestyles”) interviewed Monika Fleming, Chair, English/Humanities Department and Director of the new and innovative Historic Preservation Trades Program at Edgecombe Community College. Ralph and his wife Nancy were among those who graduated recently from the program’s first class.
Mr. Scott: What exactly is the new Historic Preservation Trades Program at ECC? Monika Fleming: This is a three part program offered by the college: •
a certificate through continuing education with classes offered on weekends;
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a diploma offered through the curriculum for completing one year, or 36 credit hours of courses—many offered at night;
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an AAS degree through the curriculum for completing two years, or 76 credit hours of courses with lots of hands on training in the trades, especially carpentry, masonry and roofing.
Mr. Scott: How was it first started? Ms. Fleming: A local business owner, Billy Wooten, who owns a historic home and was a board member of Preservation North Carolina, proposed to Dr. Lamm, the college president, a program in preserving old homes. Then he, Dr. Lamm, and others formed an advisory board that met on a regular basis to plan the first trades school, followed by the certificate program. That group made suggestions for courses and instructors, and they offered guidance in creating the curriculum program. They continue to review our work and make suggestions to improve the program. Mr. Scott: Tell me about the Historic Preservation Trades School. Ms. Fleming: The Trades school is a one-day event, held at the end of September, that serves as an introduction to the program. The college brings in eight to ten special craftsmen to demonstrate their trades and answer questions from attendees. This year we had a blacksmith, a cemetery preservation specialist, a window restorer and specialists in masonry repair, slate and tin roofing, paint finishes, plaster repair, stained glass repair and timber framing. Participants get to observe the craftsmen and ask questions. We examine the evaluations and develop and offer weekend or curriculum classes based on the interest. Mr. Scott: Talk about the Golden Leaf Foundation grant. Ms. Fleming: The college applied for a grant in 2008 to start the program by paying for instructors and supplies, support the weekend trades school, and help renovate the early 19th century house that would be relocated to our campus. The Golden Leaf Foundation gave ECC $55,000 to get the program going. The grant would not support the relocation of the house but would assist with its restoration once it arrives. Mr. Scott: How is the trade certification different from the one-year diploma? Ms. Fleming: Trade certificate is based on continuing education units (C.E.U.s) that are offered on weekends or evenings. Students can select from a variety of courses so they can tailor the certificate to their individual interests, so long as they complete 18 C.E.U.s, which is equivalent to 180 hours in the classroom. These are both lecture courses and hands-on participation courses. The diploma is a specific set of courses offered during an academic year during the day. The total commitment required is 36 credit hours, which is usually equal to 12 three-credit-hour courses that meet for an entire semester. This program is preset and does not allow the flexibility of the certificate, although there is an elective choice. Students in the diploma program would be in class full time for two semesters, with 18 hours a week, and put in over 500 hours in classes.
Mr. Scott: You are also starting a two-year degree program. What does that entail? Ms. Fleming: The Applied Associate Science degree builds on the diploma but continues for a second year with more advanced courses, along with courses covering federal and state regulations on building codes, preservation law and even aspects of business for students who want to create their own firm in historic preservation. The completed program requires 76 credit hours. Mr. Scott: What do students like most about the program? Ms. Fleming: Many students like the hands-on training by the professionals who demonstrate a skill then encourage the students to master the techniques so they can work in the trade or, at the very least, make repairs on their own homes. Others enjoy getting the background and understanding so they can speak knowledgably with professionals they may hire to do work on historic structures. Mr. Scott: What has been the reaction of preservationists throughout the state to the ECC offering? Ms. Fleming: Everyone has been excited about the program. Members of the State Historic Preservation Office in Greenville consulted with the college to develop the courses and the overall program. Members of Preservation North Carolina are also advising us and recommending instructors. Contractors who work on restoring property have sent employees to us to increase their skill level; others have expressed an interest in hiring students who complete the program. Our students and attendees have come from all over North Carolina, and even some from Virginia and South Carolina, because there is such an interest in the topics and training.
Continued...
Edgecombe Community College’s Historic Preservation Program: An Interview with Monika Fleming (continued) Mr. Scott: Describe the historic house that you are planning to use for the program. Ms. Fleming: The Norfleet House was built around 1810-1811 by Isaac Norfleet and his wife Christiana as they built their family farm west of Tarboro. The house began as a side hall and parlor plan. Eventually the house was expanded with a small upstairs and a second room on the main floor. Within a decade or so, another structure, only one story, was added to the first by a breezeway or connecting porch. Over the past two hundred years, the front porch as been remodeled at least three times and the house has later additions and modern improvements such as a bathroom. The house was moved in 1998 when an industrial park was being created out of part of the original farm. It will be moved to the campus, within a quarter mile of its original site, and set up as a working lab – a structure where students can get real experience working on restoring an actual historic house. When restored, the house will be used as a Heritage Center with a research library.
Mr. Scott: Why Edgecombe? Why now? Ms. Fleming: Why Edgecombe – Tarboro has a 45-block historic district and there are dozens of historic homes in the town and county on the National Register of Historic Buildings, including Coolmore, a National Landmark Property. Several instructors and visitors have remarked that Tarboro is a living lab with a variety of architectural styles to study and view. Edgecombe is rich in historic buildings that need care and is representative of many counties across the Inner Banks that have hundreds of historic properties in need of restoration. Why now – the homes and other historic buildings need repairs, but there is a shortage of skilled artisans and trained craftsmen who understand the old techniques and technologies used to build these structures. The recent unemployment related to the downturn in the economy has shown that some creative people are changing to careers that cannot be outsourced or replaced by machines. There is a need for restorers who know the technology and can abide by state and national regulations. Currently there are only five community colleges in the U.S. that offer a hands-on building trades program, and ours is the only one in North Carolina that offers people a place to learn how to save our past.
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From New York City to the Inner Banks: Couple’s Love of Fine Wine and the Culinary Arts Finds a Home Having worked in kitchens since he was 13, Stephen Ribustello has amassed many different styles of cooking in a short period of time. What makes him stand out among many great chefs is his talent and knowledge of wine. Before opening On the Square Restaurant and Wine Bar in Tarboro, Stephen was the Sommelier at Windows on the World (at the World Trade Center in New York City), the largest-grossing, freestanding restaurant in North America. Overseeing a 1500-label wine list, Ribustello worked the large dining room recommending an astonishing array of wines, including the 1961 Chateau Latour and the 1919 Huet Vouvray. Stephen worked under Kevin Zraly, Andrea Immer Robinson and Mark Coleman until September 11th, 2001. Hewas not due into work that day until noon. After September 11th, Ribustello took a job as the Wine Director at P.J.’s Liquor Warehouse in Manhattan, the largest wine and liquor store in New York City. He worked there for six months until he and his fiancée Inez moved to France to work the harvest in Burgundy at Domaine Dujac. While the harvest was an amazing experience, Ribustello knew that restaurants were his real love. After three months in France, he and Inez came back to North Carolina and opened On the Square Restaurant and Wine Bar. They were married six months later.
Creating an ever-changing wine bar menu, highlighting as many local products as possible—such as Grilled Wahoo with ShrimpCorn Veloute—Ribustello put Tarboro on the map as a true fine dining destination. After owning the restaurant for only one year, Stephen was asked to join the North Carolina Sweet Potato Council as a featured, celebrity chef. Other chefs on the council are Walter Royal of Angus Barn in Raleigh, and Shawn Wellersdick of Portland Grill in Wilmington. Inez Ribustello got her start in the world of food and wine after moving to New York City from her home state of North Carolina. Though she grew up in the small town of (yes) Tarboro—she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998 with a degree in journalism and mass communications—Ms. Ribustello’s dream was to pursue a career in cooking. She chose New York's Institute of Culinary Education to get her start. There she began to learn about wine, which inspired her to take a job at Best Cellars, the groundbreaking, mid-priced wine store on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Ms. Ribustello's career took a huge leap forward when she became an Assistant Cellar Master at the renowned World Trade Center restaurant Windows on the World. In a very short time, Ribustello was promoted to Beverage Director, which put her in the position of wine buyer for the largest grossing restaurant in North America. It was here she met her now-husband, Stephen. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, jolted the Ribustellos personally and professionally. Having lost friends, colleagues and her job in the bombing, Inez had to face a new future. She chose to throw herself into her work and took the position of Beverage Director for Blue Fin Restaurant in the W Hotel-Times Square. At Blue Fin, she created a 500-label wine list, including more than 50 wines by the glass, and developed a cocktail list that received rave reviews from New York magazine. Having conquered New York, Ribustello's next move was to return to her hometown with her fiancé. They decided to open their own restaurant, wine bar and retail store called On the Square. Inspired by Best Cellars, Ms. Ribustello created a user-friendly, non-intimidating wine list, which was well received by people and press in the Inner Banks region. She and her husband oversee every aspect of their restaurant, while also raising a five-year old daughter named Cynthia and a two-year-old son named Stephen.
115 East St. James Street
Tarboro, North Carolina Ph: 252.823.8268 Email: info@onthesquare.com Website: www.onthesquarenc.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Also, visit the Ribustello’s Wine Shop in Uptown Greenville
Unique opportunity for IBX towns, counties and commercial property owners Private Equity Investors Seek to Purchase Town and County Government Properties and Commercial and Professional Properties in the Inner Banks Sales and sale-leaseback opportunities available on desirable properties IBX Homes and Land LLC of Greenville, North Carolina, represents an international private equity fund seeking to purchase properties in the following classes: •
Governmental;
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Commercial;
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Office;
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Medical;
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Institutional;
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Mixed-Use; and,
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Industrial.
IBXHOMES com .
National and international marketing efforts of IBX Homes and Land LLC (www.ibxhomes.com and www.ibxlifestyles.com) have generated great interest among private equity investors and real estate investment trusts for long-term investment in the eastern North Carolina Inner Banks market. These long-term investors seek to purchase properties—e.g., government offices, retail centers, mixed-use developments, hotels, medical, dental and legal practices—at or near current appraised values. Our client wishes to evaluate qualifying properties and, in the case of those properties that meet its criteria, to finalize offers within 15 days in most cases. Contact: Harvey S. Wooten, CEO IBX Homes and Land LLC info@ibxhomes.com
For example...
Arizona mulls salesale-leaseback of state assets State-owned properties are being considered as candidates for sale-leaseback The Arizona government is considering selling and leasing back approximately $1 billion of state-owned properties, including its House and Senate Capitol buildings. Under the transaction structure being considered by the Governor’s office, the state would sell the properties and then lease them back for a specific amount of time before assuming ownership at the end of the lease. lease
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Short Story: “Slip, Out, Back, Here” Introducing Inner Banks Writer Liza Wieland
by Liza Wieland By Margaret D. Bauer, North Carolina Literary Review Editor
A native of Georgia, Liza Wieland moved to eastern North Carolina in 2003 after several years in the Northeast, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from Harvard and a Master’s and PhD from Columbia University. Liza Wieland is the author of three novels, Names of the Lost (1992), Bombshell (2001) and A Watch of Nightingales (2009); two collections of short stories, You Can Sleep While I Drive (1999) and Discovering America (1994); and a collection of poetry, Near Alcatraz (2005). Liza’s poetry, short stories and essays have also appeared in numerous anthologies, as well as such literary magazines as The Southern Review, Georgia Review, New England Review, North Carolina Literary Review and Quarterly West. Her writing has been recognized with such honors as two Pushcart Prizes, a Fellowship in Creative Writing from the National Endowment for the Arts and a North Carolina Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. Her most recent book, A Watch of the Nightingales, received the Michigan Literary Fiction Award and was published by the University of Michigan Press. Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, selected the story featured here for a 2007 Bridport Prize, saying of it, “‘Slip, Out, Back, Here’ is an unusual, gorgeous contemplation of a young girl's relationship with her mother, a dream-like examining of the tight bond that both stifles and secures them. It takes risks with structure, and its ending is soaring and emotional without being sentimental.” Read Dr. Bauer’s introduction to the work of Liza Wieland in its entirety here: http://www.ibxlifestyles.com/news.php?extend.46
SLIP, OUT, BACK, HERE The darkness seems to ask this question: what if you’d never been born? The voice it uses is my mother’s, even though she’s not in the room with me, not in the house, but in her own house with my father, a hundred yards east. I am trying to think how to get back to her. I am six, and I believe that if I don’t see her face right this minute, I will disappear forever. My friend Alexis sleeps on the floor, snoring, just a little whistle, and twitching in her sleep. Awake, she’s never still, and so I’m thinking, how would Alexis do it? How would she rise out of this bed so fast, as if she’d never been in it, as if she’d always been in the air, between the ground and the clouds? How would she turn the knob on the door? Fast for speed or slow for silence? I ask this question, and my mother’s voice answers, slow for silence, and then I hear her say it again; what if you’d never been born? Outside is the river, and I hear it along with my mother’s voice, its little rushes, moving where the wind sends it, slow for speed, coming into the shore but never staying. The river is like my mother, like my dream of her, her dream of herself, never staying, this river called Neuse. The other meaning, the rope around the neck, I have just learned this spring: you can slip out, but it’s not easy. Still. How to do it? How to get back to my mother? If I think about my mother, if I put her inside my head like a starlight mint in your mouth, I can get back. I can concentrate and the feel of it, the waft of her moves in my head. My mother in Paris, in New York, in southern California, and all her stories of escape, which I know now are all about me, about my not being born. So I know I have to think like my mother in order to slip out, in order to be born. The strangest story is that my mother followed a rock and roll band for a year, maybe longer, she won’t say, all around the west: Denver, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, which is a terrible name, worse than Neuse, and Phoenix, which is much better, a west-word. She drove by herself for a while, from city to city in a red pickup truck, and then she didn’t do the driving anymore. She bought tickets for a while, the most expensive seats. She was making a lot of money in those days, but didn’t have anyone to spend it on. She paid for the tickets, but then she figured out how not to have to. When she says this, she and my father exchange a long look, and in his face there is something hilarious but frightened. I’m sure I’m wearing this same expression, in the dark, in Alexis’s inky bedroom, trying to imagine myself free of her house and moving back toward my own. My mother in Las Cruces, moving toward the door of the big traveling bus, its generator drowning out the sound of her footsteps in the parking lot, the fairgrounds empty, finally, except for these seven buses, circled like wagons, she thought, here in the wild, wild west. The door opened and she stepped up, inside. A man offered her a beer, and when she took it, their fingers touched, just barely. It was very quiet after the blare of the concert from her third row seat. She never paid for another ticket. It was easy. She could slip out, and nobody saw. Continued...
“Slip, Out, Back, Here” continued... She’ll tell me how it felt, years later, to be standing in the hysterical light of Barnes & Noble, in Fresno, California, listening but not really to the classical Muzak, reading how this man in the traveling bus had married a model from Texas—they had so much in common, the magazine writer said. She’ll say she wanted to slip out of the store into the night, to be alone. When she tells this story, I’ll remind her that she has me and the Texas model doesn’t, but it scares me to say this. I know I’ll look like my father, that mixture of delight and fear, and she’ll say so, you look like your father, but there will be daylight, and I’ll be in her arms, and I’ll exist. I sit up in bed and swing my legs over Alexis, the way she swings hers over the balance beam to dismount, once, twice, like a lever going around. I can’t vault like that, though, even now. I’m slow and steady, like my mother usually, like my father always. Now I’m standing on the other side of Alexis, and she turns toward me in her sleep, turns so slowly, I think it can’t be her, or she must be injured to move at that speed, or she’s my mother, and I’ve dreamed this, this slumber party. I’m standing, and it’s my mother here, sleeping like a child, and I’m watching over her to make sure she doesn’t get lost, get away, as mothers are always trying to do in their waking lives. The cat makes her strange whine and chatter on the other side of the closed door. The cat’s name is Mischief, but she’s no trouble at all, compared to what I’m about to be. My mother, again, in Los Angeles, in the Hollywood hills, frozen in this same moment, with her hand on a doorknob, leaving a house, so that I will exist. She’ll tell me this story when I find her, when I slip out and walk one hundred yards in the dark, by the Neuse, past Jadyn’s house, between the swings on the swing set, the river sounding like the wind in my ears when I swing. I’ll slip out, and my mother will be there in the doorway of her house, waiting for me. A blind date in the Hollywood hills, blind, in the dark. A friend of friends. They talked a few times on the telephone, this man and my mother, and he told her he was a writer for the entertainment industry. He asked her to the premier of “Death and the Maiden,” but she couldn’t go. Then he was interviewing the young woman who made Prozac famous. Cute but crazy, he said about this woman, and my mother felt an infant jealousy, like she did when her sister got a bigger slice of pie. Would she come down to L.A., he finally asked, to a party with some writers. She’d like them, he was sure. Stay at my house. All right, she said. It’s not far. I can get away. So my mother spent a whole afternoon at Macy’s, with her sister, enthralled by the possibilities, all she’s missed in her years of mail order. A little black dress, lacy, sleeveless, over her head in a whoosh--and then seeing it in that huge mirror. OK, her sister said, that should work. My mother picked out a silk vest, the color of rust. What’s that for? her sister asked, and my mother just shrugged. I like the color. I want it. The drive to L.A., late Saturday afternoon, every song on the radio an omen, foreshadowing. Full dark by the time she gets close, hard to read the directions, missed turns in the canyons, before cell phones, this was, she’ll have to explain that to me. Finally, though, the house stuck on the side of a hill, glowing from the street side. Hard to park, parallel, set the brake, pray it held, pray some more. When he opens the door, she knows the voice, but it doesn’t match the boy who stands there, not a boy, a man, of course, but small, slight, his fashionable hair and glasses like a costume. My mother will say she is ashamed of herself for judging this way until she sees, unmistakably, the same judgment on her blind date’s face. Distaste. Not at all what I thought. Oh well. She wants to turn and run away into the night. But the house! She would have liked to date the house, fall in love with it, marry it, have little houses all over the world, which was certainly possible, she saw. My father just sent these from New York, the blind date says, flinging his little hand at the cherry dining table and eight chairs. Not a bad view, he says, and my mother turns to see the whole city, laid out below her, like diamonds, she will tell me. In here, the blind date says, I’m watching something, which was Elton John on the largest television my mother has ever seen. She knows the song he’s singing, but now she can’t remember, so she’ll think of the ones we’ve heard in the movies. “The Road to Eldorado,” “The Circle of Life.” Elton John sings all his hits, his head on the screen as big as a car tire. They watch for an hour without speaking. My mother believes the blind date is thinking about something else, entertainment, media, Prozac. Who knows? They leave for the party. The blind date drives, an old Buick Skylark, which makes my mother like him until he curses the car, explaining that his Triumph is in the shop. My mother thinks, though she might not tell me this, how long it’s been since a man has driven her anywhere, let alone on a date, how the feeling of it is pleasant, a relief, how she’d like it to go on. He’d opened the door for her, this man-boy, and now he reaches over to pat her hand as it lies on the seat between them. He talks and talks. He says he’s read her books. This is nice, she thinks. I could do this. I could settle for this. I’m carrying quite a load now in my backpack, my clothes, my books, a comforter, my shredded baby blanket, of which not much is left besides its gender. It is a he, which amuses my mother. Every night before bed, I say, where is he, and my mother tries not to smile. I am standing with this cargo outside Alexis’s bedroom. Across the hall, I see her father, at the computer. Her mother is nowhere, probably fallen asleep with Nicole, Alexis’s sister, the way my mother falls asleep with me. This thought makes tears swim in my eyes. I have to get to my mother before this night is over, so I can slip back into the story.
Continued...
“Slip, Out, Back, Here” continued... At the party, her blind date introduces my mother and then leaves her alone. My mother finds a drink, gathers her courage, talks to a few people. She meets a man who writes for the movies. He has lived in Utah, as my mother has. They talk about Salt Lake City. He says the word fiancée, drops his fiancée gently into the conversation, and my mother feels a different relief, cards on the table. They sit next to each other at dinner. The blind date is farther away. A woman, a publicist, arrives late, drunk and unhappy. Everyone but my mother knows why. The publicist slides into the chair across from my mother and admires her rust colored vest. That’s nice silk, she says. What would you call that color? As dinner proceeds, my mother and the writer agree that Salt Lake is a hilarious and frightening city: the bilious lake, the many wives hidden away in the canyons. The fiancée is not at the party, but everyone there knows her, asks how she’s doing. The publicist is particularly interested. My mother slowly realizes the publicist is staring at her, imagining my mother a flirt, golddigger, home-wrecker, worse, words I don’t even know yet. My mother gets up, goes into the bathroom, stares at her face in the mirror. Her eyes are hazel, a color nothing else really is, except other eyes. She comes back to the table and begins a conversation with the woman on her right. But she turns back because Salt Lake is too compelling, oddly excessive, like Hollywood and screenwriting. The publicist is very drunk and listening intensely. My mother sees what will happen just before it does. There is wine everywhere, red wine, from the bottle, from the publicist’s glass and my mother’s, swept forward over the table, across my mother’s chest and into her lap. Your vest, the publicist says, smiling, I’m so sorry. The table is in an uproar, ten people moving out of the way, sopping up wine. Dinner is over now anyway. Dessert is later, in another room. Send me a bill, the publicist says. For the dry cleaning. In this moment, time collapses. My mother and I collapse across time in our longing to be gone. I’m inside her body again, our old conjunction, but she is in mine too, as if each of us has swallowed a billion little mirrors, and we see each other repeated endlessly down the long hallway of her past and my future. She would say, if you swallow a mirror, it would have to be in pieces, all jagged edge, all sharp corners waiting to be turned. And so I do. I turn the corner, and the back door of Alexis’s house swims up before me, the river beyond it, hushing into the shore. I think how to navigate, out the screen door, through the garden, around the trampoline, past the flagpole. The new neighbors’ dog will bark. He will give me away, I think, and he does. In the car, on the way back to his house, the blind date does not mention the crazed publicist, the spilled wine, my mother’s ruined clothing. My mother wonders if she imagined the whole incident, but then she looks down, inside her coat, sees the wine stains blooming on her vest, deepening over her legs, darkening the black of her trousers. She has a thought then: what if her blind date is really blind! This is the only possible explanation for his silence on the matter. She stifles a giggle, a guffaw, a sob. What? he asks her, what’s so funny? Nothing, she says, just—and she points to her throat. A blind date! And oh God, she thinks, he’s driving a car. Tomorrow I’ll give you a tour, he says. Tomorrow we’ll go to a bookstore and look for your books. That’s okay, my mother says, thinking to spare the blind date the mortification of reading all those words. At his house, they admire the view. It really is just like Salt Lake, she says, up in the hills, the Wasatch Front. I used to ski in those canyons, she says, cross country, down into the woods so far you think you might never find your way out. The blind date says he’s been to Aspen, Vail, Steamboat, Sundance, but downhill. He interviewed Redford once, he says, but my mother can tell he’s lying. She thinks she could never marry a man who skis downhill, but my father will prove her wrong about that. After a while, the blind date says, you must be tired. He offers to pull out the sofa bed, but my mother tells him she can do it. Okay, he says, with one last look. Then he disappears down the stairs to his room. My mother hears the door close. She thinks this is the last she will ever see of him. She arranges the sheets and blanket on the couch so that she will be able to look out at the lights of L.A. She will never see this view again, but she believes she will see others like it, maybe better. She walks into the bathroom. Because I am six, this is my favorite part of the story. I think it is my mother’s favorite too, but for another reason: because it is a metaphor. Because in this astonishing house in the Hollywood hills, she meets up with the self she would be with this man. The blind date left her no towels, no soap, no toilet paper. Her overnight bag is open by the bathroom door. She reaches in and finds a pair of clean white socks. She can hardly believe what she has to use them for. I stand outside under the moonlight. I see the front door to my house, a hundred yards east, the magenta-colored calla lilies on the steps, the impatiens glowing like neon, the petunia covered in small purple trumpets. You must make my mother leave L.A., I say to the moon. She can sleep for another minute, but then she must wake up. She must slip out of that house in the Hollywood hills so that she will be waiting for me when I get to the door. You must wake her up, whoever you are, and wherever. Otherwise, I will be stuck here, or I will make a mistake and walk south and the Neuse will swallow me. My mother wakes suddenly. Where the lights of L.A. glittered, there is now only a gray soup, like a blanket, a cloth with pinpricks and light behind it. She sits up and listens. She hears nothing, or maybe a small, slow whisper of air, like the feet of a child moving over the grass at night. She reaches in her bag, finds some paper, writes a note for the blind date. Sick. Sorry. Going home. Continued...
“Slip, Out, Back, Here” continued... Her heart beats wildly, the pressure of two hearts, another one under her own. She’s moving like a dancer, every gesture connected to the one before, every gesture with a purpose. Shoes, bag, keys, to the door, open it. The early morning air rushes in at her, cool and soft, like the breeze off a body of water. There is weak, happy sunshine. The street is still, cars parked neatly. She sees her truck wedged between two others, on the downhill. This will be difficult. She can’t remember ever having to extricate herself from such a situation, the clutch, the brake, reverse, all against the force of gravity. Quickly. Before the blind date sees. The river is on my right, a path of moonlight you could walk into. What if Alexis’s mother hears me, makes me come back? Already I am past the trampoline, almost to the flagpole where I could walk along its shadow, reduce myself to a line of darkness, to nothing. I hear Alexis’s mother, I think, calling to her husband at his computer. I hear their door open. I must make myself invisible. Then my mother is free, blasting down the hill, toward Westwood, the freeway north. She’s gone so that she can meet me in the yard by the Neuse River under the moonlight, so that she can bring me back. Alexis’s mother is calling my name now, but the door to my house opens and there she is, my mother, her hair blasted wild from the wind on I-5 because she drives with the windows open because she sings along with the radio, and she wants me to hear her coming. Then I’m in her arms. Alexis’s mother is talking, talking, but my mother waves her away. In a moment, there will be only darkness broken by the perfectly round beam from the moon, the pulse of the river, the smell of my mother, which is always wine, lemon, another scent like clothes just out of the wash. We have conjured each other. We have slipped out to bring each other into being. This is the first night again, alone together in the hospital room, my father gone home to sleep, a single light shining on us, the rest of the room, the maternity floor, the hospital, the whole city, gone to darkness beyond this one light. My mother holds me. A nurse comes in, but my mother waves her away. She will tell me this, and later I come to know the story of it so well, I can tell it back to her. How it all happened. How I just slipped out, and she was there.
In fall 2007, East Carolina University was fortunate to add Liza Wieland to the Creative Writing faculty, joining creative nonfiction writer Alex Albright, founding editor of the award-winning North Carolina Literary
Review; fiction writer Luke Whisnant, whose stories have been selected three times for New Stories from the South: The Year’s
Best; playwright Robert Siegel, whose plays have been produced from Charlotte to New York; novelist William Hallberg, author of Book of the Month Club selection Rub of the
Green; poet Julie Fay, editor of Watching TV Off the Back of a Firetruck: Voices from the Floyd Flood in Eastern North Carolina; and John Hoppenthaler, new to the program, too, but already with two collections of poetry.
18
New Opportunities Emerging for IBX Artists
by Tom Kilian
Our present economic climate has been a challenge for the Inner Banks artists who depend on their artistic labor as a primary means of income. During the Great Depression, Harry Hopkins was given the daunting task of securing the survival of artists in America and preserving the artistic heritage of our nation during the greatest financial crisis in its history. Hopkins boldly declared to FDR, “Hell, they have to eat just like other people,” as he requested $1,184,000 to fund the project. Simple newspaper ads were placed across the U.S. for the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Most recruits were younger then 40 years old. The only requirement they were to meet in their work: they must represent the American scene. From the 3,749 artists selected emerged a collection of 15,663 paintings, murals, sculptures and prints. When you do the math, our country received plenty of bang for the buck, at a mere $75.59 per work! I believe that Hopkins’ genius was that he bypassed the strata of bureaucracy and drilled directly into the bedrock of creativity. Fast forward to today. The National Endowment of the Arts has been awarded $50 million in the recent stimulus bill. These funds will channel through the labyrinth of cube farms and administrators of state agencies and non-profits, ultimately leaving little for the self-sustaining artist. Despite a general lack of support, the resolve and "can do" attitude of the Inner Banks artists is aided by IBXarts.org. Galleries are opening, alliances with communities and retailers are being built and obstacles are being overcome across the region. For example, Lisa and Matthew Stockard opened InkStone Gallery in the community of Winterville in Pitt County. Both Lisa and Matthew grew up in families that were part of the North Carolina crafts tradition. After moving to the Inner Banks, they were surprised to find that, while there were great artists and craftspersons all around, it was often difficult to find outlets to exhibit. So, last year, in the midst of a stunning economic shift, InkStone Gallery came into being. As the Stockards began working with local and regional artists, many expressed their appreciation for this support during hard times. Their gallery now hosts an astonishing, extensive and rich assortment of 24 Inner Banks artists, as well as work from across the state. A little further east on Main Street in Washington (Beaufort County), Neil and Meredith Loughlin cut the ribbon on Lone Leaf Gallery, conceived to represent Inner Banks artists as well as their own work. Lone Leaf houses a custom frame shop, rotating art exhibitions and a unique handmade crafts shop. The husband and wife artist team’s goal is to present yet another regional perspective in fine craft and fine art. As Neil stated, "It has always been a dream of ours to share the art of others we admire, as well as our own artwork." Within the same county, right on the waters edge, Sandy Landy, the director of Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce, has opened the door to a gift shop that promotes local art and artists. The gift shop operates on a small commission, furthering the chamber’s commitment to the community it serves while placing Belhaven on the IBXarts map. Robert Shively of the Belhaven Chamber said, “We have such a variety of genres of art due to the diversity of the artists in the Inner Banks. It’s like no other place.”
Travel further down the sound, into Hyde County, to discover that the arts are now found where oysters were once shucked at the Country Village at Rose Bay. Glass artist Alison Ellis of Green Heron Glass Studio has joined forces with local florist Glenda Williams to form an alliance selling and promoting the work of local artists. On October 3rd, an open house celebrated their launch into the Inner Banks artistic economy. What all four of these new galleries share is their partnership with IBXarts.org. IBXarts is funded and operated exclusively through the online donations of people who share the vision of nurturing an artistic economy within the region. While visiting our website, please consider making a donation. And when you visit the associated galleries and shops across the Inner Banks, revel in the emerging arts economy that we are all working to sustain. Inkstone Gallery is located at 180 Depot Street in Winterville, NC. The gallery is open Tuesdays-Fridays from 11 am to 5 pm, and on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Please visit the gallery's website at www.inkstonegallery.com. Lone Leaf Gallery is located at 101 West Main Street, Washington, NC. The gallery is open Monday-Fridays from 10 am to 6 pm, and on Saturdays from 11 am to 4 pm. Please visit the gallery's website at www.mnloughlin.com. Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce Gift Shop is located at 125 West Main Street, Belhaven, NC. Hours run from 9 am to 2 pm, Tuesday-Friday, and 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays. Call (252) 943-3770 for more information. Rose Bay Crossroads and Green Heron Glass Studio is located at 9145 US Highway 264, Swanquarter, NC. Hours run from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday-Saturday. Call (252) 926-1662 for more information. Please visit the gallery's website at www.rosebaycrossroads.com.
And visit us soon at www.ibxarts.org.
20
From the New York Times Real Estate
2009 First-Time Home Buyer
section, two recent articles from an ongoing series entitled “What you can get for…”
Tax Credit
“...$150,000 in Edenton, NC” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/ greathomesanddestinations/12gh-what.html?_r=1
As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing the nation, Congress has passed legislation that grants a tax credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers.
Learn more here:
http://www.realtor.org/
“...$400,000 in Kitty Hawk, NC” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/ greathomesanddestinations/26gh-what.html
See for yourself what fantastic properties can be found in North Carolina's Inner Banks at:
www.IBXhomes.com
IBXHOMES.com 94.1 WKOO, Kool 94.1 Oldies & Beach Music For the Crystal Coast
94.3 WTIB FM The Talk FM, Greenville
96.3 & 103.7 FM Thunder Country, continuous country for all of Eastern North Carolina
North Carolina’s Inner Banks Leader
NEWS FROM AROUND THE INNER BANKS
24
North Carolina Department of Transportation Provides Funding for Inner Banks Music Trail The state transportation department is providing more than $250,000 for a project that will tell the story of black musicians in eastern North Carolina. The African-American Music Trails will go through Edgecombe, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, Nash, Pitt, Wayne and Wilson counties. The trail is expected to be completed in 2011. Read more of this story from the Virginian-Pilot here: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/dot-provides-money-eastern-nc-musictrail
IBX’s University Health Systems among nation's 100 best integrated health care systems GREENVILLE, N.C. - A national health care research firm has rated University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina among the nation's most highly integrated health care networks. Read more about the 29-county hospital University Health Systems’ latest recognition for quality health care across the Inner Banks: http://www.uhseast.com/uhseast/newsroomdetail.aspx?id=5214
Gov. Perdue Signs Film Incentives Bill Moviemakers will get a 25 percent rebate on many of their production expenses in North Carolina under a bill signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue on Thursday. The bill, which increases the previous 15 percent rebate, was described as critical to cultivating the state's film industry, which includes a Screen Gems studio in Wilmington. Various states have engaged in a bidding war as they fatten their handouts to Hollywood. Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/columnists_blogs/dome/story/93332.html
All North Carolina’s a Stage: the 2009 North Carolina Literary Review The 2009 issue of the award-winning North Carolina Literary Review (NCLR) is now available. This issue includes a special feature focusing on North Carolina’s vibrant play writing and play production traditions. To read more: http://www.ibxlifestyles.com/news.php?extend.32
Kiplinger Ranks North Carolina “Favorite Destination” for Retirees North Carolina made the list as one of 27 states that don’t include Social Security payments as taxable state income. Other factors contributing to the “favorite destination” label included the state’s up to $4,000 exclusion on taxing state and local government pensions; up to $2,000 exemption for private pensions; a sales tax burden that while rising to 4.75 percent after Oct. 1, exempts prescription drugs and medical equipment; and a “circuit breaker” program limiting property taxes for homeowners ages 65 and up to 4 percent of income. Read more: http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/08/17/daily46.html
Albemarle Plantation Purchase Signals Investor Confidence in IBX Real Estate Market HERTFORD – A group of Triangle real estate investors has rescued the 1,200-acre Albemarle Plantation retirement community on the Albemarle Sound from receivership after negotiating a discounted purchase price with its developers. Albemarle Plantation was named one of America’s 100 best master-planned communities by Where to Retire magazine earlier this year, and its Sound Golf Links golf course is a regular on Golf Digest magazine’s list of 201 Best Places to Play. Read more: http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/07/13/story2.html
Duke Energy, UNC Sign Deal for Pamlico Sound Wind Turbines Duke Energy and the University of North Carolina say they have signed a contract to place wind turbines in the Pamlico Sound. The Charlotte Observer reported on its Web site Tuesday that Duke and UNC said they have signed a contract to place one to three wind turbines in the sound. The move could be the first step toward utility-scale wind farms on the North Carolina coast. Read more here: http://hamptonroads.com/2009/10/duke-energy-unc-sign-deal-pamlico-sound-wind-turbines
Development Summit Promotes Growth Strategies Spurred by the recent surge in enrollment at Chowan University and the progressive leadership of Murfreesboro, the Economic Development Summit got the town, the university, land developers, construction contractors, property owners, financiers and more all on the same page in order to see new growth in our area come to true fruition. Read more: http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/news/2009/oct/06/development-summit-sees-room-growth/
Beaufort: An Old North Carolina Seaport With a Buried Past Beaufort is the third-oldest town in North Carolina. Nestled on the Intracoastal Waterway, it was founded in 1709 and was long home to fisheries that processed menhaden, a type of herring, into oil and fertilizer. Today, dependent mostly on fishing and tourism, it's a picture-perfect town of about 4,000, with restored Victorian homes dotting the tree-lined streets and a colorful downtown with a myriad clothing boutiques, art galleries, restaurants and antiques shops. Red more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081701855.html? hpid=features1&hpv=national
UNC Study: N.C. Coastal Communities to Grow Faster Than State, Nation The economies of Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties are forecast to grow 4 percent during 2010, faster than the state and nation, according to a study from economists at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. North Carolina is expected to grow 1.5 percent, while the nation grows 2.0 percent. Local, state and national economies are forecast to exit the recession late this year. Read more: http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/10/05/daily22.html
The Wilmington Shipyard: Welding a Fleet for Victory in WWII Ralph Scott’s new book, featured in the Summer ‘09 issue of “IBX Lifestyles” magazine! Copies are available at your local North Carolina book seller, from Amazon.com, and from The History Press. The History Press 18 Percy Street Charleston, SC 29403 843.577.5971
October 30, 7:30 pm: Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh is hosting a publication party for the North Carolina Literary Review, featuring a poetry reading by Betty Adcock (interviewed in our 2009 issue) and music by the Red Clay Ramblers! Quail Ridge is located at 3522 Wade Ave. in Raleigh; (919-828-1588). This event is free and open to the public. For more information (and a press release), go to: www.nclr.ecu.edu/news/celebrate-issue-at-quail-ridge-books.html
North Carolina Literary Review (NCLR) publishes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by and interviews with North Carolina writers, and articles and essays about North Carolina writers, literature, and literary history and culture. The North Carolina Literary Review is edited by Margaret Bauer and is available here: http://www.ecu.edu/nclr/
Welcome to North Carolina’s... Inner Banks? Here are a few reasons why Inner Banks towns are becoming magnets for retirees, entrepreneurs, artists and crafts persons from around the world...
Historic Edenton
Swan Quarter
Washington, the Heart of the Inner Banks
20,000+ square miles of lush landscape and affordable real estate
Elizabeth City
Learn more about Inner Banks Lifestyles... www.YouTube.com: search “Inner Banks—IBXlifestyles.com”
IBX Lifestyles (which includes both the “IBX Lifestyles” magazine and IBXlifestyles.com) uses its resources and professional contacts in media, business and entertainment to take the Inner Banks—its natural beauty, history and people—to markets far beyond the region and the state. Our database holds contact information for leaders in travel/tourism, media, business, education, finance, development, the arts and other industry sectors. IBX Lifestyles brings the world to your Inner Banks doorstep. IBX Lifestyles offers reasonably priced marketing and branding opportunities for Inner Banks towns, counties, businesses, schools, non-profits and arts and tourism organizations.
Call or email us today to reserve space: 252.756.0176; info@ibxhomes.com Let IBXlifestyles.com and the “IBX Lifestyles” magazine be your link to the world!
Enjoy past issues of “IBX Lifestyles” (and its earlier incarnation, the “IBX Newsletter”) by following this link:
http://www.ibxlifestyles.com/page.php?25 Here’s a sample of what you’ve been missing: Summer 2009 “IBX Lifestyles” magazine Featuring: sculptor Jonathan Bowling; enamelist/metalsmith Linda Darty; metals and jewelry master Robert Ebendorf; painter/collagist/assemblage artist Aleta Braun; filmmaker Bernard Timberg; jazz maestro Carroll Dashiell; artist/entrepreneur Tom Kilian; blues master "Lightnin'" Wells; sister musicians/writers Anna and Amelia Dietrich; writer/scholar on the American South Margaret Bauer; Magnolia Arts Center; historian/author Ralph Scott; and, some of the Inner Banks’ rising stars in art--Haley Sullivan, Judd Snapp, Lisa Beth Robinson and Owen Sullivan. Spring 2009 “IBX Lifestyles” magazine Enjoy the new issue of the "IBX Lifestyles" newsletter, featuring: an interview with New York-to-Inner Banks transplant Ingrid Lemme; the 29 Inner Banks historical sites and towns of the Historic Albemarle Tour; Inner Banks film news; Inner Banks calendar of events and tourism resources; and, some of the best Inner Banks photography you’re likely to see anywhere. Summer 2008 Paddling the Inner Banks • Lake Phelps and the Scuppernong River • Roanoke River • Jean Guite Creek • Lumber River • Northeast Cape Fear River • White Oak River and Bear Island • Building a Water Trail Economy • Feature Film Shoots in New Bern: “Death, Taxes and Chocolate” Written and Produced by Inner Banks Filmmaker Spring 2008 Interview with Celebrated Inner Banks Artist Robert Ebendorf • Pocosin Arts Folk School • Documentary Film Shooting in Hertford • Handmade in America: Drawing Inspiration from Western North Carolina • Inner Banks Mourns Loss of Goldsboro Native and “Honorary Mayor of Hollywood” Johnny Grant: January 9, 2008
More past issues of “IBX Lifestyles” and the “IBX Newsletter”…
Winter 2007 Columbia: Honoring Our Past; Designing Our Future • Currituck County: Rich in Heritage; Full of Adventure • Manteo: Linking the Inner Banks to the Outer Banks • South Mills: A Town and a Canal Forever Linked Fall 2007 Vineyards and Wineries of the Inner Banks • Duplin Winery • County Squire Restaurant and Winery • Bannerman Vineyard and Winery • Lu Mil Vineyard • Martin Vineyard Summer 2007 Wilson Botanical Gardens • Hollister’s Medoc Mountain State Park • Roanoke Canal Museum and Trail • Confederate Civil War Drum Returned to New Bern • Merchants Millpond State Park • Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park and Eco-Center • Paddle for the Border: Paddling Event Links Inner Banks Great Dismal Swamp to Chesapeake, VA Spring 2007 Interview with NC Community College System President Martin Lancaster • Interview with Author/Journalist Willie Drye • Expanding the “Fourth Utility” in Warren County • Williamston: Crossroads of Northeastern North Carolina • Mattamuskeet Foundation Releases Film: “A Winter Day” • Inner Banks Media Corporation Formed Winter 2006 Inner Banks Leaders Look to “Irish Miracle” for Entrepreneurial Inspiration • Washington: The Heart of the Inner Banks • Remarkable Rocky Mount • William Howard Kuntsler Headlines Inner Banks Conference • Inner Banks Seasonal and Special Events Fall 2006 Inner Banks Creative Communities Initiative Launches • Ayden: A Progressive City with Small Town Charm • Edenton: “The South’s Prettiest Town” • Murfreesboro: Small Town Renaissance • Hertford: Carolina Moon • Plymouth: Clean Water, Abundant Wildlife, Great Fishing
Enjoy more past issues at: http://www.ibxlifestyles.com/page.php?25
Inner Banks Tourism Resources Beaufort www.originalwashington.com
Gates www.gatescounty.govoffice2.com
Northampton www.northamptonchamber.org
Bertie www.windsor-bertie.com
Greene www.greenechamber.com
Onslow www.onslowcountytourism.com
Camden www.camdencountync.gov
Hertford www.hertfordcounty.com
Pamlico www.pamlicochamber.com
Carteret www.crystalcoastnc.org
Hyde www.hydecounty.org
Pasquotank www.discoverec.com
Chowan www.visitedenton.com
Jones www.co.jones.nc.us/recreation.htm
Pender www.visitpender.com
Craven www.visitnewbern.com
Lenoir www.kinstonchamber.com
Perquimans www.visitperquimans.com
Currituck www.visitcurrituck.com
Martin www.visitmartincounty.com
Pitt www.visitgreenvillenc.com
Duplin www.duplintourism.org
Nash www.rockymounttravel.com
Tyrrell www.visittyrrellcounty.com
Edgecombe www.tarborochamber.com
New Hanover www.cape-fear.nc.us
Washington www.visitwashingtoncountync.com
Bertie County Peanuts Just a sampling of the many ways our peanuts are prepared: BlisterFried, Boiled, Sea Salt & Black Pepper, Roasted in the Shell, Red Hot Hexalina, Honey Glazed, Peanut Brittle, Roanoke River Trail Mix, Chowan River Trail Mix, & more!
Order our products at www.pnuts.net/?r=IBX&p=IBX09 Use code IBX09 with purchase of $20 or more and receive one jar of Blister Fried Peanuts FREE! Bertie County Peanuts is NOT among the companies that have been asked by the FDA to hold or recall their peanut-containing products.
Contact IBX Lifestyles & IBX Homes via email at: info@ibxhomes.com.
Next Issue: Winter 2009 Special thanks to the following individuals and organizations for providing photography, copy and graphics for this issue: Judy Jeannette, Alex Albright, Michael Brantley, Tom Kilian, Margaret Bauer, Ralph Scott, Monika Fleming, Ray & Susan Ellis @ Footpath Pictures, Ingrid Lemme, @ Scuppernong Gazette & SwanQuarterly, Henry Hinton @ IBX Media, Josh Armstrong @ Magnolia Arts Center, Chris Schwing, Stephen and Inez Ribustello,, Liza Wieland, ENC Film Commission, IBX Foundation, Inc., Bill Russ @ NC Division of Tourism, and Jon Powell @ Bertie County Peanuts. If we have missed anyone, please accept our apologies and contact us at:
info@ibxhomes.com Learn more about the Inner Banks! www.YouTube.com: search “Inner Banks—IBXlifestyles.com”
IBXHOMES.com
ENC Film Commission www.filmeast.net
IBXhomes.com markets a comprehensive listing of up-to-date real estate offerings from across the Inner Banks region: homes and condominiums, commercial properties, raw land, office and manufacturing facilities.
The Eastern North Carolina Film Commission provides an array of services to make film and television production across the Inner Banks as trouble-free as possible. In coordination with the North Carolina Film Office and the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the ENC Film Commission offers all the information and access to services that film and television producers need to mount production here in North Carolina’s Inner Banks.
“IBX Lifestyles” is a publication of the IBX Foundation, Inc., IBX Ventures, the Eastern North Carolina Film Commission and IBXhomes.com and IBXlifestyles.com.