I really love a good "top 10"...and they are especially important at the end of the year, when everyone is counting down to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's, and all of the other holidays. Anyway - these were the top 10 things to see/do/or eat in Tyrrell County for 2009...
10) Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge - this place is great! Most National Wildlife Refuges are in very remote places - and they don't even have a Visitor's Center...but PLNWR does! The interpretive programs, static displays, and visitor center itself are some of the best in the refuge system. The management there is nice, knowledgeable, and works a lot...Tyrrell County should be proud of this place...PLNWR is famous for winter waterfowl and black bears - but is of special importance thanks to the Red Wolf Reintroduction. Also - this "museum" is one of two in Columbia...Columbia boasts one of the highest densities of museums in the world - 1 to every 400 people!
9) Frying Pan - Yeah it's a cooking device, but its also a place on the Tyrrell County map...and everybody should take visiting family members to the road sign and snap a photo. "The Pan" as most folks call it is a quiet lettle neighborhood down HWY 94. Some of the flattest land in the Milky Way is located in Frying Pan. It is a great way to see wildlife, agriculture, and dirt. The Frying Pan is actually named after a body of water off of the Alligator River - it's virtually a pocosin lake connected to the Alligator River by a small river or "handle". If you ever explore the water itself, be wary of putting in at the Wildlife Resource Boat Ramp...it's laced with trees and stumps...the ditch opens up to the lake - this place is awful to navigate because of what seems like a Giant Sequoia lodged right across the ditch. Be careful, or just wait for Wildlife Resources to fix the problem ;)
8) Ben Franklin Store - I think it's the oldest privately owned Ben Franklin in the country. It's a great place to buy "party shirts", trinkets, snacks, sewing materials, postcards, virtually everything else that Food Lion does not have...the ladies working the counter are very nice, too. I had never heard of a Ben Franklin Store beforeI moved to Tyrrell County, and while I wasn't missing anything in principle, I was missing the charm of this little store in downtown Columbia...and when you are at Ben Franklin, you are walking (or running) distance from two pretty good restaurants (Mike's and Crossroads), a pharmacy, the Red Wolf Coalition, and the town docks.
7) Scuppernong River - At one time, the Scuppernong was probably the artery of life into the heart of Tyrrell County. Large canals leading off of the river lead into old farms where food, animals, and yes - humans, were shipped into and out of the area. The Scuppernong River now has its own festival every October with food, street dancing, a parade, and kayak lessons. The Scuppernong is a "deep" river. Up to 20 feet in some places, the only thing deep about the Scuppernong is the mud on the bottom. Where I grew up, folks wanted riverfront real estate. The Scuppernong River, instead houses only mosquitoes, giant snapping turtles, and an alligator or six. By the way - many people have deliberated over the amount (if any) of alligators living in Tyrrell County. I have seen 30 or so in my 3.5 years. They are here...and they were here long before a human ever stepped into the waters of Tyrrell County.
6) Highway 94 - If you were going "somewhere else" this highway would be the most boring stretch of pavement on the planet. There's nothing to see, except the horizon. But that's what make this place a North Carolina Scenic Byway. In the spring the fields are filled with tractors. In the summer you'll find corn. In the fall, you'll find tractors - again. In the winter - swans, by the thousands. There's also a stretch of dwarf pocosin swamp that is some of the most primeval land I have ever seen. It gives me the willies imaging what it would be like amongst it all.
5) Town festivals - Rivertown Christmas and the Scuppernong River Festival are as charming as any small town festival. Rivertown Christmas features a floatilla of lighted boats...and if it's seasonably cold outside, expect the event to be truly seasonal. The Scuppernong River Festival is essentially a County Fair, featuring vendors, parades, and food - fried food like fried chicken, fried twinkies, fried butter, etc.
4) Food Lion - more or less by default, procuring groceries 5 years ago involved a half-day's trip to town. Food Lion is pretty comprehensive, though. They have enough items for me to get what I need and make impulse purchases. And Glady's, who usually works Aisle 2 is as sweet a lady as I have ever met.
3) Swamp Mud - If you haven't ever smelled this stuff (and you have if you live here), find a swamp (just walk 10 feet in any direction), reach your hand into the mud, retrieve it, sniff it. If you are lucky, you'll do this in the shade of an Atlantic White Cedar - one of the rarest tree species in the world. They are found in a few places on the planet, with eastern North Carolina being one of the best places to find it.
2) Mosquitoes - they draw more blood than th 15 or so blood drives held in theis county annually. They are thicker only in Hyde County. If you want to see them without being toted off, come here. All sizes and shapes will destroy your epidermis on a nightly basis. That buzz you hearon a summer's night is the millions of mosquitoes. They are attracted to the Carbon Dioxide emissions from your mouth...there's no escaping. men are less susceptible, thanks to the hair on their legs - as the follicles act as an early detection system...ladies get mutilated because they shave their legs...it's just a fact of life...
1) The Albemarle Sound - The northern boundary of the county provides recreation and sustenance not only to Tyrrellineans, but to folks abroad. Blue crabs and blue waters make this a great place to spend the summer, or other seasons - especially if you like to recreational fish. Rockfish - or Stripers - frequest these waters year-round but the migration in fall and winter make it a great place to land a monster "rock". Diving ducks roost by the thousand in late winter, and recreational boaters roost by the hundreds. The clear waters are accessible about every 10 miles of shoreline on both sides, making it as accessible as any water in America.
Enjoy the day...
2 comments:
Nice article. I'll have to visit there sometime.
Come anytime!
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