The "S" Bridge is in danger...

If you're familiar with the town of Hertford, you know that one of the most scenic, quaint, and memorable things about the town is the curving little bridge that you cross coming in on Business 17 from the Elizabeth City side. If you don't hear the Andy Griffith theme song in your head when you see that road, you never saw the Andy Griffith show, and I'm a lot older than you are.

Anyway, the road leading to this has been repaired, resurfaced, and worked on for a long time now, and it's being studied again. The study isn't expected to end for several more years, but sadly it seems like they intend for it to end in some new method of acces, skipping that little section of road and likely spelling the end for the longest remaining "S" bridge in the United States.

I don't know if there is something that can be done, or even how to go about finding out, but I'd truly hate to see this landmark pass away from us...I love the town, even though we've only been there five or six years...and I love that bridge.

If I don't update here often enough, you can always find more comments on what is up in Hertford, my life, or my work over at my Live Journal...

http://deep-bluze.livejournal.com


David

The Fourth of July...Fireworks and Fun

Last year we attended the Fourth of July celebration in Hertford, down at Missing Mill Park (there was once a mill there - now it's missing). We had a great time despite a tired old band and a lot of goose droppings. The Fireworks were spectacular. This year, however, the folks who usually do this weren't around - and so we packed up our car and drove in to Elizabeth City. They had a special $25,000 fireworks display, and we managed to find a free bit of grass with a good view.

Katie saw the fireworks last year and seemed to have a good time, but this year she REMEMBERS seeing them...and had an even better time. Here are a few photos our daughter Stephanie took (she is actually becoming quite the giftted photographer).





I intend to start updating this a lot more regularly...stay tuned!

From the Historic William R. White House - DNW

Book Signing at Caronlina Moon Books

For those of you who know I'm an author, as well as a chronicler of the oddities of Hertford, NC, I thought I'd mention that I have an upcoming book signing here locally. Melanie James has a bookstore about three blocks from my house - Carolina Moon Books - and she has graciously scheduled me to sign copies of my just-released Hurricane, Bermuda Triangle thriller "The Mote in Andrea's Eye" on the 24th of June. In cae you want to know how to find the signing...

Drive down Highway 17, turn into Hertford. The center of the three lights in town is Market Street. From that corner, if you look down Market Street, you'll see THIS:



That's it (lol). If you know where my house is, you can go there...and you've gone three blocks too far. Really, Hertford IS that small.

Hope to see you all there...

David

Tommy the Hertle ..um...Hertford Turtle

I posted these over at my personal journal site as well, but since Tommy IS a Hertford turtle, found in the cemetery over on King Street - obviously descended from the courageous turtles who guard the tributary off of the Perquimans River that slides under the old "S" bridge winding into town, I thought it was fitting if he had his day in the sun -- so to speak -- here at The Great Dismal Swamp Gazette.

Click here and you can see Tommy's great "escape" move -- performed when he runs across humans

And finally I wanted to mention that on Saturday, 24 June, I'll be signing copies of my novel, "The Mote in Andrea's Eye," at M. James Booksellers on Market Street in Hertford, right across the street (basically) from the drugstore. Come on down and mett us.

DNW

Eerie Haste's Hardware Store

Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything here...been a hectic spring, including my first real bout with allergies. Pollen and I, apparently, don't mix well...and if there is one thing Hertford North Carolina has in abundance (and at the oddest times of year) it's pollen. Anyway, I thought it was time I brought in one of Hertford's coolest attractions.

Once you drive in over the curved road and cross the ancient "S" bridge into Hertford, you pass by a few old homes, and roll into the short, one block "downtown" area. The first thing you'll see when you reach this point (There's a light there, and the speed limit is SLOW - if you break that speed limit, and don't have NC plates -- and maybe even then - they WILL pull you over).

When you reach that light Eerie Haste's "Hertford Hardware" store is on your left. The wall facing you sports a mural that has been, at times, controversial, but that seems loved by all members of Hertford society. It depicts many bits and pieces of Hertford history, the most controversial piece being the larger-than-life rebel flag.

Eerie keeps an interesting shop. He has a shelf around the top of the inside wall that sports memorabilia from the store's long history. There is a short, squat Coke machine near the counter where -- if you hand over your money to whoever is in charge, they will retrieve a small gree bottle of Co'cola for you to enjoy. It's one of the oldest working machines of its type I've ever seen.

Eerie sells everything from paint to power tools, big screen TVs to fishing licenses. He used to be the town's gun shop as well. If you need a lawn mower or have one that needs fixed, Eerie is your man. If you need tools, appliances, or a Christmas tree, he can hook you up.

It's a quaint little shop in a quaint little town, and Eerie Haste, the proprietor, has been more helpful to us since we moved into our big old house in need of LOTS of work than most others in town. We got our dishwasher from Eerie, and the paint that covers our walls and porch. I also got my fishing license there, and if I buy a boat - I'll get the license through the same window.

In Hertford, very little changes....

The Cemetery on King Street

On King Street in Hertford, behind the high school, is the cemetery. This is a very old cemetery. It has a pump station in the center, which I suspect is being used to help keep the swampy ground dry and prevent the stones from falling, and the graves from sinking.

It’s not a huge, ostentatious place, but it is full of a sense of history. You’ll see from the included photo that the White Family (the same White family, I believe, who built our house, though what branch of it I have no idea) has been burying their dead in this same graveyard, side by side, for literally centuries.



Another family planted a small dogwood in a stone rectangle plot many years ago. That Dogwood is very large now, flowering brilliantly, and its roots bind the graves of the family almost certainly, having grown outward from the center of that plot to embrace them all. It is beautiful.

The Cemetery in Hertford isn’t laid out in any geometric pattern you can discern, and the markers and monuments are as varied, no doubt, as those whose memories are contained within them. Families are buried there, not individuals. Not just Dogwoods put down roots, it seems.

On our way out of the cemetery, we happened upon one of the Hertford Turtles – a very small one. I knew the weather would turn bad last night, so we brought him home, and he now resides in a turtle bowl in our kitchen. Life, from a place dedicated to the remembrance of other lives….

His name is Tom.

DNW

THE HERTFORD TURTLES...

On the winding road into town, which is very reminiscent of the road on the Andy Griffith show where Andy and Opy skip stones at the beginning of the show, there is a lot to see. There are almost always Canadian Geese and ducks, sometimes walking across the road and holding up traffic. Now and then a deer crosses - or ten - all at once. There are snakes (Billy and I even found one on the bridge one day, where it had no business being). The most remarkable thing, though is a nondescript log sticking up at an angle away from the road.

Local legend (wholly unsubstantiated as far as I can tell) says that a pirate ship, trying to take a tributary off te Perquimans River, sank there, and the log is the broken off tip of the mast. I don't know what it is, but as long as we've been in town, it's been there. The thing about it is, it is always inhabited. Our town is guarded by sentinel turtles. They crawl up on the log, sometimes one, sometimes as many as four, the rear turtles crawling up on to the shells of those in front.

They stare out over the water toward the river, as if they are watching for something. Unless weather doesn't permit it, they are always there...and down the road is a flat log where smaller turtles seem to be in training...lined up as many as a dozen at a time...so that there will always be a guardian on the log.

I don't know what they are guarding us from, but being an author, worlds of possibility open up. I'm not sure how they'd warn us when the time comes, but every time I drive in over that bridge and see them there, noses to the river, I feel safer somehow. Here is a photo of two of our guardians...

The William R. White House - 1911 - 2005 (when the photo was taken)

I’d like to take a few moments of appreciation to comment on the work that Trish has done over the past few years on our big ol’ historical house. Keep in mind, this is a small, slender woman with attitude – a mom who has suffered severe heart trouble in giving birth to our daughter Katie, and has been largely on her own for the greater part of the labor involved in repairing and preserving our home. Last year alone she nearly single-handedly painted the entire house. There are parts we can’t reach, of course – and some that I can reach, and she can’t, that I’ll be painting this year, but we are talking about a 6-7000 square foot, three story house. It has columns all around, a porch (also painted – and which we repaired last year) – shutters, leaks…you name it. She is one of the hardest working, most talented women I’ve ever met, and I present, without further ado, the fruit of her labor (so far). This is a photo of the Historic William R. White House as of 2005…this is the first of the Market St. Houses we’ll cover here. Eventually I’d like to have links to photo galleries covering each street, along with some stories about each of the older homes, the families who built and lived in them, and how they all fit together to form the basis of the town we live in. For now…here is the first picture of many.



David

Market Street in Hertford - Home Sweet Home

This is just a quick, introductory post for those of you who happen by and find our little news-on-the-net site. We are a family transplanted from Florida and Virginia. Trish and the kids lived, formerly, in Ft. Myers Florida, and now we all call Hertford, NC home. From the first time we rolled in around the curve and saw the water, crossed the "S" bridge and drove into town, we've known, somehow, that this would be home.

Our home is in the historic district downtown. William R. White worked for the Carteret Lumber Company and built the house in the early 1900s. Stephanie has been researching the history of the house, the families who have lived here and the ghosts who might have lingered. Mr. White went on to own a peanut factory that burned to the ground. We've yet to find a picture of that factory, but we've met some wonderful people who lived in our home, or knew those who did, and every time we learn something new it feels as if we've branched out onto a new street, with more to find around the corner.

Eventually we'll be posting short articles here, photographs, historical points, and announcements of current events and happenings in the town and area. For now...Welcome to the very first post in the Dismal Swamp Gazette. Kick back, put your feet up, and stay a while.

David