I am not a native of North-Eastern North Carolina (I was born in California – but I’m an Army Brat – So this explains that).
Yet…
I consider it my home.. But I don’t live there. Being an Army Brat meant my Father met a wonderful woman in France – back then when NATO had a foothold in France – So I finally wound up there.
My father side ancestors migrated from the east coast – went all the way west to Kentucky – and finally landed where my heart belongs – North Eastern North Carolina. From Hertford County to Currituck, down to Beaufort and of course Hyde County.. Washington County, Bertie, Martin, Camden, Pasquotank, Chowan, Dare and My late father even lived right on the edge of Pitt County..
Hertford county was always my first love. The mighty and beautiful Chowan River. Spending my youth on Tuscarora Beach where my grand mother was running the resort, going to see her and my grand dad, living on a farm on the edge of Potecasie creek – some old wooden house with just an old wooden stove that was providing “air conditionning”. Seeing all those deer tracks in the sand in the midst of the cord fields – And so many other memories.. Oh so many..
Then came the time with my father, a 21 year old US Army veteran who came here what he loved to do – commercial fishing.. Catching the all so elusive catfish with catfish pots – Then going to Parker’s Ferry’s Fish house and skinning the fish to try to make a bit more money out of it. And also the time catching the Snapping Turtles – lay reeds with a line and a 2/0 hook with a piece of eel – 200 of them – then come back and see them reeds bent – catch the turtle by the tail !
Then those ran lean – Catfish got better farmed, the demand for turtle meat dried out – so he went for crabs. The mighty Blue Crab – Callanictes Sapidus – and found the IDEAL spot : Engelhard, Hyde County, NC
And for a 17 year old like me (at that time) coming on vacation from France – THIS was paradise! Sit there near the crab house – all those juices coming out of the crab steaming was attracting all sorts of fish – and the owner there would let me pick a couple of jimmies (Large male blue crabs) so I could eat them on the spot while watching for my fishing rod to twitch under the pressure of a sorry croacker. It was SO BAD a good memory that even the scent of decaying fish mixed with the scent of boat fuel still makes me happy today.
This place was so much home to me, that I brought there my french bride – and married there – went to SQ to the register of deeds to get our wedding official – and had the most wonderful and intimate wedding there. In my dad’s trailer – with the strategically placed air conditioning vent going off right in the middle of the our vow exchange (that wasn’t intentional).
Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last – but we had a daughter.. Later, I met someone else – here in France. So we went there – On the Outer Banks, made her visit Mattamuskeet, The alligator river and the good ole Pamlico Sound. And now my french girlfriend wants to buy some estate there ! And my daughter LOVES it all. She can’t stop asking when we are going back.. Fishing on the piers in Nags Head or catching Gar Fish in Bennetts Creek – os simply being around..
Where life is good !
–Ivan
Tags: Engelhard, Family, Fishing, Hyde, NC, North Carolina, North Eastern North Carolina