June is North Carolina Blueberry Month
By Frances Dowell The civilized blueberry moved to North Carolina in the early half of the 20th century. Wild blueberries have been growing in the piney woods of the eastern shores since the beginning of time (or thereabouts), but it wasn’t until one Harold Huntington of Montclair, NJ, cleared a thousand acres in Pender County […]
Dan Dunkel’s First Brunswick Stew
by Joy Salyers On May 19, my family and I headed up to Person County to the 125th anniversary of Berry’s Grove Baptist Church. Berry’s Grove is on Berry Road, in what is either Timberlake or Little River, depending on whether you’re trying to mail something there or drive to it. Being […]
Coconut Cake – North Carolina Heritage Recipes Project, #1
by Matt Lardie Your mother’s spaghetti and meatballs. Uncle Joe’s famous chili. Grandma’s pecan pie. Heirloom recipes are memories as much as they are a set of instructions. They can transport us to another time and place. Treasured recipes passed down from generation to generation almost become members of our families; they tell our stories […]
Mount Olive Pickle Festival
by Elena Rosemond-Hoerr A few months ago I was standing in line for a Britt’s Donut in Carolina Beach with my cousin Mary. For those that have indulged in a Britt’s you’ll know two things- they are insanely delicious and the line is out of control. As the minutes inched by and we moved closer […]
Grilling on the Side of the Highway
by Ray Linville What makes our state so special for grilling ribs? Most of us can remember our first cookout when someone in the family, neighborhood, or church served home-cooked ribs. They were so tender that the meat literally fell off the bones. The homemade sauce was delicious, and often the recipe was a secret […]
Tang Comes to Yadkin County
by Deborah Miller Gernie and Rachel Wagoner, AKA my grandparents, had a small tobacco farm in Yadkin County. Brooks Crossroads, to be exact, a scant 7 ½ miles west of Yadkinville. And on this farm they had a duck … and an old mule, chickens, a couple of grapevines, a huge vegetable garden, and a […]
Pomegranate Kitchen, Durham, NC
by Frances O’Roark Dowell Imagine a kitchen that’s not unlike your own, only bigger and better equipped, with a cash box on the counter and a menu on the wall. Imagine the air thick with ginger, cumin and cinnamon. Now imagine a friend—your most hospitable, generous friend—standing before a flotilla of simmering pots, calling out […]
Mama’s Tea
by Jefferson Currie My mama, Jerri, doesn’t really like ice tea much (I know that most spell it iced tea, but with that d and t next to each other, that’s not really what it sounds like), and I realize that to some southerners that is a kind of sacrilege, so it always struck me […]
Home of Collard Sandwich Expands on Soul Food Day
by Ray Linville A collard sandwich is not the typical attraction to establish a regional reputation. But it is for Chef Kenneth Collins and his UPro restaurant in Aberdeen, NC, where he has developed an extensive following of appreciative customers. The star attraction of his business begins with fresh, hand-cut collards. The greens are cooked […]
GRITS with BUGS? OBX SHRIMP and GRITS
by Elizabeth Weigand Elizabeth Weigand is one of my favorite food writers. She’s so good at what she does that I can darn near taste whatever she’s writing about as well as exploring the culture and lore behind it. I was so excited when she agreed to let us use a blog post she wrote […]
Max Huang’s Last Bao
by Bernie Herman Part of our goal is to let you know about some of the diverse voices we hear … and sometimes somebody simply says it so well on their own blog that we can’t wait to share it with you! Max Huang’s Last Bao by Bernie Herman Originally posted on Meditations on the […]
Disco Rodeo
Latino immigration has impacted North Carolina’s culture in a variety of ways. You can see it in the number of Mexican restaurants here, or in the presence of Univision, the Spanish-language TV network.
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Harkers Island
For centuries, Harkers Island was its own world. On this island off the North Carolina coast, generations of fishermen and boat builders created a culture marked by deep family ties and a distinctive dialect. But outsiders are discovering this five-mile island. As waves of newcomers displace local residents, locals worry that the island’s essential character is changing.
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A Thread through Time: The African American Quilt Circle
by Amy Nelson The women who make up the African American Quilt Circle of Durham congregate once a month for three hours to quilt. They piece together fabrics of all patterns, shades and textures with varying degrees of expertise. Of course women getting together to sew is nothing new. They’ve been doing it for millennia […]
Turning with the Times: Seagrove Potters Embrace Change
Home to over 100 potteries, this rural piedmont area has become a tourist destination for local and international clientele.
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Agri-tourism in North Carolina’s Happy Valley
by Leda Hartman North Carolina’s Happy Valley, in the Blue Ridge foothills, is known for its pristine beauty and its traditional music and stories. Development is threatening to eclipse the community’s old way of life. But one local farmer is determined not to let that happen. Tony Jones hopes to protect the Happy Valley’s heritage […]
Prime Time Steppers
by Leda Hartman Stepping is a performance and movement style popularized a century ago by African American fraternities and sororities. Stepping has a strong link to the past, with roots that go all the way back to Africa. But it also has a vibrant future. These days, younger kids of all races are doing it. […]
Strike at the Wind: the Struggle to Sustain a Culture
In the southeastern North Carolina town of Pembroke, it’s hard to come by anyone who hasn’t heard the name Henry Berry Lowery. The 19th-century Native American is a cultural icon for the Lumbee population there.
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North Carolina Arts Incubator
by Leda Hartman Many small towns across the country that are suffering from economic decline have turned to the arts to rejuvenate their communities. In North Carolina, the piedmont town of Siler City has opened a new arts incubator that will eventually be the largest one of its kind in the country. Leda Hartman takes […]
Old-Time Herald: The Jenkins Family
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”24″] October/November 2006 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Kinney Rorrer) on the musical legacy of Surry County’s Jenkins Family. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”24″]
Old-Time Herald: Samantha Bumgarner, Elizabeth Cotten
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”23″] Winter 1997/1998 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Charles Wolfe) on 1920s banjo player and recording artist Samantha Bumgarner, from Sylva, as well as a remembrance (by Alice Gerrard) of Chapel Hill Piedmont blues guitarist Elizabeth Cotten. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”23″]
Old-Time Herald: Posey Rorrer
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”22″] December ‘07 / January ’08 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Kinney Rorrer) on Posey Rorrer, fiddler for Charlie Poole’s North Carolina Ramblers, and sometime resident of Spray, North Carolina. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”22″]
Old-Time Herald: Frank Blevins and his Tar Heel Rattlers
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”21″] February-April 1991 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Marshall Wyatt) on Ashe County’s Frank Blevins and his Tar Heel Rattlers, a string band from the 1920s and ‘30s. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”21″]
Old-Time Herald: Fisher Hendley and his Aristocratic Pigs
[wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”20″] August/September 2006 issue of the Old-Time Herald, a magazine about traditional string band music. This issue features a cover story (by Bob Carlin) on Fisher Hendley, an early country star from Anson County, and his band the Aristocratic Pigs. [wpshopcart_add_to_cart id=”20″]