The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1961-03-24

The western sun in a clear blue
sky is sending forth soft warm
rays, welcoming US as we cross the
Virginia line into our home state
of North Carolina. We'd like to
take you along with us, if we may
as we drive toward the states
many storied, world famous Outer
Banks.
We are passing through farm
land, and Mother Nature has paint
ed the fields a bright spring green,
by bringing to life the seeds her
children of the air, of the forests,
and those man has sown. Mixing,
as only she can, her color panora-
ma as blossoms burst forth from
fruit, fower-trees, and shrubs, that
fill the orchards and line the roads.
Blending white, pink, lavender, and
all the colors in the spectrum, with
varicolored tints that please the
eye.
The pastures are deep in grass,
and the cattle, after a winter on
dry hay and fodder, are feeding vo-
raciously; raising their heads for
only an instant to give us glance.
Hogs and pigs scurry hither and
yon in their search for food; their
shouts roofing the earth to turn up
the tender shoots and grubs.
Off in the distant woods we hear
the baying of hound dog on the
trail of some animal. A rabbit,
frightened by the din, almost gets
itself killed as it hops across the
road in front of our car.
Potato vines are high and green;
flecked with white blossoms as
though sprinkled with snow. Wo-
men are working the fields, and
their Observation-Disclosures
gear and gay colored dresses, con-
trast with the hues of the fields.
Scores of pickapinies stop work to
wave soil-caked hands as their
wide-mouthed grins expose a back
ground of white teeth. The harmo-
ny Of everyone singing together
echoes through the pine scented
forest.
The towns and villages are oddly
named. We have passed Moyock,
Sligo, Currituck, Barco, Coinjock,
Bertha and Grandy. We are near
ing harrisburg, Powells Point
Mamie, Spot and Harbinger. The
hast one between us and the coast
is Point Harbor, situated near the
juncture of the Albemarle and Cur
ritpck Sounds.
We are now crossing the latter
on a toll-free bridge three miles
long. The distant shore-line is just
a dark smudge on the horizon. 1t
soon takes the shape of tall pine
trees, interspersed with tn stately
cedar, each one permeating the
air with a pleasant pungent aroma
And from the branches of such for
est rnonarchs, comes to us over
calm water, the thrilling songs OF
mockingbirds and other feathered
warblers.
High in the air kingfisher how
ers, folds it's wings and plummets
down swiftly to sink it's talons IN
a fish that chose the wrong time
to sun itself. The fish lashes the
water to foam in an effort to get
free, but the predator is not to be
denied and streaks for it's nest IN
scraggly tree with food for a
hungry brood.
The ripnles from the disturbed
surface widen out in ever increas-
ing circles till they break and dis
appear in the salt water grass
along the shore.
A few moments from the bridge
and we are at last on the Outer
Banks. This narrow strip of Sandy
islands has it's beginning at the
northern tip of Back Bav. on the
southernmost mart of Virginia
Coast. and continues south fol
some hundred fifty miles of North
Cardinals Coastline to south Of