Our State’s ‘coastal issue’ comes to Carteret County (N.C.)

(Most photos are from the Our State website.)

Jeri Rowe, Our State magazine’s Editor at Large, has made it his business for nearly 40 years to “chase stories across North Carolina.”

Lucky for us in Carteret County, N.C., he made his way to Cape Lookout National Seashore to spin a yarn that appeared in the magazine’s June edition, its “Annual Coastal Issue.” 

It begins: “After decades of quiet, a historic Coast Guard Station will soon open its doors to Down East visitors to explore the science, stories and wild beauty of North Carolina’s coast.”

 

Rowe wrote: “In 2024, James H. “Bud” Doughton (of Raleigh) helped secure a 20-year lease for the Cape Lookout Coast Guard Station, reviving the longtime vision of an environmental studies program.”

A project of the Cape Lookout Foundation, the plan is to restore the 2,000-square-foot, two-story building, which was built in 1917 and decommissioned in 1982.

 

Doughton’s family vacationed at Cape Lookout when he was a boy. Rowe said that although Doughton is now 72 and a semi-retired commercial real estate broker, he still remembers:

 

“One of the most amazing things out here is a full moon on a clear night. The sand reflects the light, and it’s unbelievable how bright it is. On the nights when there is no moon, you’ll see every star there is.”

As a young man, Doughton periodically crewed aboard the sailboat ferry named the Diamond City, which ran visitors from Harkers Island over to the Cape on a regular basis. The boat was owned and operated by the legendary captain Josiah Bailey. Those were the good old days.

With the full support of the National Park Service, the foundation is making great progress to breathe new life into the old Coast Guard station, Rowe said.

Author and outdoorsman T. Edward Nickens of Morehead City is a regular contributor to Our State. He said he and his wife, Julie, live about three blocks away from Parrot’s on Eleventh, a cozy restaurant on the edge of the Promise Land section of town.

 

Nickens said they always enjoy the fine dining experience in a casual coastal setting, preferring a table on the front porch of the old home that was converted to restaurant in 2014.

 

Also featured in this issue of Our State is the historic Beaufort waterfront home of best-selling novelist Christy Woodson Harvey, who has earned the reputation as “Queen of the Beach Read” by reviewers. Several of her books contain “familiar” Crystal Coast landmarks.

 

Wide and gracious porches make the Harvey family’s Front Street house, built in 1903, a real charmer. She writes:

“I love to stand on the widow’s walk and think about the generations of women before me, waiting for boats to return to this same spot. I love that no matter how often I sweep, granules of sand still stick in the grooves between the age-old hardwood planks….” She said these grains of sand connect her to family beach vacation memories.

 

Christy also has a good view of the Rachel Carson Reserve in Beaufort.

Our State contributor Ryan Stancil noted that Carrot Island, Bird Shoal, Town Marsh and Horse Island constitute “Rachel Carson’s Muse.” It’s the ecological home turf that propelled Rachel Carson to prominence as “one of the nation’s most consequential writers and a leader in the modern environmental movement.”

 

Regular Our State food columnist Lynn Wells, wrote about her favorite happy place, where she goes to unwind – Harkers Island. 

She said while lounging in a beach chair and listening to the “seagulls gossip,” she dreams of beachside dishes, like pickled shrimp, dilled butter beans and crab pie.

 

We’re not done. 

Our State magazine loads up on Carteret County, (N.C.) stories

Hooray for Our State magazine. Its June 2026 edition, labeled as the “Annual Coastal Issue,” is a chubby 232 pages. The lead article focuses on “Old Salts: Stories from the Working Coast of North Carolina.”

 On the cover is a color photograph that features the elder “Oysterman,” Jimmy Morris, a fifth-generation commercial fisherman from the Sea Level community in the Down East section of Carteret County.

Our State writers and photographers also made stops in the villages of Atlantic, Cedar Island, Harkers Island and Harlowe, went over to Cape Lookout National Seashore and visited locations in Beaufort, Morehead City and Pine Knoll Shores.

It all adds up to “quite a spread” about things for visitors to do, see and experience in Carteret County and along the Crystal Coast – about 31 pages of editorial narrative and 35 images. The impact on local tourism opportunities is priceless and couldn’t have come at a better time.

Ryan Stancil of New Bern wrote the collection of articles about the “Old Salts,” with photography by Baxter Miller. 

Five of their subjects represent Carteret County “trades.”

(Most photos are from the Our State website.)

Sea Level’s Jimmy Morris, along with his son, James Morris Jr., and grandson, Charlie Morris, are deemed “The Oystermen.” They are now working full-time as oyster farmers, operating Morris Family Shellfish, with leases in several bodies of water Down East.

 

“We like salty oysters, but we also like plump oysters,” James says. “Where we grow oysters, we have to balance salinity and meat quality.” He told Stancil that Owens Bay is his “favorite place to come to work.”

 

Brent Gaskill of Harkers Island is the selection as “The Captain.” He came from a commercial fishing family but has transitioned to become a highly successful recreational fishing pilot and owner of the vessel Builder’s Choice. He said his background gives him a different understanding “of how to read the water, how the conditions work and that plays a big role in it.”

 

Heidi Harris Roberts of Atlantic is featured as “The Netmaker.” She’s now responsible for keeping the family business, Harris Net Shop, afloat. It’s not been easy, as the demand for fishing nets has decreased due to the downturn in the commercial fishing industry. Still, she’s there, to serve her remaining loyal customers, producing her father Roger Harris’ famous patterns.

Stancil wrote that Heidi’s “perseverance and dedication to the craft have kept the shop alive, as she weaves together her cultural heritage and family legacy, one knot at a time.”

Thomas and Monica Smith, hold the distinction as being “The Shrimpers.” As owners of Miss Gina’s Fresh Shrimp retail store, located north of Beaufort on U.S. Route 70 East, the Smiths are dialed into the “farm-to-table” movement to catch and sell shrimp and other seafood products. The business is named after Thomas’ mother, Gina Smith.

 

Thomas and Monica own and operate three shrimp trawlers, with Thomas’ father, Allen Smith, serving as one of the captains.

 

According to Thomas, a shrimper’s life means “we adapt, pray a little bit, talk about it, try to give it back, and then it blossoms some more. This is our calling, and now we’ve just got to ride the ship.”

To complete the series on “Old Salts,” Stancil and Baxter found “The Historian.” He is Dr. David Cecelski, an exceptional storyteller who hails from Harlowe, technically outside the “boundaries” of Down East, but it's a community that shares many of the same rural beliefs and customs.

Dr. Cecelski told Stancil: “I believe with all my heart that there are some things worth fighting for, and our coast is one of them.”

 There are more stories to share.

Let’s dig up treasures for a renewed U.S. 70 branding effort

Someone needs to revitalize U.S. Route 70’s identity as “America’s Treasure Trail,” an east-west highway connecting seven states on a corridor from North Carolina to Arizona.

 

Established in 1926 as a federal highway, U.S. 70 is observing a centennial celebration of sorts in 2026, attracting the attention of nostalgic road trippers.

North Carolina could leverage its colorful connectivity with images of pirates and their gleaming treasure chests overflowing with gold, silver, diamonds and other huge, sparkling gemstones. Arrghh!

Let it be known to all…far and wide…the only part of the entire Route 70 that is designated as a National Scenic Byway is the section of the highway that runs through Down East Carteret County.

 

Follow the signs to the “Outer Banks National Scenic Byway” that are posted along the roadside of Route 70 East just a little way beyond East Carteret High School north of Beaufort.

 

The highway rolls on Down East through the small communities of Bettie, Otway, Smyrna, Williston, Davis, Stacy and Sea Level. 

On the map, Route 70 officially terminates in Atlantic at the intersection with School Drive.

 

The pavement continues as Seashore Drive for several blocks and dead ends at the marina on Little Port Brook.

 

Atlantic is about the lowest point along the entire Route 70. The elevation here ranges from 0 to about 16 feet. Approximately 540 people presently reside in Atlantic.

During the early 1700s, these offshore waters were the playground of Blackbeard, the fearsome and notorious pirate. Surely, there are some of his treasures buried around here somewhere.

 

So, it makes perfect sense to rely heavily on pirates to help reinvigorate North Carolina’s section of “America’s Treasure Trail” – the brand for U.S. Route 70 that was selected in 1951…but seems to have unfortunately “just faded away” over time.

Globe, Ariz. – the western terminus of Route 70 – was once a wild and wooly western frontier town with gunslingers, outlaws, saloons, prospectors, cowboys and cattle rustlers. A local landmark is Six Shooter Canyon.

 

Journalist Alicia Durette puts Globe in the top 11 “Old Western Towns in Arizona.” 

“Arizona used to be the ultimate example of the Wild Wild West, where lawlessness reigned,” she said.

This is rich. Pairing North Carolina’s pirates with characters from Arizona’s Wild West seems like a “natural attraction” to truly restore the aura of U.S. 70 as “America’s Treasure Trail.”

It gets even better when we add to the mix the Native American heritage, as represented by the Mescalero Apache Tribe. 

Route 70 passes through the Mescalero Apache Reservation within Lincoln County, N.M., along the Apache Summit, at an elevation of approximately 7,600 feet within the Sierra Blanca Mountains. The highest peak in the range is 11,980 feet above sea level.

Another noteworthy feature is that between Alamagorda and Las Cruces, N.M., Route 70 crosses a section of the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range. (It is the nation’s largest military installation, encompassing almost 3,200 square miles stretching across six counties.)

 

Motorists traveling on Route 70 there can expect temporary roadblocks and closures (typically between one to two hours in length) during active missile testing and military operations.

 

The largest city served by Route 70 is Nashville, Tenn., with a population of about 726,590.

 

Surely, we could find a songwriter there to compose a country music ballad about “Scenic 70/America’s Treasure Trail.”

 

Or…we might just leave it up to Jason Nutt, a singer/songwriter from Floydada, Texas, another community located on Route 70. 

In fact, his band is named Jason Nutt & Highway 70. Ever heard of the group?

 

Yet, there’s plenty of musical talent right here in Carteret County – folks who could compose the perfect melody.

“Seventy” is a tough rhyming word for a lyricist. “Heavenly” comes close. So does “pleasantry.”