Neese family racks up a century of ‘sausage success’

North Carolina excels in “sausage supremacy,” according to Thom Duncan, a writer in Charlotte. He’s on a personal treasure hunt to find “swine finery.”

He is zooming in, having narrowed his search to sausages that are produced by small businesses and independent farmers all across North Carolina.

Duncan suggests: “Find your dream sausage” at places like Neese’s Country Sausage of Greensboro, founded in 1917 by the family of James Theodore “Thede” Neese. He sold home-made sausage out of the back of his “prairie schooner” covered wagon, driving the streets of Greensboro and High Point.

Thede Neese developed a loyal customer base, by offering “just the right proportions” of pork cuts – Boston butts, hams, shoulders, loins and tenderloins – with salt, sage, pepper and a few ingredients that only family members know about,” Duncan said.

No chemical preservatives, such as nitrates, nitrites or monosodium glutamate (MSG), or meat additives or fillers are found in Neese’s sausage products.

The familiar rectangular blocks of pork sausage wrapped in butcher paper have sustained the Neese family business for 103 years now.

 “That’s how meat looked when people bought it from a butcher, when our great-granddad (Thede) sold it,” says Tommy Neese III, who is from the fourth generation of Neeses to lead the organization. He and his sister, Andrea Neese, are listed as co-presidents.

Their father, Tom Neese Jr., now well into his 80s, continues to be involved in the business, as Neese’s CEO.

“Dad has always kept us ‘within our box,’ making sausage,” Tommy said.

The company’s marketing territory includes North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, three states that consume great quantities of fresh pork sausage products.

Tom Jr. sets the tone; he begins each day by walking to the back of the plant and talking to every single employee. “He’s always done that,” Tommy said.

Tom Jr. also ensures that on most days, there’s “a batch of cooked sausage sitting in the break room for employees to sample,” wrote J. Brian Ewing for Southern Living magazine.

“If there’s anything wrong with it, they’ll let you know,” Tom Jr. says. “We’ve cooked up some of our competitors’ sausage with our own and set it in there without saying anything, and we had people come right in and say, ‘Something’s not right with some of that sausage.’”

Tom Jr. says his favorite sandwich is Neese’s liver pudding with tomato pressed between two slices of white bread, slathered with Duke’s mayonnaise. The original Neese’s liver pudding recipe was introduced by his grandmother, Annie Smith Neese (wife of Thede).

In the 1920s, she ground up pork livers and other choice pork cuts and seasoned them with herbs and spices, adding just enough cornmeal to hold it together. Thede sold a heck of a lot of blocks of liver pudding from the back of his wagon.

Dr. Dana Hanson, an associate professor in North Carolina State University, is a connoisseur of cured meats. He explains that liver pudding and liver mush are closely related, and may “even attend the same family reunion.”

“However, suggesting they are meaty equals would invoke debate,” Dr. Hanson said. Eastern North Carolina prefers liver pudding, using coarsely ground cornmeal. The western part of the states opts for liver mush, which uses a finely ground cornmeal and wheat flour mix.

Either way, Neese’s is there at the meat counter with Neese’s brands of both liver pudding and liver mush as well as other cousins – chitlin loaf, souse and scrapple. Try them all.

What’s for Dinner? Fried Catfish and the Fixin’s!

Fried catfish is more than just another Southern food – it pairs with fried chicken to form a delicious blend of “creek and coop” (a good-eatin’ alternative to “surf and turf.”)

Give credit to Hannah Hayes, a former editor at Southern Living magazine, for making the connection.

She said frying catfish is trickier than frying chicken. If it’s prepared poorly, catfish “can taste swampy and greasy, but cooked well, it can make the difference in turning a catfish loather into a lover.”

The late Craig Claiborne, who was a revered food editor and restaurant critic for the New York Times, was born in Sunflower, Miss. He once wrote:

“Like most Southerners, I adore catfish. Eating deep-fried catfish was a ritual (for Sunday outings) and the menu was always the same: cornmeal-coated catfish with its golden-brown crusty exterior and moist white inner flesh; deep-fried hush puppies; deep-fried potatoes; and coleslaw.”

“Now that catfish are being raised in fresh water ponds,” he said, “they are available frozen all over the country and can be used in any recipe calling for a white non-oily fish. Even after freezing and defrosting, catfish remain snow white and as firm as when taken from the water.”

Willard Scott, the retired weatherman from NBC’s “The Today Show,” once said: “If I go down for anything in history, I would like to be known as the person who convinced the American people that catfish is one of the finest eating fishes in the world.”

North Carolina Is A Catfish Paradise

Mary Syrett of Raleigh, a freelance outdoor writer, says catfish are as much fun to catch as they are to eat…if you know the right “fishing holes,” and “North Carolina is a catfish paradise.”

The tactic of these tasty freshwater fish is to hug the bottom of rivers and reservoirs, thereby staying largely under the radar, Syrett said.

“Channel catfish are found in most North Carolina rivers and lakes. While not much to look at, they always put up a good fight and make for delicious eating,” she said.

Prime rivers to pursue catfish include the Cape Fear, Roanoke, Tar, Neuse and Yadkin.

Sausage amusements on ‘pause’…but swine dining continues

Baseball fans are missing the joy of the “Famous Racing Sausages,” the five big-headed sausage mascots of the Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball team. They normally run a footrace during home games.

Here are brief biographies of the contestants who entertain the kids at the ball park and promote the food and drink concessionaires:

Bratwurst “Brat” came to the Brewers from Germany. He is intimidating to the other participants with his muscular physique. Brat relishes his aggressive approach to racing.

Polish Sausage came to Milwaukee after years of coaching cross-country in the hills of Warsaw, Poland. His race style is “slow starts but strong finishes.”

Italian Sausage is suave, making everything look easy. Most times, he doesn’t even break a sweat, sneaking out of the pack and into the lead of countless sausage races.

Hot Dog is an All-American favorite of both the young and old. People cannot help but love Hot Dog; his happy-go-lucky personality brings smiles to the faces in the crowd.

Chorizo Sausage spent many years training and racing throughout Central America. Fans love the strong and spicy kick he gives to running, his sombrero and his salsa dancing warm-up routine.

 Bad news from across the pond: The 2020 United Kingdom Sausage Week in October has been stricken from the schedule because of the ongoing impact of Covid-19.

Organizers of the annual “celebration of the great British banger” said: “We will take a gap year and resume for the autumn of 2021.”

Banger? The British press tells us that “banger” is a slang term for “sausage.” It seems that during World War II, the sausages had a lot of water in them because of the scarcity of meat. As a result, they used to explode, or ‘bang’ in the pan.”

We’re fortunate in North Carolina, for here, every day is “Sausage Day” – whether it’s part of breakfast or served as a banquet entrée.

Sausage was not invented in the American South, but it was perfected here.

Sausage originated about 4,000 years ago in the Mesopotamia region of western Asia, but the food is now consumed worldwide, according to Linda Rodriguez McRobbie of Atlas Obscura, an online travel magazine.

“Sausage was created by hunters to make use of every little piece of meat, so nothing is wasted,” explained Gary Allen, author of “Sausages: A Global History.”

Sausages may not be on the top of the list of today’s “healthy food” options, but Allen says: “If I give up sausages, I may live five years longer…but that would be five long years of being deprived of sausages.”

The rallying cry at Black Rock Bar & Grill, based in Michigan and now operating in five states, is: “Save the vegetables, eat more sausage! Sliced andouille sausage…served sizzling hot on our 755-degree volcanic stone.”

Thom Duncan, a freelance writer from Charlotte, is a huge fan of Southern sausage. If he could write a love song to sausage, it would be “a ballad of salty roasted pig parts. Sausage is remarkably simple. Fat, salt, meat, herbs; that’s all there is.”

Savor the aroma of Duncan’s grandfather “using the side of a beat-up spatula, gently rolling sausage links in a cast-iron pan, determined to caramelize the entire surface area of the link, in the quest for pork perfection.”

In North Carolina, nobody puts “better pig parts together better” than the family folks at Neese’s Country Sausage of Greensboro, which has been in business for 103 years…and has a loyal customer base in eastern North Carolina.

Historic preservation adds to Beaufort’s ‘quality of life’

Small town charm oozes from every pore in Beaufort, N.C., and historic preservation is a virtue within this community.

The late William J. Murtagh, who was the first keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, is credited with having once said: “Preservation engages the past in a conversation with the present over a mutual concern for the future.”

One focal point for discourse on public art in Beaufort is Town Hall. The building enjoyed a glamourous first life as the village post office. In the lobby are four murals that were hung in 1940. The paintings were funded through a massive public art project introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.

It was one of the “New Deal” economic stimulus plans to help create work for artists during the Great Depression…and beautify public buildings, chiefly post offices.

Beaufort got a modern, new postal facility on the northern edge of town in 2010. Townspeople fretted over what would become of the charming, old post office…and its famed murals, painted by Russian-born artist Simka Simkhovitch.

The town government stepped up, in need for more office space itself. A deal was struck. The town agreed to buy the building in 2011, and the murals would remain intact.

One of Simkhovitch’s murals memorializes the giant Cape Lookout Lighthouse that dates back to 1859. Its signal was visible 18 miles out to sea as the light revolved. The lighthouse is, far and away, the most iconic emblem that speaks to Carteret County’s maritime heritage and culture.

The connectivity grew even stronger when Beaufort officials forged a partnership with the National Park Service to share space at town hall, thereby creating Cape Lookout National Seashore’s Visitor Information Center in Beaufort.

We thank folks like Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed & Breakfast in Williamston, N.C., for recommending her guests consider a daytrip to Beaufort to see the murals.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) had a bright idea in April 2019 to produce a series of five “Post Office Murals” Forever stamps, featuring murals painted about 80 years ago. The stamps seemed to be a big hit with consumers.

The headliner was “Airmail,” a mural painted by Daniel Rhodes, a native Iowan, that hangs in the post office in Piggott, Ark., a city of about 4,000 people in the upper northeast corner of the state near Missouri.

The painting shows a local letter carrier helping pilots load bags of mail onto their plane, representing “postal employees’ continuing commitment to serving our customers and communities across the United States,” said Pat Mendonca of the USPS.

Piggott was chartered in 1891 and named after Dr. James A. Piggott, one of the early settlers and “initiator of the local post office.”

Interestingly, four of the post office murals selected to become stamps in 2019 were from states west of the Mississippi River. How geographically correct is that?

In addition to Piggott, Ark, the western locales are: Anadarko, Okla.; Florence, Colo.; and Deming, N.M. The only eastern municipality represented is Rockville, Md.

(Photo by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed and Breakfast, Williamston, N.C.)

Perhaps the USPS would consider a second series? Chloe Tuttle has great photos of two Beaufort murals that would be great candidates – “Sand Ponies” and “Goose Decoys.”

Simkhovitch painted a grouping of three of the wild horses he saw roaming freely over the “sand dunes and marshes of Beaufort in great numbers.” He also painted four full-body decoys, posing as Canadian geese with a fish net drying in the background.

Both scenes “depict the importance of the water and maritime life to the local economy,” commented Beaufort historian and artist Mary Warshaw.

Beaufort Town Hall is ‘art appreciation destination’

For 80 years, the public art on display inside the building on the corner of Front and Pollock streets in Beaufort, N.C., has remained relatively overlooked and undetected by visitors to this seaside town.

Within the lobby of the Beaufort Town Hall are four jumbo-sized murals depicting Carteret County’s rich maritime heritage. They were hung in 1940 and painted by Simka Simkhovitch.

He was a famous artist who had moved to America from Russia in 1924 at age 39 and became U.S. citizen. His painting style was described as “contemporary impressionism.” Go see for yourself.

Town Hall formerly was Beaufort’s post office. As such, the building was “eligible” for one of the “art projects” associated with the “New Deal,” which were rolled out under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Within the U.S. Treasury, a “Section of Fine Arts” was created in 1938. Its purpose was “to secure for the government the best art” that the “country is capable of producing…for the decoration of federally owned structures and hundreds of post offices around the country.”

The project was also viewed “as a relief measure to sustain about 10,000 artists and artisans” by providing them with work.

Wiley Higgins Taylor Sr. became Beaufort’s postmaster in 1933. He was a “mover and shaker” within the town. Soon, work began to construct an expansive new post office building to replace the small one that existed in the downtown district.

Taylor asked for some of that New Deal artwork money to come to Beaufort, so he could hang original paintings on the walls of his new post office building. It had just opened in 1937. Uncle Sam said “yes.”

Taylor wanted Simkhovitch. The postmaster offered him $1,900 to take the job. Deal.

The government required each artist to visit the host community and select a theme “appropriate to the tastes and interests of the public who will use that building.”

Wiley Taylor was born on a farm in Bettie and worked on the mailboat that traveled from Beaufort to Ocracoke. Taylor’s Down East Carteret County roots are clearly reflected in Simkhovitch’s four paintings.

His main mural is a scene from the rescue efforts associated with wreck of the Crissie Wright. The three-masted schooner ran ashore off Shackleford near Wade Shore on a bitterly cold night – Jan. 11, 1886.

Whaling crews prepared to go out, but mountainous waves prevented them from launching their boats.

“They built a large fire on shore to signal the Crissie Wright’s crew of six that they would come to the rescue when nature so obliged,” said Carteret County historian Rodney Kemp.

Two men were swept overboard and lost at sea. The next day, the rescuers attempted to save the other four. All but one perished. The crew is memorialized with a marker in Beaufort’s Old Burying Ground.

“The Crissie Wright is historically significant, because the publicity from this tragic event helped encourage the building of U.S. Life-Saving Stations in Carteret County, beginning in 1888,” Kemp said.

(Photo by Chloe Tuttle of Big Mill Bed and Breakfast, Williamston, N.C.)

A second Simkhovitch mural shows the mailboat, the Orville G, approaching the diamond-studded Cape Lookout Lighthouse under a threatening sky. The mailboat also carried freight and passengers, and was a way of life well into the 1950s.

Viewing the painting, one can sense the rocking sensation of the wooden boat, straining to trudge through rough waves to reach the lighthouse, which appears to be an island at sea.

About 35 post offices in North Carolina were included in the “New Deal” paintings project, but Beaufort may be the only place that got four paintings.

Right whales are on the brink of extinction

Marine scientists are worried that North Atlantic right whales, now an endangered species, could become extinct – due to human activities that interfere with the whales’ natural habitat.

Much has been written about the effects that seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast has on marine life. The testing is associated with the exploration process of determining if there are sufficient offshore reservoirs of oil and gas to justify drilling into the ocean floor.

This isn’t a new or easy issue. It’s been an ongoing tug of war. On one end of the rope are scientists who are aligned with environmental groups; at the other end are energy industry lobbyists who represent investors who envision dollar signs bobbing on the ocean surface.

Let’s just suppose, however, that a coalition of 28 marine scientists is correct in its assessment that underwater seismic blasting is gravely harmful to the health of right whales…perhaps even lethal.

These researchers sounded the alarm in 2016 that loud noises cause stress to right whales. They said: “The additional stress of widespread seismic surveys may well represent a tipping point for the survival of this endangered whale, contributing significantly to a decline toward extinction.”

(North Carolina is well-represented among the group of 28 scientists. Five professors affiliated with universities in the state are included. Three are associated with the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, and two are from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.)

Researchers at the National Marine Fisheries Service, a unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (also known as NOAA Fisheries) estimate the entire North Atlantic right whale population is about 400.

The situation is dire, however, because adult right whales are dying at a greater rate than females are birthing calves, according to a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson.

“Right whales communicate using low-frequency moans, groans and pulses. Scientists suspect that these calls are used to maintain contact between individuals, communicate threats, signal aggression” or make social conversation, said a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson.

“Underwater noise pollution interrupts the normal behavior of right whales and interferes with their communication,” the spokesperson stated.

Todd Miller, executive director at North Carolina Coastal Federation, has said: “Seismic testing and offshore drilling are incompatible with our coast in North Carolina. There’s never a window that would be a good time for seismic testing to happen.”

NOAA Fisheries says: “In the spring, summer and into early fall, right whales can be found in waters off New England and Canada, where they feed and mate.”

“Each fall, the whales travel from these northern feeding grounds to the shallow, coastal waters of the southeastern United States…the only known calving area for the species.”

NOAA Fisheries researchers recently released these findings:

The normal lifespan of right whales used to be 70 years. Now, females are only living about 45 years while males live to about age 65.

Female right whales become sexually mature at about age 10. They give birth to a single calf after a year-long pregnancy. Three to four years was considered a normal or healthy interval between calving events. But now, on average, females are having calves every 6 to 10 years.

In the last three calving seasons (2017-19), there were only 22 births, about one-third of the average annual birth rate.

Clearly, something has gone wrong with our right whales. Do the people and the government have a responsibility to protect endangered species?

The National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest conservation organization, which has been around since 1936, says: “Yes.”

N.C.’s ‘Elevator Queen’ prepares for final ride

One wonders: How much it will cost the taxpayers of North Carolina to elect a new Commissioner of Labor this fall?

At last count, there were some 28,000 elevators in the state that display the photograph of the current Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry on the safety inspection certificate of operation; it’s a required posting in each elevator car.

Berry, a Republican from Catawba County, chose not to seek reelection this fall and is retiring from public service after occupying the labor commissioner’s office for 20 years. She was first elected to the post in 2000.

In November, voters will choose between State Rep. Josh Dobson, a Republican from McDowell County, and Jessica Holmes, a Democrat from Wake County. The new commissioner will surely want to reprint and reinstall all the elevator certificates.

The outcome of the election may hinge on who vows to spend the least to put his or her face out there to greet elevator passengers and tell them: “Have a nice day.”

To many citizens, including Caleb Pressley of Asheville, a 27-year-old humorist, Cherie Berry, is a dagnabbit-it-all contemporary icon, “even a supermodel with perfectly manicured hair, trendy glasses and a contagious smile.”

Pressley contends: “Riding in an elevator can be a very stressful and terrifying experience. It’s as if she is riding along to provide comfort and assurance that everything is going to be OK.” (She also warns people that she’s watching them to make sure they don’t do anything in an elevator that their mothers would not approve of.)

Cherie’s first name is officially pronounced as “sha REE,” taken from the French phrase “mon chéri,” meaning “darling, dearest.”

Raven McCorkle, a 2020 graduate of Wake Forest University, wrote: “When you see Cherie Berry’s face in the elevator, and you think about how much you’d hate to take the stairs, of course, you start to feel indebted to her. I mean, the woman practically invented the elevator (well, not really, but she invented putting her picture in all of them; that’s practically the same thing).”

“Commissioner Berry has a cult following,” McCorkle said, “and she is loved all across North Carolina. There are songs about her, T-shirts emblazoned with her image with the words ‘She Lifts Me Up.’”

Cherie Berry’s rise to fame began during her first term as commissioner; an aide suggested there was space on the certificate poster to include a small photograph along with the commissioner’s signature. He said: “People need to know there’s a real person who is concerned for their health and safety.”

A black-and-white portrait debuted on the certificate document in 2005. After Berry’s fourth reelection in 2016, the Department of Labor upgraded the equipment at its in-house print shop, reported Kate Elizabeth Queram of the Greensboro News & Record.

“As a result, the newest elevator photo (the third iteration) shows Berry in full color, sporting a platinum bob and a red blazer.”

It’s not just the face. Berry’s signature is not only readable, her penmanship is beautiful, noted Corriher. She asked Berry: “How long did it take you to perfect the signature we see in the elevators?”

Berry replied: “About two seconds. Somebody said, ‘We need your signature here,’ and I said, ‘OK, here it is!’”

Gary D. Robertson of the Associated Press asked Berry about her decision not to run for a sixth term. She cited Rita Coolidge’s song from 1979: “I’d Rather Leave While I’m In Love.” “Yes, I believe it’s best to leave while I’m in love.”

An ‘old friend’ comes to visit every month

North Carolina’s Our State magazine sells more than 200,000 copies each month, making it the second largest “statewide magazine” in the nation. Only Texas Monthly has a greater circulation.

Bernie Mann, Our State president and publisher, said 2019 was the best year ever for the magazine. “We’re growing while others around us are losing ground.”

Robert C. Lopez, writing for the Greenboro (N.C) News & Record, observed that “times are tough for print media as eyeballs and advertising dollars move to the Internet.” He interviewed Dr. Samir Husni of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, a noted consultant in the magazine industry.

“The secret for the success of Our State is the content and the relationship (Mann and his team) have developed with readers and advertisers,” Dr. Husni told Lopez. “If you flip through the pages, you can feel the human touch in the magazine. It feels like an old friend coming to visit. It’s jumping at you to create a conversation.”

Mann said: “People live in a place like New Jersey, but they don’t love New Jersey in the same way that people in North Carolina love where they live. What we want to do in the magazine is reflect that pride.”

Mann, 84, grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved to North Carolina in 1965. He spent most of his career in radio. Basically, Mann was a fixer-upper guy. He would buy a weak station, build it up, then sell it, and then do it again somewhere else. His company, Mann Media Inc., eventually diversified into publishing.

When Shaw Publishing Company in Charlotte put Our State – then known as The State: Down Home in North Carolina – up for sale in 1996, Mann bought it.

One of his first moves was to change the name from The State to Our State. Mann said the word “our” is warmer, more inclusive and more suited to the publication.

“We added color throughout the magazine, which served to highlight the beauty of our state,” Mann said. “We searched for the best writers and photographers to enhance the quality of our content.”

The iconic Cape Lookout Lighthouse graces the cover of Our State

To get people’s attention, “you’ve got to start by creating a great product,” he said. “You can never, ever let anything happen to deteriorate that product. Every month you’ve got to produce a great magazine, and each new issue needs to be better than the last.”

The normal range for magazines is to run about 50/50 in their editorial/advertising ratio. Mann said Our State aims for 60/40, but sometimes it becomes 70/30. He is adamant about not sacrificing the quality of content in the magazine.

A subtle change in the magazine occurred in the November 2015 issue. The official name of the publication became Our State: Celebrating North Carolina. How true. Indeed, each issue celebrates the happenings and heritage of a progressive, dynamic North Carolina.

“I’m fortunate to be doing something I love,” Mann said. “I’ve collected a staff of terrific people. I love watching them do terrific things.”

He said he never grows tired of meeting folks on the street and hearing them say: “Oh, I love Our State.”

“When you can get people to say they love something, that’s strong. I use the same toothpaste twice a day,” Mann said, “and I don’t even know the name of it. There are very few inanimate objects that people will truly say they love. If you can get that love brand going, boy, that’s something.”

Isn’t that the dagnabbit truth?

What if all the news ‘that’s fit to print’ were positive?

What makes Our State magazine unique as a publication is that each and every article and photograph is a positive statement about North Carolina’s “people, places, heritage, folklore, food and atmosphere.”

That’s exactly what you see and what you get each month on the pages of Our State, said Bernie Mann, the magazine’s 84-year-old president and publisher.

Mann explains: “I am not in the content or information business. I am in the beauty business. We produce something that is so beautiful that people keep it, put it on their coffee table and save it.”

These are Down East Carteret County crab pot Christmas trees.

Dr. Samir Husni of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, who is a well-known consultant in the magazine publishing industry, said Mann believes Our State can “be an oasis” – where you pick up the magazine “and have 2.5 to 3 hours of unadulterated pleasure.”

Dr. Husni commented that Our State “is one of the most successful state and regional magazines in the country today. It is a thriving, living and captivating magazine that can teach lessons on how an ink-on-paper magazine can thrive in today’s digital age.”

“Mann practices what he preaches, and he preaches what he practices,” Dr. Husni wrote. “Mann is fond of saying: ‘If you like North Carolina, you will love Our State magazine.’ Yes indeed.”

Mann said: “We never have a negative word. That’s why we don’t review restaurants. We review five books a month, but if we don’t like the book, we don’t run the review.”

“North Carolinians are very proud of where they live. What we try to do is let them see their own state in the most positive light.”

Our State was born as The State: A Weekly Survey of North Carolina in Raleigh in 1933, during Great Depression, by Carl Goerch of Tarrytown, N.Y. He had moved to eastern North Carolina in 1916 and was employed as an editor at various newspapers, located in Washington, New Bern and Wilson.

In 1951, Goerch sold the magazine to Bill Sharpe, an esteemed journalist who was the State of North Carolina’s first director of advertising, marketing and tourism promotion. He was appointed in 1937 by Gov. Clyde Roark Hoey and retained by the three governors who followed – J. Melville Broughton, R. Gregg Cherry and W. Kerr Scott.

News media historian Jack Hilliard of Greensboro said Sharpe believed “North Carolina people live in the most fascinating places, do the most ingenious things, have the most incredible experiences, catch the most outlandish fish and invent the most fantastic instruments.”

Sharpe changed the magazine’s name in December 1952 to The State: Down Home in North Carolina. He moved the publication to an “every other week” production schedule in 1954 and hired W. B. (Bill) Wright as his advertising manager. Upon Sharpe’s death in 1970, Wright assumed control. The State became a monthly magazine in January 1973.

In 1984, Wright noted that “the magazine hadn’t changed a great deal over the years, and therein might lie an explanation to its success.”

The first three publishers – Goerch, Sharpe and Wright – were also smart enough to publish photographs by Grandfather Mountain’s Hugh Morton about as fast as Morton could shoot and process film.

Things began to change when Wright sold The State in 1987 to Shaw Publishing Company of Charlotte.

Bernie Mann would enter into the picture in 1996, buying the magazine and moving his new “family business” to Greensboro.