Hear ye: US Route 70 deserves some respect

US Route 66 shouldn’t get to have all the fun. 

US Route 70 deserves some love as well.

While national publicity has been directed toward the revitalization of a “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” campaign, it’s important to note that both highways are observing their 100-year anniversary this year.

 

Each route was among the original “numbered-U.S. highways” that were authorized on Nov. 11, 1926, by the newly established U.S. Highway System. 

(The map showing US Route 70 is shown below.)

 

Kudos to the I-42/US 70 Corridor Commission for adopting a formal Resolution of Appreciation on Sept. 22, recognizing the historical significance of US Route 70 as one of the nation’s longest and scenic east-west transcontinental highways.

The I-42/US 70 Corridor Commission is a public/private partnership that was founded 20 years ago (in 2006) by key government and business leaders from five counties (Carteret, Craven, Johnston, Lenoir and Wayne) to advocate for the conversion of the 140-mile corridor from Raleigh to Morehead City into interstate-quality freeway.

 

The commission’s executive director Durwood Stephenson said: “Our organization wanted to be among the first to go on record in support of celebrating US Route 70’s centennial year, because the eastern terminus of the highway is in our own backyard – in Atlantic, an historic fishing village in the Down East section of Carteret County.”

“It’s an opportunity to reflect on US Route 70’s rich heritage and scenic beauty, while also showcasing the improvements and upgrades that are propelling us forward as we transition to I-42.” (Presently, nearly 32 miles are officially signed as I-42.)

 

Traveling the full length of US Route 70, about 2,385 miles from Atlantic in Carteret County to Globe, Ariz., is a “bucket-list adventure” for many travelers during the highway’s centennial year.

 

Sources say that “US Route 70 is well known amongst motorcycle and bicycle enthusiasts as the preferred transcontinental highway.”

The North Carolina portion of US Route 70 drapes across the breadth of the state, from east to west, like a 488-mile jeweled necklace.

Traveling west from Atlantic, motorists quickly encounter a stretch of US Route 70 that is contained within the “Outer Banks National Scenic Byway” and includes the villages of Sea Level, Masontown, Stacy, Davis, Williston, Smyrna, Otway and Bettie. 

(Perhaps this is the only section of the entire US Route 70 corridor that is part of the National Scenic Byway network.)

 

We’re all fairly familiar with the “US Route 70 highlights” that exist between Beaufort and Clayton in Johnston County, but continuing eastward into Raleigh, known as the “City of Oaks,” motorists will discover two functioning carousels. 

One is at Pullen Park (shown above) near the North Carolina State University campus. The other is at John Chavis Memorial Park (shown below) near Shaw University.

 

Moving on, Durham is the site of Bennett Place, an old farmhouse that was the location of “the largest surrender of Confederate soldiers in the Civil War.”

 

It is here that Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston peacefully hammered out the terms of surrender. 

The Confederate soldiers formally laid down their arms on April 26, 1865, ending the war for 89,270 Rebel troops who were still fighting in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The Sarah P. Duke Gardens, on the Duke University campus in Durham, is ranked as one of the top 10 public gardens in the country.

 

Another top attraction is the Duke Lemur Center, which is a world leader in the study, care and protection of lemurs – considered to be the world’s most threatened group of mammals. 

More than 200 lemurs live within the center, one of the most diverse collections of lemurs found outside their native Madagascar.

Lima beans came ashore on America’s West Coast

Big juicy lima beans have been on America’s vegetable plate for nearly 160 years. Tasty and plump, these beans were introduced to the New World in the late 1860s, arriving in Santa Barbara, Calif., on a ship from South America.

 

Local farmer Robert McAlister took 10 pounds of the beans off the incoming vessel when it docked and planted seeds in his garden. 

The yield was so successful that ranchers from all over the fertile Oxnard Plain came to see the new bean. McAlister was generous with the seed, and many other plots were sown with equally good results.

 

Horticulturist Henry Fish began experimenting with lima beans on his ranch in nearby Carpinteria, Calif. The plantings thrived due to the rich soil and foggy summers, and the Henry Fish Seed Company was born.

Fish wrote to several seedsmen who came to examine his beans. In 1908, the W. Atlee Burpee Company (Burpee Seeds) offered the best price. 

The company had been formed in 1878 by Washington Atlee Burpee of Philadelphia, Pa. He dropped out of medical school at age 18 to breed and sell farm animals as well as seed products.

 

By 1888, the family’s Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, Pa., was transformed into an experimental research station to test and evaluate new varieties of vegetables and flowers as well as produce seeds.

 

One of Burpee’s most famous items was his lima beans, which he named as Fordhooks.

 

Atlee Burpee seized on a new retail idea, the mail-order catalog. Light and compact, seeds were perfectly suited for postal deliveries to rural America.

Since most of Atlee Burpee’s customers were farmers rather than home gardeners, he named his catalog “Burpee’s Farm Annual.” Soon, Atlee Burpee was running the world’s fastest-growing mail-order seed company.

 

He soon extended distribution to include “market gardeners, florists, farmers’ clubs and extension service agents.” Burpee personally wrote most of the copy for his catalogs. Burpee set up an advertising department and offered cash prizes for the best advertisements to promote “Burpee Seeds Grow.”

The 1891 catalog was the first to feature engravings made from photographs, and this changed the whole industry, as hand-drawn illustrations in catalogs disappeared. 

In another break with tradition, Burpee printed testimonial letters from growers.

Writing for NPR, journalist D. Cameron Lawrence of Louisville, Ky., said lima beans were on her “childhood list of despised foods – bulbous, starchy and bland…green lumps staring back from the school cafeteria tray.”

Now, as a grown-up, she said: “Limas are…often, the star of a meal. They’re easy to fix with just a bit of olive oil, margarine or butter, salt and pepper. I like their heft as a side dish, meaty little bundles that complement lighter fare.”

 

“These little beans are nutrition powerhouses, packing protein, fiber, iron, manganese, folate, thiamin, potassium and other nutrients into a modest calorie count, with just a speck of fat and no cholesterol,” Lawrence wrote.

 

“Fordhooks are large and pale green. Baby limas are not immature Fordhooks but a separate variety that are smaller, less starchy and more delicate tasting.” In fact, baby lima beans are about half the Fordhooks’ size.

 

“Other varieties come in many shades besides the common cream or green color, including red, purple, brown, black and the speckled ones,” Lawrence said. “Many of these, like the festive Christmas lima, are heirloom varieties. The Christmas bean is cream-colored with maroon mottling and has a flavor reminiscent of chestnuts.”

 

We just missed it. The Pinson (Ala.) Butterbean Days, a big two-day event (near Birmingham), was the first weekend in October.

 

But, mark your calendar, National Lima Bean Day is coming up on April 20.

What’s your pick: Butter beans or lima beans?

Which vegetable do you prefer: butter beans or lima beans? Truth be known…your vote doesn’t amount “to a hill of beans,” because they are one and the same.

How can that be? Butter beans are “a true Southern dish,” whereas lima beans are grown in…Delaware.

‘Tis true, but the ultimate authority on this matter is L.H. Hayward and Company of New Orleans, La., the 103-year-old family business that owns the legendary Camellia brand of dried beans, peas and lentils – the market segment leader.

 

Founder Lucius Hamilton Hayward Jr. started selling dry red beans by the pound in the historic French Market in New Orleans. He named the brand Camellia after the favorite flower of his wife, Bessie Bonner Hart Hayward. 

The Hayward webmaster states: “There’s really no difference between butter beans and lima beans…our ‘Large Lima Beans’ packaging actually states ‘Butter Beans’ in parentheses, just to clarify.”

 

“Younger green-hued beans are often called ‘Green Baby Limas’ and are more tender than their larger counterparts. Despite that, all varieties come from the same plant. Whether you prefer to call them butter beans or lima beans is a result of your own geographical traditions and how your family and friends refer to them.”

 

“Regardless, these tasty beauties have been a Southern staple for generations,” according to the Hayward webmaster. “They’re high in fiber, super hearty and offer a deliciously creamy, velvety, buttery flavor. If prepared right, they offer a lush creamy goodness encased and embraced by a firmer, shape-holding skin.”

Buttery flavored beans just lend themselves to being named butter beans, said Hannah Skinner of Los Angeles, a contributor to Mashed.com. 

Lima beans originated centuries ago in Lima, Peru. Over time, the pronunciation of lima bean changed from LEE-mah to LYE-mah.)

In the music and entertainment world, “Lima Beans” came first. The jump blues song was written and performed in 1951 by Eddy Ware, a native of Birmingham, Ala. He was working in Chicago at the time as a pianist, singer and bandleader.

 

Mostly an upbeat saxophone-laden instrumental, Ware contributes limited lyrics, including:

When I was a young’un in my teens / My mouth used to water for lima beans.

Whenever I had a few cents in my jeans / I’d spend it all on lima beans.

Sweet beans, sweet beans, lima beans… / My mouth keeps waterin’ for the lima beans.

The county music novelty song “Butter Beans” followed in 1965, written by Charles D. Colvin and sung by Bob Cain of Hartselle, Ala. Cain was a vocalist, trumpeter, bandleader and supper club owner in Birmingham, Ala. 

Here’s a slice of the lyrics:

Pass the cornbread if you please / I don’t want no collard greens / All I want is a bowl of butter beans.

Just a piece of country ham / Pass the butter and the jam… / And some more o’ them good ol’ butter beans.

Red eye gravy is all right / Turnip sandwich a delight / But my children all still scream / For another bowl of butter beans.

When they lay my bones to rest / Place no roses upon my chest / Plant no blooming evergreens / All I want is a bowl of butter beans.

Any way you serve them, butter beans/lima beans are an excellent source of protein, fiber, iron, and B vitamins and qualify as a low-fat, low-calorie food.

 

Chef Ed Hennessy of the culinary arts department at Delaware Technical Community College in Dover, said garden-fresh butter beans are unbeatable, but they’re available for only about a two-month window (August and September).

 “They’re fine frozen, too, if you treat them right,” Hennessy said. “You thaw them in the refrigerator, and just sauté them to order, with bacon or onion and black pepper.”

 

“If you boil them when they’re rock hard, you lose some nutrients, and you’re likely to overcook them.”