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36° 22′ 55″ N   75° 56′ 06″ W

I am so excited to share with you my first blog post. Our recent move to the rural outskirts of the Outer Banks of North Carolina has been an interesting transition. To say it’s quiet here is an understatement. It is a far cry from my Margaretville days on the Gulf of Mexico or either of my previous lives in NYC or Delaware. The serenity and beauty here are something to behold. It is truly spectacular in a way that is distinct to anything I have seen before. The summer has been HOT – I am looking forward to the break of fall to explore beyond the tourist beaches. As the days get cooler and quieter, looking for new and exciting things to do that will put a would-be explorer in touch with the pulse of what’s happening locally is definitely a part of the game plan.

My boyfriend, Tim, and I live in a town called Coinjock (allegedly an Indian word meaning “Place of the Blueberry Swamps”), which covers a small area just north and south the Intracoastal Waterway off Rt. 158, the road headed to the beach. There is no town center here – no “Main Street” – just a small post office, but what the area does offer is full of rich history and local flavor. There are few other newcomers like us but mostly generations of families that live here, which we are slowly getting to know. They are always polite and friendly in a wave-to-you-from-the-porch kind of way and yet keep to themselves at the same time.

Technically, we live out on an island named Waterlily, or as it’s been locally coined “Church’s Island”. Waterlily sits between The Currituck (an Algonquian Indian term meaning “Land of the Wild Goose”) Sound and the Coinjock Bay. As Carl, one of our neighbors, aptly described it – “This is God’s Country”. And while it’s beauty speaks to just that sentiment, my guess is the island’s nickname came from the couple dozen cemeteries that are scattered along this 7 mile strip. Truthfully no one really knows.

There is a restaurant, The Coinjock Marina, just one mile off the main road that entertains the locals and the super yachters alike. They serve up great food, live music and relaxing views of the water, and they make one hell of a Bloody Mary. There is a canal they call “The Ditch” that runs up through the salt marsh to the sound where the brackish waters make for outstanding fishing for striped bass, flounder, red drum and spotted seatrout. There are shrimpers, crabbers, pleasure boaters and hunters; it is the birthplace of the Currituck Skiff – the water is a way of life here. But there are also farmers, Eagles and Scuppernong grapes. We are told there are even black bear and though we have not personally seen any yet the pears from the tree in our backyard disappear as promptly as they’re ripe; the Meyer’s lemon tree we “imported” from Florida remains untouched. Hmmm.

While I’m sure I will post many images from the area over the course of time, today I thought I’d show you a few shots from around the “neighborhood”…

Welcome to Waterlily.

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