Happy Spring!

The signs are everywhere… trees are budding out, the azaleas are preparing to bloom, visitors are walking the streets, restaurants are opening… spring has sprung on Ocracoke!

After a long winter of limited options, islanders and visitors now have a complete menu of dining opportunities. Howard’s Pub, Pony Island, Flying Melon, and the Café Atlantic are all back in business for the season. For dining al fresco on these beautiful spring days there’s Smacnally’s or the Creekside Café. Thai Moon carry-out is open, and so is Ocracoke Pizza Company. Jason’s, which served the island well in January and February, then closed for a month for some R and R, re-opened April 10th. The Back Porch will open as soon as they complete their recent renovations – the addition of a new façade and more indoor seating. Ocracoke Coffee Company is brewing up the caffeine each morning at 7am, and the new kid in town, Riley’s (in the former Mango Loco), is open seven days a week.

Ocracoke’s wonderful and unique shops are stocking the shelves with new merchandise and opening their doors for another season.

Ocracoke’s Newest Shop Recycles Old Stuff for a Good Cause



Everyone is excited about the newest shopping opportunity on the island – Village Thrift! The thrift shop, which shares its space with Blue Door Antiques (an old favorite that is back and better than ever!), will support the Ocracoke Youth Center by selling donated items, t-shirts and sweatshirts, and homemade bags.

Village Thrift is the brainchild of Paula Schramel, owner of the Blue Door and a member of the OYC board. (She’s also the mastermind behind the Ocrafolk Festival Silent Auction!) Paula and the rest of the OYC board hope the thrift shop will provide an ongoing source of income for the Youth Center and bring in money for the non-profit organization from visitors as well as residents.

The two shops occupy the retail space attached to Ocracoke Coffee Company that formerly housed Java Books. (Ocracoke still has a wonderful independent bookstore – Books to Be Red.) The Blue Door gets 2/3 of the space and Village Thrift takes 1/3; Paula manages both with no cost to OYC. The shops are open 8am to 4pm, seven days a week. Paula will work five days a week and volunteers will fill in on her days off. With low overhead costs, Village Thrift should bring in a steady income.

Paula says that local response to the thrift store has been tremendous. She has already accepted many items, including some generous donations of furniture.

“The timing is right in this economy for a thrift store,” she said. “And we want to be ecological and encourage recycling and reuse. People won’t have to take stuff to the dump to get rid of it.”

The idea of creative reuse isn’t new on Ocracoke. Many residents fondly remember Cork’s Closet thrift store, which thrived for years. Most locals have a good story about finding just what they needed at the dump – affectionately known as Ocracoke’s Wal-mart, or “Jail-mart,” since it’s next door to the jail. And in the old days, islanders found uses for shipwrecked lumber and the flotsam and jetsam washed up on the beach.

“Villagers’ use of salvaged materials goes back almost 300 years,” Paula said.

She’s also happy to find a new home for The Blue Door. Originally opened in 2001 in an old house on Lighthouse Road, The Blue Door was a popular antique and gift shop for six years. Paula closed her shop so she and her husband Michael (co-owner of The Flying Melon restaurant) could start a complete historic renovation on the old house, where they now live.

The new Blue Door will carry a selection of antique china, pottery, quilts, jewelry, paintings and more. There will also be some affordable used and antique furniture. Paula will consider taking big-ticket items on consignment if she has available space in the small shop.

The Outer Banks Community Foundation (www.obcf.org) recently awarded a grant to OYC for start-up costs for the Village Thrift. The grant monies are paying for custom-built shelving and storage units, three exterior and one interior sign, a donation box for inside the store, advertising in local papers (which OYC is getting at a discount), and Village Thrift t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts to be sold in the shop.

The OBCF grant also pays for bright green stickers for the Village Thrift items.

“We don’t want any confusion about inventory, between what’s the Blue Door’s and what’s the thrift store’s,” Paula said. “Everything that’s donated will go to the Youth Center and have a Village Thrift sticker.”

Paula expects that traffic flow from the coffee shop, which has upwards of 500 customers a day in the summer, will be good, and that locals will stop in regularly to see what’s new.

“Our inventory will change daily,” she said. “You never know what we might have.”



Spring Cleaning Fever!

Ocracokers have been mightily busy preparing cottages and businesses for the new season. Ocracoke’s Junior Girl Scout trop decided to pitch in and do their share of spring cleaning. They recently completed their Community Clean-up badge with a service project at Ocracoke Child Care. The Girl Scouts washed the center's windows and screens, and scrubbed all the classroom chairs.

This was the fourth clean-up project for the Junior Girl Scout troop. They participated in the Big Sweep beach clean-up and the Beta Club village litter pick-up last fall, and spent a day in January cleaning all the toys and furniture in the Methodist Church nursery.


Sydney Austin and Karla Perez scrub the chairs from OCC


Bricia Moreno, Caroline Temple, and Mattie Rose work on cleaning some outside toys.

Armchair Travel at Ocracoke Library

Ocracokers who didn’t get off the island this winter could at least live vicariously through some of our friends and neighbors who represented us in the big, wide world. To promote the library as a place to explore the unknown without leaving the comfort of your own home, Ocracoke Friends of the Library had a Travel theme for their March 31st annual membership meeting.



Emma Lovejoy was one of three presenters who shared stories of their world travels. Emma spent 11 months over 2007-2008 in Denmark as an exchange student with the Youth for Understanding program. She's pictured here with maps, photos and souvenirs of her trip. Riggs Ellis gave a talk about her travels in Peru with her daughter Kate Plyer. Linda Austin came down from Hatteras (where she’s the secondary school’s librarian) to share stories about traveling to Europe and Guatemala, and biking the Allegheny trail from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.

Ocracoke Friends of the Library is a non-profit organization that supports and promotes literacy and the love of reading. Membership is $5 a year for individuals and $10 a year for families. Membership forms are available at the library.

Island Kids Go to Washington!


The students

Not everyone was an armchair traveler this year. Ocracoke High School’s entire student body and most of the faculty took a fantastic weeklong trip to Washington, D.C. this spring. The kids toured the Presidential Monuments and the Capitol Building, and visited the Smithsonian Institution, Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Zoological Park, and Ford's Theater. They also attended an NBA game between the Washington Wizards and the Chicago Bulls.

The big news of the week was when three students, Aaron Caswell, D.J. Lukefahr and Samantha Vander Myde, were accidentally left behind at a Metro stop when the rest of the group boarded the train. It wasn't long before they were all reunited, but it made for good adventure story.



OPS Museum Opens for Another Season



The OPS staff worked hard to get the museum ready to open this year. The building’s interior was painted over the winter, several maintenance projects were tackled, and some of favorite exhibits have been spruced up a bit. The OPS Gift Shop offers a nice selection of local books and, of course, music by Soundside Records musicians! The beautiful new quilt, donated by the Ocracoke Needle and Thread Club is on the bed and raffle tickets are available!

Admission to the Museum is free. It’s open Monday – Saturday, 10am- 4pm, and closed on Sundays. Quilt raffle tickets are $1 each or six for $5. The drawing will be held at the Fall Membership Meeting in November.

Stay tuned…

The Ocrafolks just got together and gave a wonderful performance at the annual Spring Festival Fundraiser – we’ll have pictures and details in the next blog post…

In the meantime, enjoy the nice spring weather and don’t forget to plan ahead for the 2009 Ocrafolk Festival June 5-7.

A Month Worth Waiting For . . .

One of Ocracoke’s best-kept secrets is that October is the prettiest time of year. It’s the sweet payoff for all those hectic summer days. As the season is winding down and the relative humidity drops to a reasonable degree, Ocracokers find themselves really enjoying their island home – or at least they would if it wasn’t for those darn mosquitoes!

October brings cooler nights, sunny days and a chance to slow down a bit and smell the salty fresh air. October also brings quiet – fewer people, less traffic and a break from the drone of air conditioners. Ocracokers are having a bit of a much-deserved rest – and preparing themselves for later in the month when wild Halloween revelry takes over the island. (Mark your calendar for the Ocracoke School Halloween Carnival on October 24th and check back in two weeks for details on Halloween happenings.)

One way we celebrate fall is to dedicate a day to appreciate the island’s many and diverse artists during the annual Art Walk. This year’s Art Walk events started last Friday with a reception at the Ocracoke Community Center (which was looking quite spiffy with its new paint job!). Baby Dee and the Free Moustache Rides Again got the place rockin’, and there was free beer and munchies, too!



Baby Dee and the Free Moustache Rides Again Rock the Ocracoke Community Center

Baby Dee and the Free Moustache Rides Again also played at the Ocrafolk Festival in June, at several island fundraising events over the summer, and are regulars at Ocracoke’s Creekside Café.

Art Walk coordinators Nancy Leach, Ann Ehringhaus and Debbie Wells presented a check to Kitty Mitchell to support the Ocracoke School Arts Program. The $1300 donation will help pay for next spring’s Arts Week, in which visual and performing artists visit Ocracoke School to do hands-on projects and workshops with the students from Kindergarten through high school.


Local potter Sarah Fiore in her Bella Fiore pottery shop

Saturday’s Art Walk was a fun way to meet local artists and ask them about their work. Every picture tells a story, and Art Walk artists are willing to share their inspirations and insights.


Barbara Adams showcasing many of her wonderful paintings at her studio


William Nathan Spencer with a host of original decoys

Community Matters

Ocracoke is a small community, and our geographical isolation requires us to rely on each other when something needs to get done. The independent community spirit is alive and well, and the island supports several non-profit organizations. We have a day care center, and a volunteer fire department, and a civic association and a preservation society and a library and a youth center and several scout troops and a burial society and a fish house and two churches and a festival – and they all thrive on the dedication of countless volunteers along with generous donations from local businesses.


A new sampler quilt created by the Ocracoke quilters as a raffle fundraiser for the Ocracoke Working Waterman's Association

In this blogpost we’re highlighting two of those organizations and the ways they’re giving and receiving community support.

Ocracoke Child Care

Ocracoke Child Care is the island’s only day care center, and maintains a 4-star rating, while always striving for the highest score of five stars. The center is rated on compliance with state childcare center regulations, staff education and program standards. Many of the teachers are taking classes toward various certifications in early childhood education. The entire staff will be participating in upcoming workshops related to the new curriculum, The Creative Curriculum, to continue to enhance the quality of care at OCC.

“The staff works hard to provide high quality, loving care to all wonderful children,” says interim director Paige Bennett.

OCC also depends on community volunteers, from the board of directors to classroom helpers to playground clean-up crews.

“OCC is very thankful to be a part of such a supportive and nurturing community,” says Bennett. “Thank you everyone!”

The children at Ocracoke Child Care recently enjoyed a week’s worth of visits from the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department, Ocracoke Emergency Medical Services and the Sheriff’s Department during Community Week.



Firemen Albert O’Neal and Ernest Doshier talked to the children about how the fire department serves the community, and then the kids got to climb all over the fire truck.


Missy Warren from Ocracoke EMS showed the children the inside of an ambulance.



The kids got to try on handcuffs with Deputy Jason Daniels and see his police vehicle.


"Now if the time out chair doesn't work. . ."

The Community Week activities are a good example of the fun and creative projects that go on at OCC.

OCC is holding its annual membership drive. All are welcome to become a member of OCC – you can drop off your membership donation at the center, or mail it to PO Box 284, Ocracoke, NC 27960.

Friends of the Library

A public library is a good measure of a community. Public libraries represent the best in our society: freedom of expression, democracy, equality, wisdom and knowledge. Ocracoke Library has been serving the island well since the days when it was contained within an 8x10 foot building and was open for six hours a week.

The new library building was completed in 1997 and it operates as both the school and community library, funded in part by Hyde County Schools and the Regional Library System for Beaufort, Hyde and Martin counties. Fall library hours are Monday through Friday 2– 6, and Saturdays 9 – 1.

Ocracoke Library may be small, but like all good libraries it provides a welcoming and comfortable space to browse, research, or check e-mail. There's a well-stocked children's room and a North Carolina Room that features writing about the island including wonderful old Ocracoke scrapbooks and newspapers. There’s s a well-used shelf of "honor system" books, videos and DVDs for visitors (young and old) to borrow. Internet access is available for everyone.

Founded in 1997, Ocracoke Friends of the Library is a non-profit organization that supports the Ocracoke School and Community Library and promotes literacy on the island. They purchase software programs, videos, magazine subscriptions and hundreds of books for our library. They even pay part of the librarians’ salaries during the summer months in order to keep the library open all year long. Over the past few years, FOL has provided funds for new bookshelves for the adult and children’s rooms in the library, purchased new carpet for the library, and paid for carpet cleaning and custodial services during the summer months.

This year, Ocracoke Friends of the Library is providing grants and matching funds to each classroom at Ocracoke School. Every teacher will receive an initial grant of $100 to spend on books for the classroom. The classrooms are also eligible to receive up to $100 more in matching funds if they hold a fundraiser for books.

Over the past few years, FOL has chosen an Ocracoke classroom to support with money for books. This year, they’ve decided to offer their help to all the school’s classrooms at once.

“We’ve had very successful used book sales the past few years,” said FOL president Scott Bradley. “Having donated to some of the younger grades, the group felt it was appropriate, now that we have the money, to put books in every classroom.”

FOL holds an annual used book sale during the week of July 4th – this year’s sale has taken in over $1500 so far. They also raise money through membership dues and donations. Membership forms are available at the library, and everyone is encouraged to join.

Ocracoke First Grades Raise Money for Classroom Books

The students in Mary Ellen Piland’s first grade class raised $108.87 for books by asking parents and friends to donate their spare change. They put out a donation jar with the sign: “Let us use your change for a change in our classroom.”

The students needed $100 in matching funds to receive a donation from Ocracoke Friends of the Library. At the beginning of the school year, FOL offered each Ocracoke School teacher a grant of $100 to purchase classroom books, and the opportunity to receive $100 more in matching funds if the teacher held a fundraiser. Their classroom was the first in the school to take advantage of the FOL offer, and they now have $308.87 to spend!

“In this political time we thought focusing on ‘change’ would be good for us, as it seems to be working for Democrats and Republicans alike,” said Piland.

It worked for the first graders, too, as the money came pouring in.

“Each day we counted what we collected and made a graph,” Piland said. “The money added up fast!”

They raised $27.35 on the day one, and surpassed their goal of $100 in just five days!



The children sorted and counted the coins and put them in piles to be rolled. Piland and classroom assistant Lou Ann Gaskins rolled the coins, and then it was time to take their loot to East Carolina Bank. The students turned in their rolled coins at the bank, and in exchange they received a very impressive hundred-dollar bill, and an extra eight dollars.



The students plan to send their money on science picture books, and will be ordering them from Books to Be Red.

Piland wishes to thank everyone who helped the first graders reach their goal, and adds that donations to the book fund are “still being accepted.”



Soundside Records performer highlights ~ John Golden



John Golden of Wilmington, NC is a frequent visitor to Ocracoke Island and also to Gary Mitchell's Soundside Studio. John's interest and knowledge of coastal Carolina history goes all the way back to the Lost Colony, the pirates Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard, up to the colonial times and the Civil War blockade runners and pilots. He has written songs about Virginia Dare, pirates, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, and has published many recordings of folk songs and stories. Current Cds available include Shipwrecks & Sea Songs, Volume 1 & 2, A Home for your Heart, & Hatteras Memories.









He always has a new album in the works, and his Cds can be found throughout the gift shops on Ocracoke island and of course online at http://www.soundsiderecords.com/ where you can listen to samples from the recordings.

John's wife Mary Ellen is a well known North Carolina watercolor artist.



Recently featured in “Our State” magazine, watercolorist Mary Ellen Golden lives in Wilmington, NC and operates a studio gallery downtown in The Cotton Exchange. Her work appears in numerous corporate collections, including General Electric, Boddie Noell, Bank of America, Japan Nuclear Fuel, IBM, First Citizens Bank, BB&T, DuPont, and Corning, and may be found in private collections throughout the world. At this year's Ocrafolk School Mary Ellen will demonstrate watercolor techniques and assist students as they paint their own Ocracoke watercolors. There are just a few spaces left, so don't miss this opportunity to join her class October 26-31. For more information visit http://www.ocrafolkschool.org/.

Art & Music Abound on Ocracoke Island

Painting by Ocracoke Art Walk Participant Barbara Adams

How could so many talented people live on Ocracoke? It boggles the mind, and never more so than when they get together and show off…


Photograph by Mary Haggarty of Ocracoke Photo

Ocracoke painters, bird carvers, photographers, quilters and other artisans will be sharing their creativity and craftsmanship in the 5th Annual Art Walk on September 27th.

Over 25 Ocracoke artists and craftsmen are participating in the Art Walk. Visit galleries, workshops and studios during this free event Saturday, September 27th from 9am – 5pm.

New this year is an opening reception on Friday night to meet the artists and the Art Walk organizers. It will be held at the Ocracoke Community Center from 6–8pm and includes refreshments. Live music will be provided by local band Baby Dee and the Free Moustache Rides Again. Formed earlier in 2008, Baby Dee also performed at the Ocrafolk Festival and at island fundraisers this summers. Lead singer Bob Ray is also a mixed media artist, whose work will be on display at Secret Garden Gallery.

There are 17 different stops on this year’s Art Walk, including the Ocracoke Community Center, which will also serve as an information booth. Maps are available at all artist locations, and Hyde County Transit will provide shuttle bus service throughout the village. Participating artists will be easy to find – bright yellow “Art Walk Participant” signs will be placed in front of their shops and studios.



Photograph by Susse Wright

Some of our favorite artists are a part of the Art Walk:

Kitty Mitchell, who is more talented than a person should be allowed to be, will be showing her recent paintings at Deepwater Theater.


Painting by Kitty Mitchell

Mary Bassell, Barbara Adams, Ann Ehringhaus and Elizabeth Parsons, who’ve all contributed a design for the Ocrafolk Festival t-shirt, will be participating in the Art Walk.


Painting by Elizabeth Parsons

Ann Ehringhaus is also the official photographer of the Ocrafolk Festival, taught the photography class at last year’s Ocrafolk School, and volunteers as one of the Art Walk organizers. Judith Saunders’s basketry will be on display at the Community Center, and we’re happy to say she’s also teaching a basketry course again this year at the Ocrafolk School.


Judith Sauders' basketry

Ocracoke Goes Hollywood!



Diane and Richard who??? Forget about seeing “Nights In Rodanthe” for those big name stars! Here on Ocracoke we’re all excited to see ourselves on the big screen. The movie, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks, was filmed on location on Hatteras Island, employing folks from both islands as extras.

But the really big news is that Ocrafolk’s own Katy Mitchell, Jule Garrish, Marcy Brenner, Lou Castro, Kevin Hardy, and Jubal Creech were all selected to play and sing as the “Storm Party Band” in the movie, which opens in theaters September 26th. None of them is sure yet about how much screen time they’ll get, but we do know that Katy and Jule’s songs were chosen for the soundtrack CD along with music from lesser-known contributors Emmy Lou Harris and Count Basie.

The local folks who helped out with the movie, including Gary Mitchell, who was hired as music coordinator, are all invited to the Outer Banks Premiere on September 24th in Kill Devil Hills. Word has it that Diane Lane and Richard Gere will miss the party, but who cares, when we have Katy and Jule?

For all the best in recordings by Ocracoke's musicians visit www.soundsiderecords.com!

Ocrafolk School Offers Workshops October 26-31, 2008

The Ocrafolk School is open to adult learners of all skill levels who want to explore basketry, island cooking, pottery, watercolor painting or studies in Ocracoke history, seafaring traditions and island ecology – all in a fun and relaxed island atmosphere.


Seafaring Traditions with Captain Rob of the schooner WINDFALL

“The Ocrafolk School offers people a chance to learn something,” says founder and director Gary Mitchell, but he stresses that the focus isn’t “too academic.”


Traditional Ocraocke Square-dance

“I want the week to be more meaningful than just the class. There’s a lot more to a folk school than just learning a craft – it’s about the total experience.”


Philip Howard examines his great-great grandfather's shipwreck log from the 1800s

That total experience includes music, ghost walks, sailing, square-dancing and gathering
together for shared meals (some of which are created by the cooking class.)


Debbie Wells (creator of the Back Porch Restaurant) with the Cooking Class

The Ocrafolk School provides participants with a personal connection to the island, and to enjoy a week of fun and creativity.


Afterhours music with Coyote, Bob Zentz, & Fiddler Dave Tweedie

This is the second year for the Ocrafolk School, which held its grand opening session in October 2007.

New this year are class offerings in watercolor painting with Mary Ellen Golden and pottery with Wes Lassiter and Rhonda Bates.

Mary Ellen, owner of the Golden Gallery in Wilmington, NC, and wife of Ocrafolk performer John Golden, has taught painting classes on location and in her home for thirty years, including workshops for the Wilmington Art Association and the Waterway Art Association.


A watercolor by Ocrafolk Instructor, Mary Ellen Golden

Wes Lassiter and Rhonda Bates own Red Drum Pottery in Frisco, NC, and have the only wood-fired kiln in eastern North Carolina.


The Red Drum Pottery Wood Fired Kiln

Wes is also well-known around these parts as heckuva banjo player, another reason to have him at the Ocrafolk School.


Exploring Ocracoke's Wild Side

Classes are limited to 6-10 students, and the registration deadline is October 1.
The workshops cost $545 (local discount-$325) per week including group meals and evening activities. Housing is the responsibility of the students, but contact the Ocrafolk School for recommendations. Some classes will have additional fees for materials.

Visit www.ocrafolkschool.org for more information or call Gary Mitchell at 252- 928-4280.

Classes offered in the 2008 session:

Basketry: Materials & Techniques ~ Judith Saunders

Island Cooking ~ Debbie Wells

Ocrafolk Sampler:Ocracoke’s History, Seafaring Traditions and Island Ecology ~ Philip Howard,
David Senseney, and Capt' Rob Temple

Vision in Clay: Pottery ~ Rhonda Bates and Wes Lassiter (New for 2008)

Painting in Watercolor with Grace and Ease ~ Mary Ellen Golden (New for 2008)


Touring Ocracoke Island with Philip Howard

In Other News, Tropical Storm Hanna Brushes Past Ocracoke

Mariah-Daisy Braves the Storm

Tropical Storm Hanna had minimal impact on Ocracoke – we suffered intermittent and annoying power outages, but no damage to homes or property. The Emergency Management team decided not to announce an evacuation, and although the island was quieter than usual, most businesses stayed open on Friday, and re-opened after the winds died down Saturday morning.

Ocracoke had peak wind gusts of about 59mph, and no reported damage to homes or property. Most of the rain that Hanna brought the coast landed west of us, and there was no soundside flooding or ocean overwash.

These photos were taken around Silver Lake on the morning of September 6th, 2008, while the wind was still gusting about 40mph.


Ocracoke Harbor

Later in the day, the other photos were taken at the National Park Service campground beach.


Ocracoke Beach

At about 5pm, the wind had died down to a tolerable 25-30mph.

We all wish the folks in Texas well as they evacuate for Hurricane Ike.