As I sample exquisite shrimp remoulade and mouthwatering house-made sausages, the mayor fills my head and two pages of notes with what I have to see and learn. He explains that the town was laid out in 1734 in a perfect Colonial town grid, where the Great Indian Trading Path crosses the Eno River, on a portion of the Mountains-to-the-Sea Trail. People here speak about the river in an awed way, very different from how we speak of the Cape Fear River. I am intrigued. Stevens tells me the town is seeing a startling renaissance in residents, in shops and businesses, in locally owned and operated restaurants and eateries. He describes how nationally recognized poets, novelists, essayists, journalists, historians and professors have congregated in unprecedented numbers in the town. I learn that on the weekends there is a Saturday morning Eno River Farmers’ Market that is 259 years old, a prominent part of the original town layout that has live music, storytelling and so on. He insists I stay to experience one of the summer-long Last Fridays, when the town is alive at night with art openings, sidewalk vendors and music on the old courthouse steps. He extolls the mile-plus Eno River Walk that now includes two river crossings on newly installed foot bridges. Then too, I have to walk the Poet’s Walk at nearby Ayr Mount, the historic plantation home 36 hours in hillsborough of merchant William Kirkland. In the early 1800s Kirkland owned much of the mercantile district in which the present-day renaissance is taking place. The privately owned 265-acre former plantation on the Eno is open to the public as a house museum. The grounds are for walking. He says Bella and I must also walk the 4-mile Historic Occoneechee Speedway Trail along the river on the 44-acre site that encompasses the only surviving 1949 inaugural season NASCAR dirt track. Soon, I am walking down the block to Antonia’s with Chef Fox, now Matt, to be introduced to owner Claudia Salvadoe Tolan. There, sitting together at the bar, I sample the delicious Italian food as I get to know Matt and Claudia. She is so charming; it feels as if we are lifelong friends. Later, I fall asleep spoiled and pampered in my four poster bed. What a wonderful birthday this turned out to be. The next day, after driving with Eric Gephart to select Matt Fox’s Iron Horse Farm, to stage our production, I discover more treasure hunting — a big-time auction house and individual shops, including an entire village of antiques, not much more than one mile from the historic district on South Churton. Later, at Fetch Antiques and Interiors, I locate the perfect furnishing to borrow for the outdoor dining scene 71 www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Wrightsville Beach Magazine May 2014
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