Fall in the Air

It’s October, the days are chillier now (50s or 60s – imagine!), and there’s that fall smell in the air. With fall, our cohort has changed too – become a little closer, played a couple more card games, caught a couple more sunsets, and rushed to Front Porch to get a couple more coffees. We’ve switched out our bare feet and sandals for shoes (most of the time!) and our bathing suits for sweaters. Pumpkin bread has finally made its appearance at the Wanchese Farmer’s Market and during weekend thrifting trips, we dredge up warmer clothes to fight off CSI’s vicious winds. With fall have come new lessons and adventures, and I’ll share a couple here.

Lesson #1:   Understanding place

On Friday, we took a field trip that provided a look at the economies and ecotourism in surrounding towns, helping us to understand this coastal place. It was a busy day! First, we visited Duck, a town north of Kitty Hawk, which has a year-round population of just over 700 that skyrockets to 20,000 around July. Our group got the chance to meet with Matthew Price, the local developer of The Waterfront Shops in Duck, to discuss sustainable development along the coast.

Next, we moved further North to Corolla and the northern beach communities, economies based on natural resources. Once filled with hunting lodges and wealthy hunt clubs, today these areas are valued family vacation and recreation destinations. Tours around the Corolla and Carova beaches gave us insight into the difficulty of local decision-making when most stakeholders aren’t local. Our cohort also trekked up the 220 steps leading to the top of Currituck Lighthouse. The view was worth it!

The Pine Island Audubon Society was our last stop of the day, and Anya, who’s interning there this semester, gave us a quick tour of the property and its management as the sun set over the marsh. As we packed into the van to head back, I began to consider the range of perspectives we had experienced and felt puzzle pieces coming together in my mind. The stakes we all hold in the coast are high, and in these dynamic natural spaces, our interests interact in very nuanced ways.

Lesson #2:

Fall on Roanoke Island wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Island Farm’s Pumpkin Patch! Just a mile down the road from the Guest House, the Island Farm is a living history site and working farm that interprets what life for Roanoke Islanders was like in the early 1800s. Through this site, visitors can see how people made Roanoke Island home.  During certain Saturdays in October, the Island Farm hosts a fall celebration, where visitors can pick out pumpkins grown on the farm. We arrived promptly at 11 am on Saturday the 15th, and the farm was already buzzing with vendors and families. At the entrance, a giant Island Farm-grown pumpkin greeted us – it ended up weighing around 1,200 pounds! We soon selected our own unique array of pumpkins with impressive color ranges from mint green to fiery orange.

By 1:00 pm, we had all tried our hands at blacksmithing, crafted beeswax candles, and been defeated by Josh and Leanna in a high-stakes group tug-of-war game. There couldn’t be a better way to understand the historicity of the land we’re making home this semester. As we make this place home, it’s important to understand how people before us made this island home.

A lively pumpkin-carving party soon ensued on Saturday night. We have quite a few artists in the group!

Anna and Josh show off their chandlery skills
Group picture at the Island Farm

 

Lesson #3:

OBX falls bring sunsets of stronger colors – bright reds, oranges, and pinks.  After pumpkin picking on the island farm, we caught a chilly sunset at Jockey’s Ridge, the massive sand dunes overlooking the Sound sunset. More lessons from fall: Jockey’s ridge gets dark quickly after sunset and quickly turns from familiar rolling hills to an alien landscape. Beautiful – and scary!

Lesson #4: Soft-serve ice cream is always good, no matter the time or season! Last weekend, our cohort took a rather chilly impromptu night trip to our favorite ice cream place, Frosties, in downtown Manteo. They have good ice cream (try the cereal milk flavor, if you have the chance), and the inside walls are covered in ice cream puns!

As the leaves begin to turn red, the navigationally challenged among us (that’s me!) are proud to say that we no longer need Google Maps to find our way home.