By Rachel Wharton • Photos by Scott D. Taylor 



Tke tinv town of Calabask kas keen serving 

 its palate-pleasin' platters for more tkan 40 vears. 

 But keyond tke old-faskioned restaurants 

 ana sleepy streets, the town is growing' fast. 

 Calakask is now grappling 1 witk many issues, suck 

 as land use and sewage treatment, tkat are familiar 

 to communities across coastal Nortk Carolina. 



I3oris and Lennon Nance don't get a summer 

 vacation, even though they need one. They own and 

 operate Capt. Nance's, a wide, ranch-style restaurant 

 in Calabash, the tiny coastal town hovering above 

 North Carolina's southeastern state line. During the 

 tourist season — mid-June to early September — 

 their parking lot swells with buses and carloads of 

 hungry people — people who've traveled miles for a 

 basket of hushpuppies and a platter of fresh seafood 

 as tall as it is wide. 



Capt. Nance's is nestled between neighboring 

 restaurants, Capt. John's and the Dockside, at the 

 bottom of a sandy hill on River Road. There on the 

 waterfront, the Nances have been cooking seafood 

 Calabash-style for 20 years. And you might as well 

 forget about that diet, 'cause when they say Cala- 

 bash-style, they mean fried. Though today's health- 

 conscious ways have added grills and broils to local 

 menus, most still come to Capt. Nance's for shrimp, 

 oysters, fish, clams, crab or scallops dredged in flour 

 and fried a golden brown. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 1 1 



