enough to feed 1 ,000 or 

 more every day in the 

 spring and summer. 



In the '50s, the big 

 "tourist season" was winter, 

 says Price's son Russell. 

 Eastern North Carolinians 

 would come down for an 

 oyster roast or plate of spot. 

 In the summer, he says, "they 

 would roll up the streets." 



"This was a lost place," 

 says Price. "Just 50 miles 

 around, people would say 

 'Calabash? Where's that at?' 

 There was just an old dirt 

 road to the town. We had no 

 parking lot — just a little bit 

 of sand." 



But by the early '60s, 

 Russell says, "the climate 

 evolved that the thing to do 

 was go to the beach in the 

 summertime." Roads 

 improved, and people would 

 visit Calabash from Myrtle 

 Beach, a growing golf and 

 vacation mecca about 60 miles away. 

 As friends told friends about the 

 seafood — "gracious quantities with 

 the best qualities" — local businesses 

 flourished. 



By the '70s, about the time the 

 Nances opened their business next 

 door, others were taking note of the 

 town's appeal. 



Along Restaurant Row in Myrtle 

 Beach, Russell says, "You see 

 'Calabash-style seafood' — 'style' 

 being in tiny print, 'Calabash' being in 

 huge print." Some tourists think they 

 are actually in Calabash when they see 

 those signs, he says. 



Today, the term "Calabash" can 

 be found adorning seafood restaurants 

 up and down the Atlantic Coast and 

 far inland. "They robbed Calabash of 

 something that was unique to them," 

 says Russell. 



Dredged in flour and fried a golden brown, 

 Calabash-style seafood is stacked high on platters. 



Calabash natives had heen 



serving good seafood 

 long before the restaurants 

 an dth e reputation were built. 

 Folks who've been around 

 guess that it all started in the '30s, 

 as steamed or roasted oysters were sold 

 straig htf rom big tables. 

 The Calabash tradition of lightly 

 flouring and frying came naturally. 

 It tasted good, and it was easy 

 and inexpensive to prepare 

 in large quantities. 



Although the competi- 

 tion caused a few Calabash 

 restaurants to go out of 

 business, the remaining 

 owners didn't let the pres- 

 sures get the best of them. 



"I've been here my 

 whole life, and I don't 

 know of any animosities," 

 Russell says. 



Most restaurants use the 

 same recipes, and everybody 

 knows one another, says 

 Doris Nance. "If I need 

 something, I can run next 

 door and borrow from Troy 

 at Dockside." Except for the 

 three or four restaurants that 

 lease their buildings, "we're 

 all old-timers," she says. 



Over the years, the small 

 streets of Calabash's dinner 

 district have retained their 

 character. Restaurants have 

 their original signs and 

 original owners. Gnarled, 

 mossy oaks shade the parking 

 lots and border stoplightless, sandy 

 streets. Shrimp boats and shrimp shacks 

 dot the waterway, while tidy houses 

 hide among the shops. 



But like the rest of the coast, the 

 Atlantic breezes, world-class golf links 

 and relaxed atmosphere draw more 

 people to the area every year. As the 

 traffic and realty agencies on N.C. 179 

 attest, some of those folks who stopped 

 for seafood have decided to stay. 



"Calabash was just a pile of sand 

 and those scrubby trees," Price says. 

 "Now it's like fleas on a dog's back." 



Calabash hosts out-of-town 

 property owners, overnight guests, 

 daily visitors and about 10,000 visiting 

 golfers per month. The town is also 

 surrounded by new developments — 

 mainly manicured communities, golf 

 courses and retirement resorts. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 13 



