The island's wild ponies now are cared for by the National Park Service. 



For many years, Ballance's father served 

 as the representative of the funeral home and 

 transported bodies in an old gray station wagon 

 across the ferry. 



"I have seen my Dad go out all hours of 

 the night," he says. "If the ferry wasn't 

 running, he would sometimes park the station 

 wagon with the body in our back yard." 



After visiting the church, Ballance leads 

 the teachers down the street to the Ocracoke 

 lighthouse, the island's most prominent 

 landmark. As the oldest lighthouse in North 

 Carolina and the second oldest in the United 

 States, it has guided mariners along the 

 treacherous coast since 1823. 



"The lighthouse is active and runs from 

 dusk to dawn," says Ballance. "It can be seen 

 13 miles from Ocracoke." 



Inside the striking white tower, Ballance 

 shows the five-foot thick brick walls and the 

 steel, spiral staircase that leads to the top. "The 

 top story is not centered. It is offset to allow for 

 the exit of the lightkeeper." 



After a morning of viewing historical 

 sights, Ballance and the teachers eat at a local 

 restaurant. Then they trek down a pristine 

 beach, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and 

 is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. 

 Of the 5.535 acres on Ocracoke, only 775 acres 

 in and around the village are outside of the 

 seashore's domain. 



An avid naturalist, Ballance seems to 

 know every dune, creek and plant on the 

 beach. As waves crash against the white 

 beach, he points out a dune that was reshaped 

 by the N.C. Department of Transportation. 



"The area was pushed down by Hurri- 

 cane Floyd," he adds. "The wind spread the 

 sand across the highway." 



A small and energetic man, Ballance also 

 stops and digs through the sand for mole crabs 

 and then draws a map of the Outer Banks in 

 the sand. 



"This area is very alive," he says. "You 

 see mole crabs, and birds flying up and down 

 the beach." 



As a first-time visitor to Ocracoke, 

 Murphy teacher Ronda Phillips finds the beach 

 "breathtaking." 



"I like Ocracoke because it is so relaxed 

 and laid back," she says. "You can leave 

 behind the pressures of daily life." 



Ballance also leads the group across the 

 highway to a maritime forest thriving with 

 huge live oaks. At the beginning of the trail, he 

 explains why an oak tree is shaped like a deer 

 antler. 



"This tree is on its last days," he says. 

 "It probably got bent during a hurricane and 

 started growing the wrong way." 



As the trail snakes under a mass of trees, 

 Ballance points out a marshy area covered 

 with cattails. 



Marshes are some of the most productive 

 areas on earth. "lust offshore is where I used to 



go mulleting with two fishermen — Uriah and 

 Sullivan. We would set the net out of a wooden 

 skiff. Sometimes we would come close into 

 shore and chase mullets onto the banks. It was a 

 great adventure back then." 



Later, Ballance and the group hike down a 

 path covered with pine straw to a huge live oak 

 bent over like a piece of sculpture. 



"If this area was not a national seashore, it 

 would be filled with houses," he says. "Some 

 federal lands are being commercialized. That 

 might be the quest for the future. It depends on 

 the political structure. But I don't think it will 

 happen here." 



sland , 

 VTusician 



After a day-long trek around the quaint 

 island, the teachers relax by listening to a local 

 musician at Ocracoke School. 



During a buffet dinner prepared by 

 the school's student government association, 

 Martin Garrish, a bearded, middle-aged 

 Ocracoke native, plays a variety of country, old- 

 time and bluegrass tunes on the guitar. 



"Music was important to my people," says 

 Garrish. "There was no TV. You would get off 

 work and hear music in the community. I 

 remember hearing the famous vaudeville banjo 

 player Edgar Howard at my grandfather's 

 house." 



Garrish, who makes a living as a carpenter, 

 began performing as a youngster in variety 

 shows. Later, he played in a rock'n'roll band 

 and at local bars. Now he performs in the 

 summer at an outdoor stage. 



"I am a self-taught musician," he says. 

 "I can't read music." 



Many of Garrish' s songs are about the 

 Outer Banks. While performing, you notice his 

 distinct Ocracoke dialect or brogue. Some 

 historians claim the dialect has traces of 

 Elizabethan English. 



Murphy teacher Phillips was so intrigued 

 by the residents' brogue that she plans to have 

 her gifted students study it. 



"Since I live in the mountains where there 

 is also a dialect, the students can compare the 

 two dialects," she says. "I also will probably do 

 something about the history of Ocracoke and 

 am considering hooking up my students as pen 

 pals with Ocracoke students. However, no study 



HIGH SEASON 2000 



