Sailing on the Pamlico 



they do it themselves. Oriental's own 

 theater group, the Pelican Players, 

 performs at the Pamlico County 

 Cultural Center in the old town 

 theater. 



And even those most likely to get 

 big-city fever, the teen-agers, seem to 

 adapt to it. 



"Chapel Hill has the services, the 

 academic atmosphere," says Paul 

 Delamar, 18, who just finished his 

 first year at the University of North 

 Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Most of my 

 friends say, 'Why would you want to 

 go back?' 



"It can hinder you a little bit," he 

 says. "Everything in Oriental closes 

 about 1 1 p.m. You have to drive 30 

 miles to do pretty much anything. But 

 it can also be a tremendous advan- 

 tage. You can go out and walk the 

 town at midnight and be fairly sure 

 nothing's going to happen to you." 



A lot of people in Oriental do 

 visit other places, go to college or 

 even live somewhere else for a while. 

 But almost always they come back. 



"I traveled like you collect 

 things," says William "Bill" Mason. 

 "I collected counties and countries, 

 but I still like Oriental better than 

 anyplace in the world. 



"I know everybody here," he 

 says. "Everybody knows me. I feel 

 like if I need a favor, I could jump 

 out to anybody and holler." 



At 93, Mason knows Oriental 

 about as well as anyone could. 



"I still got a map that Oriental's 

 not even on," he says. 



In 1907, Mason saw Oriental for 

 the first time. At just 5 years old, he 

 came from a tiny town across the 

 Neuse to sell watermelons at the 

 annual July Fourth party. In the early 

 1900s, he'll tell you, Oriental was 

 bustling. His hometown had only a 

 single country store. The trade, 

 people and wares of Oriental enticed 

 him. He kept visiting until he moved 

 there, 12 years later. 



In 1932, Mason built his home, 

 which is still the only stone house in 

 Oriental. Oftentimes, Louis B. 



Midyette, better known in Oriental 

 history as Uncle Lou, would come sit 

 on Mason's front porch, look out at 

 the Neuse and tell the stories of 

 Oriental's beginnings. 



Sitting on his porch years later, 

 Mason shares them again. In 1 872, 

 Uncle Lou lived on Roanoke Island 

 and worked hauling salt mullet to 

 Norfolk, Va. He had heard that New 



Bern had a better, more convenient 

 market. He went to see for himself. 



On the way there, a storm ran his 

 boat aground near Smith Creek. Uncle 

 Lou climbed a tree to get his bearings 

 and saw a light. The light was from a 

 house owned by a man named 

 Chadwick, who helped Uncle Lou tie 

 up his boat, gave him a place to sleep 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



