the hands of the 

 public rather than 

 private develop- 

 ers. Oriental is 

 one of many 

 coastal towns in 

 the public trust 

 battle. 



Another issue 

 is zoning. In 

 Oriental, there is 

 none. 



"The town is 

 quite divided," 

 says Madgwick. 

 Although some 

 see zoning as a 

 way to protect 

 water and land 

 from harmful or 

 intense develop- 

 ment, others see it 

 as government 

 telling them what 

 they can do with 

 their land — land 

 they've been 

 using for decades. 



These big-city changes have always 

 made Oriental residents wary. At first, 

 many were opposed to paving streets 

 and adding curbs and gutters. In the 

 early 1 900s, many thought that electric- 

 ity would add costs for a service they 

 weren't ever going to use. 



Although Oriental's new residents 

 might create the need for these changes, 



often they use their life experiences to 

 help the town. Madgwick, who lived in 

 Australia before moving to Oriental, is 

 working on the public trust issues as a 

 town commissioner. 



Madeline Sutter, who was a 

 landscape architect in St. Louis, has 

 helped raise funds for city benches as a 

 member of a women's club — The 



Ladies of the 

 Neuse. She's also 

 been working to 

 implement a master 

 plan for planting 

 and maintaining 

 trees on city streets. 



Bolin, who 

 once worked for 

 Pamlico County 

 Keep America 

 Beautiful, is writing 

 a history of the 

 town and its people. 



Gwaltney 

 wants to build a 

 small mall for 

 Oriental to attract 

 businesses. He's 

 making sure it fits 

 with the character 

 of a sailing town. 



"The village 

 of Oriental is going 

 to be able to retain 

 its culture and the 

 way of life that 

 was here 10 years 

 ago," says Gwaltney. 



The culture is a relaxed one, the 

 way of life one of community. And it's 

 the reason people stay in Oriental. 



"People might come here with 

 pretensions because they haven't 

 shaken them out yet," says Madeline. 

 "Then someone says, 'C'mon, who are 

 you kidding?'" □ 



The Legend ofTeach's Oak 



M ore than one famous sailor 

 has cruised the creeks of Orien- 

 tal. Edward Teach, known as the 

 fierce and frightening pirate 

 Blackbeard, is said to have 

 hidden around Smith and Greens 

 creeks. 



Blackbeard was rumored to be 

 hideously ugly, wearing his beard in 

 braids that looked like writhing 

 snakes. From Teach' s Cove, at the 

 intersection of the two creeks, 

 Blackbeard would hide behind a huge 

 oak and watch for potential targets 

 sailing down the Neuse. 



According to legend, 

 Blackbeard left a captured princess 

 near Oriental and buried the booty 

 from her ship under the oak, never 

 to return. Blackbeard was be- 

 headed in 1718, and Teach's Oak 

 fell during a storm in 1958. To 

 date, no one has found the treasure. 



8 JULY/AUGUST 1995 



