LEFT: MORRIS AM) WANDA P1UTCHETT ENJOY MEETING THE CAPTAINS WHO STOP AT THE MARINA. 

 11 Hi HI: WESLEY CHAPEL IS THE OLDEST CHURCH IN THE ALLIGATOR COMMUNITY. 



COMMUNITY STORE 



The bridge welcomes visitors to the south side of Alligator. Bailey's 

 South Side Store — the community's only grocery store — sits on the left. 

 On the outside, there are two small signs. One is for "Burning Permits." 

 The other says: "Live Bait, Minnows, Crickets." 



Inside a small wood-paneled room, the owner, Colon Bailey, stands 

 behind a plywood counter and greets customers with a friendly smile. 



"I got started selling sweet potatoes and fish out of the back of a 

 truck," says Bailey. "Then I built the 8 x 8 building from scratch." 



The store is a throwback to a bygone era when country stores sold 

 a variety of items — from home remedies and white potatoes to chewing 

 tobacco and Irish whiskey. On one shelf, there is a bottle of Black Draught 

 Laxative. Nearby is a cake of Colgate's Octagon Soap, lye soap that was 

 used to wash clothes in generations past. 



The live crickets — which sell for $3 a tube and are used by bass 

 fishermen — are kept in a box at Bailey's house next door. 



The store reflects the strong hunting tradition in Alligator. On the far 

 end of the room, a deer is mounted on the wall. On the opposite end, a 

 large black bear stares at customers. 



"I killed that bear in 1994," says Bailey. "It weighed 538 pounds and 

 was 1 2 3/4 years old. You can tell how old a bear is by its teeth." 



The busiest days at Bailey's are Saturday and Sunday. 



On a recent Sunday afternoon, local folks begin arriving around 

 noon. First, Bailey's brother, Donnie Bailey, pulls in front of the store on 

 the gravel road in his pickup truck, gets out and then scoops up some ice. 

 "This is my home," says Donnie Bailey. "I am getting ice for sea mullet and 

 bluefish caught at Avon Pier." 



A sign near the ice still reminds customers to place money in the box. 



"I had ice on an honor system for awhile," says Colin Bailey. "But 

 people didn't pay. But I still let them put money in the box for vegetables 

 that are on the table in July and August." 



Several more men wander inside and gather around the counter, 

 where they swap hunting and fishing stories. Bailey calls most customers 

 by their nickname or CB radio name. As the Rev. Royce Reynolds walks in, 

 Bailey says, "Hey Mr. Roe." 



"I come in here often," says Reynolds, the minister at the Sound Side 

 Free Will Baptist Church. "I come to see if Colon's been deer hunting." 



The biggest news around the counter these days is that a volunteer 

 fire department is going up on the north side of the community. "I am 

 going to be a captain," says Bailey. 



With the closing of Foodway grocery store in Columbia, Bailey also 

 will be restocking his store as a full grocery until a Food Lion opens in 

 Columbia, he says. 



FORT LANDING. GOAT NECK 



Head back out of Bailey's, turn left on Newfoundland Road and 

 pass a group of trailers and a water tower. Turn right onto Fort Landing 

 Road, and several small homes and a large aluminum building appear. 



After passing a gray bam, turn into a long driveway that leads to a 

 tan farmhouse owned by Hollis and built around 1 795. 



When he was a child, Hollis says that locals would argue over who 

 was best — folks on the north or south side of Alligator. 



Head down the road from the old house and pass an unoccupied 

 home and Pledger Landing Road. Turn left onto Pledger Landing to get 

 to Goat Neck, where there are a number of homes and churches. 



Or, keep straight on Fort Landing and pass the oldest church in 

 Alligator — the white-framed Wesley Methodist Chapel that has a small 

 congregation. "It used to be packed when we had revivals," says Hollis. 



A ferry landing at the end of the road was used until World II to 

 carry people and freight across the "little Alligator" to the Alligator River 

 and then to the East Lake landing. 



Although many natives have left Alligator, they return from near 

 and far for holidays and family reunions. 



On July Fourth, everyone gathers at Baile/s for a big cookout. "We 

 cook a little bit of everything from pig and bear to deer," says Knotts. "It 

 is a really good time." 



Every Memorial Day weekend, the Sykes gather for a reunion. 



"We all descend on the original homestead," saysjanice Sykes in 

 an oral history for the North Carolina Coastal Folklife Survey, conducted 

 in 1 997 by Jill Hemming. 



"And we do the memorial service at the graveyard. We pay homage 

 to the descendants that have gone on before us. And we do this in 

 celebration of our family and where we came from." B 



COASTWATCH 15 



