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DEPARTMENTS Volume IX, Issue 8 MAY 2021

OUR TOWN 46 SIMPLE LIFE: Simple Gifts Appreciating life with less 25 HISTORY: Lucky Lou An NC State guard fueled by faith 48 NOTED: Raleigh Through her Eyes A mother of seven thrives on art Mason (BLOODY MARY Smith Hardy (LOU PUCILLO); Forrest 28 SPORTS: Triangle Golf Boom A look into area courses IN EVERY ISSUE 31 LOCALS: The Street Genie Saxophone player Freddy Greene 14 Editor’s Letter 18 Contributors 34 MUSIC: Stories as Song An operatic album taps local authors 19 Your Feedback 21 Datebook 37 FOOD: Timeless Fare Stalwart Circus Family Restaurant 89 The Whirl

96 End Note: At the River 40 DRINK: Proud Mary Exploring a favorite brunch beverage

40 43 CREATORS: Found Magic Shannon Whitworth ﬁnds her muse

On the cover: Dr. Lindsay Zanno with one of the Dueling Dinosaurs, photography by Justin Kase Conder

10 | WALTER PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIELLE DOUGLAS

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53 Haiku Sequence 74 Inspiration in Stillness by Lenard D. Moore Painter Andie Freeman imbues Catherine Nguyen (PORTRAIT); Taylor McDonald (TABLE) Taylor Catherine Nguyen (PORTRAIT); illustration by Jillian Ohl everyday objects with meaning by Catherine Currin 54 Elevated & Elegant photography by Smith Hardy For Mother’s Day or anytime: a brunch infused with Carolina goods 80 Boylan Beauty by Debbie Moose The newly opened Heights photography by Taylor McDonald House is a restoration project full of detail — and heart 64 Dino-Mite Find by Colony Little How the Dueling Dinosaurs got photography by Catherine Nguyen from Hell Creek to Raleigh by Jamie DeMent photography by Nathan Cooper and Justin Kase Conder

12 | WALTER

ORIENTAL EDITOR’S LETTER RUGS Ayn-Monique Klahre Ayn-Monique

On March 24, the WALTER team met in the oﬃce, all together, for the ﬁrst time in a year. It also happened to be the one-year work-a-versary of associate editor Addie Ladner!

n its best moments, being a parent early enough that they won’t be grumpy allows me to rediscover the joy of the next day. Sometimes it’s hard to find Ibeing a kid. My family went to the the magic there. But I hope they see beach over the kids’ spring break, and it that I’m trying, that I’m putting all my wasn’t exactly warm — highs in the 60s, decades of learning to be human into the ocean as chilly as you’d expect in late building a fulfilling life for us. March. They didn’t care. They put on Over the last year, my parents found SALE swimsuits as soon as the sun came up. themselves in a role they didn’t expect My older daughter and I spent hours before the pandemic, as full-time caregiv- working on sandcastles. We talked about ers to my sister’s toddler son. They envi- the mechanics of building towers and sioned retirement to be full of travel and 30%-75 % digging tunnels. We found shells in books (and, to be fair, they’ve had some specific colors and shapes to decorate of that already). But when I talk to them, the outside. We talked about school and they’re not missing anything — they’re OFF friends. And we spent a lot of time not too busy marveling at this wondrous talking, just enjoying being together, being who’s learning words and tasting working on a common project. foods and mimicking their every move. My younger one got me into the Of course, the other day my mom MAY 1-31 2021 water. All the way under the water. (Did asked if I thought she’d missed this I mention the water was freezing?) quality time with us back when she was But how could I resist the pure joy of a busy managing the day-to-day. I said no 6-year-old in the waves, and her insistent — I have great memories of family time coaxing to get deeper and deeper? Then together. But it goes to show: you never we spent an hour just digging holes and outgrow being a mother, even when your burying our feet in them, feeling the children are mothers themselves. warm weight above and the cool water So thank you, moms and mother fig- 5634 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., seeping in underneath. Children are a ures out there, for perfectly and imper- reminder to be fully present, to appreci- fectly guiding us through this life. Durham, NC ate the everyday miracle that is life. In its worst moments, parenting Corner of I-40 and 15-501 (Exit 270) is frustrating, heartbreaking, an endless juggle. The day-to-day challenge of getting out the door to school, getting Ayn-Monique Klahre www.persiancarpet.com dinner on the table, getting the lights off Editor you deserve it

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY waltermagazine.com/subscribe or call 818-286-3118 EDITORIAL PUBLISHING VOLUME IX, ISSUE 8 Editor Publisher MAY 2021 AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE DAVID WORONOFF WALTER is available by paid subscriptions for $25 a year in the United States, Creative Director Advertising Sales Manager as well as select rack and advertiser locations LAURA PETRIDES WALL JULIE NICKENS throughout the Triangle. Subscribe online at waltermagazine.com/subscribe Associate Editor Senior Account Executive & Operations ADDIE LADNER CRISTINA HURLEY For customer service inquiries, please email us at [email protected] Contributing Writers WALTER Events or call 910-693-2506. A.J. CARR, WILEY CASH, TYLER CUNNING- KAIT GORMAN Address all correspondence to: HAM, CATHERINE CURRIN, JAMIE DEMENT, WALTER magazine, JIM DODSON, SUSANNA KLINGENBERG, Graphic Designer 421 Fayetteville Street, Suite 104 COLONY LITTLE, DAVID MENCONI, ALYSSA ROCHEROLLE Raleigh, N.C. 27601 LENARD D. MOORE, DEBBIE MOOSE, WALTER does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. LEE PACE, COLEEN SMITH, BILLY WARDEN Interns RILEY BENSEN Please contact Ayn-Monique Klahre Contributing Copy Editor KAYLA GUILLIAMS at [email protected] FINN COHEN MORGAN GUSTAFSON for freelance guidelines. BRIAN ROSENZWEIG Contributing Photographers Owners MALLORY CASH, JUSTIN KASE CONDER, Circulation JACK ANDREWS, FRANK DANIELS JR., FRANK DANIELS III, LEE DIRKS, NATHAN COOPER, TYLER CUNNINGHAM, DARLENE STARK SMITH HARDY, FORREST MASON, TAYLOR DAVID WORONOFF 910-693-2488 MCDONALD, BEN MCKEOWN, CATHERINE NGUYEN © WALTER magazine. All rights reserved. Finance No part of this publication may be reproduced STEVE ANDERSON Contributing Illustrator in any form without the express written consent 910-693-2497 of the copyright owner. Published 11 times JILLIAN OHL a year by The Pilot LLC.

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A CONTRIBUTORS M give to others around you.” around give toothers you inspiration continued the and you gave me inspiration the for all Lou, you, Thank morefun. much so shoot the Heenergy. made much so He had greatness. ing toreach- journey of his stories few a share him hearing was shoot this of My favorite part to work with. great so was Lou forsure. magical It was have imagined. I could everything It was Coliseum. olds Reyn- into us abletoget was Lou —but restrictions Covid with it shoot we could where about nervous Iwas Pucillo, Lou legend basketball NC State photograph to asked Iwas “When run. a long oron cocktail acraft mastering him ﬁnd you can photos, shooting Digest tectural &Gardens, Homes in appeared Hardy’s work has Smith PHOTOGRAPHER SMITH HARDY of Montfort Hall.” write anew chapter inthehistory of thehomeandtheirdesire to project shares theShepherds’ love to design,everyone involved inthis has beenathrill. From architecture transformation ofHeights House ing andcriticism. “Watching the supports contemporary writ- arts Writersdation Arts Grant, which recipient oftheAndy Warhol Foun- Culture Shock Art. writer andfounderoftheblog Colony LittleisaRaleigh-based COLONY LITTLE National Geographic, Better Better Geographic, National . When he’s. When not / She isa2020 / and

WRITER Archi-

A.J. CARR his life.” of pulse the heart, of his rhythm the listener his with he’s sharing forconnection, alanguage is Genie Street The in Freddy Greene saxophonist of story the totell honored is blur.” the Cunningham in beauty there’s believe and mess the Iwelcome details. tothe attention listening, observing, and paying by “I connect insecurity. and pain, of doubt, seasons the and liance of bril- moments shiny bright, the between paradox the explores she as forauthenticity strives She WALTER in appeared 2018. since have photographs whose teller astory- is Tyler Cunningham PHOTOGRAPHER TYLER CUNNINGHAM — and special person.” special — and athlete aspecial Lou, about write to It’s pleasure great friendship. a atreasured develop later and State at career Lou’sfollow basketball to of The er thrill a Year. “Itwas Sportswrit- N.C. voted was twice and coverage, baseball for college awards national three including awards, media received several atthe decades four News Daily prise for a teenager as writing He began School. High baseball at Wallace-Rose Hill and basketball, football, playing while career sportswriting year 50- onhis A.J. embarked Carr , worked with the the with , worked in college, and spent spent and college, in / WRITER The The Enter- Wallace . “Freddy’s music N&O

Greensboro . Carr has has . Carr /

Courtesy contributors FEEDBACK Retirement We love to hear from you! Tag us when you’re out and about — or cozied up at home with WALTER. living.

“All of us local Boykin Spaniel owners want to thank you for that gorgeous cover photo Better than for April!” — Rita Howell Davis “I enjoyed your Larry Marangos piece. you ever It warms my heart. I’ve known people like that in my lifetime — ordinary people who made a difference to me. Thanks for sharing your story.” — Carolyn Booth imagined. “I’m ﬁnally reading my April issue and loving, loving, loving the piece by Jim Dodson. More, please! He is a delight!” — CC Parker

“I greatly enjoyed the article Every Moment is a View. North Carolina is blessed with a number of homegrown artists like Richard Wilson. Reading about them is informative and pleasing. Love the magazine.” — Frances Turner

“Congratulations on another glorious issue of WALTER — I love your magazine! I especially enjoyed the articles on the Method neighborhood and Ana Shellem (shellﬁsh queen!) in your March issue.” — Betsy Buford Welcome to a life that’s anything but ordinary. When you live at The Cypress, Raleigh’s preeminent Life Plan Community, you’ll experience luxury retirement living at its very best. Whether it’s the resort-style amenities, carefree lifestyle, world-class healthcare facilities, or the chance to own your own Cottage or Villa, The Cypress is the right choice for so many reasons. Get ready to rethink what you know about retirement living. Come see what’s possible at The Cypress of Raleigh.

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Courtesy NC Sympony (PETER & THE WOLF); Negin Naseri (MARKET); Town of Cary (KOKA BOOTH) Couertesy Longleaf Film Festival Brie Williams way 57, Rougemont; maxxmusic.com $22 foronecarpass for4;9740 NCHigh- website forticketing logistics. on the21st.Doorsopenat 6p.m.; check based Moon Taxi will bringthetunes come too) onthe13th,andNashville- showing (picnic blankets andchairs wel- to theTriangle withadrive-in style Joy will experience bringanew concert County Speedway, indie-rock bandMt. ofsummer.for thestart At theOrange many intime more) in-personconcerts mont forsomeofthefirst(of hopefully Gather somebudsandheadto Rouge- May 13&21|7p.m. CONCERTS AT THESPEEDWAY and sparkle as 11 artists showand sparkle as11artists offtheir This annual show isfilled withglamour a live, in-personperformanceof lovely Stephenson Amphitheatre, watch Performed inRaleigh LittleTheatre’s May 15|8p.m. DIVAS! UNDERTHESTARS Starting at Divas! RALEIGH, NC• 919.852.0570• DESIGNLINESSIGNATURE.COM Virtual; free; longleaffilmfestival.com filmmaker's quest to findlove through onlinedating ashestruggles withOCD. Asheville, andJon LanceBacon’s tion ofpoverty andportraiture asitfollows thecreation ofafresco mural in few highlights: films to music videosto documentaries. A which includes everything from animated thing forall audiences at this free event, co-director Sally Bloom.There’s some- nections inchallenging times,” says festival continues to provide much-needed con- historic andculture offilmmaking art unique stories ofNorth Carolina. “The Carolina Museum that ofHistory shares pendent filmfestival hostedby theNorth again thisyear, isanannual juried inde- The Longleaf Film Festival, held virtually for showtimes May 14 &15|Seewebsite FESTIVAL LONGLEAF FILM Theirs isthe Kingdom,

Oh Crappy Day, a documentary that adocumentary examines theintersec- which follows anaspiringyoung NOTED DATEBOOK family classic present Robert Weiss’ production ofa Ballet’s 2021springseason.They’ll Don’t missthelastprogram ofCarolina May 19&20|7:30p.m. CINDERELLA 301 Pogue Street; raleighlittletheatre.org the theater’s future programming. 2021 crown —andto raise money for blankets to seewho will take homethe talents. Pack your lawn chairs orpicnic The program will belive-streamed for and we can’t wait foreveryone to seeit!” Ballet’s asitisRaleigh’s history history, Cinderella as well asnew audience members. new dancersinto theseoriginalworks, Carolina Ballet. “It excites usto bring creation,” says Courtney Hilliard with ing thisperformance16years afterits “We are very proud to continue present- Triangle-based musician Karl Moraski. original pianoscore by composer and Presented by isasmuch apiece ofCarolina , Cinderella , featuring an $25; $25; scavenger hunts, andstopping inartis- installations, participating increative Spend aday lookingat public art May 21-23|Seewebsite fortimes SPRINGTIME STROLL&ROLL com carolinaballet. information; for streaming 919-719-0900 box office at 23. on Sunday, May until midnight sible to patrons remain acces- formance will p.m. Theper- 20, each at 7:30 Thursday, May May 19, and Wednesday, two evenings: Virtual; call artspacenc.org/events/stroll-roll tions encouraged; 201EastDavie Street.; visit withstudioartists. tive projects, art andopportunities to make-and-take activities, art interac- end at Artspace, where they’ll have free who notesthat bothroutes and start says Kay Mary Kennedy withArtspace, personal fundraising Artspace page,” sponsor you through donations to your your colleagues, friends, andfamily to raise money to support localarts. “Ask encouragesArtspace participants to event takes place over three days, and Food Hall, andtheGregg Museum. The Eudora Welty mural at Transder Co. route pastspotslike Rebus Works, the Street, andCAM; anda10-milebike Roses that passesby Cathy Foreman’s wheelchair-accessible downtown trek offers two routes: a1-milestroller- and Springtime Stroll &Roll. Theevent tic shopsthrough Artspace’s fundraiser, SPONSORED BY: mural, 311 Gallery on Martin mural, onMartin 311Gallery Free butdona- Black

Courtesy Carolina Ballet (BALLET) HISTORY

lucky LOU With faith and determination, a 5'9" guard made history on NC State’s basketball team by A.J. CARR photography by SMITH HARDY

efore Lou Pucillo arrived at While not intentionally theatrical, Pucillo was the type of player fans North Carolina State Univer- Pucillo staged a scintillating show that loved and opponents loathed. In four sity in 1956, Wolfpack fans included behind-the-back and between- short years, he became a “giant” in NC had seen several championship the-legs dribbling and passing. His ball- State basketball lore — and at age 84, teams, high-ﬂying All-Ameri- handling was magical, his court vision Pucillo is still fondly remembered by old- Bcans, and electrifying uptempo basketball 20-20, his performance highlight-reel- timers and revered throughout Wolfpack at its best. worthy. Nation. He’s an ACC Legend, and in the But what the Reynolds Coliseum “He could pass the ball behind his NCSU, Pennsylvania, and North Caro- crowd hadn’t witnessed was anybody like back three quarters-length court and hit lina Sports Halls of Fame. Pucillo: a 5'9", 150-pound guard — and a guy cutting to the basket — Lou was Pretty remarkable for an athlete who the smallest player legendary coach Ever- very unique,” said NC State assistant Vic never made the starting lineup on his ett Case had ever awarded a scholarship. Bubas in a 1991 Raleigh Times column. high school basketball team.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 25 The improbable journey to Raleigh Pucillo played afternoons and nights, On how his basketball outlook turned began in Philadelphia, where Pucillo sometimes after shoveling snow off a from bleak to bright, Pucillo says: “I think grew up with devoted parents and four dimly lit court. Walking home from the it was divine intervention.” siblings. “We had nothing fancy… but had playground, he threw behind-the-back It was at Temple Prep that he caught a lot of love,” says Pucillo. He was raised passes against the community row the eye of Vic Bubas during one of his less in the Catholic church, sang in a youth houses. “But I never broke a window!” he impressive performances. Playing against choir, and attended Catholic schools for says. Before going to bed, Pucillo prac- a deaf and mute team, Pucillo said, “I just 12 years. He admired the dedication of ticed dribbling in his basement, creating went through the motions” in that game. the nuns who were his teachers, and an incessant thump-thump that annoyed But Bubas, who later became a re- believed what they told him in the ninth his next-door neighbor. nowned recruiter and coach at Duke grade: if you do a novena — go to church “The saddest night of my athletic life University, saw enough of Pucillo to nine straight days — you can wish for was at my high school senior basketball notify Case he had discovered a special anything you want and you will get it. banquet,” laments Pucillo, who thought 5'9" prospect. “I had a very selfish reason for making his basketball days were over. “I felt I “Vic, have you been drinking?” asked this novena,” says Pucillo, reflecting on had failed, I felt betrayed [by the nuns], Case, who preferred bigger, strong, gritty his decision as a high school freshman. and that it was over.” guards in the mold of State All-American “My wish was to play like [Boston Celtics But Pucillo would get one more chance. Vic Molodet. Bubas was not only sober, ball-handling wizard] Bob Cousy and at a His perceptive father, a Spanish teacher, but brazenly told Case he would have to major college.” encouraged him to attend Philadelphia’s change his way of coaching to maximize For a long, agonizing time it appeared Temple Prep after graduating from high Pucillo’s razzle-dazzle style. that wish would never come true. Pucillo school to take a language course, in case “Are you out of your mind?” replied was cut from the high school team his he wanted to go to college. Case, whose highly disciplined team was freshman and sophomore years, then was So Pucillo enrolled at Temple Prep to on track to win its ninth straight confer- too “embarrassed” to go out as a junior enhance his academic resume. When he ence championship. and played in recreation leagues instead. found out the school had a basketball But Bubas persisted, and his resolve per- He finally made the school squad as a team, he tried out and made the squad. A suaded Case to award Pucillo the only senior, but didn’t crack the starting year older and more experienced, this scholarship he was offered. Case also gave lineup. time he burgeoned into a star, leading his a warning to Bubas: “You better be right.” Not that he hadn’t worked at the game. team in scoring and to a 24-1 record. Bubas was right — and it appeared the

26 | WALTER nuns in Philadelphia were right, too. successful 38-year business career, beyond NC State boundaries. He enjoyed Over the next few years, Pucillo got his working first for a Richmond, Virginia, an amiable relationship with UNC wish: he played big-time college basket- beverage company and later operating his coaches Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge, ball and was called a “Bob Cousy style” own company in Raleigh. and was especially close with colorful guard. Today, amid a gallery of pictures During that time Pucillo and Marcie, Wake Forest coach and raconteur Bones in his Raleigh home, is a prized photo of his wife of 59 years, raised three children: McKinney, whom he chauffeured to Pucillo and Cousy together at a Duke Lynn, Lou II, and Lauren. They now have speaking engagements during the 1960s Children’s Classic. three grandchildren: Catherine, Kennedy, and 1970s. “Bones was like a godfather,’’ Pucillo vexed opponents with bulldog and Jordan. Not surprisingly, basketball said Pucillo, who was entertained by the tenacity on defense and offensive skills runs deep throughout the family. coach’s humorous stories. that included solid scoring to go along Between 1978 and 1980, Lynn was a These days, Pucillo remains active with with countless assists, a stat that wasn’t standout point guard nicknamed “Magic” workouts “four or five times” per week kept in his era. He averaged 14.3 points at Ravenscroft School. Lou II starred at and golf on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (“I as a junior and 15.4 as a senior, earned the same school and shares the single- don’t keep score,’’ he says.) All-ACC honors twice, All-American one game scoring record (47 points) with And for the last 27 years Pucillo has season, and was 1959 conference Athlete former Duke sharpshooter and current also been on an enriching spiritual of the Year. That’s why his No. 20 glows pro Ryan Kelly. journey, participating in Bible studies among NC State’s honored jerseys. Then along came the dribbling grand- that began with the Fellowship of “Lou took a dent from my playing children: Catherine played during her Christian Athletes and Bible Study time,’’ says Bucky Waters, a guard a year grade-school days in Wilmington. This Fellowship. He also worships at Hayes ahead of Pucillo at NC State who later year Kennedy contributed to St. David Barton United Methodist Church and coached at Duke. “He had a good shot School’s A team’s march to a conference- carries the names of about 250 people and ball-handling skills. He was like a championship and perfect record. And in his wallet; he prays for each of them. quarterback, had a great feel for the Jordan, a sixth grader, was top scorer on “I’ve always had a strong faith in the entire flow and knew where everybody St. David’s B squad — all bright moments Lord Jesus Christ,” he says. “I can’t was on the court.” during this dark believe how you While Pucillo routinely unfurled pandemic season. can live without spectacular passes that revved up Wolf- In addition to “He had a good shot a strong faith.” pack fans, Waters says: “He was not a enjoying his and ball-handling skills. With that faith, Globetrotter, not a showtime guard. It family, Pucillo has Pucillo soldiers was about efficiency. He just wanted to made a significant He was like a quarter- on, enjoying beat you — beat you whatever it took.” impact in the back, had a great feel retirement, giving The Pucillo-sparked Pack teams won community and back to the the 1958 Dixie Classic and soundly beyond. His for the entire flow and community defeated rival North Carolina in the 1959 benevolent spirit knew where everybody — and fervently ACC Tournament at Reynolds Coliseum, soared during a backing the then cut down the nets, a celebratory lunch long ago was on the court.” Wolfpack. He has championship tradition Case had started with teammate — Bucky Waters supported all the in the 1940s. Pucillo scored 22 points in Ronnie Shavlik, a NC State coaches the finals, got the Tournament MVP State All-American and teams, and trophy, and was happy he could help his in the 1950s who died at age 49. “Louie, as has been especially thrilled to watch beloved coach collect a 10th Conference much as we’ve gotten from NC State, guards Monte Towe (5'7"), Spud Webb tournament title with the Wolfpack. Wake County, and North Carolina, we’ve (5'7"), and Chris Corchiani (6'1"). “Coach Case was so disciplined on the got to give back,’’ Pucillo remembers But he’s more than a fan. Pucillo has court and so kind off the court,” says Shavlik saying. Inspired by his teammate’s long treasured his friendships with Pucillo, adding that he learned much words that day, Pucillo has consistently Wolfpack players and will forever be more than basketball from his clever and supported community causes like the grateful to Everett Case, who died from visionary mentor. “He taught me a lot YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, The V Founda- cancer in 1966 and is buried at Raleigh about life.” tion, Rex Hospital Open, Duke Children’s Memorial Park. Says Pucillo: “Every time After his playing career, Pucillo Classic, and NC State’s Wolfpack Club, I ride by that cemetery on Highway 70, returned to NC State at Case’s request to and chaired a committee for The Ronnie I blow my horn and say: Thank you, Coach coach the freshman team for three Shavlik Memorial scholarship. Case, for giving me the only scholarship seasons. Afterwards, he embarked on a Pucillo’s circle of friends reaches I was ever offered.”

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 27 SPORTS

Donald Ross designed the course for the Raleigh Country Club in 1948.

TRIANGLE Courtesy Raleigh Country Club (SKYLINE); courtesy Old Chatham Golf (HOUSE) GOLF BOOM A look at Raleigh’s golf courses, thriving despite the pandemic by LEE PACE

ne Friday during the sum- Rizzo, Bob Eubanks, and Rex Teaney, The result, three years later, was Old mer of 1998, three Chapel all three of them at the time high on Chatham Golf Club, on a wooded tract Hill businessmen decided the mast at Franklin Street Partners, a in the heart of the Research Triangle, to knock off early and go Chapel Hill financial management firm. easily accessible from Raleigh, Durham, for lunch and golf at their At the height of two decades of a strong and Chapel Hill. It was designed by Rees Oclub. Problem was, the tee sheet was full. domestic economy and rapid growth of Jones, one of the most prolific golf course “Why don’t we build our own golf golf’s popularity, other golf venues across architects in America. course?” was the collective idea from Paul the Triangle were inundated as well. “I’d been a member at Carolina Coun-

28 | WALTER try Club in Raleigh since I was a kid, but it was hard to get a tee time there,” says Smedes York, Raleigh’s mayor from 1979 to 1983, who joined Old Chatham to have the option of playing at a less crowded club. “It was not a case of ‘either/or.’ It was a case of ‘adding to.’ There was a need for a new club, one centrally located within the Triangle.” “The club provided a coming together of people throughout the Triangle, a place to drop territorial rivalries at this one place,” adds Roger Perry, president of East West Partners and another early Old Chatham board member. “This year, we hit our membership cap,” says Allen Wilson, who assumed The eighteenth green at Old Chatham with the clubhouse in the distance. the club leadership in 2012. “I think the guys with the original vision would be pleased. Old Chatham has evolved into a sanctuary for people who love a pure 11 kids who grew up in rural Virginia, he McConnell Golf, a Raleigh-based golf golf environment.” saw the benefit of making the sport more ownership and management firm found- Golf is thriving today in the Raleigh widely accessible. ed by John McConnell. It has grown since area at every level, from the elite private Thus the Raleigh Golf Association 2003 into owning 14 clubs and managing club to the daily-fee course. Amid a pan- course was founded in 1929 off Tryon two others across a swath that runs from demic, being outside and keeping six feet Road, 3 miles southwest of downtown the South Carolina coast to Tennessee. of personal space works well on a 400- Raleigh, with Finley contributing a “I started thinking about it and won- yard golf hole. After losing a month or portion of the cost and selling shares of dered if RGA is a place we can expand two of rounds beginning in March 2020 stock to raise additional capital. Nine our footprint and do something to grow when the pandemic hit, industry profes- holes were added in the 1950s by archi- the game,” says McConnell, about mak- sionals implemented safety protocols and tect George Cobb, and today, nearly 100 ing the lease arrangement in 2016. “I have reopened courses. Golf became a bubble years later, the 27-hole facility is Raleigh’s fond memories of playing RGA years ago. for fresh air, sunshine, and exercise. second-oldest course, with weekday I always liked it and it had a great stretch Golf rounds nationwide at private green fees for walkers from $25 — and a of finishing holes. It was a pleasure to clubs were up 19.9% in 2020, while pub- course that’s equally popular among men, play. Raleigh’s a great market and I think lic facilities saw a 12.4% rise, according to women, seniors, and junior golfers. this is a course we can use to attract more the National Golf Foundation. Raleigh Finley’s name now sits atop a plaque on people to the game.” Golf Association, one of the area’s oldest the clubhouse wall that lists the founding Across McConnell Golf’s portfolio, golf venues, confirms that the sport is officers and board members (just as it is which includes over a dozen properties in thriving here in the Triangle. at later philanthropic efforts, the Carter- North Carolina and its neighbor states, A.E. Finley was one of the leaders of Finley Stadium at North Carolina State rounds were up 25% this past year. the Raleigh business community in the University and Finley Golf Course at the “We were very fortunate to be on the mid-20th century, when his construc- University of North Carolina). good side of the pandemic,” says Brian tion equipment company was thought There’s a photo on the golf shop wall of Kittler, McConnell’s vice president for to be the largest in the nation. Finley Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen playing an golf operations. “So many people in loved golf and was a member at Carolina exhibition there in 1937. Arnold Palmer hotels, restaurants, and small businesses Country Club, the city’s oldest course played at RGA in the 1950s when he was were affected. A lot of gyms were closed, (originally founded in 1910 as Raleigh on the golf team at nearby Wake Forest parks were closed, areas where people Country Club; the name changed in College. Noted amateur Clarence Alex- could walk and ride bikes were closed. 1918), but he thought Raleigh should ander grew up at RGA as a caddie and Golf courses became a safe haven.” also have an inexpensive course where later came back to win five Raleigh City Five miles across town on the eastern middle-class and blue-collar workers Championships from 1950-60. edge of the city, Raleigh Country Club could play for a modest cost. As one of Today RGA is leased and managed by was closed from March through No-

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 29 national month

SHOP OUR WIDE SELECTION OF FLOORS 18 IN-STORE OR ONLINE MONTHS SPECIALF INANCING AVAILABLE** RALEIGH CARY 4600 Paragon Park Road 207 East Chatham Street OurOurc customers ustomers love love us! us! 919-872-2775 919-461-0441 LOCALLY OWNED vember 2020 for a renovation project. 4.94.9o out ut of of 5 Stars BRENTWOODFLOORINGAMERICA.COM Designed by Donald Ross in 1948, Mc- Connell Golf bought this course in 2003 when the club was considering shutting down and selling its land to commercial VINTAGE OR NEW, developers. Golf course architect Kyle Franz supervised the $5.5 million proj- THE LOOK IS ALWAYS FRESH! ect, which included rebuilding greens, tees, and bunkers and installing a new irrigation system. Franz also culled the

property of approximately 500 trees Courtesy Raleigh Golf Association (SUNSET) to help turf quality by allowing more sunlight and airﬂow, but also to open up long-range vistas across the course. Today, McConnell can stand on the clubhouse veranda, the highest point on the property, and see up to a dozen holes. From this perch just off New Bern Av- enue, east of downtown out toward Old Chatham and beyond, the view’s pretty sweet indeed. As a year in the clutches of COVID-19 has proved, there’s nothing quite the equal of fresh air, companion- ship, good exercise, and the challenge of maneuvering a golf ball from point A to point B.

Lee Pace’s new book, Good Walks—Redis- covering the Soul of Golf at Eighteen of Fine Porcelains, Fun Furnishings, the Carolinas’ Best Courses, is available Vintage Barware, Unique Gifts this month. He lives in Chapel Hill. 1846 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh NC 27608 www.thefabfoo.com • 919-621-1771 Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @thefabfoo LOCALS

the STREET GENIE Sax player Freddy Greene has honed his soul-searching groove on downtown Raleigh sidewalks

words & photographs by TYLER CUNNINGHAM

t’s on the street where I performance lets out. The 63-year-old say Greene is Raleigh’s longest-running feel like I’m actually liv- harvester of sounds leans into a relaxed street musician. While Greene has ing,” says Freddy Greene. boldness with piercing hazel eyes, often played with the likes of gospel greats “I’m not boxed in at all.” hidden behind his signature shades, and Shirley Caesar and Percy Sledge — and You’ve probably encoun- locs falling well below his shoulders. even graced the stage of Harlem’s leg- “Itered Greene on Fayetteville Street Nicknamed the “Street Genie” for his endary Apollo Theater twice — street or at his favorite Raleigh perch, in ability to make the melodies of his be- playing is his sacred space. Here, he front of the Memorial Auditorium as a loved saxophone dance and bend, some has found a raw and powerful connec-

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 31 tion to his audience for more than four After high school, Greene studied hood about a young boy who strayed decades. He is drawn to its simplicity: music at Saint Augustine’s University from the right path and was saved the direct line between musician and in Raleigh and then North Carolina from danger by a street musician and listener, where he can see and feel how Central University in Durham. “I had his magical horn. Flora’s story wrapped his music lands. to get serious, to play catch-up,” Greene Greene in a blanket of comfort and Hailing from humble roots in shares, reflecting on the talent sur- hope as he left college and struggled Franklinton, Greene was born into a rounding him, “but first I had to get the with homelessness in his 20s. “When life of music. His first home had once girls out of my head!” Greene followed I look back, I think that story was been a neighborhood juke joint known in the footsteps of one of his idols, B.B. telling me how to save myself with my as the Chicken Shack, where sharecrop- King, and took his velvety soprano sax horn,” says Greene. “So I would just pers and the agrarian working class to the street. There, he found refuge play. I would practice and practice, for would gather to from the daily hours and hours, eight, 10 hours a day. unwind and re- pressures of tests I dropped out of society.” But Greene connect through “He’s more than a and school loans never forgot his mother’s story, and music. Those musician — Freddy is and the future used her words to fuel him as he fought storied walls were that he would his way through those dark years. the foundation, deeply spiritual with a need to create On one of those long days in the and music was compassionate heart. for himself. In late 1990s, Greene was playing on the woven into the the movement corner of Historic City Market when fabric of everyday A listener. Freddy’s and pace of the chef Harvey Yancy was walking to his life. If Greene the real deal.” people, Greene job at a nearby restaurant. Yancy heard wasn’t listening could let the Greene before he saw him. “I was like, to his mother sing — Stefan Youngblood world melt away Wow, man, this cat is really playing!” or his uncle play while he painted Yancy recalls. “The world was walking the guitar, he was running down to his the air with his languid, long notes. by Freddy, but they didn’t see who he grandma’s house to play her piano. Mu- Perhaps the greatest influence on really was.” sic, he discovered, was not only a form Greene’s life was his mother, Flora, a Yancy didn’t hesitate. He told Greene of self-expression, but a way to bear talented artist and seasoned storyteller. that as soon as he got his own place, witness to the world around him. She told a tale throughout his child- Greene was going to play there. Within

32 | WALTER “INTERESTING STUFF” FOR YOUR HOME & COLLECTIONS

a year, Yancy opened his Cajun restau- Pigfish Lane Antiques & Interiors rant and jazz club, Yancy’s, and Greene was its first entertainer. “Freddy was the house band!” Yancy says. The gig was Greene’s first, and soon he was forming his own trios and quartets and playing venues throughout the state. This is when Greene met Stefan Youngblood, founder of When Grace Happens, a Raleigh nonprofit that supports the homeless and under- resourced. Youngblood, a powerful vocalist and pianist, invited Greene to collaborate for an upcoming event. Several of the musicians were homeless, a reality that had been Greene’s just a few years before. This was a full-circle moment for Greene, supporting others who were on a journey with so many parallels antiques • porcelain • art old & new • custom framing • carpets to his own. It allowed him to share his lamp shades & repair • custom-built furniture • ¿QHHVWDWHMHZHOU\ PRUH riffs and phrases with an intimacy and 2YHUVTIWRI¿QHGHDOHUV vulnerability that served as a magnet to his audience. “Freddy’s a sociolo- gist playing the sax; he studies people (919) 436-4006 • SLJ¿VKODQHFRP • 5425 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh while we study him,” says Youngblood. “He’s more than a musician — Freddy is deeply spiritual with a compassionate heart. A listener. Freddy’s the real deal.” As Greene’s audience has widened, he remains as connected to the path behind him as he is focused on the one ahead. “I wouldn’t change anything,” he says. “I’ve learned that it doesn’t mat- ter what anyone else says about you. It’s what you think about yourself.” Those words are particularly poi- gnant when paired with the title track from his latest album, Ain’t I Somebody? With a tension to his refrains, Greene unfolds this rhythmic and reflective musical narrative about the inherent value of all people. “Freddy plays from his soul and he’s playing because he’s trying to reach another soul,” says Yancy. So the next time you’re meander- ing the streets of downtown Raleigh, pause and listen for the sound of magic happening. And when Greene’s musical storytelling draws you in, let the notes wash over you and carry you to a peaceful place of belonging. MUSIC

STORIES as SONG Courtesy Cricket Photography Vocalist Andrea Edith Moore turns the writings of local authors into a unique album by DAVID MENCONI

s an album, Family Secrets: vocalist, Moore has sung on stages all Broadway agent and move to New York Kith & Kin is unique — and over the western hemisphere, from the with me. Well, that didn’t happen.” uniquely North Carolina. It’s Aspen Music Festival in Colorado to the Pursuit of her singing ambitions took deeply rooted in the local Hamburger Kammeroper in Germany. Moore to the North Carolina School of arts community, a work For all those travels, however, the Chapel the Arts for the last two years of high Athat is equal parts opera, chamber-music Hill native didn’t make her ﬁrst album school, followed by studies and degrees piece, and literary song cycle — with ban- until coming home to North Carolina. at Yale University and Peabody Con- jo, no less. And it boasts some big names “Being a classical singer, it’s not a servatory at Johns Hopkins University. among the credits, though they’re names straight shot to The Met,” Moore says by Eventually, she made her way back to the not normally associated with music: Dan- phone from her home in Hillsborough, Triangle, where she teaches at the Univer- iel Wallace, Lee Smith, Frances Mayes, over barking from the family dog Frank sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Jeffery Beam, Michael Malone, Randall “Chairman of the Bark” Sinatra in the sings locally with North Carolina Opera. Kenan, and Allan Gurganus. background. “Growing up, I always loved A bit more than a decade ago, she The album is the brainchild of opera musical theater and Broadway. At age initiated the process of what eventually singer Andrea Edith Moore. A soprano 10, I asked my parents if they’d get me a became Family Secrets.

34 | WALTER Moore envisioned a song cycle based on writings from the surrounding literary community. In their empty- nest phase, her parents had moved to Hillsborough, and Moore settled there when she returned from school. Some of the area’s leading literary lights became friends, collaborators, and clients: Moore gave Big Fish author Wallace voice lessons, and she served as Smith’s consul- tant for her 2013 novel Guests on Earth, advising her on musical verisimilitude. So Moore enlisted Wallace, Smith, and other local writers to write stories to inspire her songs. Each was given the prompt of “family secrets” and an assigned location (including a cemetery, pantry, porch, and “top of stairs”) as the jumping-off point for their words. Then, text in hand, Moore turned to composer Daniel Thomas Davis, a fellow North Carolinian she’d known since their days together at Peabody, to Opposite page: Andrea Edith Moore. Above: Working set it all to music. The songs are sung by on the album. Right: The album cover.

kandbgalleries.com

8411 Glenwood Ave., Ste. 107 108 E. Chatham St. 1201-J Raleigh Rd. 4209 Lassiter Mill Rd., Ste. 130 Raleigh, NC 27612 Cary, NC 27511 Chapel Hill, NC 27517 Raleigh, NC 27609 919-783-7100 919-467-6341 919-929-1590 919-600-6200 Moore herself, accompa- think the way it turned Family Secrets has been performed live a nied by a wide-ranging out is outstanding, a number of times in recent years, at UNC ensemble versed in folk “Andrea was the monumental and ambi- and in an operatic staged version with and classical music, in- heart and soul tious project, beautiful North Carolina Opera. They recorded cluding Raleigh banjo ace and impressive. Andrea the album in September 2019 at Manifold Hank Smith. The album behind it and was the heart and soul Recording in Pittsboro, and the post- also includes narration she really made behind it and she really recording tweaks were going on just as from storytelling actress made it happen.” the pandemic shutdown began in March Jane Holding. it happen.” The apex comes about 2020. Moore had planned for additional “There’s a dramatic arc — Daniel Wallace halfway through, on Chi- performances to accompany the album’s to it, from prologue to the naberry Tree. Written by release, but that will have to wait for the end,” Moore says. “One the late Randall Kenan, who passed last pandemic to subside. Whenever that hap- thing I like is something Daniel remarks year, it’s a true-life story about the brutal pens, chances are that its themes will still upon in the liner notes: As he was work- murder of a beloved aunt by his uncle. The be timely. ing through the texts, he realized that all album is dedicated to Kenan’s memory. “Given what we’re still on the brink of these authors know one another — thus “He passed away before the album as a society and a nation, it feels like the the people inhabiting their writings came out, but he was able to hear it exact right time for that Allan Gurganus must all know one another, too. Those performed live and was extraordinarily quote from the epilogue,” Moore says. interconnections create this village.” moved by the realization of his story in “Can’t we each be saved from our worst selves? Wallace — whose contribution Pantry the music,” Moore says. “Randall had It’s a really important question to ask is about a mysterious hidden object — never put that one pen-to-paper in a book, ourselves, whether it’s about politics, our says that dynamic makes perfect sense. but he felt that setting it to music was the health, or just being good neighbors and “I think it’s absolutely true, that these right place for it to live. It was an honor a civil person. Can’t we just be? Caring pieces all feel like a kind of conversation and a big responsibility, to be given that about each other — it would be nice to see between the works,” Wallace says. “I story and tell it with care.” more of that.” FOOD

Timeless

FARE Circus Family Restaurant serves up old-fashioned milkshakes — and a spirit of gratitude

by SUSANNA KLINGENBERG photography by BEN MCKEOWN

Glenn Mitchell, owner of of Circus Family Restaurant

In 1974, Raleigh was a city looking Since 1974, plenty has changed in our (painted elephants and big-top col- forward. Families were welcom- city — but little has changed at Circus. ors), and retro décor (original booths, ing soldiers home from Vietnam, They’ve spent 47 years sidestepping tables, and floors) feel a bit out of touch and the second-ever woman had trends and sticking to what they do best: with the here and now, that’s OK with just been elected to City Council. dishing up local charm and a seriously Mitchell. “When you taste something IMeanwhile, on Wake Forest Road, just good peach milkshake. you haven’t tasted in a long time, it just off Capital Boulevard, a Dairy Queen Owner Glenn Mitchell, who began takes you back. That’s what customers had quietly reinvented itself as Circus working there as an employee in 1986, say: our food takes them back.” He adds Family Restaurant. says the flourishing food scene down- with a resolute nod: “We keep it simple “After the turmoil and upheaval of town has made him double down on and keep it good.” the 1960s, Raleighites entered the new Circus’ niche: classic burgers, hot dogs, It hasn’t always been simple for Circus decade with a desire for normalcy,” says fries, and ice-cream desserts. “Our Family Restaurant. In June of 2006, the Ernest Dollar of the City of Raleigh menu is basically the menu we’ve had business was rocked by a shocking event: Museum. “Even in its name, the Circus since 1974,” says Mitchell. After a pause: the murder of a cleaning contractor, who restaurant offered a distraction from the “Well, we added grilled chicken. You was working at the restaurant late one past and reflected the optimism of the know, for healthy eaters.” night. Such an incident would be quite future.” If the unmoving menu, circus theme a blow for any establishment, especially

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 37 Top to bottom: Circus Family Restaruant; a worker prepares hot dogs; photos from Thanksgiving 2018 on display inside the restaurant. one built on a family-friendly atmo- started pouring in. South Raleigh sphere. Civitan member Robin Snyder, Mitchell admits that his first reac- whose group has participated from tion was to downplay the tragedy. He the early days, says they all look for-- initially discouraged his employees ward to the camaraderie of preparingng from talking to customers about the the meal: “Every year, a group from murder and shied away from press. But Civitan peels and chops 300 poundss of sweeping it under the rug unsettled sweet potatoes. It’s a long day, but thehe him: it didn’t feel brave, nor did it honor spirit there is really something.” the legacy of the innocent victim. For On Thanksgiving Day, hordes of that man’s family, after all, the loss was people traditionally descend on the much greater than the bottom line. tiny restaurant, chatting, eating, andd After talking to the victim’s family, giving thanks. The crowd includes Mitchell discovered that he had been unhoused people, older folks, locals involved in caring for the unhoused in with no family in town, and neigh- Johnston County, offering what little he bors who have simply woven it into had to those who had even less. It was their tradition. In 2019, they served then that Mitchell knew what he had to 1,300 plates, with even more going do: give back to the people this man had out to nursing homes, shelters, and cared for. The idea for a free turkey din- bus stops. Last year, they had to can-- ner began to take shape, and it turned cel the event, but they plan to revivee into an annual event. it as soon as they can. The man’s family has said he would Snyder says the energy Mitchell pours have loved the way Mitchell turned a into the feast every year is simply an ing year,” says Mitchell, “But we never tragic event into a way to give back; outpouring of his values: “He is very closed down, and our customers? Our they work alongside Circus staffers, humble. He doesn’t do it for any glory customers just kept showing up.” customers, and other volunteers to or recognition. He does it because his While Raleigh will continue to prepare and serve the meal. At first, it heart tells him to.” change around Circus Family Restau- was a relatively small operation. But as The community support that Circus rant, it plans to remain a bastion of the word got out — first through Mitchell’s Family Restaurant has earned over the past. And that’s okay with Mitchell — church, then to the wider community years is what’s kept them afloat through the spirit of gratitude that’s served up — donations of time and resources the pandemic. “It’s been an interest- with every meal is timeless.

38 | WALTER LONG-BELOVED EATERIES These classic spots have served our community for decades by ADDIE LADNER and RILEY BENSEN

AMEDEO’S FRANK’S PIZZA AND RESTAURANT THE ROCKFORD Since 1963, this family-style Ital- A classic New York-style pizza place Up a narrow flight of creaky steps, ian restaurant has become an icon that’s been around for more than 30 popular fare includes the fried oys- among the NC State sports commu- years. Folks also love their hoagies. ters and chicken and waffles. nity and the neighborhood alike. 2030 New Bern Avenue 320 ½ Glenwood Avenue 3905 Western Boulevard GLENWOOD GRILL SECOND EMPIRE RESTAURANT BLOOMSBURY BISTRO Tucked away in a shopping center, AND TAVERN Opened in 1995, this Five Points gem this mainstay offers coastal cuisine Opened in 1997 in a Victorian man- was one of the first to offer a menu like crab cakes and shrimp and grits. sion, this fine dining spot combines featuring local ingredients. 2603-151 Glenwood Avenue Southern charm with white-table- 509-101 West Whitaker Mill Road cloth treatment. LEE’S KITCHEN 330 Hillsborough Street CASA CARBONE Offering Jamaican and Southern cui- In a northern Glenwood Avenue sine since 2007, the star of the menu SIDE STREET RESTAURANT strip mall, this classic Italian restau- is the chicken, fried or curried. Stop by this Historic Oakwood rant has been around since 1984. 4638 Capital Boulevard; 1100 North lunch spot for its make-you-smile 6019-A Glenwood Avenue Raleigh Boulevard menu (see: the Holey Hen). 225 North Bloodworth Street CHAR-GRILL MAMI’S LATIN STYLE Pick up a tiny yellow pencil, mark ROTISSERIE CHICKEN SNOOPY’S HOT DOGS your order sheet, slip it under the This spot’s flavorful roast chicken is The downtown location closed, but window, then see your burger sizzle. a go-to for busy families who want this hot dog spot still has two other 618 Hillsborough Street nourishing, reasonably priced meals. outposts to get your fix. 2401 Wake Forest Road 1931 Wake Forest Road; 3600 Hills- CHUAN CAFE borough Street East on New Bern, this solid Chinese OLE TIME BARBECUE food stop offers quick takeout — Heading out of town down Hillsbor- THE BARTON ON FAIRVIEW and some seriously spicy tofu. ough Street, this time capsule has Formally known as Hayes Barton 2004 New Bern Avenue remained nearly the same since it Cafe, this neighborhood favorite of- opened over 25 years ago. fers a low-key lunch — or candlelit CLOOS’ CONEY ISLAND 6309 Hillsborough Street dinner in the evenings. Black-and-white checkered floors 2000 Fairview Road and spinning diner stools make for a PAM’S FARMHOUSE retro meal at this hot dog joint. This unassuming spot on the side WARAJI JAPANESE RESTAURANT 2233-102 Avent Ferry Road of the road has served traditional Opened in 1997 by Masatoshi Tsu- Southern food to Wolfpack fans jimura, who was born in a fishing CLYDE COOPER’S BARBECUE savvy locals for over 20 years. village in Japan, this spot is known Serving East Carolina-style fare, this 5111 Western Boulevard for its authentic Japanese cuisine. downtown establishment is one of 5910 Duraleigh Road the longest-standing BBQ joints in the state (it opened in 1938!). 327 South Wilmington Street

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 39 DRINK Forrest Mason (NOFO); Getty Images (INGREDIENTS) Forrest

Proud MARY Bartenders and aﬁcionados opine on the Queen of Cocktails by BILLY WARDEN

ary is complicated: “It’s kind of a symphony of experi- pared to the refined Manhattan or gin She can be down to ence for your nose and mouth,” says and tonic. And from there, she gets even earth, or as garish as Raleigh Bloody Mary aficionado Dustin twistier. Madonna and Elton Ingalls, who recalls sampling an alco- “No one has a definitive recipe,” says John sharing a double hol-free Virgin Mary at the tender age Ingalls, an example of the many pas- Mbill in Vegas. She has gone by other of 16 — and being instantly enamored. sionate amateur barkeeps devoted to names, including The Bucket of Blood The basic ingredients are tomato Mary. “It’s a perfect vehicle for mixo- and The Red Hammer. She’s widely rec- juice, vodka, celery, Worcestershire logical experimentation.” ognized as The First Lady of Brunch. sauce, pepper, olives, and lemon. Right In an attempt to better understand But you know her as Bloody Mary. out of the gate, Mary is a melée com- Mary, I asked about her on social me-

40 | WALTER SIG’S ‘TRIPLE SECRET’ BLOODY MARY

“As part of our family tradition — which we still uphold — Nancy’s mom, Me Maw, always enjoyed ringing in the holiday season with a pitcher of Bloody Marys while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Whether it’s a family holiday, a special occasion, or even a toast to a Saturday morning bike ride on the Neuse River Greenway, nothing is better than the taste (and anticipation!) of the perfect Bloody Mary. Over the years, I’ve worked hard to perfect this magniﬁcent libation.” — Sig Hutchinson

INGREDIENTS 1 to 2 shots vodka 6 ounces Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix Sig and Nancy Hutchinson enjoying a post-bike ride Bloody Mary. Gourmet Village Rim Trim Dash of Lea & Perrins Original Worcestershire Sauce dia. The riotous response of Facebook niption are good if you want to keep it Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce friends perfectly matched the commo- local.” Ingalls prefers a different twist: “I Limes tion of the cocktail itself. To partially graduated from Bloody Marys to Bloody quote the Triangle’s legion of fans and Marias — tequila-based — years ago. Olives at-home mixologists: Then I discovered mezcal at Gallo Pelón,

Courtesy Sig Hutchinson Celery Sticks Needs horseradish. Chunks to chew on. and have been making almost exclusively Celery Salt Ain’t legit without lots of pepper. Mezcal Marias at home ever since. I love Sprinkle just a dash of Old Bay. the complex smokiness that mezcal adds DIRECTIONS Use a Slim Jim for a stirrer. to the saltiness, spiciness, and acidity.” Clamato is the key. Customers at The Raleigh Times chase Prepare the glasses: circle the tops with lime juice and dip into a saucer of rim Bits of fresh crab meat. their Marys, which include a candied trim, then knock oﬀ excess. Fill glasses Beef broth in the mix. bacon stirrer, with a sidecar of PBR. with ice and add a celery stick, with leaves While pre-made mixes can stream- Breweries sometimes add a brown ale. sticking out at the top. Set aside. line production, the question of which Mary’s many guises can bewilder, rules supreme is, naturally, far from which is why some prefer leaving it to an Fill a shaker with ice and add vodka, Bloody Mary mix, Worcestershire Sauce, settled. Wake County Commissioner expert. Or, as lawyer Ron Perkinson puts ¼ of a squeezed lime, and hot sauce to Sig Hutchinson, known to cap week- it, “I’m partial to those handed to me.” taste (optional, but not really). Shake or end bike excursions with Marys all Bartender Ashlan Hendricks has stir vigorously. around, swears by Zing Zang’s mix. handed over countless Marys in her eight Carrboro chanteuse Wendy Lee Shad- years with NOFO @ The Pig. The eatery Strain into glasses and add a touch of celery salt to the top. Garnish with two burn sings the praises of Pittsboro’s regularly chalks up Mary-related acco- olives on a toothpick and a thin wedge Bloody Brando. lades in part due to its heavy dose of dill, of lime. Even the type of liquor involved both on the rim of the glass and in the isn’t ﬁxed: “I prefer my Bloody Marys mix. “It’s a relief to the hot spice,” Hen- with gin,” notes longtime Raleigh dricks says. “But you have to go gentle on bar manager Chico Scott, of Land- the Worcestershire. Too much’ll ruin it.” mark fame. “Hendrick's is my favorite NOFO also tinkers with Mary’s gar- because of its cucumber essence, but nishment, perhaps the most celebrated Mother Earth, Cardinal, and Con- wardrobe signature since Carmen

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 41 Miranda’s headdress. In place of the juice with chunks of horseradish, spicy vodka outweighs the benefits.” traditional celery stick is a perky Eng- tabasco, and 1,500 calories of added Nevertheless, brunch is Mary’s time lish cucumber and an arching pickled meat medley makes me want to lose my to shine, whether she’s at Midtown’s green bean, plus cherry tomato, plump breakfast!” STIR, the Village District’s Flying olive, and lime. For the record, a basic Bloody should Biscuit or Tupelo Honey (whose Queen Lovely to look at, spry on the tongue be no more than 500 calories (some Mary sports a shrimp garnish), the — but Raleigh’s versions are rather of which are derived from perfectly thick and spicy Mary at Wye Hill, tame in the maximalist Mary-verse. wholesome veggies), according to Scratch in Apex, Durham’s Motorco, or Charlotte’s Moo & Brew festoons its Raleigh nutritionist Samantha Reiff. other boozy bastions. Mary — renamed Large Marge — And while fans generally embrace the “Brunch is back,” confirms NOFO’s with a burger, grilled cheese sandwich, cocktail’s power as a hangover cure, Hendricks of the state’s loosened din- fried green tomatoes, a jalapeño pop- Reiff says that claim is likely false. ing protocols, “and brunch is social.” per, and cheese curds. Belhaven’s Spoon “It may be a buzzkill, but the Bloody Ah, and there’s the essence of my River also piles the fixins high. Mary as a hangover tonic is more of own long-stewing crush on Mary: Yet the madcap variety that charms a hopeful myth than nutrition sci- her populist appeal, the open-source some baffles or repulses others. ence,” says Reiff. “One could argue creativity of fans, the social buzz of “These concoctions are getting out that the component parts may con- swapping recipes, and the joy of shar- of hand,” gripes Brandon Ives, whose tribute hangover-mitigating benefits ing a mid-morning meal. downtown office puts him close to two — say, the electrolytes in tomato juice, Mary is a parade, a festival, a circus of Raleigh’s most prodigious Mary- cysteine in garlic, vitamin C in the in a glass. I love her messy and brassy makers, Capital Club 16 and Humble lemon juice, capsaicin in the hot sauce, and perhaps too eager to please. I adore Pie. “It’s brunch, people — not a antioxidants in the herbs and celery, Mary because she’s as high-spirited Calabash buffet! I'm all for eating my and liver detoxification properties in and wide open as I want to feel after fruits and veggies, but guzzling tomato horseradish — but a hefty spike of spending the morning with her.

NOW Being said about IN STORES

Hugh McColl’s Chapter Two McColl, 85, still plays a pivotal “role in making North Carolina a better place. Beyond the Bank makes that crystal clear.” The twenty years Hugh McColl’s spent since stepping down as – Business North Carolina Bank of America CEO belies the notion that irrelevancy is a part Building a great bank has been of retirement. “upgraded to building a better community. (McColl) still has the This is the story of how McColl, energy and courage to believe he has at 85, remains essential in a city that bears his imprint, from a better place. What a legacy!” building Uptown to investing – Harvey Gantt, Charlotte civic leader social capital in all corners and former mayor of the community.

Nothing motivates Hugh McColl A new book by Howard E. Covington Jr. “more than leading collaborations available online at: of strong voices to spark innovative solutions for the challenges howardcovingtonbooks.com of our time.” – Michael Marsicano, president and On sale at Park Road Books, Charlotte; Scuppernong Books, Greensboro; Hub City Bookshop, Spartanburg; Litchfield Books, Pawleys Island, S.C.; Books & Beans, Rocky Mount; , Southern Pines; and Battery Park Book Exchange, Asheville. CREATORS

found MAGIC For Shannon Whitworth, the muse lives and breathes in the mountains of Brevard by WILEY CASH photography by MALLORY CASH

y art is how I see the world,” says winter is still hanging on. artist and singer-songwriter Shannon Whitworth didn’t always live in the mountains that have Whitworth. “And my music is how I become so synonymous with her music and art. She was born hear it.” into a bustling home with two older brothers in Fairfax, Vir- Just outside of Brevard, Whit- gnia. By the time she reached high school, her restless nature “Mworth is walking across the expanse of grass between her prompted her to head south to Hilton Head Island, South barn studio and the renovated farmhouse she shares with her Carolina, where she spent summers with her Grandma Nancy, husband, Woody Platt of the Grammy Award-winning Steep an Old South dame who owned a ladies’ clothing boutique and Canyon Rangers, and their young son. The late afternoon is lived in a lamplit home where every room had a clock radio rainy and cool. In the distance, mist hangs over the mountains playing martini music. The soundtrack to Whitworth’s sum- like a gray, gossamer blanket. In other places across the South, mers in Hilton Head were comprised of Billie Holiday, Frank spring has begun to reveal itself, but here in the mountains, Sinatra, and the clink of ice in Grandma Nancy’s cocktail

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 43 glasses. To the girl who’d been raised in an active household in somewhere, but this place spoke to me,” Whitworth says. “I a busy city, the freedom of Lowcountry life was both mysteri- knew I would write a lot of songs and paint a lot of paintings ous and emboldening. “I went down there playing with Barbie here. And if I could do those things, then I knew this was dolls,” Whitworth says, “and I came back home wearing a where I needed to be.” training bra.” She spent a few months in the offseason living in the old Like many people who grew up in the 1990s and who would cook’s cabin at Camp Carolina, stuffing envelopes and mail- later become artists, Whitworth was an angsty teen who filled ing promotional material for the camp and working on her her journals with reams of poetry. Her parents had always music. “I must’ve written a hundred songs,” she says, but she been music fans, and she grew up listening to was too self-conscious to perform them in James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Crosby, Stills & front of anyone aside from her brothers and a Nash. When her older brother began dating a “I’m going to a small circle of musician friends. “And then a woman who played the guitar, Whitworth re- different place friend of mine told me about a dive bar in West alized she could set the words she’d written to when I work now... Asheville that hosted karaoke,” she says. “The melodies. The woman — who would eventually people who came to karaoke were old country become her sister-in-law — showed her how to Sometimes I don’t people. Nobody knew who I was or even cared. play chords, and by the time Whitworth began have the words or It felt safe.” The first song she ever performed college in Boone, she was already skipping class in front an audience? Dolly Parton’s Jolene. to play music. “I was consumed by it,” she says. the music, but the “Dolly Parton was my spirit animal of sorts,” And then someone gave her Lucinda Williams’ colors are always says Whitworth, whose own singing voice first album. That’s when she had the vaguest of there.” is lower and warmer, but just as resonant as notions that, just maybe, she could become a Parton’s. “I figured that if I could transform musician, too. myself into someone like that, then I could do “I didn’t know a lot of women who were doing this,” she anything. It was like putting on body armor.” says, and she didn’t know if she could do it either. After a Another major influence while Whitworth was finding series of moves and adventures took her all over the country, a herself onstage was Dwight Yoakam, especially his album camping trip to Brevard in 1999 finally convinced her to settle dwightyoakamacoustic.net, which features him playing his down and give music a try. greatest hits with only an acoustic guitar. Whitworth would “I was moonstruck by Brevard,” she says. She is sitting by play his album and record it on a borrowed four-track while the window in her living room, the sun having fallen below recording herself singing harmony and playing accompanying the mountains just above the confluence of the headwaters of instruments like mandolin and banjo. She would layer in her the French Broad River. Night is creeping across the fields. “It recorded parts with Yoakam’s music. “It was as close as you felt like there was a crystal under the Earth that was pulling could get to being in a band with Dwight Yoakam while also me here. I always thought I would end up back on the beach being a total weirdo at the same time,” she says.

44 | WALTER The first time Whitworth performed with her guitar in front of a live audience was during a jam night at Jack of the Wood in Asheville. That’s also where she met the other founding members of a bluegrass band that would soon become The Biscuit Burners. Over the next few years, the band would go on to release two acclaimed albums while crossing the country on what seemed like a never-ending tour. But despite all the band’s success, it was their first show that perhaps had the greatest effect on Whitworth’s life. On that night, Woody Platt set up the band’s sound equipment. While it would take a while for friendly exchanges to become flirtations and for flirtations to become love, by 2006, Whitworth and Platt were a couple, and Brevard was their home. After years on the road as a touring musician, to Whitworth, Brevard felt like a sanctuary. She left The Biscuit Burners and released a spate of highly praised solo records, and she soon found herself building her life around two things: her relationships with the people she loved, and a new kind of art. “Painting reminds me of how I feel when I sing through a microphone,” Whitworth says. “It’s a way of reporting my feelings, and it’s also a place where I can dig deep into healing. It all used to be a way to work through angst.” Since having a child, Whitworth has shifted to creating art from a source of light. “I’m going to a different place when I work now, and I’m still trying to sort that out. I’m learning to use these new tools that motherhood has given me. Sometimes I don’t have the words or the music, but the colors are always there.” Over the past year, Whitworth’s paintings have found homes with a stable of interior designers across the South, and ANA GUZMAN (b. Cuba 1956) her work has been featured in galleries and shipped all over May 7th – June 2nd, 2021 the country to private collections belonging to the likes of Edie Brickell and Paul Simon. “When I first began painting, all of my art was coastal, but after settling into the land here and having our son, I just started seeing this landscape so clearly, and it’s reflected in my work. I’m living it,” Whitworth says. “People always tease me about believing in magic, but I always tell them, You’ll believe in magic when it finds you.” She has risen from her seat at the window, and she is now moving through the house, turning on lamps, their soft light meeting the sound of Patsy Cline’s voice floating from an unseen source somewhere in the kitchen. Whitworth uncorks a bottle of wine and pours a glass. Whether it’s a lamplit room in Hilton Head, a festival stage on the other side of the country, or a light-filled studio where the dew-damp mountains loom in the distance, Shannon Whitworth has always found magic. Or perhaps it has always found her.

Wiley Cash is the writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. His new novel, When Ghosts Come Home, will be released this year. He and his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, are traveling across North Carolina to meet creatives. GALLERY C FINE ART 540 N. BLOUNT ST • 919.828.3165 • GALLERYC.NET SIMPLE LIFE

The secret to a good life? Less is more Simple GIFTS by JIM DODSON

friend recently wondered Leonardo da Vinci, in fact, declared moment is right, somewhere in nature, why I named this column simplicity the ultimate form of sophistica- stress-free, and away from the madding “Simple Life.” tion. As did the likes of Winston Chur- crowd. I joked that it was better chill, Albert Einstein, Walt Whitman, Lao One unexpected benefit of this strange than the original title I Tzu, Yogi Berra, Marcus Aurelius, Leo year of distance and isolation, social scien- Acame up with — “Frankly, My Name Tolstoy, and Maya An- tists and trend-watchers Escapes Me.” gelou. Rumi called it the “If you’re smart,” report, is a broad refigur- In truth, the name is as aspirational as dust that hides the gold. ing of how we Americans it is functional, a useful reminder that the Whether planning a Mervyn Lapp told live, work, and appropri- longer I live, the more I grow to appreci- wedding or a war, sim- me during our ate our time. ate the value of simplifying my life. plicity is key to a success- While churches and In a recent article, Simplicity: The Ne- ful outcome, knowing walk through his bars — the yin and glected Value, author and communications what’s not essential and beautiful stone yang of modern cul- coach Bruna Martinuzzi points out that eliminating it before barn, “you take tural society — still we time-enslaved, stressed-out, overwork- things get out of hand. struggle to stay open, ing humans simply don’t know what’s A year ago, the combi- stock of what’s life-enriching activities good for us when it comes to where we nation of the pandemic really important in like meditation, Zoom place our focus in life. and wedding plans that yoga, home gardening, “We read and hear enough about its had grown far more com- your life... and golf, and bird-watching benefits in just about every facet of our plicated than expected other things you have mushroomed in lives,” she writes, “yet we walk past it, prompted my daughter, popularity. According every day, in pursuit of the more complex, Maggie, and her fiancé, can simply live to more than one expert complicated, tangled, and sometimes Nate, to postpone and without.” on the American work- puzzling. There is no glitter in simple, not rethink how they wished place, mobile workspaces enough buttons to play with. We fear that to tie the knot. They’ve since envisioned and home offices will be the engine that simple equates with easy, light, too basic — an intimate gathering of close friends and produces the next Industrial Revolu- unsophisticated.” family to celebrate their union when the tion, spawning a vast new generation of

46 | WALTER home-grown entrepreneurs and inventive visionaries. History holds some encouraging parallels. During the Great Depression and second World War, an era of severe economic dislocation and public self-sac- riﬁce, a generation of self-made engineers, tinkerers, and inventors — many working in the isolation of their own garages and backyard sheds — managed to create everything from frozen foods to the ﬁrst computers, color TV to dialysis machines, jet engines to Tupperware. That boom became the foundation for the consumer revolution and space age of the 1950s and ’60s. Your smartphone is the godchild of that time. A couple years ago, while traveling the Great Wagon Road for my current book project about America’s original immi- grant highway, I paid an afternoon call on a lovely Amish family, the Lapps, who live in the heart of Pennsylvania’s lush Lan- caster County. The “plain” ways of America’s Old three grown sons, all of whom worked in the noble art of getting things done, there Order Amish — such as their unadorned the family’s masonry business, and how may be an even nobler art of leaving clothing, use of oil lamps instead of elec- devotion to God, family, and the pleasure things undone. “The wisdom of life,” he

Getty Images tricity, and reliance on horses for trans- of doing good work with their hands were writes, “consists in the elimination of portation and farming — are an echo of the pillars of a rewarding life. It was one nonessentials.” our vanished agrarian past and a living of the most pleasing interviews I’ve ever During this year of distance from reminder of the virtues of simplicity. conducted. friends and family, in place of going out Amish and Mennonite farmers were the For the record, there were even a few to movies or dinner with friends, an older first European settlers to answer William myth-busting surprises, including the fact couple I know took up reading to each Penn’s call to Lancaster County in the late that the Lapp men were all crazy about other every morning from their favorite 17th century, using their wise farming playing golf, and that Mervyn was a life- books, a practice they plan to continue practices and love of the land and their long L.A. Dodgers fan who often watched indefinitely. “It’s been a wonderful discov- animals to transform the county’s rich games on his neighbor’s television. ery,” Harry reports. “A simple gift that’s limestone soil into the most productive “If you’re smart,” he told me during our brought us closer than ever. It’s now part farmland in the nation. The so-called walk through his beautiful stone barn, of our lives.” “Garden Spot of the Nation” is now “you take stock of what’s really important Over this same interlude, I began work regarded as the birthplace of American in your life… and other things you can on a large garden I have dreamed of mak- agriculture. simply live without.” He paused and gave ing for many years, one that will probably The Lapp family’s ancestors had been on me a wry look. “Simple things are always take me many more years to complete. As their land since before the American Rev- best. That’s a key to happiness. But I do any gardener knows, of course, a garden is olution, living as comfortably in accord need my Dodgers.” never finished, so my education as a man with nature and the Divine as anyone As I drove home to North Carolina of the soil — and my wonder at its con- I’ve ever met. After Mervyn showed me on a winding backcountry road, I was stant gifts — will never cease, until I do. around his immaculate barns, we sat with reminded of my own aspirations of sim- Simply put, what a lovely thought. his wife, Catharine, in the evening light, plicity, beginning with my chosen route sipping delicious meadow tea — a drink home. Getting anywhere fast is one thing Jim Dodson is the New York Times bestsell- made from boiling fresh mint gathered I can do without. ing author of Final Rounds: A Father, A from surroundingfields — beneath a In his 1939 classic, The Importance of Son, The Golf Journey Of A Lifetime. He grove of old trees. They talked about their Living, Lin Yutang points out that beyond lives in Greensboro.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 47 NOTED

A mother of seven, Mary Ann Hanson nourished a passion for art Raleigh Through her Eyes

by COLEEN SMITH photography by BRIAN STRICKLAND

ncredible mother. Lifelong learner. Humble, yet unbelievably talented artist. These are just a few of the many phrases you could use to describe Imy mom. Born in 1936 in upstate New York, Mary Ann Hanson was a remarkable woman, and Raleigh was fortunate to have her. Along with six (soon to be seven) children, my mother and father moved to Quail Hollow in the early 1970s after living in New York their entire lives. At the time, Mom wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of moving here, but as a career IBM family in a pre-Zoom era, one didn’t question such matters. She ac- cepted her new North Carolina fate with grace and a smile, and agreed to give the Triangle a fair chance. Mom fell in love with Raleigh quickly. The neighbors she met through Welcome Wagon, the friends she made through church, and the excitement of a modestly growing metropolis brimming with culture were enough to spark her affection. And all of her children would learn to love Raleigh and the arts through her eyes. On the weekends, my mother and father would take us to hear Pops in the Park at Regency Park in Cary. On my sixth birthday, I saw my ﬁrst musical, My

48 | WALTER Fair Lady, at Memorial Auditorium. Mom would drag us to endless craft shows, like the annual A Carolina Christmas at what was then the Civic Center. I remember attending First Friday as a teenager, long before it was a cool thing to do. But watching the arts from the side- lines wasn’t enough for Mom; she was always an artist at heart, who found inventive ways to incorporate her love for creating into her day-to-day life as her family grew. Oil paint had been her medium of choice before she had children, but she quickly transitioned to working with acrylics, pencil, pen, and chalk — This page: One of many Raleigh skylines that Mary Ann Hanson completed. Opposite page: supplies that were safer for tiny hands to A photo of Hansen from WakeMed’s Heart to Heart magazine in 2010. get into. Once there were seven of us, she didn’t have much time for drawing, but Other times, we’d pick up pastries, then completed several iterations of it in the she made intricate Barbie clothes by hand drive around to snap photos of beautiful ‘90s, one of which I claimed from the for her daughters. During the holidays, landscapes that she’d use later to draw or moment she painted it. While it was we sat around the table, making elabo- paint the true-to-life works of art. When always a fan favorite in her art shows, rate ornaments and watching her bake we were home, I’d either watch her draw it was always marked as “Not for Sale,” pastries into decorative (and delicious!) or help her prepare for art shows, doing and today, I’ve got it proudly displayed Christmas trees and wreaths fit for a whatever I could to just spend time with in my home. king. On our milestone birthdays, she her and share a bit of her contagious, If Mom were here today, she’d be would help us redecorate our bedrooms, passionate energy. amazed by how the skyline has changed which she would wallpaper and paint Somehow, she did all of this while also over just the last five years — but she herself, after helping us choose a color earning a degree in computer program- wouldn’t complain. Instead, she’d talk palette and theme. ming in the ‘80s from Wake Technical my dad or one of us kids into taking her As we grew older, Mom finally had Community College, which earned her a to the newest fancy restaurant, and then time to get back to her art. She started 15-plus-year career at the North Carolina she’d want to grab dessert at some indul- painting again and joined Wake Visual Electric Cooperative. I am still in com- gent bakery before heading home. Arts in the 1980s, excitedly participating plete awe of how she could accomplish Many of Mom’s paintings have sold in an art show here and there. She even so much and stay true to her lifelong pas- over the years, which my siblings and I taught herself graphic design in the ‘90s sion for art. I’m a mother of three with a often lament. But Mom always loved the and used those skills to design posters full-time career and I can barely manage idea of her works of art being displayed and programs for my high school choir to keep my kids’ hair cut — but like I and enjoyed by people who would ap- and theater performances. said, Mary Ann Hanson was remarkable. preciate them. While I lost her six years As the youngest of her seven children, When it came to her art, Mom loved ago to lung disease, the pieces proudly I probably got the most quality time with to portray Raleigh’s evolving downtown. displayed throughout my house keep her my mom, and I relished every moment Some of her most beloved paintings and in my heart every day. of it. To be honest, I think she enjoyed drawings featured landmarks such as the Mom proclaimed that anyone could be the freedom, too. By the time I was a old downtown Hudson Belk, the Hills- an artist if they invested the time in learn- “tween,” my siblings were mostly grown borough Street Darryl’s restaurant (with ing. She truly believed it, since she was and out of the house. So on weekend the famous red awning and crackers), the taught by her mother. None of us children mornings, Mom and I would head out to- Capitol Building, the Capehart House, have followed in her footsteps — I can’t gether, traveling to wherever her artistic Briggs Hardware, and Fayetteville Street draw to save my life! But I hope to pass on inspiration would lead us. Mall (when it was a mall), among many her love of both Raleigh and the arts to Downtown would often be our des- others. my own children, ages 5, 7, and 8. tination. We’d stop to look at the beau- One of her favorite scenes to paint Since their artistic abilities already tiful homes in Historic Oakwood, and was the Raleigh skyline over Western exceed my own, I’ve got faith that my sometimes she’d plop us down on a Boulevard. Mom knew it would change mother is sharing her gifts with us from picnic blanket and I’d watch her sketch. and grow taller over the years, and she the great beyond.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 49 SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION May ALL THE GOODS For Mother’s Day, graduation, anniversaries, and more, the most sought-after gifts from local retailers.

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The Art & SoulAPRIL of Raleigh2020 | |79 51 &

present BEHIND THE SCENES AT ART IN BLOOM An exclusive video release on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16

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Each year, Art In Bloom attracts thousands of guests to the North Carolina Museum of Art to view unique floral arrangements that interpret works in the Museum’s collection. For the first time, WALTER will take viewers behind the scenes as the floral designers create the arrangements. This exclusive video event will offer an inside look at the the creative process, from conception to installation.

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Haiku Sequence by LENARD D. MOORE for Sonia Sanchez your whole notes wake the dormant trees the wind’s breath drums thump pulsing of the heartsong the opening sky jazz and haiku shake loose my skin a dusting of pollen insistent running of the long river you’re a cappella my black hands cupping the sunlight jacuzzi bubbles orange lilies bow your noontime strut up the sidewalk rain long gone I recite the syllables of your language evening walk I catch your riff in my voice

illustration by JILLIAN OHL

From All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 53 Vintage silverware from Beau Dandy. Vintage champagne bucket, coupes, pink-and-green plates, and ﬁnger bowls from Curated and Company.

54 | WALTER Serve a classic Southern brunch with this menu infused with North Carolina goods elevated & elegant by DEBBIE MOOSE photography by TAYLOR MCDONALD styling by CAMERON JONES ﬂowers courtesy FALLON’S

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 55 SOURCE LOCAL A few good places in town to ﬁnd North Carolina-made products.

ALIMENTARI AT LEFT BANK Head to this counter at Transfer Co. Food Hall for Italian-style meats sourced from North Carolina cattle and pig farms. Grab a batch of their house-made pasta while you’re there. 500 East Davie Street

NOFO @ THE PIG Fill your pantry with things like pasta sauce from Raleigh restaurant Gra- vy, NOFO’s in-house coffee blends, nut butters and spreads from Durham’s Big Spoon Roasters, and a host of other Carolina-made jams and snacks. 2014 Fairview Road

REBUS MARKET Tucked under the Boylan Bridge, this shop sells Mama’s Salsa made in Wendell (which often sells out!), locally roasted coffee beans, Michael’s English Muffins (made in Raleigh), and more. 301-2 Kinsey Street

STATE FARMERS MARKET If there’s anything we’ve learned this Find items like honey, pickled vegetables, jams, and more in the open- past year, it’s that there’s much good air pavilion of the Farmers Market and in the Market Shoppes. Keep an to be found close to home. Raleigh eye out for Mae Farms, an award-winning small farm that sells specialty and North Carolina generally boast cheeses from Chapel Hill Creamery and Goat Lady Dairy, plus their own all manner of food purveyors who Canadian bacon and sausage. 1201 Agriculture Street Icreate delicious products worth adding to the menu. Cookies, salsa, pickles, jellies, WEAVER STREET MARKET smoked fish, dairy products — there are Carrboro-based Weaver Street Market, now with a location in downtown so many ways to eat local! Raleigh, focuses on natural foods from small farms and food purveyors, For this menu, we shopped farmers many of which are based in North Carolina. Their house-made hummus is markets, specialty stores, and the local a perfect pairing with crackers from the Accidental Baker out of Hillsbor- aisles of the bigger grocers to find Carolina ough. Also grab a jar of Chapel Hill-made Cottage Lane Kitchen relishes products that can offer creative ways to and hot sauce to elevate meats and dressings. 404 West Hargett Street brighten a spring brunch. Whether you’re celebrating Mother’s Day, an anniversary, WINE AUTHORITIES or just a spring day, consider updating With Raleigh and Durham locations, this niche wine shop also sells artisan your usual recipes to incorporate local products to fill a great charcuterie tray, like meats from Firsthand Foods, ingredients. plus treats like Escazu and Videri chocolate bars. 211 East Franklin Street

56 | WALTER PICKLED OKRA ROLL-UPS Look for locally made pickled okra at farmers markets like Bruce Julian’s Sassy Okra or from brands like Carolina Country Store and Durham-based Stone Brothers & Byrd.

INGREDIENTS 1 16-ounce jar pickled okra (hot or mild) ½ pound thinly sliced smoked turkey deli meat 1 8-ounce tub soft spreadable cream cheese, at room temperature

DIRECTIONS Drain the pickled okra and gently pat the pods dry with paper towels. Trim any long stems. Lay a slice of turkey out on a cutting board (if the slice is large, trim it to about 5 inches long by the width of the okra pod). Gently spread a thin layer of cream cheese on the turkey, taking care not to tear it. Place an okra pod at one end of the slice and roll it up inside the turkey, gently pressing as you go. Stop when the okra is covered and trim oﬀ any remaining meat. Slice the stem oﬀ the roll to display the layers. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Refrig- erate, covered, until ready to serve. Makes about two dozen pieces.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 57 ROASTED GREEN BEANS WITH SWEET SALSA The beans’ roasted ﬂavor works well with a fruit-based salsa, such as Cape Fear Pirate Can- dy’s Pineapple Bacon Salsa. For a savory ﬂavor, use a traditional salsa, like one from Yah’s Best.

INGREDIENTS 2 strips bacon 1 ½ pounds fresh green beans ½ a small onion, peeled and cut into chunks ¼ cup olive oil Salt 4 tablespoons salsa

DIRECTIONS Fry the bacon until very crispy and drain well. Crumble and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the green beans and onion chunks in a single layer on a baking pan with a rim. Pour on the olive oil and toss gently. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and slightly brown. Stir if they’re cooking unevenly. Using tongs, transfer the vegetables to a bowl or serving tray, letting excess oil drain oﬀ. Add the salsa and toss to coat the vegetables. Sprinkle on the bacon and serve. Makes 4 servings.

58 | WALTER Chestnut soup with brown butter, topped with herbs and crispy parsnips.

¼ teaspoon nutmeg or mace mix. Add a little buttermilk if the dough isn’t SWEET POTATO holding together; it should be very moist. ¼ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes BISCUITS WITH HAM Lightly flour a clean work surface and your 1 ½ cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes hands. Turn the dough out onto the surface & PEPPER JELLY 1 cup buttermilk and knead lightly to combine without adding too much flour. Press or roll out the dough Sweet, salty, and spicy — these biscuits have it 1 10-ounce package country ham all! Use hot pepper jelly such as Peggy Rose’s to a ½-inch thickness. Cut out biscuits with or Fair Game Flying Habanero Pepper Jelly for Pepper jelly a 2-inch or 2 ½-inch biscuit cutter or round a kick. To go mild, consider a sweeter jelly like cookie cutter. Place the biscuits on the baking Duplin Winery’s Muscadine Pepper Jelly, which sheet very close together but not touching. uses native muscadine grapes. DIRECTIONS Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a bak- brown. Watch carefully near the end to avoid ing sheet with nonstick cooking spray. scorching. Remove the biscuits to a cooling INGREDIENTS In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking rack. 2 cups all-purpose flour powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cinnamon, While the biscuits are cooling, cook the ham 2 teaspoons baking powder and nutmeg or mace. Use a pastry blender to according to the package directions. Drain cut the butter into the dry ingredients until well, then cut into biscuit-sized pieces. 1 teaspoon baking soda the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. To serve, slice the biscuits in half, spread 1 tablespoon sugar In a medium bowl, combine the sweet pota- each half with a thin layer of pepper jelly, and ¼ teaspoon salt toes and buttermilk. Stir the potato-butter- place ham pieces inside. Makes about milk mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just 15 biscuits. ¼ teaspoon cinnamon until the dough comes together; don’t over-

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 59 ½ teaspoon salt Bake for 30 - 45 minutes, or until the filling SMOKED TROUT is set. Serve warm or at room temperature. QUICHE ¼ teaspoon black pepper Makes one quiche. ¾ cup shredded smoked trout North Carolina smoked trout, like the variety offered by Sunburst Farms, adds rich flavor to this quiche. Save time by making it DIRECTIONS a day ahead, then refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9-inch pie or quiche pan with the crust. Set aside. Place a sauté pan over medium heat and add INGREDIENTS the butter. When the butter is melted, add 1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked the green onions and mushrooms. Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are slightly 2 tablespoons butter brown. Remove from the heat. ¼ cup chopped green onions In a large bowl, whisk together half-and- ¼ cup sliced mushrooms half, milk, eggs, salt, and pepper until well blended. ½ cup half-and-half Spread the smoked trout, green onions, and 1 cup milk mushrooms evenly over the crust. Pour the 3 - 4 eggs egg mixture slowly into the crust, trying to keep the filling ingredients evenly distributed.

0060 | WALTER BUTTERMILK-PECAN DIRECTIONS Toast the pecans for a couple of minutes in DRESSING a small frying pan over medium-low heat, The state is fortunate to have local dairies, stirring frequently to prevent burning. When including Homeland Creamery and Maple View the nuts are fragrant, remove from the pan Farm, and rich buttermilk makes a ﬂavorful and let cool. dressing for spring greens. In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sorghum together briskly until well combined. Slowly add the INGREDIENTS olive oil, whisking briskly, and whisk until 3 tablespoons chopped pecans all the ingredients are combined. Stir in the pecans. Makes about ½ cup. ¼ cup buttermilk Use it to dress a salad with spring greens 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and vegetables. ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons sorghum ¼ cup olive oil

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 61 2 eggs ter after refrigeration — but they’ll still taste BOURBON-PECAN good, and the garnish will cover any flaws!) Chopped toasted pecans and powdered MINI CHEESECAKES sugar, or additional crushed cookies, for Fill the muffin cups with the batter. Bake for Cookies like Tonya’s Pecan Crisps provide garnish 20 to 30 minutes or until the centers barely sweetness for this crust so you don’t need a jiggle when the pan is tapped and the edges lot of sugar in the batter. Double the local are set. Let cool completely in the pan on a vibe by using bourbon from a North Carolina DIRECTIONS rack, then cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. distillery, such as Mystic Farm or Pinetop. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Put paper And some crushed peanuts from Hampton liners in 12 muffin cups. Place one whole Toast the pecans for a couple of minutes in Farms would go well on top too. cookie in the bottom of each cup. a small frying pan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning. When Put the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand the nuts are fragrant, remove from the pan INGREDIENTS mixer and beat on medium speed until light and let cool. and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Scrape down 12 small cookies the bowl. If using a hand-held electric mixer, To serve, carefully lift the cheesecakes from 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, use a large bowl. Add the sugars and beat just the pan and place on a platter. Do not remove at room temperature until combined. On medium speed, beat in the liners from the cakes. Top with pecans the vanilla and bourbon just until combined, and dust with powdered sugar, or lightly ¼ cup granulated sugar then beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping sprinkle on additional crushed cookies for ¼ cup light brown sugar down the bowl between each addition. Do garnish. Makes about 12. not overbeat. A few chunks of cream cheese ¼ teaspoon vanilla in the batter is okay. (Overbeating the batter 3 tablespoons bourbon may cause the cheesecakes to sink in the cen-

0062 || WALTERWALTER The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 63 Clayton Phipps surveys the land in southern Mon- tana. A freelance fossil hunter, he has a show on the Discovery Channel.

64 | WALTER How the Dueling Dinosaurs got from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences DINO-MITE

FINDby JAMIE DEMENT Nate Cooper (CLAYTON PHIPPS) Nate Cooper (CLAYTON photography by NATHAN COOPER AND JUSTIN KASE CONDER

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 65 Clockwise from top: The Hell Creek For- mation in Montana; Clayton Phipps; Phipps’s daughter Julie next to a fossil; more fossils being unearthed.

he Hell Creek Forma- ered. After a summer of ranch duties, tion, near Fort Peck, Phipps and O’Connor returned to the site Montana, is a barren, to start the painstaking process of rocky landscape of unearthing what they’d found with a sandstone, shale, and brush and penknife. clay. It’s an unforgiving It turned out to be the full skeleton of a land, but one that has Triceratops, a great find for any fossil preserved layer upon hunter. With two weeks of backbreaking layer of natural history. In the Cretaceous work behind them, Phipps and his small Tperiod, 66 million years ago, this area in crew thought they were almost done. the southern part of the state was warm, They moved on to using heavy equipment humid and flat — not dissimilar from to clean up the site around where the what, you’d find along the North Carolina Triceratops bones were found. Coastal Plain. As Phipps emptied the backhoe bucket Hell Creek has produced some of the of excess dirt — slowly, because folks who most extraordinary and scientifically work with fossils are always conscious important dinosaur specimens ever that additional evidence or bone frag- discovered. And it’s here that Clayton ments can be found anywhere — he made Phipps, a local rancher and self-styled a second, startling discovery. found, but he also knew that in order for dinosaur cowboy, has made a name for Most of the debris in the bucket was the dinosaurs to be properly preserved himself searching the area for fossils. light-colored sand and rock, but mixed in and studied, they would need to be were dark fragments. “They looked almost housed in an institution that could UNEARTHING A SURPRISE like dark chocolate,” says Phipps. Definite- handle not just their sheer size — to- On a warm June day in 2006, Phipps ly pieces of bone, but not from the gether, they weigh over 30,000 pounds brought his cousin, Chad O’Connor, for Triceratops a few yards away. — but also the rigorous research to his first fossil hunt, along with Mark Phipps sifted through the contents of uncover the whole story. Eatman, a colleague he had worked with the bucket more carefully. He realized that That’s where the North Carolina on other digs, to survey an area of land the bones made up a claw. Museum of Natural Sciences comes in. owned by other private landowners. A claw from a meat-eating dinosaur. They found something that would Buried next to a plant eater. WONDERING WHAT’S NEXT change their lives. After three more months of digging The North Carolina Museum of Eatman saw it first. To a seasoned fossil and excavation, Phipps had two complete Natural Sciences hosts over a million hunter, bone is obvious; it just doesn’t look dinosaur skeletons wrested from the visitors in a normal year within its down- like sand or rock. There was a pelvis earth: the Triceratops and a Tyrannosau- town Nature Exploration Center and weathering out of the ground, and they rus rex. He brought in a team to prepare Nature Research Center. For more than a could also easily see what appeared to be the specimens for transportation and century, it’s been the place to see state-of- an articulated femur. The trio noted their storage, then set about the process of the-art exhibits and experience nature location and made the long trek home getting these unique fossils out into and science first-hand. Many of the with big plans to return. the world. state’s schoolchildren have their first But it was months before anyone could That journey took longer than expect- encounter with fossils and real dinosaur return to really see what they had discov- ed. Phipps knew the value of what he had specimens there on field trips.

66 | WALTER In the Cretaceous period this area was warm, humid, and ﬂat — not dissimilar from what you’d ﬁnd along the North Carolina Coastal Plain. Nate Cooper (CLAYTON PHIPPS, HELL CREEK AREA); courtesy Clayton Phipps (INSETS) Nate Cooper (CLAYTON

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 67 68 | WALTER “What I love about science, and particularly paleontology, is that you can have a whole set of questions as you dive in, but come up with dozens more as you make your mini-discoveries.” — Dr. Lindsay Zanno

of the American West. She works with very famous species interacted. Bringing exploratory teams, usually for months in them to NCMNS would make the the field, to track down fossils and study museum a global center for paleontologi- Clockwise from top: Eric Lund, manager of the SECU Dinolab; looking how changing climate and environmental cal study. at samples; fossils in packets in the mu- conditions affected life on land during the And then there was the mystery: how seum’s storage area; fossil preperator Cretaceous period. Zanno has discovered did these two dinosaurs get buried so close Aaron Giterman. the remains of more than a dozen new together? “We want to know how these species, including Siats, one of the largest animals died, were they interacting?” says meat-eating dinosaurs on the continent, Zanno. “You can imagine how many times and Moros, North America’s tiniest in a million years two animals get buried Tyrannosaur. Today she calls Raleigh and in a moment of time together like that, a the Museum of Natural Sciences home. predator and prey. It’s so incredibly rare.” The museum’s longtime partnership Zanno wanted those dinosaurs to head with North Carolina State University and south for good. deep commitment to citizen science were So in 2016, Zanno and a team from the what drew Zanno to the institution, and museum headed to New York to meet she has helped grow the already well- Phipps, who’d been storing the specimens known paleontology program over the there since 2013, after an unsuccessful past decade. She works in a joint appoint- attempt to sell them at auction. She ment between the museum and NC State wanted to confirm that the dinosaurs and leads teams of students into the field were authentic skeletons, in good condi- every year. tion, and that they still had their scientific “After being here for six or seven years integrity. It was necessary to confirm that and seeing how successful of an enter- the fossils had been properly removed prise the Nature Research Center is, I from thefield and cared for while they From its inception, the museum has was asking myself, what’s next for the were prepared for sale in a way that did been a repository of the state’s natural museum?” says Zanno. “How do we keep not destroy the research value of the collections, from ancient fossils and pushing the boundaries and being on the specimens. naturalist drawings to its growing leading edge of connecting the public The team also arranged to visit the Hell collection of living specimens. The with science? What can we do to take it Creek Formation. The fossils were found dozens of scientists, researchers, and to the next level?” on private land, but they needed access to educators who work at the museum are Over the years, Zanno had heard about the site to get all the data needed for leaders in their respective fields and all Phipps’ incredible discovery — two fully research, including studying the geogra- share a vision for collaborative teaching intact dinosaurs, frozen at a specific phy and topography of the area, taking and hands-on learning. moment in time. If the condition of the soil and water samples, and looking for One of those leaders is paleontologist specimens was even half as good as any other flora and fauna fossils in the Dr. Lindsay Zanno. Zanno’s passion for reported, then the find could be a area to understand the world their Justin Kase Conder her work and dedication to sharing it game-changer: the “Dueling Dinosaurs,” dinosaurs lived in. with the public are not simply infectious, as they had become known, would be “They are extraordinarily well-pre- they’re inspirational. Zanno completed among the most complete skeletons ever served specimens of our two most her undergraduate work at the Universi- discovered of two iconic dinosaurs. And famous and beloved dinosaurs,” Zanno ty of New Mexico and her graduate work the T. rex fossil would be the only says. “They were first found over a at the University of Utah. Her work as a complete skeleton of a T. rex known century ago and we still know so little paleontologist has taken her all over the anywhere in the world. These fossils about their basic biology.” globe: from theField Museum in Chicago could challenge everything we know Armed with the knowledge that the to Mongolia and Thailand to vast swaths about dinosaurs, including how these Dueling Dinosaurs were indeed as

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 69 This page: Dr. Lindsay Zanno. Opposite page, top to bottom: A rendering of the new paleontology lab, and an illustration of the dinosaurs as they may have looked in life.

7082 || WALTERWALTER extraordinary as expected, Zanno and they can end then-museum director Emlyn Koster up buried in a approached the Friends of the Museum museum or about finding a way to bring the dino- university saurs to Raleigh permanently. The idea of basement for two new dinosaurs coming to town made research. By the Board sit up and pay attention. the time the “The Friends were immediately very fossils, or excited about the prospect of bringing facsimile these complete dinosaur specimens to the models made museum. This is unheard of, right?” says of plastic or Angela Baker-James, executive director of epoxy, are reassembled and put on department to come up with an entirely the Friends. “Having Lindsay and her display in a simulated environment or new environment, one where guests can team be the people who uncover, who diorama, a visitor is presented with a step right into an active research laborato- unwrap whatever is hidden inside the specimen that has already been exhaus- ry where work is being done. fossils? It’s just incredible.” tively studied. “Our goal here is to let the visitor’s Within weeks, the Friends started a But over the past decade, science imagination run wild,” says Javan Sutton, campaign to raise the money to bring the museums have started building fossil labs head of exhibits of the museum. He’s Dueling Dinosaurs to North Carolina. in public spaces so visitors can watch working with HH Architecture in Raleigh Meanwhile, Zanno and her team scientists at work in real time. But, and the museum’s exhibits team to bring started working with the museum’s Zanno noted, there’s still separation that idea to life. exhibits team to figure out how to between the researchers and the visitors, Situated inside an extension to the NRC showcase what could be the most import- with almost no direct interaction. Her beside the Daily Planet, the Dueling ant paleontology find of the century. question became, “Can we really draw Dinosaurs will be an exhibit experience people into the process of what science that will transport visitors 66 million TAKING DOWN THE GLASS is? Could we take down the glass and years into the past. To create the space, Historically, museums have displayed bring the public into the process of which is expected in 2022, the museum fossils out of reach. They’re discovered in unveiling the secrets of the Dueling will embark on an extensive construction

Justin Kase Conder (LINDSAY ZANNO); courtesy North Carolina Museum of Natural Science (iILLUSTRATIONS) ZANNO); courtesy North Carolina Justin Kase Conder (LINDSAY a ﬁeld, then brought back to a lab, where Dinosaurs?” She challenged the exhibits project that includes reinforcing the ﬂoors

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 71 Top to bottom: A rendering of how the two fossils were buried together; the Tyrannosaurus fossil in its packet.

72 | WALTER with steel beams to support the Top to bottom: The 30,000-pound specimens. The center of dinosaur’s ribcage; the exhibit is the actual paleontology lab a closeup of the and the areas before and after the lab will skull; closeup of encourage visitors to join in the scientiﬁc its claws. process and ask their own questions. “The Dueling Dinosaurs are unlike anything I’ve ever seen, in any museum,” says Eric Dorfman, director and CEO of NCMNS. “We will be performing research in front of, and even with the assistance of, the public. It will be a unique experience for everyone involved.” It’s an approach that turns the old notion of a museum on its head: not just a place to learn what’s already been discovered, but to be part of the process. “We want the visitor to think of themselves as scientists, as paleontologists,” says senior exhibit developer Wendy Lovelady. “We want them to help us ﬁgure out the answers to some of these questions.”

UNCOVERING ANSWERS... AND MORE QUESTIONS Today, the dinos are in the building, so heavy they can’t even be housed in the same room. But it will still be more than a year before the public gets to see them. The Triceratops skeleton is so large that it had to be preserved in multiple The museum already knows that frag- pieces to move it from the field. The T. ments of teeth from the T. rex are em- rex is all in one piece except for a small bedded in the Triceratops. There are skinn tail section, so once they’re on view, impressions from the Triceratops on the visitors can see the entire skeleton in surrounding stone and octagon-shaped the position the dinosaur died in. Until impressions or formations on its frill thatat the new exhibit is completed, guests can can offer clues to skin texture and mate- view a Triceratops foot in its matrix and rial. Over the coming years of research, courtesy North Carolina Museum of Natural Science (RENDERING); Justin Kase Conder (POHOTOS) courtesy North Carolina jacket and a replica T. rex foot on the the museum expects to learn about the second floor of the main building. dinosaurs’ soft tissues, maybe their last Visitors will see the skeletons as they meals. are studied in labs, within the plaster “What would their skin look like on preparations they were brought in from various parts of their skeletons? Did T. in while they were alive. They will feel the field. They won’t be fully excavated and rex have feathers?” says Zanno. “We know right at home there.” assembled, as fossils have been in the past; one broke a finger in its life, one broke its At the North Carolina Museum of Nat- instead, the paleontologists will use CT tail, and there’s evidence of diseases — ural Sciences, the feeling is mutual. Says scans and imaging to literally look inside what else can we learn about how these Dorfman, “We are all thrilled to have the blocks of earth holding the fossils. animals lived?” this one-of-a-kind opportunity to house “What I love about science, and partic- “I feel blessed to be a part of it all,” says and research one of the most important ularly paleontology, is that you can have a Phipps. He’s particularly pleased with paleontological discoveries whole set of questions as you dive in, but where the Dueling Dinosaurs have landed: of our time.” come up with dozens more as you make not only in a stellar research museum, but It took more than 66 million years, but your mini-discoveries,” says Zanno. “It’s in North Carolina. “They have landed in a this unlikely pair has found a welcome like a big, unopened Christmas present.” similar environment to the one they lived resting place in North Carolina.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 73 74 | WALTER In her realistic oil paintings, Andie Freeman ﬁnds deeper meaning in everyday objects INSPIRATION in STILLNESS by CATHERINE CURRIN photography by SMITH HARDY

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 75 This page: Andie Freeman’s cat keeps her company in her home studio. Opposite page: Freeman at work.

rowing up just west of thinking she’d study graphic design, but time with people — not just other artists Boston, Andie Freeman ended up majoring in studio art. “I went but those wandering in and out,” she spent lots of time out- through a couple of majors says. “Both of these things side. “I loved hanging and finally landed on helped me focus where I out by myself in the studio art. The life draw- “Objects are how was going with my art.” yard and with nature,” ing classes really spoke we pass our Freeman wants those she says. “I made a lot to me,” she says. After engaging with her work to of goofy things out of weeds and twigs. graduation, she and her stories down from see beauty in the stillness. GA lot of that has found its way into my now-husband McGeath, a Self-defined as a contem- generation to work now.” writer, moved to Atlanta, porary realist, Freeman Freeman moved to Hilton Head Island, where she beefed up her generation, and brings everyday objects South Carolina, as she was starting high graphic design resume at this storytelling is to life through her oil school. She found the Lowcountry’s the Portfolio Center. They the nut of what paintings. The ephemera Spanish moss and Palmetto trees to be floated to different adver- of nature and everyday a welcome change. “The nature there is tising agencies and moved all of my work is life — the wild and the phenomenal,” says Freeman. “I went from around the South, finally about.” mundane — fascinate her, being a kid who liked to hang in trees landing in Raleigh in 2010. she says, just as they did and make forts to being a teenager who A few years after mov- — Andie Freeman when she was a little girl would take long walks and hang out in ing to Raleigh, Freeman exploring her backyard. the Gullah cemetery.” got a studio at Artspace — and com- Freeman has an ongoing series show- Her love of the area kept her close mitted to creating full-time. “The studio ing birds, where she juxtaposes realism by: she headed to College of Charleston gave me the space physically, but also and abstraction, with whimsical shapes

76 | WALTER The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 77 or experimental application techniques debuts this month, and features historical ship she received from the Clark Hulings contrasting with photo-realistic oils. scenes as well as interviews with Gullah Fund for Visual Artists in 2019. Freeman Other still-life paintings, often made on leaders. The largest piece in the exhibition was tasked with finding a pivotal project; birchwood panels, depict commonplace is an oil painting that depicts objects used something meaningful that would help items like silverware, fruit, shells, or tools. in Gullah culture, including traditional take her career in a new direction. “For “I want to take an object and bring it to sweetgrass baskets for rice harvesting and my project, I wanted to build on this idea a level of an artifact,” she says. “I want to cotton blossoms that evoke the plantations of objects telling stories for people,” says help bring people into their imaginations where the Gullah’s ancestors worked. Freeman. She recalls how seeing artistic to remember a time or a person who uti- “The Coastal Discovery Museum’s interpretations of the Boston Tea Party, in lized that object.” mission is to inspire people to care for which some of her forebears had partic- This nostalgia has led Freeman back to the Lowcountry,” says Natalie Hefter, the ipated, made her better understand the South Carolina for her newest endeav- museum’s vice president of programs. event: “I really felt connected to this histo- or, as artist-in-residence at the Coastal “Andie’s paintings capture the unique ry of my ancestors, especially after living Discovery Museum on Hilton Head parts of our natural history and cultural in New England.” When she noticed that Island. The museum is sponsoring her heritage that makes this place so special.” many everyday objects that the Gullah use solo exhibition at the Island Rec Cen- For decades, the Gullah’s land has been today, like fishing nets and sweetgrass bas- ter, which focuses on the Gullah people in jeopardy, not only due to commercial- kets, have centuries-old roots, she wanted of the Lowcountry. Freeman grew up ization, but also by the changing climate to celebrate them as part of history. around the Gullah, who are descended affecting sea levels. “It’s a fascinating “Objects are how we pass our stories from enslaved people who worked on culture that should be protected in a lot of down from generation to generation, and plantations throughout the Carolinas and ways,” says Freeman. “Part of the reason I this storytelling is the nut of what all of Georgia. Through this project, she dove do the work I do is to preserve this con- my work is about,” says Freeman. “We all deeper into learning about their culture. nection to our history.” want to find someone in our past that we Her watercolor series, Gullah Traditions, This exhibition has origins in a fellow- can be proud of.”

0078 || WALTERWALTER Clockwise from top left: A few of Freeman’s paintings: Nuture 2; Tea Day; Netted; Gullah Museum; Goldﬁnch.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 79

An aging mansion in Boylan Heights is reimagined with a new look — and a fresh purpose BOYLAN BEAUTY by COLONY LITTLE photography by CATHERINE NGUYEN

RESTORATION t was a house forgotten in Hall to the Greater Raleigh Land Com- Montfort Hall was time, a rose-colored brick pany, which subdivided the property restored to its original building that peeked out from to create one of Raleigh’s first planned Italianate design in 1978 by John and Mar- overgrown trees on a small hill suburban communities, now known as garet Jadwick. Much of along Boylan Avenue. While Boylan Heights. the historical research the magnificence of the struc- Through the years, ownership of on the property was ture was partially obscured by Montfort Hall turned over 10 times, and conducted by the the vegetation, the house was a mys- the home has consequently undergone late historian William I Bushong, who pub- tery to most who passed by. a number of makeovers: a neoclassical lished William Percival, Montfort Hall was built in 1858 on revival facelift, an apartment conver- an English Architect in a parcel of land deeded to William sion, and a transformation into a church the Old North State, Montfort Boylan in 1855. The Italianate in the 1950s. Additions and subdivisions 1857-1860, about the home was designed by British archi- were made along the way to accommo- home’s architect in The North Carolina Histor- tect William Percival, whose Raleigh date the new uses of the space. But in ical Review. Bushong’s design credits included the historic the 1970s, Montfort Hall was restored detailed scholarship on First Street Baptist Church on Salis- to its original Italianate design by own- the property became bury Street, plumbing upgrades in the ers John and Margaret Jadwick. This res- an invaluable resource State Capitol, and a couple of grand toration likely saved the aging building to new ownders Sarah and Jeff Shepherd. residences in Oakwood and Mordecai. from imminent destruction (two other Its first owner, William Montfort William Percival-designed homes in Ra- Boylan, was described as a “bon-vivant” leigh were demolished around this time and raconteur who regularly held wed- to make way for new development). dings and hunting parties at Montfort Nevertheless, by the 2010s, mainte- Hall. In 1907, heirs of the Boylan family nance and roofing issues left the proper- sold the land surrounding Montfort ty in desperate need of repair.

80 | WALTER The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 81 NATIVE TOUCHES The home’s designer, William Percival, was lauded in his time for embracing innovative construction materials. When sandstone was discovered in North Carolina in 1858, Percival immediately incorporated the material into the design: Montfort Hall’s signature arched windows are encased in sandstone moldings that remain intact today. The preserved architectural features in the home include a ﬂow- er-shaped oculus that’s made from stained glass (which, curiously, had been painted over by a previous owner). In the two-story front vestibule, columns are topped with Corin- thian capitals carved with details endemic to Raleigh including squirrels, acorns, and local birds. “Some of them have fallen apart over the years, so a few squirrels are missing tails,” says Jeﬀ Shepherd.

82 | WALTER But for Sarah and Jeff Shepherd, who live nearby in Boylan Heights, the aged building’s exterior was captivating. “We’re just the type of people that see the potential in spaces,” says Sarah. Neither of them had renovated a home before, but that didn’t dissuade their interest in the property. Sarah, a former Citrix employee, would pass the slowly deteriorating property on her way to work, imag- ining how they would transform the home. She was looking for an entrepre- neurial challenge that reﬂected her love of travel, and spent a few years re- searching the property and developing a business plan for a way to revive it. When she and Jeff discovered that the owner was willing to sell, they secured the funds with investment partners to acquire the property in 2018. It took eight months of work to get the property rezoned so they could convert it from a residential to commercial space. “We were sold before we walked in,” says Jeff, who works in the video game industry. “And honestly, that was probably a good thing!” The Shepherds didn’t know what would be in store for them when they saw the inside of the home: the com- promised roof was the origin of many of the problems with the interior, including extensive water damage. But they remained undaunted. They began the restoration in the spring of 2018. As ﬁrst-time renovators, the process was a journey into the un- known as they quickly learned about the unique challenges presented with historical preservation. Prior to and during the eight-month rezoning process, the Shepherds relied on the scholarship of late historian William Bushong, who had extensively written about the original design of the property. Now, three years later, that weathered Italianate villa has been reimagined as Heights House, a new boutique hotel that is the latest incarnation of one of the few pre-Civil War residences left in Raleigh. For the renovation, the couple enlisted a team of local designers, contrac-

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 83 tors, and artisans to salvage the home’s unique design details, including Maurer Architecture, Greg Paul Builders, interi- or cultivator Bryan Costello, and others. “We’re working with so many amazing- ly talented people, this is not just us,” says Sarah. Maurer’s project manager Laurie Jackson echoes this collective design ethos: “We worked closely with the Shepherds, Preservation NC, and the State Historic Preservation Office to design a program and floor plan that allowed the continued use of the building in a way that made sense, and also respected the historical context and architectural integrity of the building.” The Shepherds also included residents of Boylan Heights in the process, who shared critical feedback on the renovation. “There are so many people in this community and industry that just care so much,” says Sarah. The first major retrofit involved replacing the deteriorating roof with a stunning copper version recommended by Paul (who happens to be a resident of Boylan Heights). Once the roof was replaced, the Shepherds consulted with a plaster specialist from South Carolina to repair the building’s interior structure. Inside, the building has architectural elements inspired by Percival’s work on the State Capitol building, like a rotunda in the entryway that opens to a cupola whose crown jewel is a multi-colored, flower-shaped stained glass skylight. The entry vestibule is framed by fluted Corinthian columns with elaborately carved crowns and flanked by a parlor and drawing room on one side and a library and dining room with a wood-carved fireplace on the other. The second-floor gallery rotunda features arched statuary niches used to display artwork and other ephemera, all lit from the natural light shining down from the stained glass oculus. Throughout the home, the Shep- herds restored arched pocket doors and shutters, intricately inlaid hardwood floors, and 10 fireplaces. A newly created second-floor addition to the home expanded the prop-

84 | WALTER UNIQUE COLLABORATIONS Raleigh’s Tactile Workshop fabricated a custom circular bar for the first-floor parlor for serving drinks to hotel guests. In the guest check-in area, a wall mural painted by artist Carla Weeks con- tains designs that echo the Heights House branding materials created by independent designer Paul Tuorto. Sarah Shepherd even created a signature Heights House scent through a California parfumarie. “We talked about the plants and trees that we have on our property, like the different kinds of wood that are part of the house, plaster, and what that smells like — plus all my favorite smells that bring me joy,” she says. Hints of these notes are incorporated into candles and room sprays.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 85 DESIGN DETAILS The archways in the windows and niches in Heights House inspired designer Deana Nguyen, the founder of Feature Flora, who designed ﬂoral arrangements that are used throughout Heights House. “I pulled a lot of inspiration from the old details, such as the archways, white oak ﬂoors, and the tall columns mixed with new details such as the colors and textures within the lime-washed walls and furniture,” says Nguyen. “The plant material I used ranges from dried native species to tropical species to complement the modern touches.” Her sculptural arrangements are housed in ceramic vessels crafted by Monica Jon of Nullo Ceramics.

86 | WALTER erty to 10,000 square feet, enabling Heights House to create nine guest suites. The property also sits on an acre of land that has been lushly landscaped for community events and weddings. To finish the interiors, the Shepherds enlisted Costello, who outfitted Heights House with contemporary flourishes like brass fixtures, a cool palette of lime-washed paint on walls, and the clean lines of modern furniture with opulent details, like a gilded mirror with a marble pedestal located in the exquisitely appointed bridal suite. Costello combined vintage treasures and new furnishings that harmonize with original architectural elements, which combine to evoke a modern twist on the Victorian aesthetic. “I’m a big believer in letting old be old and new be new,” says Costello. “For Heights House, that meant restoring the original materials and details wherever possible and then honoring the shapes and style of the architecture with complimentary furniture, lighting, and art. It’s like cutting a new stone for an antique ring: honor the original design and celebrate the new shine.” Maintaining the delicate balance between preservation and transformation of the historic landmark produced some challenges during the modifica- tion approval and rezoning process. The Shepherds recently discussed the lessons they learned with the North Carolina Museum of History. “There are a lot of layers of historical protection on the house,” recalls Jeff, who credited some of the covenants placed by the prior owners to curb invasive development. “That was something that the Jadwick family did that was really smart, to keep the house a piece of Raleigh’s history.” Of course, its history is not without controversy. The home’s original owner, William Montfort Boylan, was the son of publisher William Boylan, a promi- nent businessman and landowner who built his wealth on enslaved labor. The Boylan family’s ties to slavery presented the new owners with a conservation conundrum, between restoring the grandeur of the home and reckoning

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 87 with its past. This tension presented complicated stewardship dilemmas, but it also created an opportunity to acknowledge the home’s troubled past and grow from it. After wrestling with this issue, the Shepherds decided to change the name from Montfort Hall to Heights House, a symbolic gesture that maintains the spirit of entertaining from the home’s original use, while creating a new, inclusive space for lodging and special events. “It will always be Montfort Hall in the historic registries, and we’re not trying to erase its history,” says Sarah, “but based on our values and what we wanted to represent as a business, that doesn’t align with pre-Civil War ideals.” By divesting the property from its antebellum antecedents, the Shepherds have created a new path forward. Says Sarah: “What we really wanted was to let everyone in the community embrace and enjoy the home.”

NEUTRAL PALETTE The colors in the home are informed by Vic- torian-era hues, with slight tweaks to feel up-to-date. The ﬁxtures and furnishings take inspiration from architectural details original to the structure.

88 | WALTER THE WHIRL Major Julie Whiten and Major Chuck Whiten, area commanders of Lee and Wake Coun- ties, with Muddy at the Salvation Army baseball event. Tyler Cuningham Tyler

WALTER’s roundup of gatherings, celebrations, and virtual fun around the Triangle.

90 Baseball & T-ball Opening Ceremony 91 Art-n-Soul Market 92 Spring Thaw 93 OTHELLO 93 Carolina Donor Services Groundbreaking 94 Durham Women’s Panel 94 Words Unspoken

To have your fundraiser, party, exhibit, or store opening featured in The Whirl, submit your images and information at waltermagazine.com/submit-photos.

The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 89 THE WHIRL

BASEBALL & T-BALL OPENING CEREMONY On Tuesday, April 6, the Red Shield Club hosted a Baseball & T-ball Opening Ceremony for the Salvation Army. The event included a food truck, games, face painting, and a visit from mascot Muddy. Donations were collected in honor of Coach Hurley Raynor, who has led Salvation Army teams for two generations of players, to help support this season’s baseball and t-ball community.

Kids line up to play

Hurley Raynor and team Tyler Cunningham Tyler

Throwing a pitch Emma Bailey & Walker with Muddy

Christina Taylor, Bonnie Stabler

Muddy and guest Face painting Muddy and friends

90 | WALTER ART-N-SOUL MARKET On April 11, the Art-n-Soul Market in Preston Village brought together local artisans, farmers, food trucks, and beer for a neighborhood event of shopping and fun. Cary residents were happy for a pretty spring day and a return to something close to normalcy.

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919-782-0801 www.drgregweaver.com Guests enjoy the day THE WHIRL provided adeliciousmealtosmallfamilygroup, thenneighborsandfriends On April10,residents ofHarveyStreet inHayesBartongathered tocelebrate the warmerweather. Caterer KatieFeatherstone ofWhiteCloverCatering were invitedforaperformancebybluegrassbandChathamRabbits. Chatham Rabbitsperform SPRING THAW Base Camp for Grandfather Mountain

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Ben Grinnell OTHELLO From April 8 - 17, the Women’s Theatre Festival presented a virtual livestream production of a modern verse translation of OTHELLO by Mfoniso Udoﬁa. This world premiere production was presented by director JaMeeka D. Holloway and a team of Black femme artists, including dramaturg Monèt Noelle Mar- shall, sound designer Aurelia Belﬁeld, production designer/creative technical director Keyanna Alexander, costume and hair designer Aquila Butler, stage manager Didi Fields, assistant stage manager Taylor Murrell, assistant director Terra Hodge, assistant dramaturg Sha-Lamar Davis, and text coach Tia James. Mother's Day Brunch

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CAROLINA DONOR SERVICES GROUNDBREAKING On March 23, Carolina Donor Services hosted a socially distant groundbreaking event. The organization is moving from Durham to Chapel Hill, where its new facility will include office and meeting space and clinical space for organ and tissue recoveries. With three office locations in North Carolina, CDS employs nearly 140 clinical and administrative personnel. Its partners include over 100 donor hospitals, four local transplant centers, more than 500 funeral homes, 100 DMV offices, federal and state legislators, and the media. Courtesy Carolina Donor Services (GROUNDBREAKING), courtesy Women’s Theatre Festival (OTHELLO) Festival Theatre Donor Services (GROUNDBREAKING), courtesy Women’s Courtesy Carolina

Stuart Knechtle, Van Smith, Pam Hemminger, Danielle Niedfeldt, Rodney Cook, Marc Christopher, Mike Ingram THE WHIRL

DURHAM WOMEN’S PANEL On March 24, Discover Durham hosted a panel of female business leaders to celebrate Women’s History Month. Discover Durham staffer Veda Gilbert moderated the panel, which included Areli Barrera de Grodski of Little Waves Coffee Roasters, Monica R. Edwards of Morehead Manor, Melissa Katrincic of Durham Distillery, Claudia Cooper of Guglhupf Bakery, Café & Biergarten, and Tiffany Griffin of Bright Black.

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WORDS UNSPOKEN On April 1, the Garner Performing Arts Center hosted Words Unspoken, a SANDHILLS virtual night of poetry. Celeste Hinnant hosted the event, which streamed live on Facebook. Participants included Imani Horton, Lawrence Bullock, J. Dwayne Th e Home of American Golf® beckons all visitors. Garnett, and D.S. Will, who passionately delivered their vignettes on life, love, From world-class golf to local shopping and dining, and perseverance with a mix of spoken word, song, and theater. our welcoming Southern hospitality is why people have been coming home to the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area for more than 125 years. Plan Your SANDHILLS Escape today! Courtesy Nikki Hinnant (UNSPOKEN)

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The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 95 END NOTE

at the

RIVER Connecting with family in a wilder place — at a slower pace

by RILEY BENSEN

n Riverton, North Carolina, love But Riverton is a place of mosquito at jokes I did not understand. I vividly runs as steadily as the Lumber bites, scabbed knees, and exploring the recall sitting on the ground, gazing at River snaking through the land. swamp surrounding the river land- one cousin stretched out on the dirty In this place steeped in history ing. This is where I learned to shuffle green couch, tearily recounting her and tradition, where my Scottish cards and ride a bike and give stick first heartbreak. I held on to every Iancestors settled, I have always felt a shift a try in “Big Red,” my uncle’s 1962 word and wondered what it would be sure sense of belonging. A few week- International. There is a simplicity and like to fall in love. I see traits in each of ends each summer, my family packs up slowness to the woods that leaves you them that I wish I could riff off, like

the car and heads down for a few days feeling full — while a full schedule working someone else’s guitar lick into Courtesy May McMillan Bensen of good food, soulful music, swims in sometimes leaves you feeling empty. my own tune: Campbell’s free-spirited- the river, and kinship. I’ve tried to soak up the lessons ness, Katie’s grace, Roy’s wit. At 6 years old, I would forge into the and history of the family around me, When I think about Riverton, I often longleaf pines and be gone for hours. especially from my maternal grandfa- reflect on my paternal grandfather, No one came searching for me. They ther, Papa. I’ve learned the World War a Russian refugee of the Bolshevik knew I was safe, under the watchful II songs that Papa leads as he walks the Revolution. He had to leave his home eyes of a vast extended family — and 4th of July parade route, even at 95; I and most everything behind when he mindful that the roots that caught know the color of the dress my grand- and his brother and mother escaped my training wheels would stop me mother wore the first time he saw her to Czechoslovakia, then immigrated from venturing too far. I explored the (yellow-checkered); I listen for the to America. He eventually settled in vineyards and corn fields, sometimes wisdom in his speeches and prayers. Raleigh, working as a family physician with Boo the dog trailing after me (she As I’ve grown older, it has all become for decades. His story, joined with the knew her way around better than I more precious to me. There is no one I story of Riverton, has helped me to did), and invited myself onto any porch know who has experienced so much or understand what a powerful gift it is that offered good smells or good music. loved as deeply as Papa. to be able to gather again and again for In Raleigh, where I’ve grown up, Riverton has also always been a place generations in such a special place. there has always been a constant go- that made me, the baby of 16 grand- And so, at the river, when I join hands go-go to my days. School, basketball children, feel connected to my older with family on my left and right, with practice, homework, friends, and cousins, even when their lives were in our heads bowed to sing Blessed Be the what seems like a never-ending list of very different places from my own. Tie That Binds, I feel a deep connection responsibilities that has only grown I watched their every move, trailed to where I’m from — and a deep under- longer with each passing year. after them when I could, and laughed standing of what’s most important.

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