Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian's Coastal Plain

by Bland Simpson

Into the Sound Country is a story of rediscovery--of two North Carolinians returning to seek their roots in the state's eastern provinces. It is an affectionate, impressionistic, and personal portrait of the coastal plain by two natives of the region, writer Bland Simpson and photographer Ann Cary Simpson.

Here Bland Simpson tours his old waterfront haunts in Elizabeth City, explores scuppernong vineyards from Hertford to Southport, tramps through Pasquotank swamps and Croatan pine savannas, and visits Roanoke River oyster bars and Core Banks fishing shanties. Ann Simpson's original photographs capture both the broad vistas of the sounds and rivers and the quieter corners of mossy creeks and country churchyards. Her selection of archival illustrations ranges from the informative to the humorous, from a turpentine scraper at work in the 1850s to a pair of little girls playing with a horseshoe crab on a Beaufort porch at the turn of the century.

A memorable journey into eastern Carolina's richly varied natural world, Into the Sound Country is for anyone who would spend a while in one of America's most intriguing and underexplored areas.

282 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Bland Simpson's many books include "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A. Deering" and "Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian's Coastal Plain" (both from the University of North Carolina Press). A member of the Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers, Simpson has collaborated on such musicals as "King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running", "Kudzu", and the Broadway hit "Fool Moon". He teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the 2005 Fine Arts recipient of the North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor."

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Into the Sound Country: A Carolinian's Coastal Plain by Bland Simpson and Ann Cary Simpson (University of North Carolina Press 1997) (975+/-). This is a fantastic read for those who love the coast. It's a special bonus for those who specifically love the beaches of North Carolina above all others. Although I am a Tennesseean, both sides of my family hail from eastern North Carolina. My father's family and my mother's family have been settled in North Carolina for close to two hundred years in small towns about a hundred miles apart. Both of these towns are mentioned over and over in this book and are each featured prominently in separate chapters. It quickly becomes clear to the reader that the authors adore the “Down East” portion of the state. (Please permit me an aside: The author refers on numerous occasions to the distinctive accent of those who live on the coast in or near the Outer Banks; he uses the nickname which is often applied by the natives themselves: “Hoigh-Toiders,” or “High Tiders.” This closest phonetical pronounciation for this is “Hoy Toy-durs;” to imagine how the Bankers pronounce this, think of the accent you heard in any pirate movie you ever saw. That's the accent precisely!) Another bonus gleaned from this reading is the fact that the author is one of the Red Clay Ramblers, a regionally popular bluegrass band. I loved this book and can't wait to pass it on to my relatives. My rating: 8/10, finished 12/16/14.