War wages every year on the first weekend in November as the Confederates attempt to defend Fort Branch against the Union Army.  Fort Branch is located in Hamilton, North Carolina — just about 12 miles from Big Mill Bed & Breakfast. 

Yankee reenactor Mike Kerriker (below) gets his weapon ready for battle in the annual Civil War Battle Re-Enactment this weekend near Big Mill B&B. 

Fort Branch sits high up on a cliff at a bend in the muddy, fast-moving Roanoke River near Hamilton, NC. 

Here, the Confederates built a dirt mound fort and it was strategic in the Roanoke Valley defense against the Union Army. From this vantage point, the Confederates had a clear view that enabled their troops to protect the railway bridge near Weldon and the construction site of the 122 foot ironclad ship the Ram C.S.S.Albemarle. From Ft. Branch, Johnny Reb could see if the Yankees were coming.

As a child we called this fascinating place Rainbow Banks, some called it Rainbow Bend. Since 1987, in early November Fort Branch comes alive again when Civil War Battle Re-Enactors recreate scenes of 1862. On the last day of the reenactment, war is waged with canons, musket fire and some pretty authentic-looking casualties. There was a real battle of Fort Branch and it took place in July, 1862.

But the days leading up to the battle are full of regular folk stuff like cooking on an open fire, making candles, making butter, playing music….all the things folks did to stay alive almost 150 years ago.

One of the reenactors gave me a piece of Hard Tack, a heavy, unleavened cracker or biscuit that was a staple for the soldiers on both sides of the war. Also called Sea Biscuits, these crackers are hard as a rock and are selling like hot cakes on the internet by the G.H.Bent Cookie Company. But you can make your own.

Hard Tack Recipe

(Preheat oven to 400 degrees)

2 cups flour

½ to ¾ cup water

6 pinches salt

1 Tablespoon lard or shorting (optional)

Mix all ingredients together to make a batter that does not stick to your hands, as dry as possible.

Roll out or press onto an ungreased cookie sheet to a thickness of ½ inch thick. Bake for 30-45 minutes.

Remove from oven and cut into 3-inch squares. Punch 4 holes into each cracker. Do not pierce all the way through. Flip and bake for another half hour or until crackers are dry. Turn oven off and leave hard tack in the oven until they are cool.

Note: Cooking times may vary. Hard tack can keep for up to a year.   

I am not a reenactor, but this is an exciting place to be. As I wandered through the campgrounds, I was shocked by the "dark." There were no electric lights, no flashlights … nothing of the twenty first century. Folks walked around carrying wooden lanterns lit with beeswax candles, men were wearing wool uniforms, smoke was everywhere, from the camp fires and the canons that they fire at dusk.

They do have concessions for folks to buy hand-forged iron things, candles, ball gowns, long underwear, artillery, ammunition, knives and most anything that a man would need to fight a war in 1862. The pretty hand-made gowns are for the women to wear on the last night of the reenactment when the Rebels join the Yankees to revel, dance and make merry.

The musicians above just picked up their instruments and started making music. On the left is Tommy Britt in civilian clothing. The mandolin player is obviously a Rebel and Ann Ortiz is playing the banjo. Most of these reenactors follow the circuit and they know each other from other battles up and down the east coast.

Ann plays regularly with the Huckleberry Brothers band from the NC 18th and the NC 27th Regimental Infantry units. They play instruments of the Civil war era including fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, pennywhistle, bones, bodhran (Irish drum), mountain dulcimer and sometimes a harmonica. As Ann says of their music,  "It is Old Time Civil War Period and Minstrel Music of the Old South, full of bawdry humor and wit."  While I was wandering around Fort Branch I think I saw some Yankees playing music with some Rebels. This is one of the songs you might hear them play:

Old Dan Tucker

Old Dan Tucker was a mean old man
Washed his face in a frying pan
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel
Died with a toothache in his heel

Get out the way, old Dan Tucker
You're too late to get your supper
Suppers over, breakfasts cookin'
Old Dan Tucker just stands there lookin'

Old Dan Tucker. old no good
Went to Alaska looking for food
The weather tried to freeze him,
did its level best. (song of the Civil War era)

 

 

 

As night falls the camp gets quiet, soldiers sleep when they can in the tents, but always with a sentry to watch for a possible Yankee invasion.

I did hear that sometimes it is necessary to have a "defector" if they don't have enough Yankees to fight the battle. This might just be a joke among the group, but it sounds reasonable to me. 

After Robert E. Lee's surrender in 1865 the Confederates spiked the canons and dumped them over the cliff and into the Roanoke River. Several have been recovered but some are still lie at the bottom of the river.

Today the site is maintained by the Fort Branch Battlefield Commission and the 1st NC Volunteers/11th Regiment NC Troops. Each year on the first Saturday in December, Fort Branch hosts a Christmas candlelight tour of the fort ending with visitors joining to sing carols around an open camp fire. It is usually held the first Saturday in December. Wear warm clothes, it can get really cold on the banks of the Roanoke.

Fort Branch is a wonderful site and is definitely worth a visit.  Donations can be sent to Fort Branch Battlefield Commission, P.O. Box 355, Hamilton, NC 27840 or email them for more information — adjutant@fortbranchcivilwarsite.com.

The annual Battle reenactment at Ft. Branch begins Friday, November 4 through Sunday, November 6, 2011

• Re-enactors register and unload vehicles on Friday 
• Sunday-reveille in the morning. Period church service at 10 a.m. 1:30 SPECTATOR battle begins.

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If you like oysters, you cannot miss a trip to the Sunnyside Oyster Bar in Williamston, North Carolina. It is one of the few authentic raw bars in the country.

Sunnyside is an eastern North Carolina tradition and folks from all over the country come to taste these special, just-shucked oysters. Everyone sits around a horseshoe-shaped bar while the shuckers open your oysters for you-your choice: raw or steamed.

 

 

 

They do it the same way they have been doing it since 1935, when Charles Roberson, Sr. first opened his restaurant and called it Sunnyside.

 

 

 

As soon as you enter the front door, you can smell that famous Sunnyside Sauce, and it is served hot. 

Bermey Stevens, one of the owners, told me that only five people know the recipe. He grinned as he told me that it has ketchup, vinegar and a special ingredient that I could find at the grocery store.  He also told me that they paid almost as much for the recipe as they did for the oyster bar. He didn’t share the recipe!

 

I remember going to the Oyster Bar when my mother’s cousin, C.T. Roberson, owned it. Not much has changed. Each year the bead-board walls were painted a bright, gloss white, trimmed with bright green.

 

The walls are still bright, gloss white and the trim is still bright green. Actually, it has changed a wee bit, and I think that’s good. Now you can get a great glass of wine to go with those fabulous oysters. You’ll see a couple of pinball machines for the younger clients, but I do miss the Wurlitzer.

 

When C.T. owned the Oyster Bar, it was open only during the months that have an "R" in them: September through April. I figure that came from all those years before we had refrigeration; oysters spoiled easily. Now you can get your oyster fix all year. During the months without the "R", Sunnyside will be open one weekend a month.

 

The oysters come from all over the country, depending on the weather. Heavy rains in Idaho can affect the oysters in Louisiana. Most people like their oysters to be slightly salty, so the folks from Sunnyside keep a close eye on the weather. Some of the best oysters come from Apalachicola, but they also get oysters from Massachusetts, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and our own Core Sound.

 

You can get oysters raw or steamed, steamed shrimp, Alaska King Crab legs and scallops. A new concession is broccoli with cheese sauce. But don’t worry; you won’t see a trendy blooming onion or nachos in this oyster bar.

 

 

 

 

 

The oysters are steamed out back in galvanized buckets with gashes cut into them to allow steam to penetrate.

Your shucker will disappear through the back door and reappear with your peck (or more) of oysters. He then dumps them in the trough behind the bar where everyone sits. They can seat 32 oyster-eaters at a time.

The shucker then deftly opens each oyster for you, just as they have done for years.

 

 

 

 

 

Our shucker Nate has been shucking for 27 years right here at Sunnyside. Griff has been shucking for 38 years. He also has a day job with the city of Williamston.

 

Four years ago, some folks did the math and figured that Griff had shucked 1.37 million oysters at Sunnyside.

If you are serious about your oysters, you might order a Red Rooster; this is an oyster on a saltine cracker, with a dollop of horseradish, a hot pepper soaked in vinegar and a lethal dose of hot sauce.

 

 

 

Not for the faint of heart is the Oyster Shooter: in a shot glass you have a slug of beer, an oyster, 2 Tablespoons of Sunnyside sauce and a dash of hot sauce- then down the hatch just like any other shooter. Oysters aren’t really beautiful, but don’t tell all those folks at Sunnyside.

Sunnyside Oyster Bar is on the National Historic Register. It has been highlighted in the Raleigh News and Observer, Southern Living and Down East magazine.

If you go: Sunnyside Oyster Bar, 1102 Washington Street, Williamston, NC. Telephone 252-792-3416 www.sunnysideoysterbarnc.com and customerservice@sunnysideoysterbarnc.com

They are open every day at 5:30 from late August through April. Go early if you don’t want to wait for a spot at the bar. But the waiting is fun too.

For our friends in the Triangle, Sunnyside Too is now in Garner, N.C (919) 662-7994

Green Tip:  The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has launched an oyster shell recycling program and I am thrilled that Sunnyside is participating. When these shells are reintroduced into the coastal waters , they help establish new oyster reefs, thus producing more oysters and making a habitat for other beneficial organisms in the sounds and brackish waters of North Carolina. Oysters also help keep our waters clean: one oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day. I guess it is our turn to build some shell mounds or middens.

 

 

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The Cypress Grill is a place you just don’t want to miss; even if you don’t like fish. Sitting precariously on the banks of the Roanoke River in eastern North Carolina, it has welcomed diners for over fifty years.  Michael Stern, who does the Road Food column on National Public Radio calls it “the last of the old-time herring shacks.” Mr. Stern’s specialty is finding wonderful out-of-the-way eateries.

The original building of board and batten cypress was built in 1936 as a fish camp for the men who would go to the river to hunt, fish and tell tales; we still have fish camps, folks who like to fish and folks who like to tell fish tales.

It is all about the fresh water herring that used to be so abundant in this fast moving, turbulent river. Sally and Leslie Gardner have been the owners of the Cypress Grill for 34 years. Crystal McLaurin along with family members and a staff of eight folks help Miss Sally in the kitchen.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is a family business; their five-year-old granddaughter Summer will tell you right off that she is the manager and I believe her!

For the past few years the herring population has dwindled dramatically and currently there is a moratorium on catching herring in the Roanoke.

 

Ted Gardner from Virginia Beach grew up on Gardner’s Creek (not far from the Cypress Grill) remembers when he could throw a net overboard almost anywhere on the creek and catch so many herring that it took several folks to haul in the catch. “We thought the herring would always be there.” 

 

Last year the moratorium was temporarily waived for Jamesville’s annual Herring Festival on Easter Monday. We are all hoping that might happen again.

But don’t fret: they do have fresh herring, just not from the Roanoke. Miss Sally explains how they cook their herrings. (Forget what you thought you knew about herrings floating in cream sauce from Zabar’s). 

At the Cypress Grill the herring are scaled, cleaned and then “notched” almost to the bone. They use a home-made scaling machine to remove the fish scales.

They are then lightly breaded and cooked either Sunny-Side-Up or Cremated. A Sunny-Side-Up herring is fried crisp and tender. A Cremated herring is super-fried. After you remove the backbone you eat all the meat and any other bones, usually without even using a fork. All that cartilage has to be good for you, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

 

You can also get corned herring. I remember going to Cypress Grill with my father. He would buy several buckets of herrings for a penny a fish. We brought them home and corned them in the same old crocks that we used to brine the fatback in the days when we had hog killings on the farm.

Herring Roe is a delicacy that is popular at the grill. Often the Gardners squeeze the roe out of the fish themselves. Then they ”meal” it, add country eggs and fry the roe cakes until crisp. They use only Abbitt’s Corn Meal, made right here in Martin County. Locals won’t use anything else.

Even if you don’t think you want to try herrings, you can get fried catfish, oysters and shrimp, all lighted breaded. They also have Rock Stew, and Miss Sally was quick to let me know that stew is not the same as muddle; muddle has crackers in it.  Her Rock Stew is made from river bass caught right in the Roanoke. She starts with onions, potatoes and seasonings in a bit of water. This is cooked and then she adds the Rockfish (stripped river bass) on top. This way the fish is not cooked to a poultice.

When I asked what was for desert, the waitress told me they had Chocolate Pie, Lemon Pie and Coconut pie made right there in the kitchen; she added that they had pecan pie too, but it was frozen. That let me know exactly what not to order. Their chocolate pie has gotten rave reviews.

The Cypress Grill has been written up in the New York Times, Southern Living, Smithsonian Magazine, Christian Science Monitor and Our State. Jan and Michael Stern, writers for Gourmet magazine praised the Cypress Grill on National Public Radio’s Splendid Table, just for starters.

If you go: The Cypress Grill is in Jamesville, North Carolina about 10 miles east of Big Mill Bed and Breakfast, just off US Highway 64. (About 110 miles south of Norfolk and 110 miles east of Raleigh) It is open each year from early January until the end of April for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. Take cash with you; they don’t take credit cards, but you won’t need much money. Your entire meal with sweet and a piece of that great chocolate pie will be under ten bucks. 252-792-4175

Cypress Grill opens this year on January 13th, 2012.

You have to experience this wonderful piece of Americana and local fare; it is who we are. We hope the Cypress Grill will always be there, but there aren’t any guarantees. For now, seeing that “Yes, we’re Open” sign makes me happy.

 

 Every year on Easter Monday the folks of Jamesville host a Herring Festival…lots of fun.  

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 Gardner’s Creek is a slow moving, winding black-water creek in Eastern North Carolina that eventually makes its way to the Roanoke River by way of Devil’s Gut. It is a favorite of canoeists who enjoy its pristine beauty and the fisherman, who quietly sit in their boats waiting for that one bite that will yield the big one.

Several years ago I was at the creek and I felt like Tom Sawyer or even Huckleberry Finn as I watched the young boys, wearing cut-off jeans climb the tall trees, swing out over the creek and drop into the dark water, popping up a few feet away. I now have my inflatable Avon dinghy, with an engine of course, and whenever I have a minute I am on the creek.  

Roanoke River Partners has built 12 camping platforms with names like Barred Owl Roost, Beaver Lodge and Cypress Cathedral along the Roanoke and Cashie Rivers. It is a great way to really know what happens in this part of the Great Dismal Swamp. 

Carolyn Roberson runs Roberson’s Marina on Gardner’s Creek, and to me she is the Keeper of the Creek. Carolyn knows and loves these waters, she and her husband Ed ran this same marina before he died. Now Carolyn does this. She recently lost a leg, but this does not hamper her spirit. If you want to make a reservation for one of these platforms, call Carolyn.

 When I was looking for a catfish recipe, I certainly knew who to ask.  If you go to the creek, you just might want to ask Carolyn how to cook up your catch. 

(Update: Since I wrote this, Carolyn has been admitted to the hospital. Her friends and family are running the marina for her. I know she misses the creek; I know we miss her.)

On July 18, 2007, the Washington Post ran a story about these wonderful camping platforms: "Swamp Things in North Carolina, Paddle down a Creek", by Diane Daniel.  And if you don’t really want to sleep in the swamp on a platform, Ms. Daniel suggests staying at Big Mill Bed and Breakfast.

 

Gardner’s Creek Catfish Stew with Cornmeal Dumplins

Carolyn Roberson of Roberson’s Marina on Gardner’s Creek knows all about this creek. Luckily for us, she is there caring about this fragile ecosystem. When I asked about her catfish stew she told me that you can make it with most any fish you have, even shrimp or crabmeat. You eat what you catch. And folks are still catching fish with cane poles on Gardner’s Creek. Come join us at Big mill B&B; we have the poles.   

• 1 quart water, approximately
• 3 bunches green onions tops and bottoms, chopped (reserve 1 cup tops)
• 2 large sweet onions, peeled and sliced
• 4 hot red peppers about an inch in length, crushed (like Thai hot)
• 1 pound bacon, fried and crumbled, reserve drippings and set bacon aside
• ½ pound skinned fat back, cut into cubes and fried, reserve drippings
• 5 baking potatoes, peeled and diced
• 5 cups catfish, cut into bite-size pieces (approximately 3 pounds)
• 10 boiled eggs, peeled and diced
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Put water, chopped green onions, sliced onions, red peppers, bacon drippings, fatback and drippings in a large stew pot. Cook uncovered over medium heat until onions dissolve, about 30 minutes.

Add baking potatoes to the pot. Make a layer of catfish on top of potatoes. Add dumplings (recipe below) on top of the catfish. Do not stir.

Cook until potatoes are tender and catfish is flaky, about 20-30 minutes.

 

Cornmeal Dumplings  (makes about 12 dumplings)

• 1 ½ cup fine, white, non self-rising corn meal
• 1 ½ Tablespoons plain flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Dash of salt
• Enough warm water to make a stiff paste

Stir together corn meal, flour, sugar and salt. Slowly add enough warm water until you can form small balls about the size of a walnut. Dough will be a very stiff paste. Flatten dumplings to be the size of a fifty-cent piece.

Place dumplings on top of potatoes and catfish. Cover and simmer but do NOT stir. Keep enough water in pot to avoid sticking and shake pot occasionally.

When pot contents are done, remove from heat. Combine eggs, bacon, reserved green onion tops, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over contents of pot. Let stand 30 minutes. When serving, gently spoon out in sections because the stew will be in layers.

Carolyn says that cooking is part art. The amount of water to add to the pot and the dumplings is a matter of judgment. Make sure the water does not boil out because the stew will burn. Also, gently shake the pot from time to time to make sure it is not sticking. But do not stir!

Note: fatback is the same as salt pork, sometimes referred to as “streak of lean, streak of fat“. This is readily available in any grocery store south of that famed Mason-Dixon Line. (South of Virginia, and more realistically, south of Richmond)  If unavailable, very thick sliced bacon with skin may be substituted. 

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