Cracklins: Pork fat and skins that are deep fried in rendered lard until they are crunchy. (From the Eastern North Carolina lingo dictionary) Cooking Up Cracklins Cracklins used to be common fare on southern tables. Sometimes you have to go back to your roots and eat the food of your heritage. My folks and the neighboring… Read more
Local Attractions
It’s berry picking time in Eastern North Carolina …and all the Big Mill Bed & Breakfast guests can be certain they will feast on “just picked” strawberries in the months of April, May and June. We have two U-Pick Strawberry fields here in Martin County and our local produce is the best. Folks say berries from… Read more
2024 marks forty-five years that the folks of Piney Grove Baptist Church in the Farm Life Community near Williamston, NC, have been performing this 90-minute outdoor drama of the life and death of Jesus Christ in the small Eastern North Carolina community of Farm Life, not very far from Big Mill Bed and Breakfast. This… Click to read more about the Outdoor Drama
Lake Mattamuskeet and the Pocosin Lakes of eastern North Carolina come alive every winter as thousands of tundra swans and snow geese make the journey from the Alaska tundra to our Inner Banks. Both refuges are an easy day trip from Big Mill Bed and Breakfast. Photo of Tundra Swans by Guy Livesay of Livesay… Click to read more about the Birds of Lake Mattumuskeet and Pocosin Lakes in eastern NC
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 and Breakfast. Yankee reenactor Mike Kerriker (below) gets his weapon ready for battle in the annual Civil War Battle… Click here to read more about the Battle of Ft. Branch
Sunnyside is an eastern North Carolina tradition and folks from all over the country come to taste these special, just-shucked oysters……………..OPENS OCTOBER, 12, 2023 at 5:30!! 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… Click to read more about Sunnyside Oyster Bar
SAD NOTE: We lost this wonderful eastern North Carolina treasure in 2018 to a devastating fire. 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… Click to read all about this fun Mom and Pop eatery
Everyone in eastern North Carolina knows about fishing. And we have all caught a cat fish. When I wanted a good recipe for Cat Fish Stew, I called up Carolyn Roberson who ran Roberson’s Marina. This is her recipe. Gardner’s Creek is a slow moving, winding black-water creek in Eastern North Carolina that eventually makes… Read more
