In ancient Albemarle

From the Great Swamp's mysterious depths, Where wild beasts lurk and strange winds sough; From ancient forests dense and dark, Where gray moss wreathes the cypress bough; 'Mid marshes green with flowers starred, Through fens where reeds and rushes sway, Past fertile fields of waving grain, Down to the sea I take my way.

The wild swan floats upon my breast; The sea-gulls to my waters sink; And stealing to my low green shores, The timid deer oft stoops to drink. The yellow jessamine's golden bells Ring on my banks their fairy chime; And tall flag lilies bow and bend, To the low music keeping time.

Between my narrow, winding banks, For many a mile I dream along 'Mid silence deep, unbroken save By rustling reed, or wild bird's song; Or murmuring of my shadowed waves Beneath the feathery cypress trees, Or pines, responsive to the breath Of winds that breathe sea memories.

So far removed seem shore and stream, From sound and sight of mart or mill, That Kilcokonen's painted braves Might roam my woods and marshes still. And still, as in the days of yore, Ere yet the white man's sail I knew, Upon my amber waves might skim The Indian maiden's light canoe.

Thus, half asleep, I dream along, Till low at first, and far away, Then louder, more insistent, calls A voice my heart would fain obey. And by a force resistless drawn, The narrow banks that fetter me I thrust apart, and onward sweep In quiet strength toward the sea.

I leave my marshes and my fens; I dream no more upon my way; But forward press, a river grown, In the great world my part to play. Upon my wide and ample breast, The white-winged boats go hurrying by; And on my banks the whirring wheels Of busy mills hum ceaselessly.

And sharing man's incessant toil, I journey ever onward down, With many a lovely sister stream, With all the waters of the Sound, To join the sea, whose billows break, In silver spray, in wild uproar, Upon the golden bars that guard The lonely Carolina shore.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Wikacome in Weapomeiok, the Home of George Durant 1

II. The First Albemarle Assembly--Hall's Creek, near Nixonton 13

III. Enfield Farm--Where the Culpeper Rebellion Began 19

IV. The Hecklefield Farm 31

V. Colonial Days in Church and School on Little River, Pasquotank County 46

VI. The Haunts of Blackbeard 54

VII. The Old Brick House--a True History of the Historic Dwelling Reputed to be the Home of the Famous Pirate 62

VIII. "Elmwood," the Old Swann Homestead In Pasquotank County 66

IX. Pasquotank in Colonial Wars 72

X. Pasquotank in Colonial Wars--"The War of Jenkins' Ear" 78

XI. A Soldier of the Revolution--The Story of a Pasquotank Boy Who Followed Washington 84

XII. General Isaac Gregory, a Revolutionary Officer of Pasquotank-Camden 93

XIII. Perquimans County--"Land of Beautiful Women," and the Colonial Town of Hertford 114

XIV. Currituck, the Haunt of the Wild Fowl 134

XV. Edenton in the Revolution 153

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Old Float Bridge Across the Perquimans River Frontispiece

"The Old Brick House," on Pasquotank River 62

Fairfax, the Home of General Isaac Gregory 112

The Eagle Tavern, Hertford 130

The Cupola House, Edenton 154

IN ANCIENT ALBEMARLE

CHAPTER I

WIKACOME IN WEAPOMEIOK, THE HOME OF GEORGE DURANT

In Perquimans County, North Carolina, there lies between the beautiful Perquimans River on the west, and her fair and placid sister, the Katoline or Little River, on the east, a lovely strip of land to which the red man in days long gone, gave the name of Wikacome. The broad sound whose tawny waters wash the southern shores of this peninsula, as well as all that tract of land lying between the Chowan River and the Atlantic Ocean, were known to the primitive dwellers in that region as Weapomeiok.