North Carolina has a reputation for natural beauty that I expect is inspired by our mountains to the west and our beaches in the east. Between those iconic regions though, you find country roads rolling through gentle, green hills that have a loveliness all their own. As luck would have it, my route to Oxford and Henderson on a day in late September took me along just such a road. Putting worries about the pandemic and the upcoming election behind me, the peaceful drive provided solace for my soul, disturbed only by a peppering of Trump/Pence signs along the way.
My first destination was The Peanut Roaster in the Granville County community of Henderson. Upon arrival, I sent up a silent thanks for the light, sandy soil of eastern NC that yields delicious peanuts and helps make us the fifth largest peanut producing state in the US. The Peanut Roaster was the smallest store I had been in since the pandemic began and I was relieved to be its only customer. After friendly conversation with the store’s lone employee, I stocked up on a variety of peanuts, and headed to Oxford in nearby Vance County.
On College Street in Oxford, I found the graceful, two-story brick building that houses C.G. Credle Elementary School. The flag out front was at half mast in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg who had died four days earlier. Built in 1911, C.G. Credle has the distinction of being the oldest building operating continuously as a school in North Carolina. I also know it as the all-white school author Tim Tyson recalled attending in his memoir Blood Done Sign My Name. I remember Tyson’s story of the first two Black students to attend C.G. Credle in 1967 and, looking at the imposing structure, I couldn’t imagine the courage it took for those two elementary school students to walk up those steps the first time.
Much as we might try to wish our worries away, the world and its troubles are always with us. Try to put aside nervousness about the presidential election on a drive through remote country and Trump signs appear all along the way. The halls of a picturesque old school hold memories of bigotry and hate. And the half-mast schoolyard flag out front won’t let me forget that our Supreme Court is soon to see radical change. September is a beautiful month and it’s also a reminder that colder and darker days lie ahead. Even as I sought serenity on my September drive to Vance and Granville, reality was an inescapable part of my journey.
September 22, 2020, Counties #44 and #45 – Granville and Vance
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