The community about a mile north of Burns towards Pulaski was called crackerneck
My g grandmother had one 1820 cabin and an 1870s shotgun four room house
Well
Roof sistern
Outhouse
Wood stove
No power
I’d stay weekends with her early 1960s
They’d laid paw paw out in ice and alcohol earlier in the 50s before my time
B1957
I’d get spooked at nite in the parlor me and her on the big wrought iron bed me looking over by the fireplace glow
Every room had a fireplace
She’d tell me don’t be afraid of his spirit he’d have loved me
It was like camping and boy could she cook
Her watermelon patch was free roam in august
Not many deer there then
Now teeming
My mom was born in the old cabin in 1932
My grandma an Ainsworth had her at 15
Her second of three kids
Midwives
She also witnessed that last hanging in Raleigh as teen said it was botched and excruciating
I’m last generation to have experienced that lifestyle
My mother was born in an old logging shack between Raleigh and Sylvarena. They lived to a house on the road the next year.
I remember as a kid being spooked when we would ride up County Road 539 from the highway to my cousin’s. He lived about one mile south of Burns. The road was still dirt then and we had to cross a few rickety bridges. He got a job as an engineer for the county and the first thing he did was to pave the road up to his house. Not many deer back then. Too many dog hunters.
I never made it to The Spit.