[bright music] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from Airlie Gardens as we check out some of the best ways to have fun along the coast.

We'll visit a bait shop that has karaoke, take in a performance of "The Lost Colony," and Bob Garner samples brunch at Spoon River.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend" everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel and this week we are visiting places up and down the coast that are sure to be a fun time.

Right now, I'm at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, a beautiful 67 acre botanical garden, known for their azaleas, birdwatching, and walking trails.

We'll explore this historic garden more throughout the show.

But first, if your idea of fun on the coast means a fishing trip, we just found your next favorite spot.

It's called Vandemere and Vandemere means village by the sea.

Squidders is a bait and tackle shop like none other.

Not only can they help you sink a line, you can sing a line there, too.

- [Resident] Vandemere's the quietest town, I think, in North Carolina that I can find.

[soft music] [insects chirping] - [Resident] It's just this huge diverse intermingling of sea life and farm life.

- [Resident] Good morning, sir!

- [Resident] Visually stunning.

We've got beautiful waters.

- [Resident] No traffic lights.

You might go a whole hour and not see a car go down, that quiet.

- [Resident] It's peaceful and it's serene.

It's being down by the water, where you can just have that comfort of home.

- [Debbie] This is the only store in Vandemere.

- [Store Employee] Hi, honey.

How you doing today?

- [Russ] What was important to me when I opened the store was to provide a service for the community.

- I said, "What we gonna do with it?"

"Well," he said, "You know, I'm kind of thinking a bait and tackle store," and I'm going, "Okay, bait."

"Well, you know, and sell some ice cream, some sodas and some chips."

And I'm like, "You're gonna lose your shirt.

There's nobody here in Vandemere to come in and out."

- It took a couple of years for it to catch on, and it's become quite the go to place around here.

- If you want to know anything about anything going on in town, you come to Squidders.

If you don't want anything known, don't say it at Squidders.

[laughs] [upbeat music] - This is the community center.

There'll be monthly events of bring your own food and enjoy the people.

There's a place next door to where you can stay overnight.

- I have only met a few people so far, but they all seem to be very friendly and very easy to talk to.

- We don't really know any strangers.

Somebody, I promise you, is going to go up to you within five minutes of walking here and they're gonna introduce themselves and they're gonna start introducing to you all the people that are around.

We will make you feel like you've been here all your life.

- In 2018, Hurricane Florence hit Vandemere pretty hard.

There was a volunteer group that came to Vandemere to help people in need.

The volunteer group wanted a place to come and unwind and drink a couple of beers and relax after a hard day's work.

They came over, you know, five or six of 'em at a time.

And the next thing you know, there's 35 people in here.

They wanted to know if I had a speaker and a microphone, and I like music, I played in bands.

I said, "Yeah, I can do that."

So they started singing karaoke here at Squidders and that's what led to the Bait and Tackle Karaoke Shop.

♪ I wanna put on ♪ ♪ My, my, my, my ♪ ♪ My boogie shoes ♪ ♪ Just to boogie with you, yeah ♪ ♪ I wanna put on ♪ ♪ My, my, my, my ♪ - Singing relieves stress and it's a universal language.

And what do we always say?

- [Russ and Debbie] You can't sing wrong at Squidders.

- No, I can't sing.

[laughs] but I love to hear people sing.

♪ Oh girls just wanna have fun ♪ - Everybody tries it.

♪ Wanna have ♪ ♪ Want ♪ - Even the ones that can't sing, I've seen 'em try.

- I hate this song.

♪ When the working day is done ♪ [Carlton laughs] - Just say it, it's very off key.

I become a rock star on Saturday night.

I've always been a rock star in my head.

May not sound that way.

♪ In her younger days ♪ ♪ They called her Crystal Dawn ♪ - We're singing off key.

So what?

♪ Delta Dawn ♪ ♪ What's that flower ♪ - You could come and just don't have to worry about somebody talking about you, judging you.

We're all having a good time and can't none of us sing, but a few of us like, you know.

[laughs] ♪ Cause I'm writing your name down on every page ♪ ♪ I said hey, good looking ♪ ♪ For I can't help ♪ ♪ Falling in love ♪ ♪ With ♪ ♪ You ♪ - For seven years, you know, eight years, we had this store going on ourselves and putting our heart and soul in it.

So we decided to hire Kelly.

She worked with us about six months and had the same passion for this business as I did and Debbie did.

We eventually came to a deal and said, "Well, it's time for us to move on.

We got somebody here that loves it just as good as we do, and they're gonna carry it on."

- These little mom and pop shops, like ours, are a dying breed.

We don't want people to come in and put all this energy, gas, time, money, to go out and not be successful.

I have the time to be one-on-one with somebody.

This one is great.

It's one, it's bone.

What I would suggest is come up and around right here.

- Kelly and Jeff are so amazing.

If there's anything that you need and if it's not in the store, they will make sure that they will get it for you.

- They understand the sense of community and family and friends and taking care of people and giving back to your community and trying to help.

- That's important to us.

We want that foundation to continue, to go on into the future.

And we picked the reins up from Deb and Russ.

[soft music] - The store has made a difference.

It has.

He was right.

I was wrong.

[laughs] [soft music] - Squidders Bait and Tackle is at 1370 Pennsylvania Avenue in Vandemere and they're open daily.

Don't forget, karaoke every Saturday night.

And for more information, give them a call at 540-533-1332 or visit them online at squiddersbaitandtackle.com.

Rick Sullivan was in Carolina Beach recently and decided to stop for breakfast at a place called The Southerly.

Well, he was so impressed, he decided to go back and do a story about it and grab another biscuit.

[soft upbeat music] - [Rick] Welcome to The Southerly Biscuit and Pie Company, one of the most unassuming breakfast hotspots in Carolina Beach.

- This is Cherry Cheerwine and Chocolate Chess.

- [Rick] That's Nikki Picard.

Nikki makes more than a dozen different pies.

It's her specialty.

And right behind her, that's her wife, Lynn Picard, the cookie specialist.

- Order up.

- And that's Brian Buchanan, the cook in the window, handing off to Tracy Kelly, the front desk lady.

- [Nikki] These are Trash Cookies.

- [Rick] What's in a Trash Cookie?

- Trash Cookie, Oreo cookies, marshmallows, caramel bites, chocolate chips, pretzels, and potato chips.

- [Rick] Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, all around assistant Graham Franklin is taking my favorite cookies out of the oven.

- Chocolate chip peanut butter caramel cookie with extra caramelized sugar.

That's what that glass stuff is.

- [Rick] The cookies are devilishly good and the name given to them is equally unique.

- Well, this is fun to say.

I got fresh Son of a Bitch Cookies.

[group cheers] - [Rick] On super busy days, Nikki loves to get out with the cookies and sample them around to customers lining up.

And man, do they line up.

- Thank you!

- You guys wanna sample?

This is a Trash Cookie and this is a Son of a Bitch.

Well, it's pronounced Son Bitch.

- [Rick] Nikki also makes the runs outside to the folks who've already gotten their biscuits and pies, but they might not have discovered all of the other yummy possibilities.

- I want that one.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

Yummy.

- [laughs] Thank you.

- This is really good.

- [Rick] And here's another Southerly surprise you might not have noticed.

There is some limited public seating outside, but The Southerly Biscuit and Pie Company is predominantly a grab and go set up.

- I got cookies.

- Thank you.

- Ooh, thank you.

- There you go, darling.

A lot of people are down here on vacation.

In the mornings, a lot of people don't wanna sit in a restaurant and eat.

They wanna just get it and go to work or get it and go on the beach.

- [Rick] So it's fine if you want to get out and go.

But with more than a dozen different pies and more than a dozen different biscuits on the menu, a lot of folks stick around to make sure they don't get a hankering for some more before they leave.

These recipes come from generations in Nikki's southern family, because nobody knows biscuits any better than this mixed family churning them out at The Southerly.

- Tracy, we can make that happen.

- [Nikki] A biscuit could be anything.

A biscuit could be a snack.

- [Rick] What makes a biscuit unique from a sandwich?

- Biscuit just says a southern home, grandma's house.

A lot of the people, a lot of the locals around here call me Grandma Nikki.

- [Rick] Nikki dared me to try something on the menu that I'd never had, something southern.

I chose the fried bologna biscuit and while Brian was cooking it up, I asked a repeat customer what he liked in a biscuit.

Charles Harp was fresh in town from Wake Forest.

He made a special order.

You didn't come all the way down here just for a biscuit.

- Well, that's one of the main reasons.

- [Rick] Tell me what you get.

How often do you come by here?

- Well, we come by here every time, we try to get down here at least once a year.

But yeah, I mean, the latest thing I got was a Southern BLT, add my bologna on it.

- Really nice.

- A custom order?

- Yep, you can mix and match anything on the menu.

- [Rick] And what did he put in that one?

- That one is chicken with pimento cheese and cheddar cheese and an egg.

- [Rick] So for my fried bologna biscuit taste test, I gave Nikki the camera and she proved to be just as good at the camera work and interviewing as she is at biscuits, pies, and cookies.

- [Nikki] So what'd you think?

- It's messy, but it is good.

The Southerly Biscuit and Pie Company, a grab and go.

Good enough, it might just keep the beach waiting.

[upbeat music] - The Southerly Biscuit and Pie is at 1206 North Lake Park Boulevard Number D in Carolina Beach and they're open Wednesday through Sunday from 7:00 AM to noon.

For more information, give them a call at 910-707-0776 or visit their website, at thesoutherlync.com.

I'm with Janine Powell of Airlie Gardens.

Janine, what would you say are some of the features that make this garden so special?

- Well, first of all, I wanna say thank you all for coming and visiting.

We're so excited to have you here.

We are a 67 acre historic public garden and we're also a certified wildlife habitat as well as we're part of the North Carolina Birding Trail.

So everything from history to ecology, you can experience here.

For me, the must see parts of the garden are, of course, our beautiful historic Airlie Oak.

She dates back to 1545.

She's withstood so many things, including Hurricane Hazel.

The Bottle Chapel.

Our seasonal butterfly house.

The pergola.

And my favorite part of the garden, the Spring Garden.

Airlie was owned privately until 1999.

The family that owned it, the Corbett family, Corbett Packaging, had had enough of cleaning up after hurricanes.

And so they were either going to make this a private development for home sites or sell it to the county.

And we're so fortunate that they opted to sell it to New Hanover County, so it preserved these 67 acres of beautiful gardens.

We've had so many films shot here, everything from Nicholas Sparks to some TV shows.

We're really famous for "One Tree Hill" and "Dawson's Creek" both filming here.

So it's always fun for us to, as staff members, watch the local, the TV shows and films, and pick out parts of the garden.

- Janine, thank you so much.

I can't wait to explore the garden some more.

- Well, we're so excited to have you here and we hope it's not the last time we see you down here.

- It won't be.

[laughs] - Excellent.

- Airlie Gardens is at 300 Airlie Road in Wilmington and the gardens are open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

To plan your visit, give them a call at 910-798-7700, or go online to airliegardens.org.

This is the magnificent Airlie Oak.

It's estimated to be over 400 years old.

You know, a near 100 year tradition on the coast is a historic summertime outdoor drama that's performed in Manteo.

and now it's been completely reinterpreted and reimagined.

Let's join Seraphim Smith as he discovers the new "Lost Colony" drama.

- Ah, the open road.

Exploring my home of Eastern North Carolina in my dad's old truck is one of my favorite things to do.

Part of what makes Eastern North Carolina unique is its vast expanse of open spaces and nature.

Roanoke Island has a lot of history and educational activities to engage in.

And today, I'm taking you by the waterfront and to just a few places around town before we head over to "The Lost Colony" play.

Look at this awesome art.

- Yeah, man.

- There are many shops to peruse and a great selection of places to dine at before going to the show.

Queen Elizabeth and her English culture left an indelible mark on Manteo and what they termed the New World.

I have set out to learn more.

My friend Catherine, who is of the Coharie tribe, invited me to check out the long running production, "The Lost Colony," and to speak with some of the key actors before the performance.

I'm standing here at the site of "The Lost Colony" play at the Waterside Theatre here in Manteo.

This is where "The Lost Colony" play has been in almost constant production for at least eight decades.

- Come with me now as we step back into another time.

- We just recently did our 5,000th show.

- 5,000th show?

- Yes.

- Wow.

- I've been here for four years now.

I'm in the Native American ensemble and I get to portray my people who originated from here.

I go off of how my people must have felt.

- [Seraphim] Under the directorship of Jeff Whiting in 2021, exciting elements were incorporated, which has breathed new life and meaning into this beloved show.

- Prior to that, the Native American roles in the show were being played by non-natives.

And on this stage you get to see real Native American dances, our languages being spoken.

We're having the chance to tell our story, so that someone else won't come along and tell our story the wrong way.

We're all just so thankful for this monumental opportunity.

- I portray Chief Wingina and Chief Wingina at that time was the head over the Algonquin speaking Confederacy and it's just great for our people to have that representation, especially here at the Waterside Theatre.

- So audiences are coming to hear the story of the first settlers in the new world and their experience with the natives in the area, and they're doing so while sitting in the actual spot that the story happened.

I get to go out there and play Sir Walter Raleigh and get to tell his side of this story and show the audience what his views and feelings were about going to the new world.

I think everybody should come out and see it and not only learn about the history, but experience a show that tells the story with so many different and wonderful theatrical devices.

I mean, the show really has it all.

- [Seraphim] This play is incredible.

3D light projection, thundering sound effects, and my favorite, the puppets, makes seeing "The Lost Colony" a thrilling experience for people of all ages.

You'll be mesmerized and will want to come back for more.

I recommend spending the night in Manteo and returning to Fort Raleigh in the morning to see the Elizabethan Gardens.

If you enjoy gardening, this perfectly appointed park will be sure to entertain you.

With a flourishing gift shop, meandering paths, and impressive garden statuary, I'm sure even Queen Elizabeth herself would be quite content to take a stroll among these gorgeous blooms and butterflies.

Whether you're a kid or a kid at heart, you're going to love learning and playing in Manteo.

- "The Lost Colony" runs May 29th through August 23rd at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site at 1409 National Park Drive in Manteo.

For tickets, give the box office a call at 252-473-6000 or go online to thelostcolony.org.

This pergola garden has iconic scenery you might recognize from TV series like "Dawson's Creek" or some of the Nicholas Sparks movies.

You know, there's a small town located on the banks of the Pungo River, which is in an area known as the inner banks.

Well, this small town has a big jewel in its possession, a remarkable restaurant that's farm to table and they call it Spoon River.

So, we sent Bob Garner to go sample their weekend brunch.

[upbeat music] - [Bob] The name came from music added to an NPR radio production of the 1915 book, "Spoon River Anthology."

- It's actually, I was painting the floors in my restaurant late at night, exhausted, and I was listening to NPR to keep myself awake, had to get the floors done, and I just heard "Spoon River of Sonata" and it was just lovely.

So I thought it was just a really melodic name.

Hey Bob, how are you?

- So good to see you.

- Good to see you again.

- Been a while.

- Glad to have you in.

Things been doing well for you?

- Yes, they have.

- Good, good.

- And this is absolutely, I just don't know what to say about this.

- Well, thank you.

You're awfully kind.

- It's so beautiful.

There's practically no end to the artistic and design details here.

Teresa's paintings, classic pieces of furniture, even light fixtures featuring removed and lacquered pages of books brought into the restaurant by customers.

The most important values?

- Well, of course the food, but art and aesthetic is very, very important to me.

It's one of my mainstays.

It's what I did before the restaurant and it's what I would do after the restaurant.

- [Bob] Speaking of that, several buildings are now being renovated across Pamlico Street that will definitely be after, or certainly in addition to, the restaurant.

There'll be a gallery and market of various products, but the food will stay where it is now.

So let's look at some of the menu.

Appetizers include strawberry poppy seed salad, fried green tomatoes, topped with a pimento cheese blend of five cheese varieties, and.

Farm raised oysters from Belhaven Oyster Company, lightly roasted with a horseradish butter sauce.

Mm.

I love that those have the light roast on them.

You can eat them raw this time of year, or pretty much any time of year, but that is perfect.

Brunch entrees include a beautiful brioche French toast with fresh strawberry compote, a BLT club sandwich with house roasted turkey, lump local crab meat over creamy cheddar grits served with asparagus, and a most unusual eggs benedict.

Toasted English muffin.

You have a poached egg with horseradish, hollandaise, and some rare, shaved beef tenderloin.

Never had beef tenderloin with eggs benedict.

I love it.

- [Teresa] Dinner entrees, our fried softshell crabs, they're beautiful.

They're just coming into season.

They come in alive and kicking.

- And look at this beautiful seared tuna, cooked to mid-rare with ginger jasmine rice and broccolini.

This lovely tuna is sliced from a 90 pound tuna by Teresa's husband.

That's served with a spicy Thai honey glaze, which is sweeter than some of the tuna you'll get.

Boy, that is delicious.

Probably the most popular dessert on the menu is the salted caramel bar, a German chocolate brownie with lots of other goodies served warm a la mode, an old fashioned carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and a lemon strawberry shortcake with local strawberries.

- So Bob, I'm so thankful you came in to see us today and these are some flowers for your wife.

- Oh, thank you so much.

You can't toast me, but I can certainly toast you with some fine champagne.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

And thanks so much for all you've added, not only to the food scene, but to the art scene and awareness in this region.

So here's to you.

- Thank you.

Delicious.

[laughs] [upbeat music] - Spoon River Artworks and Market is at 263 Pamlico Street in Belhaven, and they're open for dinner Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday and brunch Saturday and Sunday.

For reservations, give them a call at 252-495-3899 or go online to spoonrivernc.com.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We've had a wonderful time strolling the Airlie Gardens.

It's really a beautiful jewel in the heart of Wilmington.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, just remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org or you can find us on our YouTube channel.

Have a great "North Carolina Weekend" everyone.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.