Change

Blink

“We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.”

Haile Selassie

Quaint

In 2013 I thought I had found the perfect quiet place to retire with my husband ... a small lot on the New River with one of those "million-dollar views" that TV shows claim to have ... close to a working marina ... in a quaint little fishing village with hard working heritage families on back roads that stretched vacant for miles ... perfect for a little vespa to navigate. We bought the lot and started building with the thought that we might be the last people to come to live here.

My electrician, the patriarch of one of the heritage families, offered some advice: "Don't say anything bad about anyone - because everyone here is related. One day they're mad at one another the next day they're best friends again." I acknowledged his advice and thought ... well, that's not bad advice for anyone -anywhere. And, it's nice to know I'm moving into a place where people have one another's backs - because when push comes to shove close knit people put their silliness aside and take care of one another.

It took six years to decide, plan, comply and build our new forever home. In the process I spent several times a month traveling to Sneads Ferry to put hands on the build and get familiar with my new surroundings. It seemed there was not going to be much to do - all felt quiet - just what my husband was looking for, but ... I might have to find interests elsewhere to be happy.

A big chunk of those years were covid years - it was quiet everywhere as people were on lock down by mandate or personal choice. Our annual family vacation at Wrightsville Beach got canceled due to covid so we just redirected our rental toward Topsail. It was closer to our new home anyway. And, it seemed everyone else wanting to leave the northern part of the country redirected their vacation plans to the wide-open spaces of the south east Onslow County waterfront. 

Contemporary

Yep - in 2020 and 2021 Onslow County and Sneads Ferry got discovered as our towns and beaches remained open to receive those looking for refuge from lock down and escaping the restrictions of their northern cities. By the time we were in our Sneads Ferry home full time at the end of 2022 - 9 years after discovering it, the quiet and quaint little fishing village had turned into a bustling contemporary town with chain stores, franchise restaurants, more new residential communities being built than you could name ... and traffic that stretched on back country roads for miles. Sneads Ferry went from "Quaint" to "Contemporary" in the blink of an eye

Change

The world changed after covid and Sneads Ferry changed with it. It had to. It was no longer sustainable as it had been. Sandwiched between the ever-growing Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville and Wilmington, North Carolina - Sneads Ferry heritage families now had new generations to support and new clients to serve.

Next generation locals quickly transitioned their businesses to adapt to the change and survive. Some even thrived. One Sneads Ferry fisherman added to his income by teaching sustainable fishing techniques to California watermen. A Midgett family member brought their family seafood business away from the waterfront to Hwy 172 for more visibility and added a wonderful farmers market to the mix.  The local gym became the blended entity Forever Fit & LeJeune Dance preserving the original business and keeping the property in family hands. The traditional Maddison's restaurant took on new energy with new ownership but maintained it's open buffet service style with friendly staff circling tables to check on all the diners. 

Longstanding businesses like Ace Harware and Guy C. Lee expanded to serve the exponential growth. New businesses filled strip mall spaces as fast as they are built on Highways 210 and 172. Businesses you wouldn't think of finding in quaint little Sneads Ferry just a few years ago. Within 3 miles of my home, I can now find holistic health care providers like yoga instructors, massage therapists, reiki practitioners, and tai chi classes. If you look beyond the surface of this quaint little province you'll find everything you want or need.  

As heritage family members become of age they are staying right here - close to home - honoring the past and looking forward to the future by turning family land into viable businesses. Like L.T. Everett Sr.'s grandkids transforming their family fish house established in the 1940's into the recently opened Sneads Ferry Marina.

Folks, once stationed here temporarily, are coming back in their retirement years. Young military families, planted here long term, are deciding to grow roots in Sneads Ferry - and they are persuading their parents to come here too. Land is being cleared all along Highways 17, 210 and 172, and on all the main roads and backroads in Sneads Ferry to accommodate the diverse need for housing.

Suddenly life is fast paced here with more of everything - more people, more stores, more restaurants, more resources, and more traffic for everyone to get used to. It feels like it all happened in the blink of an eye. And it can feel like a clash of cultures between heritage families and generational residents, knowing and understanding their neighbors intimately, and the newly transplanted arrivals coming from all over the country with their diverse perspectives on life.

And everyone, with their desires, expectations and needs so different from one another, wants to be the last one here ... even people who landed here recently want to "stop growth". We all want the quaint little fishing village vibe but we want it our way - with all the conveniences of modern life. As my parents would say ... "We want our cake ... and eat it too".

Challenge

Maybe it's time for us to become bigger than we have been, shifting our individual perspectives, preferences, perceptions and prejudices to develop a larger outlook on life here in Sneads Ferry.

If we were more courageous, could we not create and shape a positive future with innovation and conscious action that celebrates the new while honoring the past. If we were greater in spirit, would we not be more forgiving in nature, more flexible, more adaptable, more willing to love and honor one another.

With a larger in outlook, we should be able to grow through this transition, this transformation, this expansion into our new environment - becoming different people, emerging into a new culture, in a province that still offers both the quaint and the contemporary for us to discover, celebrate and honor.

Here's to us overcoming our challenges and rising together in allegiance to all our neighbors within our Sneads Ferry community to insure we remain an unincorporated province where wellbeing abounds and residents ultimately care for one another.

May All Thrive in the Province,

Dottie