At lunch with an old friend, talk turned to the high cost of dining out. Entrees over $25 are not uncommon around here. By the time we were served, our conversation segued to the rising cost of hotel rooms. My friend paid over $500 a night in New York City. I told him a local hotel owner I know gets $290 a night on weekends. He’s usually full. When the...

Elizabeth City is going to have to pay its electric supplier almost $2.1 million over the next two years because of higher-that-anticipated energy costs in 2022. Edenton and Hertford also must pay the N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency $715,020 and $168,139, respectively, because of those added costs. That’s because NCEMPA, which is the electric supplier for the three municipalities, has an agreement with Duke Energy Progress to “true-up” the cost...

I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of singing with my friends in the Albemarle Chorale for seven years. We’ve sung a lot of wonderful music. But this spring’s concert, I think, will be the loveliest and most meaningful. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Edenton Resolves (which was a revolutionary action of defiance against the British Crown by 51 courageous women who did not hide behind disguises), the Chorale is singing 11 works either lyricized or composed (or both) by female poets and...

Have you ever disliked something because you wanted to? Maybe it felt foreign, was something you enjoyed making fun of or maybe you also really enjoyed making fun of the people who liked it. Maybe it was all of the above. Did you end up liking it anyway? If so, you can relate to my path to hockey fandom. I have made fun of hockey for as long as I...

Besides the local officials and dignitaries helping welcome Harbor Town Cruises to Hertford last week were three students at Perquimans County High School. Sophomores Anniston Sawyer and Taylor Phelps and junior Crishya Sellers represented their school at a ribbon cutting ceremony for The Penelope on Friday, April 19, and took the vessel’s inaugural ride from the Hertford municipal docks. “Judge (Janice) Cole, told me about this opportunity,” said Sellers, referring...

Lynne Raymond already had a full-time gig as director of Historic Hertford, Inc., when her minister approached her about starting a community theater group 11 years ago. Raymond was skeptical of the idea at first. “Mary Lou Soper and I go to the Hertford United Methodist Church. Our minister back then, Pastor Larry Bowden, said he wanted to talk to us about starting a community theater group,” she recalled. “It’s...

Nothing says spring more than strawberries. Their delicate little flowers and juicy berries seem to drip from each leafy plant. It’s tempting to put more strawberries in your mouth than in your basket when out in the berry patch. Many strawberry farms offer their berries at Edenton Farmers Market. The berries from Cedar Stretch Farm sold out quickly on the first day they appeared but will be replenished throughout the strawberry season. ...

Members of the Perquimans County Restoration Association always look forward to sharing the story of Abraham and Judith Sanders’ family home each time a carload of tourists arrives to tour it. Last week, they got to share the story of what’s now known as the Newbold-White House with 134 Perquimans County Schools fourth-graders during what’s become known as Living History Day at the historic site. To help the youngsters understand...

Editor’s note: The following is a roundup of recent Perquimans High School sports games. Softball Martin County 2, Perquimans 0The Perquimans softball team fell just short in its game against undefeated Martin County on Tuesday, April 16, by a 2-0 score. Addisyn Stallings went six innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits. She...

Law enforcement have launched three separate investigations into last weekend’s deadly police-involved shooting in which an Elizabeth City police officer shot an armed Perquimans County man who police say had just shot another man. Police said Saturday, April 20, that an officer with the Elizabeth City Police Department shot 33-year-old Bryan Christopher White of the 800 block of Sandy Cross Road, Belvidere, in the city’s downtown area after White did not comply with the officer’s order to drop his weapon. ...

ELIZABETH CITY — Contrary to popular belief, the Quakers were among the most prominent slave owners and traders in Colonial America beginning in the 17th century, including in northeastern North Carolina. But Dr. J. Timothy Allen told the Museum of the Albemarle’s History for Lunch program Wednesday that the denomination was also among the first to protest slavery while encouraging its adherents to end their ownership of enslaved people, starting in the mid-to-late 1700s until around 1800. ...

EDENTON — Women composers and their music will take center stage during the Albemarle Chorale’s upcoming spring concerts. According to a Chorale press release, music selected for “A Woman’s Voice: Music by Women” will range from spirituals and jazz to hymns and folk tunes. Some of the music on the program was written in the last decade, while other selections were written more than a century ago. What all of the music has in common is that it was composed by women. ...

Harbor Towns Cruises’ third ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new ferry passenger service’s launch was delayed about an hour last week when no bridge tender was immediately available to open the S-Bridge in Hertford to allow the vessel to pass under the span. Tex Gallop, senior captain of The Penelope, and the boat’s crew found themselves circling on the Perquimans River in the 45-foot specially designed vessel, patiently waiting until a state Department of Transportation bridge tender could arrive. ...

Why did Jesus come to earth? At Christmas, we often say that Jesus was born to die. When Easter comes, we say that Jesus became our substitutionary atonement, or what sometimes in theological study is called vicarious atonement. Scripture lists many reasons Jesus came, some direct and some implied. One of Jesus’ primary missions in coming to earth was to reveal the heavenly Father. One of God’s primary characteristics Jesus...

Recently, I studied the book of Leviticus and felt God’s wrath as He sent fire to consume two of Aaron’s oldest sons. I felt sadness for Aaron and his remaining sons and sorrow for Moses and the other kin. Scripture makes it quite clear we must pay homage to what superficially looks like “small stuff” in our means of worship today. We are reminded of this by the author of Hebrews. ...

I’m a lucky guy. I’m one of the docents at the Cupola House, and I get to introduce visitors to what architectural historians have called “one of the most distinctive and important dwellings of its period in the South.” Designated as a National Landmark in 1971, the Cupola House was built in 1758 by Francis Corbin. It is something of a miracle: there are many reasons why this building may not have survived. It stands today as a national testament to local dedication and grass-roots...

In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea debated and decided on 27 books for the New Testament and 39 books for the Old Testament. There were 14 other books that they didn’t omit from the Bible. These books included 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, The Rest of Ester, The Wisdom of Solomon, Esslesiasticus (also known as Sirach), Baruch with the Epistle Jeremiah, The Songs of the 3 Holy Children, The History of Susana, Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, and...

Those who know, know that the content you see on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, is primarily content you spend the most time looking at. They utilize an algorithm to show you what they believe you will be most likely to look at the longest. A review of my Bleacher Report headlines early this morning makes it clear they do the same thing. It informs me right away...

For Max Dowdle, a windowless, blank brick wall is like the proverbial half-full glass of water. What you have depends on how you look at it. Instead of an eyesore, Dowdle sees a blank canvas with all sorts of wildlife just waiting to appear. Dowdle put his artistic skills to work last week, starting work on a mural on a gray brick wall at the corner of Church and Grubb...