Digby

A reader recently asked about island cats. We still have quite a few cats roaming about, but many of the feral felines have been captured and neutered, thanks to OcraCats, concerned citizens, and helpful vets. In recent decades we've also added a number of dogs to our village population. In days gone by dogs were not very popular because most people's chickens were not fenced in, and dogs would chase them down and kill them. I remember well my great-aunt Tressie's concern whenever we'd bring our dog Ginger to the island in the 1950s. Ginger never chased her chickens, and Aunt Tressie always relaxed noticeably when she was finally convinced her chickens were safe.

In 1959 Ruth Carroll wrote a children's book set on Ocracoke Island -- Digby the Only Dog. It is an island classic, with wonderful illustrations of life on Ocracoke a half century ago. Digby is out of print, but it might be available in your local library.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the second half of my father's short journal. I call it Remembering Growing up on Ocracoke. You can read it here.