As regular readers of this blog probably know, I love to read (though I often read special-interest non-fiction). I recently completed The Forsaken, a disturbing story of the many Americans who emigrated to the Soviet Union during the depression, and who ended up in concentration camps in Siberia, abandoned ("forsaken") by the US government. I also read recently The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, an uplifting story about a 14 year old boy from Malawi who built a windmill from scrap wood, metal, and old bicycles to provide power to his small village.
Anyway, I thought our readers would like to know a little history of our local library. As early as the 1930s Ocracoke had a small library associated with the schoolhouse. There was even a mobile unit at one time. During the 1970s a trailer was installed near the school to house library books. By 1976 Hyde County opened an 8' x 10' one-room library behind the Fire House. It was said to be the smallest public library in the US, with just 3000 volumes. Marguerite Boos served as librarian until it closed in 1996, the year that our new Ocracoke School and Community Library opened its doors on the Back Road, across from the Coffee Company.
Be sure to stop by and check out a book the next time you're in the vicinity.
Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter tells the story of Ocracoker, Kelly O'Neal, and the 1951 revolution in Siam (Thailand). You can read it here:
http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news012910.htm.
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Philip,
ReplyDeleteWe are part of the eastern "snowpacolypse" and have been without power for almost 36 hours at this point. My daughter and I spent part of yesterday putting together a puzzle 'Shells of the Atlantic Coast' that we purchased last summer at Books to be Red. It took all afternoon, and we were racing darkness.
So even in the deepest, darkest cold of winter, the memories of Ocracoke and thoughts of returning helped keep this family warm!!
Thanks so much for your blog,
Heather, Addison, Jacob and Zella