Farthest North Palm

That's the title (Farthest North Palm) of one chapter in Carl Goerch's 1956 book, Ocracoke. It is a short chapter, only four paragraphs, so I am reprinting it here, along with a vintage photograph provided by Chester Lynn. (You can see the steeple of the original Assembly of God church in the far left of the picture.The Williams Brothers Store has been long gone.)

"This palm tree grew in the front yard of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Styron and, so far as I know, it was the most northerly palm tree anywhere along the Atlantic coast. There may be one or two smaller ones farther north, but nothing as large as this one. A storm came along recently and ruined it."

"Here's how the tree came to be there:

"A long time ago, one of the Styron boys was selling the Pennsylvania Grit, a weekly publication popular a couple of generations ago. He proved to be an excellent salesman and won a prize.

"The prize was the palm tree. It was just a little shoot when it arrived but it has done extremely well by itself."

This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is research into the origin of the Ocracoke Island Wahab family. You can read the article here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news022115.htm.