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978-0-89587-295-1
0-89587-295-1
$13.95 hardcover
157 pages
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In
1963, Judge Charles Whedbee was asked to substitute on a morning show
called Carolina Today on Greenville, North Carolina's, television
station while one of the program's regulars was in the hospital. Whedbee
took the opportunity to tell some of the Outer Banks stories he'd heard
during his many summers at Nags Head. The station received such a volume
of mail in praise of his tale-telling that he was invited to remain even
after the man he was substituting for returned to the air. "He had
a way of telling a story that really captured me," said one of the
program's co-hosts. "Whether he was talking about a sunset, a
ghost, or a shipwreck, I was there, living every minute of it."
Word
traveled as far as Winston-Salem, where John F. Blair proposed to
Whedbee that he compile his stories in book form. Whedbee welcomed the
challenge, though his expectations for the manuscript that became Legends
of the Outer Banks and Tar Heel Tidewater were modest. "I wrote
it out of a love for this region and the people whom I'd known all my
life," he said. "I didn't think it would sell a hundred
copies."
From
the very first sentence of the foreword, Whedbee stamped the collection
with his inimitable style: "You are handed herewith a small pod or
school of legends about various portions of that magical region known as
the Outer Banks of North Carolina as well as stories from other sections
of the broad bays, sounds, and estuaries that make up tidewater
Tarheelia."
The
Lost Colony, Indians, Blackbeard, an albino porpoise that guided ships
into harbor—the tales in that volume form the core of Outer Banks
folklore. Whedbee liked to tell people that his stories were of three
kinds: those he knew to be true, those he believed to be true, and those
he fabricated. But despite much prodding, he never revealed which were
which.
Legends
of the Outer Banks
went through three printings in 1966, its first year. Demand for
Whedbee's tales and the author's supply of good material were such that
further volumes were inevitable. The Flaming Ship of Ocracoke &
Other Tales of the Outer Banks was published in 1971, Outer Banks
Mysteries & Seaside Stories in 1978, Outer Banks Tales to
Remember in 1985, and Blackbeard's Cup and Stories of the Outer
Banks in 1989. Although Judge Whedbee died in 1990, his legacy lives
on through his folklore. Altogether, the five books have gone through 58
printings and sold more than 205,000 copies. Now in its 19th
printing, Legends of the Outer Banks has sold 111,000 copies.
And
so it is fitting that in this, the 50th year of John F.
Blair, Publisher, the company should release this volume of the 13
stories that the Blair staff felt were the best of Charles Harry
Whedbee.
about the author
In 1911, at the age of two months, Charles H. Whedbee made his first
trip to Nags Head in his mother's arms aboard a sailboat. Thus began his
lifelong love affair with the Outer Banks. By the time of his death in
1990, Whedbee had established a reputation as a master storyteller and
an authority on coastal folklore.
In the 1960s, Whedbee hosted
an early-morning television talk show in his hometown of Greenville,
North Carolina. He frequently recounted Outer Banks legends during the
program, and eventually gathered some of the stories into a collection.
In 1966, this collection was published as Legends
of the Outer Banks. The book proved so popular that it went
through three printings in its first year. Decades later, it is still
considered a classic. Many parents who first read these stories as
children are now reading them to their own children.
Whedbee was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
where he also earned his law degree. For years, he was a district court
judge in Greenville. His five books of Outer Banks folklore have sold
around 200,000 copies.
For more information on the
other books
by Judge Whedbee, click on the links below.
Legends of the Outer Banks
Blackbeard's
Cup
Outer Banks Mysteries
The
Flaming Ship of Ocracoke
Outer Banks Tales to Remember |
