Wandering Wilbo Sings; Oh Black Water, Who Will Drain It?

Wilbo knew Blackwater had its headquarters somewhere in the south, but on the news Wilbo learned that the company headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina, which is the border town on US 168. It's about 3 miles off the road, going west, once one crosses from Virginia to North Carolina. Wilbo passed through on his way to Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills to see the Wright Brothers First Flight historical site.

The water is black in Northeastern North Carolina because it stews in a cypress swamp called the Great Dismal Swamp. Wilbo does not have an idea how big it is, but it is a national preserve, just like the Everglades. The cypress tea looks a lot like coffee, and entire rivers flow with this beverage. On a side note, there's only one coffee shop that serves expresso in Currituck County, the county containing Moyock. One failed. The survivor is just before the causeway over Currituck Sound to Bodie Island, the first of the Outer Bank chain of islands and the island where the Wright Brothers flew gliders off a hill called Kill Devil. First flight came in 1907. Blackwater USA came 90 years later, in 1997. It reminded Wilbo of the trains. The first train tracks were laid down around the early 1800. By 1861, Americans had employed them for troop and supply movements during the Civil War and disabled them to cripple the enemy side.

Here's a funny little anecdote. Wilbo was driving southeast on US 32, the Carolina Road, which connects Suffolk, Virginia, home of Mr. Peanut, to North Carolina. George Washington had bought land along the road, which apparently was an extension of a colonial era post road from New England, and he was planning a real estate company to drain the Dismal Swamp and sell recovered land to homesteaders. Well, the swamp is still there, so George didn't do it. So there's still a lot of blackwater around Northeastern North Carolina.

And now, the inheritors of George's office have the choice of draining a Blackwater swamp of a different kind.

Oh Black Water, Keep On Steeping, Cypress Carolina, Will You Keep on Dyeing the Sea?