January 2024

Local businesses are creatively incorporating plants into commercial spaces, making them the focus of their interior design. The employee café at MegaCorp Logistics features giant moss wall panels, The Coastal Succulent + Design retail shop is like walking into a canopy of greenery, Evolve Companies has an 8-foot gorilla topiary and at The Green House…

My photo this month came out of our Business of Distinction feature we do at least once a year. This year we decided to look at how greenery is being used in the commercial setting. I believe the Green Spaces feature will inspire ideas for gifts and for your own living and work environments. During…

In the long and honorable service of the United States Coast Guard, there was a unique assignment during World War II. Although a maritime service, it provided armed, horseback-mounted patrols along the nation’s coasts, including North Carolina’s beaches and barrier islands. Smith Island, now Bald Head Island, and Oak Island saw especially active patrols. Imagine…

High school sailing spans the country, broken into seven districts. The South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (SAISA) governs high school and collegiate regattas in a region that includes the Virgin Islands, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina. Each year, there is a SAISA district sailing championship that leads to the national championship. Local…

Greg Stanley loves lines, and they are his first step in the creative process. When studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art he challenged himself to draw using only straight lines, filling numerous sketch books. Then he introduced curves. It was a methodical approach. “You need to draw with pen and ink so that…

Not so new ingredients are popping up on the grocery shelves and menus of trendy restaurants. One of these is amaranth, an ancient grain. Several years ago, quinoa re-emerged on the food scene as a healthy, nutritious, alternate side dish to rice, pasta or potatoes. Now quinoa is common in American dietary choices, including vegetable…

Local surfers are rarely deterred by rainy, foggy or freezing weather. Because it is easier to traverse the swift flowing, 400-foot-wide Masonboro Inlet channel from Wrightsville Beach on longer, heavier boards, these surfers carry a pair of boards each. The longboards are for paddling to and from Masonboro Island from Wrightsville’s South End. Surfers tow their shortboards…

The Battleship North Carolina’s low-lying location on the Cape Fear River means the grounds are prone to flooding. It’s an experience common to many residents and visitors. You want to spend a day at the Battleship North Carolina, but there was a storm in the past couple of days. Will the ship be open? Is…

There has never been a better time to start — or restart — looking into your family history than today. We’ll look at the types of records that might offer the quickest haul. Then, we’ll see a few places where these records can be found. Many wonderful sources of family history can be easily searched…