As old-fashioned as it may sound, in
the handful of years since they bought the
cottage, the Davis siblings have picked
up where they left off, resuming the
Wrightsville Beach traditions entrenched in
their memories since childhood.
Those traditions surround good company,
good food and being
on the water. Like brotherin
law, John Burlingame’s
summer shrimp and crab
boils. Burlingame sets the
table and prepares the feast
of fresh shrimp and crabmeat,
tossed with corn on
the cob, new potatoes and
sausage, then serves everyone
on the dock.
On the Fourth of July,
they pack a picnic, lower
the boat and cruise north
toward Shell Island or Rich’s Inlet.
“We use the boat a lot, skiing, tubing,
wakeboarding, crabbing. We also use the
dock a ton,” Alison says.
The kids swim in the channel; the
dogs romp on the sandy beach; everyone
comes and goes through the ground level
den stocked with beach
towels, bathing suits and
sunscreen.
Alison says the dock
gazebo is a great hideout,
especially when the sun
has gotten a little too hot.
“It’s a nice place to go for
a little shade. We go to
the beach too but use that
dock all the time.”
For Thanksgiving,
they all spend a couple of
days with the extended
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WBM december 2011
Davis family at a family place on the Cape
Fear River. Alison adds, “The day after
Thanksgiving, we move to the beach cottage
for the flotilla weekend!”
For the New Year, they usually arrive a
few days early with houseguests in tow. By
then, Covington, who also doubles as the
family’s property manager and provisioner,
has stocked the refrigerators, the pantry and
the bedroom suites with staples. All that’s
missing is a trip to Motts Channel Seafood
for shrimp and grits supplies.
The family that doesn’t skip an Easter
Sunday, a Memorial or Labor Day weekend,
or the famed North Carolina Holiday
Flotilla observes every Thanksgiving weekend
and cherishes every holiday at the
beach but one, Christmas.
That may change when they see what
they’re missing.
Those traditions
surround good company,
good food and being
on the water.
Twinkle lights reflected in
Wrightsville’s water outline
the crab pot tree placed
appropriately on the dock.