Author Allan Gurganus writes in “27 Views of Hillsborough” about the inspiration he receives from Old Town Cemetery circa 1750 that he views from his big sunny writing studio. In her “27 Views of Hillsborough: A Southern Town in Prose & Poetry,” (2010), Hillsborough resident Elizabeth Woodman (Eno Publishers) has collected musings from more than two dozen Hillsborough writers who have contributed fiction, verse, research and reflections. communicating electronically by cell phone and tablet rather than face-to-face. In this town, people stop one another on the street to chat. Time moves blissfully slower. The town, convenient to Duke Medical Center, Duke University, University of North Carolina Hospital, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State and RDU is beyond lovely and makes an excellent choice for a long weekend, one in which travel from the coast will cost you about a tank of fuel. On my last afternoon in town we are directed by Michael Malone to his friend author Allan Gurganus’ house as a potential photo opp, only to discover in the yard the Poseidon-like statue I was dumbstruck by on my first day. It is Gurganus’ house! How very Hillsborough. drifting down to the weekly farmers’ market. In the audience one can spot popular young adult author John Claude Bemis and novelist and short story writer Jill McCorkle. Gallery openings, plays, musical per-formances and author readings fill town calendars. On a given weekend, one might attend a packed room to hear Lee Smith read from her latest novel, “Guests on Earth,” or catch bluesman Ironing Board Sam at a local venue, or take in a new art exhibit at one of the local galleries. Hillsborough holiday traditions include the two-person performance of “A Christmas Carol,” by novelist and Emmy-award-winning television writer Michael Malone and American novelist Allan Gurganus at a gothic church of the correct Dickensian period. Every other October Hillsboroughans clear their schedules for the town’s tour de force: the larger-than-life Handmade Parade. For an afternoon, Churton Street fills with giant paper-mâché puppets – butterflies and monsters, caterpillars and blue herons, and all manner of humanoids – many ambling along on stilts. It’s pure Hillsborough: a celebration of imagination marching down the street. Authors Frances Mayes, Michael Malone and Lee Smith cut up at Purple Crow Books, a literary hangout in Hillsborough. 75 www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM 36 hours in hillsborough
Wrightsville Beach Magazine May 2014
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