now that's right next to the Great Dismal Swamp...ever worry about swamp creatures as a little kid? They'd come out of the swamp and get under
your bed?.....

They could not have been as bad as the monsters who lived in the 70 acres of rocky woods behind our house. There were foxes living in
granite caves back there, and we just knew there was "bigger stuff" back there...only came out in the dark of course. Small linen closet on second floor of our home
which you had to pass by on the way to the bathroom at night, open that door, pitch black in there, big imaginary hole to the outside, just knew that's how the monsters got in.
always pushed that door shut when I went by....

the joys of being a kid with an active imagination
Where you grew up should be remarkably good farmland, rich dark soil. That area going down towards Elizabeth City is known
for being super productive, yields much higher than normal. My soil is a sandpit in comparison.