Having breakfast the other morning with a former neighbor and longtime friend Bill Mac Alligood, he reminded me of the days Mac Nair Street connected Ninth and 10th streets. We both remembered that it was not a dirt street; rather, it was covered in burnt cylinder oil. The city had a sprayer truck that would come by and make sure the dirt was covered in burnt cylinder oil to make sure the dirt did not blow away or wash when we had a heavy rain. This did not stop any of us from playing in the street but did make our moms a little mad when we got our jeans messed up with the cylinder oil.

The cylinder oil must have not hurt Bill Mac or his sister, Susan, because they have been very successful in their professional careers. Bill Mac has continued a family business that has been in Washington for more than 100 years and was started by his grandfather. He also is very active in our local Boy Scouts. Susan has retired and is living down at Cape Carteret. Their mom, Mrs. Charlene, is still living in their home on Ninth Street. So proud of both of them and what they do for their respective communities.

Bill Mac and Susan lived in a brick house on the corner of Ninth Street. Their backyard was divided by a row of bushes between their home and Mr. Willie Roach’s house on 10th Street. This row of bushes was a perfect hiding place when Keith Roach decided to come outside. Now, Keith was behind me in age but was taller than most of us. At that time, he was the ideal target for china balls that were shot from our sling shots. It must have made him tougher, because he grew up to become one of Washington’s best basketball players. Keith would later in his professional life become the high Sheriff of Martin County when he retired. He married Amy Hardison, and together they had two wonderful boys Kevin and Brad. I was fortunate enough to coach both of these fine young men and watched them play collegiately. They got all of their athletic ability from their mom, Amy, who was a star at Williamston High School before Keith married her. His sister, Beth, lives in Burlington.

The house beside Keith’s house was where one of the bullies of our neighborhood lived, Warren (Eddie) Everette. Now please do not get me wrong, he was not a bully in the way it is described today. Warren just enjoyed tearing our forts down because he knew how much pride we took in building them. Along with David Weatherly, the two would lift up the roof of a fort and throw rocks at us, so we would leave. Warren was older and bigger and his mom, Esther, taught French at Washington High School and would later be my French teacher in high school.

Across the street from Bill Mac on Ninth Street was a row of white apartments that are still there today. In one of those apartments is where Linda Stokes (Rike) and her mom lived. Linda was a classmate of mine and she later moved to Beaufort and is now one of the biggest real estate agents on Atlantic Beach and helps to sponsor the Big Rock Marlin Tournament every year.

Despite the burnt cylinder oil, we all turned out pretty good. Our pants might have been greasy, but our parents would just wash them and send us back out to play, knowing we would get them messed up again. That is why they were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places — Washington, N.C.!

— Harold Jr.

Harold Robinson Jr. is a native of Washington.