Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

If you were driving west on 264 last Wednesday about mid-morning, you could smell the best BBQ chicken in Eastern North Carolina. Going along with the BBQ chicken was the best rice and gravy, butter beans, cornbread and desert one could have.  All this was prepared by Maurice Cutler, Craig Mayes, Gray Deans and my wife, Tracey for lunch at the Herring Club.  All the time the four were working they had workers up at the club working for supper that evening.

The others were cleaning up the grounds, washing plates, peeling potatoes, slicing cucumbers and preparing large lima beans for supper.  The cooking shack was getting ready! Gray Deans had some of the best catfish I have eaten in a long time.

These chores were done by Bobby Hardy, Richard Jones, Elwood Sprouse, Alton Griffin, Carl Simons and Sammy Deans. They had to rake the leaves and cleaned up the tables preparing for supper that night.

The meal that night was prepared Gray Deans, Paul Thompson, Richie Gerard, D.S. Swain IV, Edward Moore, Wayne Singleton, Tyler Johnson, Andrew Howard and Chris Deans.

A special thanks goes to Elwood Sprouse who took me shopping Tuesday.  We bought all the groceries for Wednesday and delivered to the Herring Club Tuesday afternoon.  Elwood was there before I got there and stayed for Tracey and me to leave.

All this work was started by our fathers in the mid 50’s as group of Volunteer Fire Fighters.  My father, a charter member, and J.C. Singleton were the cooks.  This tradition has continued and most members today are sons of charter members.

Thank you Carl, Elwood, Craig, Alton, Gray and Richard for all the help you gave me to make this a success. Hope I did not leave anybody out.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C. ! The Original Washington!!

Harold Jr.