Introduction - Bettie
Ruth, get the collards and mullets ready … I’m coming home!
Clarence Salter, Bettie Native
Bettie prides itself in being the “Gateway to the Original Down East.” Serving as the southern entrance to the Outer Banks National Scenic Byway, Bettie was once called Woodville and Simpson. “Bettie” was chosen in 1903 upon the establishment of the community’s first post office, named after a woman named Bettie who handled the mail.
Bettie has long been a farming community, although fishing and boatbuilding added to the economy as well. A community school once operated here, and family-owned stores provided locals with provisions. Situated between North River and Wards Creek, Bettie was self-sufficient, and even had a restaurant and fishing pier on the causeway of the North River Bridge in the 1950s and 60s.
Many families ran “truck farms,” growing sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes (often pronounced “ar’sh” or “ice” potatoes by locals), cabbage, onions, and watermelon. Buyers purchased entire fields-worth of produce, loading trucks that hauled vegetables to northern markets. Migrant workers stayed on the larger farms in labor camps during picking season.
Bettie remains a community lined with farmland, rich black dirt growing strawberries in the spring and collards in the fall, as well as sweet potatoes, corn, and soybeans. Today fewer farmers work the fields, but Bettie is still geared toward growing things.
Brightly colored flags draw customers to Simpson’s Greenhouse and Strawberry Patch on the north side of US 70. The farm is run by George and Sandra Simpson. George’s father was one of the largest producers in Bettie. Sandra runs the produce barn, equipped with a kitchen for baking pies, breads, and other treats. Nanny’s tomato and strawberry pies cannot be beat.