Kinnakeet Adventure

I can't say that this is my new book. It's not mine. It's not new. It is a book. It's Kinnakeet Adventure, written by Stanley Green in 1971, about his time working as a teacher on the Hatteras coast of Avon, known as Kinnakeet to the locals, back in 1930 and for the 12 years afterwards into World War II. And it's a wonderful book. I'm happy to say that I get to republish it.

Originally written right after his retirement in 1971, Stanley tells his story of getting a job in Avon, even though he had no idea where Avon was. He was just finished as a student getting his teaching degree at UNC Chapel Hill, when some friends sent out a made up application for a principal's job in Avon, without his knowledge. The village wanted a beast of a man to beat the male students into learning. Stanley was anything but a beast. He instead bonded with them, and the village, even with all the needs and challenges of living close to the shore with no books, no desks, no roads, and barely even a school. It is a fascinating and wonderful read about what a teacher will do to help their students, as well as a wonderfully detailed description of life not so long ago on the Outer Banks.

I found this book, honestly I don't know where. It may have been in my parents' house, or an antique shop, or a used bookstore. But I read it and loved it. I knew it needed to be republished, but I didn't think I could find the current owner. It was still under legal copyright, though Stanley was long dead, passing away, hopefully happily, in the mid-nineties at a ripe old age. I began the search of his family. His grave turned up very little, and a lot. He never married, but had several sisters. That was a problem. They all may have rights, and they all had passed, as well. His family, great nephews and nieces, stretched across North Carolina, from his hometown of Boiling Springs, all the way into Savannah. I found it oddly fortunate that I had family in both Boiling Springs, and Savannah, Ga, on my mother's side.

Should I have said "Spoilers Ahead."?

I go back and look at his sisters. One married a man named Bridges, and they had a son, Troy Bridges. I knew that name.

Uncle Troy.

Yep, I was related to Stanley Green.

Well, not really. Troy married my grandmother's sister, so I'm not in the genetic sense, more in the Southern sense.

But this opened things up. I contacted a cousin, who knew the daughter of the sole inheritor of Stanley's estate, as they went to Sunday School together. A few letters and emails later, and I got permission to republish the book!

I should have asked my mother first, of course. I told all this to Mom, and she said she had met him. And had pictures with him.

I'm so happy to be able to share it with everyone. I found lots of little bits of his story so compelling. His memoirs of the school and life on the beach are important, but he also retells the occasional story of the old timers from long ago, such as when a friend tells of how both Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet formed on the same day, and how before, the islands were connected all the way to Ocracoke. And how they grew peaches and grapes, or how hard wood trees grew out from the beaches before being clearcut for their sales. I'm just happy I have been able to preserve the book for future readers, as well as so many people who probably read the book, but no longer have a copy. Or just want to finally have one to loan out.

It just became available, on March 22nd, and currently on Amazon, at...

www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6SVDM5

Soon, I'll have the printing companies get the book listed for book stores, and you'll be able to order them at your favorite shop, too. And I'll have copies available for shipping. Though getting my signature on Stanley's book is somewhat second place blues, but, hey, like I said, he's my uncle.