Back in 2008, I wrote a post about what was our recent decision to move to Carteret County, North Carolina. I likened moving to finding your mate. I said something to the effect that dating your mate is a little like visiting the place you want to move. I also suggested that just as you really do not get to know your life's partner until you get married, you never really understand a place until you move there.
Here we are in 2019, we have listed our home in Carteret County and are in our fourteenth year living on the Crystal Coast. What can we say about life in Carteret County? Was our leap of faith to move to the North Carolina coast a good decision? What have we learned?
The first lesson is an easy one. What is around your house is as important or more important than your house. The particular setting of our home on Raymond's Gut just off the White Oak River has spoiled us. We have water in our backyard along with great egrets, great blue herons, osprey, otters, and other creatures. When we were looking for a home on the water, we did not understand living on the water like we do now. This close connection to nature is the best since we left our farm in Canada in 1984. Life by the water has brought us many treasured moments.
The next lesson is a reinforcement of what we have seen in our other moves. The area where you move will have even more impact on your happiness than your actual neighbors. Carteret County has a reputation for good schools and reasonable growth. We have seen the benefits of the measured growth in our years here. The services available now are even more than we hoped for when we moved here. There was one drugstore when we came, there are now three. Lowe's Home Improvement which came a year or so after our move is less than ten minutes from our home. Swansboro's nearly new Walmart is less than fifteen minutes. While the restaurants have changed, we still do not have to go far to enjoy a meal outside our home. Just about anything else you could dream of except Costco is available in Jacksonville less than thirty minutes away or Morehead City about twenty minutes down the road. Had we moved to a less prosperous area, I think we would have been disappointed. We also do not mind visiting Wilmington once in a while to get a Costco fix.
The third lesson is to go for the things that are most important to you. Our new home on the water ended up a better fit for us than the similarly-priced old beach house four rows back that was our other choice. Both homes were close in price. Had we bought the beach house, it would have been easier to walk on the beach but much harder to boat or kayak. The beach house would have meant giving up not only the direct water access from our yard but also the water views that have so enriched our lives. Being able to see the water from our home was high on our original list.
Lesson four, things that you do not think about can end up making a big difference. When we picked our new home, we never considered how nice it would be to have our own microclimate with a south-facing wall. We also did not realize the way our house and the houses beside us were positioned would come to give us far more privacy than many of the new homes in the subdivision. We also no idea how wonderful it could be to have the swimming pool less than a five-minute walk so it would be easy for the grandchildren to come home when tired or go over after dinner for a quick dip. Finally, our location at the back of Raymond's Gut, a good distance off the river has turned out to be a good place to weather storms that visit the area. We have never even had to take our boat off the lift even during Irene or Florence, the two most significant storms in our years here.
Lesson five, if you are going to do remodeling, go ahead and do it as soon as you can so you can enjoy it. We were able to add almost 1,000 square feet which included the nicest office for writing that I have ever had and a great room with amazing views of the water. I am glad we did it early enough to use it and love what it brought to our home.
Carteret County turned out to be the right spot for us when we moved here. We have come to know and love the area. If our grandchildren were here, we would not be moving. Everyone should have a list of what they want if they are planning on a move. Keep going over the list until you are certain of it. When you are deciding on where to move, visit it during rainy and cold weather in addition to beautiful days. Imagine yourself living in the place that is at the top of your list. Ask questions of your realtor, but also ask questions of the people who might be your neighbors.
Moving is not easy but I am happy that Carteret County had a chance to find a way into our hearts. If you love the water, like a slow pace of life, enjoy roads that are rarely clogged with traffic, and want a place with unparalleled scenic beauty, visit Carteret County. It might be the start of a love affair and a place that meets your needs for the next decade.
Living ten minutes from the beaches did not stop me from hiking all the beaches that my heart desired. I learned how to safely boat down here in the waters of the White Oak River and Bogue Sound with even a few adventures out into the Atlantic Ocean. The White Oak River also became my personal kayaking paradise often delivering wonderful drum, trout, and flounder that we enjoyed fresh from the water.
We had as friends and neighbors wonderful people, some with deep roots in Carteret County and others from places about as far from here as you can get and still be in the United States. All things considered, the leap of faith was worth it. Missing all the winter weather that used to keep us on our mountain in Roanoke, Virginia has been a real treat as was being able to garden twelve months out of the year. I would have never guessed that I would end up liking Emerald Isle so much that I did an annually updated travel guide for six years.
