Meanwhile, In Southport, NC...

...the Town Board is replacing a cedar tree and renovating the famous Whittler's Bench that were damaged by Hurricane Hazel in 1996.

The Whittler's Bench was made famous by writer Robert Ruark, who mentioned it in his coming-of-age book The Old Man and the Boy. It ws the gathering place for the old men of the town, where they would yarn, reminisce, snooze in the sun, and randomly whittle both loose wood picked up off the ground and the bench itself. Ruark referred to it as the Cedar Bench.

It used to be every small town had a place like that. In Melrose, Florida, where I grew up, there was a wooden bench at Chiapinni's Gulf station that served the same purpose.

I'll have to remember to photograph Southport's Cedar Bench the next time I'm up there.