Quietly, Clarkton looks to the future

CLARKTON — If you want to keep something secret, Clarkton probably isn't the place for you.

"We're a small town, so if something's happening, word will get out about it," said Jerome Myers, postmaster of the town's cozy post office. And today, it looks like the biggest mystery in Clarkton is: What's going into the empty building next to the IGA store?

As Harold Ward, an electrician from Whiteville, carefully replaced some of the lighting in the once-Dollar General store, people casually poked their heads in, just to figure out who the new client would be,

"I heard it was a new church coming in," said one.

"I hope it's a place kids can go, give them something to do," said another.

As the guessing game continued, Ward stayed silent.

"I really have no idea what's coming here," he said. "I'm just going to have the lights ready when it does. It seems to be the question of the day."

The guessing game is a way for folks to occupy their time before the peanut crop is harvested and brought to E.J. Cox's plant just north of town. After that, the Clarkton Cotton Company will get going. Until then, folks take their excitement where they can find it.

Clarkton, like many communities in the Cape Fear region, began life as a railroad stop. Nestled in southern Bladen County, just north of the Columbus County line, it was well-situated as a farming and trade community for the area when the Seaboard Air Line rail depot was built in 1915.

That depot still stands as the town hall. It was given to the town and moved away from the tracks in 1975.

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While many rural communities hit their peak and have seen people move away, Clarkton's population has stayed fairly constant. Nearly 800 people live there, and agricultural  businesses have helped smooth out the economic potholes that plagued similar towns in the South. Downtown still shows the pain of nearly all southern small towns as once-proud brick buildings stand empty and time has left other buildings worn and battered.

But at places like McDougald's Store, everything is open.

"We're just a quiet little town," said Camille McDougald, sitting by the register at her dad's store downtown. She's the fourth generation of McDougalds to work at the century-old general store.

"There used to be a lot of things going on here," said her father, Lawrence McDougald. "My granddad used to have a place across the street, but he ran out of room. When this building came open, he got it. There used to be a coffin maker upstairs and a law office."

There's no one else in the building now. The old offices are used for storage, and the expansive first floor is a delightful collection of hardware, plants and a little bit of everything else.

Most people in town travel either to Elizabethtown or Whiteville for big purchases, but there's always something they forget. McDougald says that's one thing that keeps his store going.

"If you forgot it, you can come here," he said. "Odds are we'll have it ... or we can find it."

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Just down the street, the town's library has opened for the afternoon. And if you agree that a good book is a treasure, you'd appreciate the building that serves as Clarkton's library.

"It used to be a bank," said head librarian Greta Jackson. "At some point before I came, it became the town library. The vault is where we keep the paperback books.

"It's also the first place we'll go if there's a tornado warning," Jackson added. "There will plenty of good stuff to read in there."

More people visit to use the computers that to grab a book, a trend Jackson chalks up to technology.

"Several people in Clarkton drop by to check their email and enjoy the air conditioning," she said. "When it gets warm, like it is today, it's nice to be able to take a break."

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Reba and David Little have been cooking for people in Clarkton for more than 30 years.

"We just figured it was time to try and make a little money doing it," Reba Little said with a laugh.

The couple have operated Galigo's, a family-style restaurant just around the corner from the town hall, for the past three years. It's a small place where there's a bottle of vinegar waiting on the table for your order of collards, and the Carolina-style hamburgers are among the best in Bladen County.

The two most common questions Reba and David are asked are "What's the special today?" and "What the heck does 'Galigo' mean?"

It's an unusual name, she admits, but one with family ties. It's an old name going back a couple of generations. It means "God's Grace," and Reba says it's taken a bit of grace to help get the restaurant started.

"We wanted to do this for more than 30 years," she said. "I was working at a Christian bookstore, and David was employed. We put away a little money and when the time came, we took a little leap of faith ... and here we are!

"Every town should have a little restaurant where people can meet, eat and talk. That's who we are — a place to take a break and meet your friends."

Staff writer Chick Jacobs can be reached at 486-3515 or cjacobs@fayobserver.com