I grew up in the small town of Belhaven, North Carolina. It's a lovely little town nestled right on the Pungo River. It is only 8 miles from the Pamlico Sound and sits at only seven feet above sea level.
I actually grew up at Pamlico Beach, a small waterfront community about 13 miles southeast of Belhaven. It is really country living, but quite the peaceful life. There's no hustle and bustle of city life. You won't find night clubs or twenty-four hour grocery stores. In fact, there's only one grocery store, Food Lion, in this quaint village of approxiamtely 2,000 inhabitants. The big industries are tourism, bed-and-breakfasts, and fishing.
One of the more popular bed-and-breakfasts is River Forest Manor. It is a beautful plantation type home converted into a B-N-B with a restaraunt.
My family occasionally visits for a seafood dinner after church on Sunday.
There are a few small shops downtown. Tourists can often be seen strolling down Main Street on golf carts seeing the sights and lovely homes along Water Street. There are a few small eateries, as well, in the area.
With any community so close to the rivers, sounds, and even the ocean, fishing for a living is quite common. I, myself, come from a long line of family members that fish or have fished for a living. My grandfather started with a small boat and a handful of crab pots when he was only 12 years old. He is 78 years old today and still fishes for a living. Of course, I have also made money at fishing, as has my dad, my mom's dad, my mom's grandfather, and many uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. 
In fact, the first job I ever had was on a fishing boat. I was six months old. My mom put me in a fish box, and I sat in the wheel house watching the large steering wheel turn from side to side. My grandfather gave my mom $20.00 because I was on "wheel watch". I could do an entire blog on commercial fishing, so I will leave that topic here.
Living near the water means there are many opportunites for water sports. There is always fishing with a fishing pole. Speed boating and sailing are quite common, as well as water skiing, hydrosliding, and personal water crafts.
There's a history to Belhaven, along with some of the surrounding small towns. North Carolina is on the central eastern seaboard of the United States where many of the early settlements were. One of Belhaven's historic buildings is the town hall.
The town hall houses the police department, the town museum, and the town hall offices. There are nearby historic towns and districts, too, such as Bath, N.C., North Carolina's oldest town from 1789. It's roots go further back, but that is when it was recognized as a township.
All in all, Belhaven is a nice place to live, particularly is you like the peace and quite of a small town. There are drawbacks. It's about a 40 minute drive to the nearest Wal-Mart in Washington, N.C. As previously mentioned, there are no 24 hour stores. Some of the stores even close by 7 p.m. And where my parents live, it is a 20 minute drive into town. But that is a small price to pay for the peaceful, picturesque place to enjoy life.
