The story of the Reels family who are valiantly attempting to protect the land their family bought one generation after | dG1fN2JhWTBLbnQ5VGc
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Growing up in Beaufort, we really didn't have access to the area for swimming.
00:16 [MUSIC]
00:20 And so my dad, he would always take us to Merman.
00:23 We didn't refer to it as Merman then.
00:26 We referred to it as Silver Dollar.
00:28 And most of the people around here went down to the Silver Dollar.
00:35 And they were a welcoming community.
00:38 And most of the time, you didn't have whites coming in to that community.
00:45 So that was important.
00:48 And so you did feel safe.
00:51 [WATER LAPPING]
00:55 It was just the one place you could go,
00:58 and you wasn't worried about being targeted by the law.
01:03 And you didn't have to feel like you were being harassed.
01:10 You could just relax.
01:12 [MUSIC]
01:35 Uncle I. Curtis, just a humble person.
01:38 So Uncle I. Curtis was always a brick mason.
01:41 He worked with his hands.
01:43 He's very lovable.
01:44 He likes to sing.
01:46 He likes to hum.
01:47 He likes to eat.
01:50 He's just that uncle that everybody loves.
01:55 Me and La Curtis were close.
01:57 We grew up in the house together.
01:59 So we did a lot of things together, like party.
02:03 [MUSIC]
02:07 I don't know who told him he could dance.
02:10 He couldn't dance.
02:13 He just had this happy go--he was just a happy-go-lucky person.
02:17 He loved people, and he would laugh and joke.
02:21 And so he was the person to really have a good time with.
02:26 [MUSIC]
02:31 First time I heard about Fantasy Island, I was like, where is Fantasy Island?
02:36 I heard it on the radio.
02:38 Later on in the announcement, they said down in Murman.
02:42 I said, down in Murman?
02:44 And they said, to the old Silver Dollar.
02:47 And I said, oh, goodness, they talking about--and then that's when I started asking around about it.
02:52 And they said, yeah, they opened up a little club down there.
02:55 And Melvin was running, and it was called--and people were coming.
02:59 [MUSIC]
03:04 Every season was something different.
03:06 One year we had the Soul Train.
03:08 We had the train painted on the floor with the tracks, and then you go down the Soul Train line.
03:16 I remember a lot of the Marines from Cherry Point would come down here.
03:20 [MUSIC]
03:23 Oh, we had a party, buddy, from all the way around, all the way from Little City come down and join us.
03:29 We were black and white.
03:31 And, you know, every weekend, jam.
03:34 [MUSIC]
03:42 We had a guy come in here with the Greyhound bus and DJ.
03:45 And then he'd come in there with that DJ.
03:49 The people followed the bus behind him and lowered this beach up.
03:55 I would get different groups to come in and play on the beach.
03:58 And we just had fun.
04:01 [MUSIC]
04:04 [MUSIC]
04:07 [MUSIC]
04:10 [MUSIC]
04:13 (upbeat music)