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October 27-28, 2023
Southern Foodways Symposium ⟶
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Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Saltwater South: Harkers Island, North Carolina

ORAL HISTORY

Mila Guthrie

Seaside Galley

Mila Willis Guthrie was born in Sea Level, North Carolina on April 13, 1960 and raised on Harkers Island. Her grandfather Earl Rose, was one part of the famous boatbuilding duo (along with his brother James Rose) that made up the Rose Bros. Boatworks, crafting traditionally made wooden boats with the famed flared bow popularized on Harkers Island.

Mrs. Guthrie and her husband, Barry, opened Seaside Galley in 1986, to fill a need in the community. Seaside is a gas station, general store, gift shop, and restaurant situated on Harkers Island road, just past the carved and painted sign welcoming visitors to the island. Every morning, locals gather in the dining room, or adjacent seating area on the convenience store side to drink coffee, tell tales, and catch up with one another.

Daily specials appear, marquee style, on the small outdoor sign every morning, but you’ll always find clam chowder with hush puppies, fried seafood platters, and condensed milk pie; a Harkers Island staple, made with a Ritz cracker crust, a lemony condensed milk filling, and golden meringue. Seaside is the only locally-owned restaurant on Harkers Island, a ritual stop for islanders hungry to connect with their local neighbors.

Date of interview:
2016-03-17

Interviewer:
Keia Mastrianni and Mike Moore

Photographer:
Keia Mastrianni

Download Transcript

“

"We’re just hard-working people. When you grow up and you’re around the water, people always had to work for what they got. We help each other, it’s just a tight-knit community." - Mila Guthrie

Other Project Interviews

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Randy Wade

Randy Wade is a lifelong shrimper, who began working the waters off Harkers Island as a young boy.

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Makeley Lewis

Makeley Lewis was a fisherman and boat builder, who followed the trades of his father and grandfather.

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Jan Gillikin

Jan Gillikin is a cook and contributor to Island Born and Bred, a community cookbook written by the women of Harkers…

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Ira Lewis

Ira Lewis was born on August 2, 1918 and spent many years as a waterman of a different kind.

Interview

Emma Rose Guthrie

Emma Rose Guthrie was born on March 21, 1933 on Harkers Island. She spent her days on the water, fishing, clamming, and…

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Eddie Willis

Eddie Willis began making a living fishing by age thirteen. He opened Mr. Big Seafood, with his father in 1976.

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