Barbara Garrity-Blake is a cultural anthropologist, long interested in the 21 villages along the byway from the north end of Hatteras through the Down East region of Carteret County; she lives in Gloucester, N.C.
Karen Willis Amspacher, director of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, is descended from Shackleford Banks fishermen and boatbuilders and lives in Marshallberg, N.C. She is the editor of the best-selling collection, Island Born & Bred, and the Founder and Editor of The Mailboat periodical.