Cooperative Living August 2017 - 33

Peace and
Quiet -
Country Life
Clockwise, from above left: Beaton-Powell House historic exterior featuring classic Greek-revival characteristics; Debbie McManus, owner of
Boykins Beans & Ice Cream; Amber Ricks, clerk at the Boykins Post Office; Mayor Richard Spier Edwards Jr. at his desk at Boykins Town Office;
and Paula Johansen in a front-porch rocking chair at the Beaton-Powell House.
R. T. Lassiter, 85, married 60 years to
wife Dot, moved to Boykins when he was
5 years old. His father had sawmills, which
became White & Lassiter Timber Company,
where Lassiter worked until he retired in
1992 and the business closed. He
remembers cutting heavy oak timbers called
keel blocks for the shipbuilding trade and
cutting timbers for Jamestown replica ships.
" If you were not doing as you should in
school, your parents found out, or one of
dad's men would tell you to straighten up
and fly right, " he says of life in Boykins.
" It was a community where you could do
great works with a handshake. "
He also remembers working at local
stores as a teenager, stores where " farmers
would come in and bring eggs to trade
[for store items]. "
Mayor Richard Spier Edwards Jr., 81,
explains, " This used to be a bustling town
with all the buildings occupied. Today
most people commute to jobs [outside
of Boykins] and a lot of people have
moved here from places like Norfolk and
Virginia Beach. "
Boykins' largest employer, Narricot,
opened in 1962 as Boykins Narrow Fabric
and is now owned by AEC (Asheboro
www.co-opliving.com
Elastics Corporation). Narricot's 133
employees produce seatbelt webbing for
cars and trucks and webbing for " fall
protection " safety harnesses used by
electric linemen, window washers and
others who work in high places.
" The original owner got community
storekeepers to put up $800 each as seed
money to build the plant, telling [locals]
he was bringing jobs and business, which
would in turn bring them customers and
business, " says human-resources manager
Kris Potter. " Once the plant became
profitable, he paid them all back. "
A smattering of small businesses dot the
town. Pennsylvania natives Debbie and
Mike McManus moved with their
daughter to Boykins after living in Virginia
Beach for 15 years, where Debbie had
owned a printing business. Looking for an
escape from city life, they discovered
Boykins online and bought an old
Victorian home, restoring it and adding a
garage apartment where Debbie's parents
stay when they visit.
They also bought a literally falling-down
building, " really it was just three walls, "
Debbie says, at 32119 South Main Street,
owned by the town and rebuilt it. Their
now-grown daughter lives in the restored
Victorian with her two sons while her
husband is deployed overseas; Debbie and
Mike, retired from the U.S. Navy, live in an
apartment over Boykins Beans & Ice
Cream, the business they opened in their
rebuilt building in 2009.
The coffeehouse-style shop specializes
in gourmet coffee and ice cream. They also
offer food (pizza, club sandwiches and
burgers are popular) and gift items.
" This is a 'Mayberry' town with good
people, " Debbie, 49, says. " We're a social
spot for locals, and we also get customers
from places like Franklin, Virginia Beach
and Smithfield. "
Boykins Butcher Block, a small butcher
shop and grocery store, opened around the
corner at 32126 Busy Street in November
2016. Owner Chris Jernigan, 31, a former
music teacher who had also worked as a
butcher, grew up in nearby Sedley and
graduated from Chowan University.
" After I quit teaching, I started looking
for a possible business location. I was
riding through [town] and saw this vacant
building, " Jernigan explains. " The owner
agreed to lease the building and bought all
the coolers. "
August 2017 | Cooperative Living | 31

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Cooperative Living August 2017

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