The Inner Islands - by Bland Simpson (Paperback)

About the Book

Inner Islands: A Carolinian's Sound Country Chronicle

Book Synopsis

Blending history, oral history, autobiography, and travel narrative, Bland Simpson explores the islands that lie in the sounds, rivers, and swamps of North Carolina's inner coast. In each of the fifteen chapters in the book, Simpson covers a single island or group of islands, many of which, were it not for the buffering Outer Banks, would be lost to the ebbs and flows of the Atlantic. Instead they are home to unique plant and animal species and well-established hardwood forests, and many retain vestiges of an earlier human history.

Review Quotes

The Inner Islands is sure to be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by scholars, students, and anyone attracted to the story of forgotten and beautiful places."--North Carolina Historical Review

In The Inner Islands, [Bland Simpson] shares his passion by taking readers on a rollicking cruise down the coastal sound country. . . . Simpson has a gift for painting vivid verbal pictures that help us see what he does, and our vision is made even clearer by the fine photographs of his wife, Ann Cary Simpson."--News & Observer

Part travel log, part history, part memoir delicately tinged with Elizabethan syntax, Simpson's north-to-south trip through some of the state's least known locales will make you want to rent a boat and travel from Machelhe Island to the Cape Fear chain."--The Pilot

Simpson writes with a graceful, elegant touch about those who once peopled the banks and islands and along the creeks and rivers of the vast region below the fall line. He does so with a sense of history, a reverence for traditions that once made Eastern North Carolina so distinctive and a prophetic concern for the change that is transforming his native land."--Charlotte Observer

Simpson's book is a love song to the ephemeral inner islands, the vanished lives they have harbored and seen pass, and the essential brevity and beauty of islands and man alike."--Winston-Salem Journal

Simpson's love of these islands shines through on every page."--Bloomsbury Review

Simpson's words are elegant, and the descriptions multi-layered. . . . Whether you're a native of the Old North State or a more recent transplant, Simpson's narrative should be required reading. You can't beat the combination of one of our best writers with one of the most intriguing and vital parts of the state."--Creative Loafing

The result of [Simpson's] lifetime of exploring is this wonderful book that is part memoir, part geography lesson and part history lesson. To open Simpson's book is to smell marshes of our coast, to smell oysters roasting and to get a new appreciation for the rich history of this part of our state."--Durham Herald-Sun

The Simpsons provide yet another memorable portrait of a region that's endlessly fascinating. . . . [Bland Simpson is] a gifted storyteller with an evocative style. . . . Anne Simpson's striking black-and-white photos complete the vision. . . . A keepsake."--Our State

Well-rounded. . . . A perfect guide. . . . Highly recommended reading."--Sea History