“The Goodliest Land …”

That was once part of a statement used by our first English settlers to describe what later became North Carolina. It is still well representative, and especially for Scotland County.

Scotland County has been my home — except for a few years getting an education in Greenville and Atlanta, Ga. — for almost 68 years. From the 1950s when nearly everyone walked from their home to downtown to 2019 where bicycles and automobiles abound, change has always been a part of our small communities and rural areas.

The past twenty plus years have not always been kind to America’s rural areas — so we are not alone — as more people have elected to migrate to the urban areas and their countless amenities. Today, most people live in the urban areas of North Carolina, and that migratory trend continues.

Still, the question of leaving Scotland County has never crossed our minds.

Our home communities have so much to offer!

We raised our first generation of two children here, and as we are now retired and raising our second generation, 14-year-old granddaughter — now legally adopted as our daughter — we are more than happy to reside in the quiet peacefulness in the “‘burbs of lovely John’s Station.”

Our public schools are exceptional, and opportunities abound for those who truly focus and learn, as she is doing.

The location, location, location of Scotland County came in very handy in her early years when scheduling the memorable “daddy/daughter days.” We often kayaked the Lumbee River, visited the North Carolina Rural Heritage Center, strolled the campus at St. Andrews University, and attended many of our festivals, concerts, and other public events.

The fact that we are “within two hours of nearly anywhere” took us to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, the South Carolina Zoo in Columbia, the museums in Raleigh and Charlotte, the aquariums in Fort Fisher and Myrtle Beach, Weymouth Woods in Southern Pines — each easily completed as a one-day adventure!

Scotland County is blessed with many natural wonders — amongst the finest is the Lumbee (aka, Lumber) River State Park near Wagram. As its “name” goes, local writer/poet, John Charles McNeill, wrote over a century ago: “She is a tortuous, delicious flirt, but she does not deserve the punishment put upon her by geographers, who have perverted her sweet Indian name of “Lumbee” into something that suggests choking sawdust, rotting slabs, and the shrill scream of the circular saw.”

Scotland County is also blessed with many game lands, or areas rich in wildlife. Just walking through them, observing the trees, flora, birds, and animals are often unique to rural areas.

Certainly, the tragic loss of many of our industries was beyond local control. Today, new industries are starting to emerge and we are beginning to emerge stronger due in part to local individuals, businesses, and organizations who have a positive vision and plan for Scotland County.

An illustration of their attitude is mirrored by a recent event: the Scotland High School football team began the 2018 season with an almost bare cupboard of experienced starters, and a coach who predicted an uncharacteristic “five wins” for the season. With a positive vision and a willingness to adapt, the team ended the season playing for the North Carolina 4-A football championship.

We can do the same with Scotland County as a whole, if we are willing!

As Coach Richard Bailey stated in an address back in January: “To reach the vision of a better Scotland County, you have to be willing to work every day to execute the plan and believe in it. Sometimes you have to block out the noises of the critics and believe in your inner voice.”

Believe in him, as his works are proof!

Our history also reveals other examples:

In the early 1800s a poem captured the popular perception of dirt-poor North Carolina with the words: “Though the scorner may sneer at and the withlings defame her,” which ironically later became part of the State song in 1927.

In 1900 North Carolina — due to its continued perception of deprivation being located between the more prosperous states of Virginia and South Carolina — was called, “a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit.”

Today, North Carolina is one of the top states in America in economic growth and population.

“Scorners” and “withlings” still exist today, and some still choose to follow them, but as it was and now is with North Carolina, Scotland County’s brightest and best days lie ahead if we follow our “inner voice!”

Beacham McDougald is a Laurinburg resident and Scotland County historian.

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