Our Route 64 that we hop on and off of at our leisure without giving
it a second thought is actually the 8th longest US Highway, (the
longest US Highway is US 8 that runs from Provincetown,
Massachusetts to Bishop, California). While we all know the eastern
end of Highway 64 is at Nags Head, it may be surprising to some that
western end is 2,326 miles west near The Four Corners, (Arizona, New
Mexico, Utah & Colorado), at a town called Teec Nos Pos in the
Navajo Nation. Traveling westward beyond North Carolina’s borders
Route 64 passes through such notable places as Chattanooga, TN,
Memphis, TN, Fort Smith, AR, Muskogee, OK, Tulsa, OK, and Taos, NM.
Highway 64 wasn’t always the same length nor did it follow the same
route. From 1932 – 1974 the western end of our historic highway was
Santa Fe, NM. Now it bypasses Santa Fe entirely. The eastern end was
Fort Landing on the Alligator River up until 1933. From there you
had to travel by ferry over the Alligator River and then board
another ferry at Manns Harbor. There are Dare County residents,
including Stan White of Stan White Realty and Construction who
remember growing up in Manns Harbor and having to take the ferry to
Manteo to go back and forth each day to school!
Every town from Raleigh east, (and probably from Raleigh west as
well), has bypassed at some point in time as the NCDOT answered the
call to speed travel east and west through North Carolina. Plymouth
businessman and town councilman, Shelton McNair, remembers when
Route 64 zigzagged through Plymouth along East Main from where
Freeman Furniture World is presently located, past the high school
to Washington St., then turned south one block, where it continued
west on 2nd St., to Wilson St. and joined the present route. The
present bypass through Plymouth was created in 1951. Some day in the
future the current bypass will likely be bypassed again to whisk
tourists to the beach at 70 mph.
Filming in Plymouth for both UNC TV programs, (US 64 - North
Carolina’s Heritage Highway and Cruising Carolina: The Sounds) began
on July 28th. The focus of the Washington County portion of the
Route 64 program will include Pocosin Lakes NWR, Somerset Place and
the local herring fisheries. Williamston’s Sunny Side Oyster Bar and
Columbia’s Palmetto Peartree Preserve, Alligator NWR, and local
herring fisheries will also be included from our area. Due to the
scope of the project that extends from one end of the state to the
other, Tereasa Dalton with Bluewater Media states that the program
will take over a year to film and edit. It is expected to air during
UNC TV’s Festival fund-raising drive in February of 2010.
But you don’t have to wait and see it on TV! You can experience it
right now from the comfort and convenience of the front seat of your
car. North Carolina’s Route 64 is more than a means of getting from
point A to point B. It is a road that chronicles the westward
settlement, expansion and heritage of a determined people from the
mountains to the coast. Route 64 is a thread that connects stories
of resolute individuals, families, businesses, history, and wild
places. It is a testimony to the people who carved out a place and
prospered along the length of this historic route. Only by stopping
to investigate the hidden secrets along Route 64 can its treasures
be discovered. The fearless that are willing to get off the
interstates and bypasses and slow down to experience rural roads
across this great State will not be disappointed.
North Carolina’s own Charles Kuralt made this observation about the
alternative, “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now
possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without
seeing anything. From the Interstate, America is all steel
guardrails and plastic signs, and every place looks and feels and
sounds and smells like every other place."
For the intrepid travelers who invest the time, Route 64 will
provide a plethora of entertainment, education, and simple pleasures
while revealing the real North Carolina.
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