Kinston, NC

We make our way through the tobacco fields of eastern North Carolina to Fleming Stadium in Wilson, NC, home of the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plain League, and home of the North Carolina Baseball Museum. We then continue on to Kinston to see the Civil War ironclad CSS Neuse, the Kinston Music Park, and the First Battle of Kinston Civil War Memorial before an early, pre-ballgame dinner at famed restaurant Chef & the Farmer.

Leaving Zebulon

We awoke to a warm, bright morning, and celebrated with breakfast at the Ole Time Cafe. For most of our hotel stays, breakfast had been included. And while it’s a convenience we sought out, a typical hotel breakfast is sad and transactional. So when our hotels did not accommodate these amenities, I took secret joy in being forced into the wild to visit a local neighborhood diner. That’s what a trip like this is all about — getting out to many places, watching and hearing refreshed citizens start their day with hot coffee and easy conversation. The overheard topics, the music of regional accents, the pace and urgency of the speech — all provide a sense of place. And MacLean’s Ole Time Cafe in Zebulon fit the bill.

Fortified for the morning, we drove east through fields of tobacco, peanuts, collard greens — stopping along the highway periodically to snap close-up shots of the verdant display.

Fleming Stadium

Wilson, North Carolina, is a community of 50,000 on the eastern side of the state that is rich in baseball history. The Wilson Tobs (short for Tobacconists) played in five different minor leagues between 1908 and 1973. Rod Carew and Cal Ripken Sr. are among its alumni. Today, the Tobs play in the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer wood-bat league that spans Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia.

The Tobs play at Wilson's Fleming Stadium, which hosted its first Tobs game in 1939. We met Tobs General Manager Mike Bell at the third-base entrance, and he invited us to roam about for photos.

North Carolina Baseball Museum

Fleming Stadium is also home to the North Carolina Baseball Museum, which covers baseball's history at all levels in North Carolina, and showcases the native North Carolianians who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Luke Appling, Rick Ferrell, Jim “Catfish” Hunter, Gaylord Perry, Buck Leonard, Enos Slaughter, and Hoyt Wilheim.

Kinston, NC

We arrived in Kinston, North Carolina, a ton of just over 20,000 that is the most remote location in Carolina Minor League baseball. At the center of town, we checked out the replica of the Confederate ironclad, the CSS Neuse II, before continuing down the street to see the remains of the real thing at the CSS Neuse Center.

CSS Neuse Center

The CSS Neuse II was a steam-powered Confederate ironclad launched on the Neuse River in Kinston in November 1863. It took five months to get the boat kitted to begin sailing upstream, but it soon became stuck in the muddy river at Kinston. From that point on, the CSS Neuse II ceased to be a ship and transformed into a stationary river fortification.

When Union forces began to attack Kinston in March 1865, the Confederates destroyed the ironclad with explosives and fire, sinking it to the bottom of the river, where it remained until recovery a century later.

Kinston Music Park

Well before we reached Kinston Music Park, we came upon lively wall murals celebrating local culture and music.

Further down Queen St., The Kinston Music Park pays homage to the rich tradition of African American music in eastern North Carolina. Creative artworks and informative displays detail the area’s contributions to blues, gospel, funk, jazz, and church music.

Battle of Kinston Memorial

We continued to the First Battle of Kinston Memorial, the site of a Civil War skirmish at what is now a small park. On December 1862, a Union expedition led by Brig. Gen. John G. Foster marched inland from New Bern on the North Carolina coast for Goldsborough to disrupt the Confederate-held Wilmington & Weldon Railroad. Foster's advance was met by Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan Evans' brigade near Kinston Bridge, but the Confederates were outnumbered and withdrew north of the Neuse River toward Goldsborough.

Chef & the Farmer

Dad and I had long been fans of Vivian Howard and her PBS cooking show, Chef & the Farmer, for years. The show begins with a gift from Howard's mother -- a restaurant to call her own, as long as she and her husband move back from New York to eastern North Carolina. She takes the deal and uses her platform to show how to transform simple crops grown in the area into gourmet meals.

Getting to dine at her restaurant -- whose trials and tribulations are featured heavily in the show -- was a true highlight of the entire trip. We arrived at 4pm to allow time for dinner before our evening ballgame. As much as I like ballpark food, this meal lived up to our lofty expectations and blew our socks off, with tasty and innovative twists on classics such as grits and collard greens.

*Creamed Collard Grits with Tabasco-pickled collard stems and fontina*

*Pork Shoulder with red curry-braised watermelon*

*Brussel Sprout Gratin with country ham and gruyere*

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