
DATE: Tuesday, May 27, 1997                 TAG: 9705270050

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  133 lines

GIBBS WOODS: N.C. OUTPOST FIRMLY TIED TO VA. PENINSULA'S RESIDENTS MUST TRAVEL TO VIRGINIA TO GET TO OTHER PARTS OF N.C.

Gibbs Woods, a bucolic little Currituck County peninsula just below the Virginia-North Carolina line, has an identity crisis.

Gibbs Woods residents, who can't reach Knotts Island or Moyock except by boat or by Virginia roads, are saddled with a Knotts Island address and a Moyock telephone exchange. But they must rely on Virginia Beach fire and rescue service.

Gibbs Woods youngsters travel into Virginia and back down to Moyock to school, a 30-mile trip, but they participate in Virginia Beach recreational activities like 4-H. For the most part, their families work, shop, go to the doctor and attend church in Virginia Beach or Chesapeake.

It's not the travel and phone calls back and forth between states, however, that irk Gibbs Woods residents. It's more that no one knows who or what they are.

``That's one of the worst parts'' about living here, said Susan Kovacs, wife of Gibbs Woods farmer Bob Kovacs. ``I want to be called `Gibbs Woods.' ''

Gibbs Woods was not even recognized as a location on the North Carolina state map until 1984. Now if you look at the map, you can find the peninsula, hemmed in by the Northwest River to the west, the North Landing River to the east and Currituck Sound to the south. Gibbs Woods' only road outlets lead into Virginia Beach's Blackwater Borough.

At best guess, Gibbs Woods is about 2 miles wide and about a mile long. Dianne Lindsey, the officer in charge of the Knotts Island Post Office, said just under 150 homes in Gibbs Woods are on the mail delivery route. That's the closest to a population estimate you can get.

You see, no one knows how big Gibbs Woods is or what its population is, because the rural community is not a political entity, not a town or a county. It's just a peninsula that got its name unofficially from a Capt. John Gibbs who lived there and served as governor of North Carolina from 1689-90.

Over the years, its post office address has changed many times. The Knotts Island address is one of five the area has had in Janie Askew's memory. Askew, 69, was born in Gibbs Woods and served from 1990-94 on the Currituck County Board of Commissioners.

Previous addresses have never mentioned ``Gibbs Woods'' either. Even worse, they all were in Virginia - Vine, Va., then St. Brides, Back Bay and Virginia Beach, Va., Askew recalled.

Before she became a county commissioner, Gibbs Woods residents could have business at the Currituck County Courthouse and half the workers there wouldn't know where Gibbs Woods was, she said.

``We were over here and we were forgotten,'' Askew said. ``When I was commissioner, I made sure they knew where Gibbs Woods was!''

But she couldn't change the phone system. Even though residents must use the Knotts Island address, unlike Knotts Islanders, they can't make local calls into Virginia. A Gibbs Woods resident can't call his neighbor down the road in Blackwater without dialing ``757.'' In addition, Gibbs Woods folks must call long distance to their official place of residence, Knotts Island, because, of course, Knotts Island has a Virginia Beach phone exchange.

``Our phone bill is over $200 a month,'' said resident Frank Fahrig, a Virginia Beach fireman and part-time Currituck County deputy sheriff.

Gibbs Woods didn't even get phone service until the 1950s. Electricity came a decade earlier and the first road to be paved, East Gibbs Road, was in 1960, Askew recalled.

Despite their identity crisis, Gibbs Woods residents wouldn't change their community. ``There's no place like it,'' Askew said. ``You get it into your bones.''

The vistas are mostly trees and farmland and the southern ends of the two main roads lead right to the water's edge. Along Middle Gibbs Road, cows, horses and goats graze in fields covered with buttercups.

It's so quiet a dog can get where it's going by walking right down the middle of the road. The single business in Gibbs Woods is the Corner Store on East Gibbs Road, just yards below the Virginia line.

Once Gibbs Woods had a church, Cava (``ca'' for Carolina and ``va'' for Virginia) Freewill Baptist Church. But in the early 1900s the church was literally moved up the road into Blackwater, where it still is today.

Two community organizations, the Ruritan Club and the Betterment and Improvement Group of Gibbs Woods, a women's club, meet at the Mary Richardson Community Center on East Gibbs Road. Under the leadership of Askew, residents raised the funds to build the center in the 1980s. Gibbs Woods trash containers are conveniently located in the center parking lot.

``Trash pick-up?'' asked Karen Fahrig. ``You pick up your trash and carry it to the Dumpster.''

The Corner Store is the only other place in Gibbs Woods where folks can meet one another. Owner Kenny Davenport keeps residents apprised of events, like new babies and birthdays, by proclaiming the news on an outdoor sign framed by blinking lightbulbs. Recently the board announced that Joann Bricker, a Gibbs Woods resident, is the 1997 valedictorian at Currituck County High School.

It's a close-knit community, Davenport explained. Everybody knows and supports each other. ``My brother died last year,'' he said, ``and they pulled together and made me feel like living.''

Soon Karen Fahrig, who sells crafts at craft shows, hopes to be the second business in Gibbs Woods when she opens Patchwork Farm Crafts. Frank Fahrig is building the shop near their home when he's not on duty at the fire station or patrolling Gibbs Woods as deputy sheriff, a job that doesn't require much crime intervention.

``Just little things with young kids mainly,'' he said. ``Nothing to get all excited about.''

When the couple moved there 12 years ago, most of the roads still weren't paved and there weren't many homes like the ranch-style houses that have been built in the last five years along the northern end of West Gibbs Road.

Fifty years ago, the population was truly sparse. Askew recalled that 26 families lived in Gibbs Woods at the close of World War II. Back then, folks - like Askew's father - used to make a living by logging, hunting, fishing and farming. Now, most commute to work in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake while their children are bused to school in Moyock.

When Frank and Karen Fahrig's son attended Currituck County High School, he played football in his junior and senior years. That meant a 62-mile round trip for one of his parents every weekday afternoon to pick him up after practice.

Bob Kovacs raises grains and keeps 50 brood cows and 140 sows and some sheep on 560 acres.

Kovacs was born and raised on Hungarian Road in Blackwater, so moving to Gibbs Woods was like moving next door. ``It's still Blackwater to me,'' Kovacs said,'' and it's close to my original home.''

Susan and Bob Kovacs' youngest daughter Lisa took top honors in the Virginia Beach 4-H Livestock Show and Sale this month, winning the grand champion senior show off, among several other ribbons. Their oldest child, Robert Jr., decided to become a farmer and settle in Gibbs Woods. Middle child Hollie, who attends North Carolina State University, hopes to teach agriculture at Currituck County High School when she graduates. She's looking forward to making that daily round trip to Moyock once again because she isn't planning to leave Gibbs Woods either.

``It's peaceful,'' Hollie said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

KEVIN D. ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Frank and Karen Fahrig, above, are building a craft shop near their

Gibbs Woods home. Until the shop opens, the Corner Store will remain

the only business in Gibbs Woods. The store's owner keeps residents

apprised of events, like new babies and birthdays, with an outdoor

sign framed by blinking lightbulbs. At right, a dog takes its time

crossing a road in the peaceful Currituck County peninsula.