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For those that know me well, they will testify to my love of history…especially when it comes to facts pertaining to North Carolina and, more specifically, the history of our little corner of the Old North State.

While researching the News-Herald archives last week, looking for a photo I snapped about 10 years ago, I stumbled across a story that now retired RCNH writer Gene Motley wrote in 2014 about the town of Como. What follows is an edited version that story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

One of the earliest expeditions that the Roanoke Island colonists made toward the end of the 16th century through what an early explorer called “the goodliest land under the cope of heaven” were thru the sounds and rivers of eastern North Carolina.

One such expedition in 1585, under the command of colonial Governor Ralph Lane, explored an area of Hertford County from what would later become the town of Winton and nearby Parker’s Ferry.

In those days, the area – according to local historian E. Frank Stephenson Jr. – was inhabited by Native Americans in a province they called ‘Chawanook’. Years later, Lane’s colony would mysteriously vanish and their eventual fate remains a mystery to this day.

But what hasn’t been mysterious is how this plot between the rivers, linked so well to the earth by land and by water; whose humble beginnings reflect a diversity of its population – whites, African-Americans, and Native Americans – that remain and reinforce its inhabitants to this very day: is how it has thrived and how the small hamlets that dot the land define it.

One such community is the town of Como. Incorporated in 1967, its city limits are defined as a one mile circle located on US Highway 258 five miles from Murfreesboro and five miles from the Virginia line. Como Mayor Irving Stephens said some folks define Como as the Manning’s Neck township area from the Meherrin River Bridge at Murfreesboro to the state line.

Stephens, born in Virginia, moved to the Como area at age six where he father opened a store, one of four such establishments there at the time.

Stephens said when he was a youngster there was a school, located behind what was then David Spiers’ milling company. The school closed down in the 1950’s.

The old grist-mill, which ground corn into meal used for feed grain as well as cooking, closed years ago; but the structure, located on Hwy. 258 near the heart of town, remains.

Less than three miles away, beyond the town limits, stands a stately wooden structure: the Mill Neck School, a symbol of the area’s proud – but segregated – past. In the mid-1920s African-Americans in Como raised $200 toward the construction of a two-room school house. With an additional $700 from the Rosenwald Fund and $2,745 from Hertford County officials, the Mill Neck School was completed in 1927 and provided instruction for African-Americans through 8th grade for about 35 years.

The building is now owned by Mill Neck Missionary Baptist Church, located across Mill Neck Road. That congregation wants to preserve the school.

Another historic Como structure is the “Little Courthouse”. Despite it being what appears to be a diminutive structure from the outside, it actually held court up until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Stephens said it was also used as a place where Nurse Ann Hill, wife of the town’s first mayor, Guy Hill, came and vaccinated children from those early childhood diseases like measles, mumps, and smallpox.

Perhaps Como’s most famous former resident was Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor of the Gatling gun – the world’s first successful machine gun – who was born there in 1818. Though Gatling died in New York City and is buried in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Gatling family cemetery, where several of his ancestors are interned, is located in an open field off Gatling Road, just a few miles from town. The original Gatling home place has long ago been torn down.

Another famous resident of Como was the hoodoo root doctor Jim Jordan, who died in the early 1960s. Jordan, who was of mixed African American and Native American heritage, was known for casting spells, and according to Stephens, people would come from as far away as New York to consult with the “Dr.” Jordan, for whom Jordan’s Corner on US 258 is named. He was also the subject of the biographical book “The Fabled Dr. Jim Jordan” written by F. Roy Johnson of Murfreesboro and turned into a short film by Caroline Kunstler.

Herring fishing was always a large industry in the Como area along the Meherrin River where some of the old red wooden buildings that once housed Hill’s Fishery are still standing, majestic along the river.

As the Meherrin meanders through Hertford County it also contains Parker’s Ferry, which is located off Parker’s Ferry Road and is operated as part of the state ferry system to this day. It is also one of only three remaining cable ferries still in operation; the others being the San Souci in Bertie County and the Elwell ferry in Bladen.

Parker’s Ferry is said to be located on land that was once part of the Meherrin Indian Reservation.

Buckhorn Baptist Church in Como was founded in 1835 and has a rich history in the area.

The land is also dotted with period farm houses owned by some of the families whose rich heritage is linked to the area….Howell, Picot, Whitley, Sumner, Majette, Eure, Britt, Brett, Taylor, Burbage, Lawrence, Vann, Edwards, Stephenson, Spier, Curles, Darden, Worrell, and Riddick.

The Riddick House, part of Riddicksville community, located on the river, is a stately structure tracing its history back to the early 19th century. It was actually moved by horse and wagon from its river location to where it rests now.

Hope you enjoyed just a sampling of those with a proud history rooted in Como.

Cal Bryant is the Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact him at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.