Discovering Mac'swood | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Once upon a time, in the middle of a large county there was a small town, and in the middle of the small town there was a thick, swampy, yet habitable wood, less than one mile away from a grocery store and hospital. That’s right, within walking distance to isles of processed foods and a brand new surgical center, sits an enchanted forest known as Mac’swood, where dozens of regular people live without fences, without gutters and, most importantly, without being haunted by suburban regret.



    You see, even though Mac’swood residents spend a good portion of their days outside the wood, shopping at chain stores or working in cubicles, the privacy and shade of their neighborhood is always less than 10 minutes within reach, coming from any point in Washington. Just around the curve on Highland Drive, the overgrown Mac’swood entrance becomes visible—shadow and light dance along the narrow, winding, paved roads peering from within underneath a canopy of oaks, maples, pines and cypress trees. Enclosed as it is, at night in Mac’swood, you can really see the stars.

    The coastal farmland of Washington, North Carolina, could be the flattest stretch of ground in the world. Somehow, Mac’swood land, however, is more diverse. Any car, ducking into Mac’swood, off the beaten path, will follow its one-lane trails around low, knotty cypress swamps, past jungles of trees and brush, up and down several curves, to park at a house perched on a prominent clearing.



    Back in the early 1950’s, when developer Robert Mackenzie Sr. began carving out this fairy tale grove, he sought to preserve as much nature as possible. Robert and his family, and his friends and their families (including my family, the Deatherages) were planting roots there. The houses built at that time were few and far between, but even as Mac’swood filled in, the human population still respected the animal and plant population, to everyone’s benefit. Deer, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, geese, egrets, opossums, dogs, cats, frogs, lizards, raccoons and possibly even a few bears share the wood, and provide its bipedal neighbors welcome amusement. In the mid-1990’s, however, Mac’swood was annexed as a part of Washington, so farm animals, especially ponies (we learned the hard way), are no longer a legal allowance.

    The incremental development of Mac’swood resulted in a somewhat architecturally varied landscape. Built between 1950 and 2005, its homes range from brick to wood to vinyl, from rustic to traditional to contemporary, from around 900 sq. ft. to 4500 sq. ft., from having almost no yard to having a 3-acre lot. The oldest home in Mac’swood, which was converted from an old tobacco barn back in the 1950’s, sits, recently renovated, at the corner of Camelia Drive and Cypress Circle. In 1994, several lots were auctioned off to a new developer, Frank Sheppard, a swell guy from Beaufort County. Several members of the original Mackenzie family still live in the neighborhood, and my parents still live there. In Mac’swood, even as the world takes unexpected leaps and undergoes unwanted changes, it seems possible to live happily ever after.



    Attesting to the comfort and convenience of Mac’swood living is the fact that there’s no homeowners association, so, no fees--and the restrictive covenants aren’t extraordinarily restrictive. Also, Mac’swood is just 1.5 miles from Washington High School, 4.5 miles from P.S. Jones Middle School and 1.5 miles from Eastern Elementary School—so, no need to wake up too early.