Chris Bickford

It was a historic day for the world; perhaps the largest planned historical event ever. Nearly two million people in attendance, billions more watching on television sets around the world, or tuning in on radios and computers…It was a day of a dream coming to fruition, of a nation re-asserting to the world that it still has the potential to be that shining beacon of nations it has been for so long, a magnificent experiment in democracy and progress that somehow continues to survive and lead the world.

I wanted to be there. I wanted to be part of that happy multitude of supporters and celebrants; I wanted to feel that I was among like-minded people, to feel for once that I was not on the outside, to wave an American flag amidst the throng and feel that doing so was an act of pride and unity, not a veiled act of hatred and aggression towards the “other”…I wanted to hear that change has come, that yes we can take this country back and be once again a nation of ethics and principles, a nation of good will, a nation of innovation and cooperation; a nation of true democracy.

Unfortunately, I had matters to attend to at home, and so January 20 found me driving the quiet roads of the Outer Banks as a snowstorm descended on our little community. It was a beautiful omen, and some small consolation for not making it up to Washington. A good snowstorm on the Outer Banks is a once-every-five-year occurrence, and what it does to the dunes and beaches here is marvelous to see.

There was another inauguration happening as well, on the OBX. David Alan Harvey, a photographer who needs no introduction, had just moved into his new house, a beautiful old-school Nags Head style Cottage Row house from the turn of the century. Just across the street from the dunes pictured below, three doors down from his son Bryan and Bryan’s girlfriend Michelle. David and a small group of friends and family spent the weekend hanging out by the fire, smudging the rooms, doing our best to impart the new space with good juju, while Bryan and his longtime friend Scooter worked to put in new windows, plug up holes, tear down walls, and insulate wherever possible.

So in honor of new beginnings, of beauty and hope in the depths of darkness, here are a few mementos of Inauguration Day, OBX style. Despite the wintry chill of these times we face, there is still light and life, still hope, and still opportunity. We just have to dress warmly and stay close to the people that matter to us. Spring will come, it always does.