Notes on the Pond: Weekly Update

Notes from the Pond

We're OPEN!!!

Duck's Cottage has reopened! We are open 7am to 6pm seven days a week. We are limited to 6 customers (masked, please) at a time in the store and ask that good social distancing be practiced.

Downtown Books is open 11am to 4pm Tuesday through Saturday at our NEW location (see below). Customer limit of 10 and masks required.

Thanks to everyone who continues to support us via online orders. It continues to be a very important revenue source for us as we are not able to enjoy the usual foot traffic in our stores that the summer season brings. We are open 24/7 at duckscottage.com .

*Big thanks to Cottage patrons Isaac & Kaitlyn Zeller (above) for masking up before hitting town!

The Outer Banks is open.. but like everywhere else, we are utilizing every precaution to prevent the spread of Covid 19. Please remember when you are out and about in Dare or Currituck County to remember the three W's...

W ear your mask.

W ait six feet apart and avoid close contact.

W ash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer.

We are so happy to be able to welcome back our home-owners and vacationing guests. As much as we would like to say things are back to normal here, it's a 'new normal' but with your support in helping us continue to keep Covid cases low in our communities maybe we can all truly get back to normal sooner rather than later. Be well.

Upcoming Virtual Events

Thank you SO much for the enthusiastic response to the Reader Meet Writer series! We are pleased to be bringing our first evening event to you this week! Tickets are FREE and available at the link below. An email will be sent to you the day of the event with a Zoom link.

THURSDAY MAY 28: 7pm

Lisa Wingate- The Book of Lost Friends

Lisa has been hitting the New York Times lists both with her latest novel, The Book of Lost Friends , and her runaway hit, Before We Were Yours . But BEFORE that, she was THE best-selling author at both of our stores due to the popularity among our customers of her book The Prayer Box , a novel set on Hatteras Island. We have sold thousands of copies of this book and have been thrilled to watch Lisa's star rise in the book world. In the first ever 7pm Reader Meet Writer event , our pal Kristy Woodson Harvey will be talking with Lisa Wingate & Diane Plauche in an in-depth discussion about the real stories behind the 'lost friends.'

Diane Plauche is a volunteer with the Historic New Orleans Collection museum. In 2015, she began assisting the museum in creating a database of historical Lost Friends advertisements, through which formerly enslaved people desperately tried to find their lost families in the decades following emancipation. After reading Lisa Wingate's 2017 novel, Before We Were Yours, Diane wrote to Lisa about the Lost Friends ads, saying, "There is a story in each one of the ads." To date, Diane has entered over 2500 unique ads, and tens of thousands of names in the museum's database, preserving the histories of thousands of families. Diane's work, and the stories of the real-life Lost Friends inspired Lisa's newest novel, The Book Of Lost Friends.

Please note- you will have to enter a credit card number in order to purchase your ticket but you will NOT BE CHARGED. Tickets are free but attendance is limited.

Get your FREE Lisa Wingate ticket here!

We're Open!

Talk about your crazy ideas... just as the Covid crisis was beginning, just as our doors were closing to the public and I started running the treadmill of keeping up with online/facebook/instagram orders and curbside pickup and local delivery, just as things for the near and not so near future were looking less than bright.. I got the bright idea to move Downtown Books one door over. Somehow we did it and this week re-opened our doors to browsing book lovers. It is a smaller space, but a prettier space and a very special place. We have the same amount of books but its going to be better curated and easier to manage. Please come see us the next time you find yourself in Manteo! All of our restaurants have reopened and the Town has placed a lot of extra picnic tables throughout town for outdoor dining.

We look forward to seeing you soon at 103 Sir Walter Raleigh Street!

Thanks to everyone who has used our new Bookshop.org page! It is a great way to find books we don't have in stock and get them as quick as possible! And it helps all participating Indie bookstores including us!

Bookshop.org

Notes from the Pond is the semi-regular newsletter of

Duck's Cottage Coffee & Books located on the pond at the Waterfront Shops in Duck at 1240 Duck Road, Duck. ph 252-261-5510; and Downtown Books located in beautiful downtown Manteo on Roanoke Island at 105 Sir Walter Raleigh Street. ph 252-473-1056.