«Let’s go look at the whirligigs» said my sister Barb a few years ago. Always on the alert for something new to do in sleepy small-town Wilson, North Carolina, I immediately jumped at a change of pace. I was expecting maybe a yard filled with K-Mart lawn ornaments that had gotten out of hand. I had no idear of the delight I was in for! We piled into Barb’s car and drove several miles out of Wilson into the countryside, turning down a few backroads until we came upon the most amazing folk-art installation I believe I’ve ever seen. Massive, whimsical, delightful whirligigs, dozens and dozens of them, some of them several stories high, sprawl across at least a couple acres of ground here on the farm of Vollis Simpson, a retired farmer in the tiny hamlet of Lucama outside of Wilson, about an hour east of Raleigh. Simpson has been crafting his folk-art masterpieces for a couple of decades it seems and he’s been featured on Charles Kuralt’s Sunday Morning, People magazine, and several other media outlets. Simpson(no relation, by the way) gained some extra notareity a few years ago for allegedly firing his shotgun at a carload of teenagers he said were vandalizing his whirligigs. He has since fenced them in and you need to get in touch with him ahead of time to get in and see everything up close. He crafts the whirligigs out of pieces and parts of farm equipment, hardware, auto parts, and other found objects, creating whimsical airplanes, carts with moving men and farm animals, and every other manner of crazy contraption. If you are on your way from Raleight south and east you cannot miss this place. Stop in at any of Wilson’s fine barbecue establishments for a tasty lunch and then head on out to Vollis’ place. Nearly any local can tell you how to find it…
