Thomas A. Baum Center
300 Mustian Street, Kill Devil Hills
(252) 441-1181

The senior center was dedicated on December 7, 1987. The 10,000-square-footplus building houses the senior center and the county's older adult services. A handful of paid staff and countless senior volunteers operate the center, which is the hub for senior activity north of Hatteras Island. Dare County residents or property owners who are age 55 or older may use the center for free; if you are younger than age 55 but your spouse meets the age requirement, you also may use the center. The facility includes a multipurpose room with a stage where the center's drama group, Center Front, performs various productions annually. The Outer Banks Senior Chorus, which performs two concerts per year, also uses this room for practice sessions. The Baum Center is home to the Wright Tappers, a seniors tap-dancing group, and the Dare Devils, the official cheerleaders for the Outer Banks Senior Games. Line- and square-dance groups round out the foot-tapping activities. And going hand in hand with its name, the multipurpose room does double-duty for aerobic classes three days a week.

A full-service kitchen is used for social functions and fund-raisers such as the popular annual eat-in or take-out spaghetti supper. The center does not offer daily lunches on the premises.

Head to the lounge to chat, relax, or read a book borrowed from the center's honor-system library filled with a variety of paperbacks. Adjacent to the lounge is the game room, where you can play bridge weekly, work puzzles, play cribbage or canasta, or sit in on seminars in history, tax aid, or health education, to name a few. The center also hosts support-group meetings for such organizations as the Outer Banks Cancer Support Group and the Amputee Coalition of Coastal Carolina. Twice a month, seniors gather at the center for an afternoon movie with popcorn.

If you're an outdoor lover, eat lunch on the deck or watch for resident deer and foxes. Five picnic tables and various chairs encourage relaxation or conversation. The nearby yard is host to a football target that tests throwing accuracy, horseshoe pits, and spin-casting targets. Outer Banks Senior Games contenders practice discus and shot put as well as archery using bales of hay for targets.

The recreation room comes alive as competitors play a leisurely game of billiards, table tennis, or shuffleboard. There's plenty of elbow room in this spacious area complete with three pool tables, two Ping-Pong tables, and several huge, floor- painted shuffleboard games. Coffee is available in the kitchenette just off the recreation room, and cups are in the cabinet. Donations are welcome. Bring your lunch and store it in the refrigerator or heat it in the microwave.

Off the rec room is a craft room complete with two sinks, a projector, storage space, seven tables with four chairs each, and a sewing machine. Check the center's newsletter, Senior Soundings, for craft courses and special activities that take place in this room. The newsletter comes out by the 15th of the month and is available at both county senior centers and the three public libraries.

The center has an information and referral room where you can sign up for programs on preparing healthful food, bird- watching, growing perennials, and acrylic painting. Some activities have a small supplies fee; scholarships are available. A wall of pamphlets cover topics such as taxes, health, and fire safety. Countywide information is available via the computerized Senior Connection information and referral system. Questions on Alzheimer's disease, in-home services, marriage licenses, and the like can be answered by using this program staffed by trained volunteers.

A small computer room is set up with a Packard Bell unit. An exercise suite features a treadmill, a rowing machine, and four stationary bicycles, and a staff exercise specialist offers regular exercise programs.

Seniors also can take advantage of the center's 20-seat conference room complete with a telephone and white marker board. Community groups also use this space from time to time.

The senior center plays a vital role in providing transportation for elderly and disabled Dare County residents. A paid staff member is on hand at the center to schedule free rides to doctor appointments and hospitals in Chesapeake and Norfolk, Virginia, as well as Greenville, North Carolina. The transportation volunteer needs 24 hours' notice.

Rides also are available for shopping trips and getting to and from the center and to the nutrition site at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church in Manteo, where lunch is served Monday through Friday. Seniors are asked to make a $1.00 donation, but it's not mandatory. Menu selections may include herb-baked chicken with mixed vegetables and rice pilaf or spaghetti with a tossed salad. Two-percent milk and dessert top off the meal. The meals are prepared off the premises by the Columbia 4-H center. A day's notice is all they need to make sure the food count is correct. If you can't make it to the luncheon, home delivery is available.

The Baum Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. and for special functions.

Fessenden Center
NC 12, Buxton
(252) 995-3888

The building has a gym with a basketball court. The center operates as a senior center and a site for youth athletic activities. Open gym is from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. Monday through Friday. You can enjoy basketball and volleyball as well as fishing, believe it or not. Throw a line in the creek off the back deck-chances are you'll snag a puppy drum (juvenile channel bass).

The full-service kitchen/conference room is available for preparing meals. Every second and fourth Thursday of the month, seniors attend a luncheon. The second Thursday lunch is prepared at the center by seniors; the fourth Thursday lunch is a covered-dish affair. Funds for the lunches are provided by Fesstivities, a volunteer senior group that raises money by running the center's concession stand at athletic functions. Seniors contribute a $1.00 donation if they are able. The kitchen/ conference room does double-duty as a county meeting facility.

The center also sports an activity room, a sitting room, and a library. Seniors are invited to hone their skills at the outdoor tennis courts or play with grandchildren at the on-site playground. The soccer and baseball fields give them plenty of room to stretch or jog.

Adults can participate in organized step aerobics, toning and stretching, abdominal exercise, tae kwon do, tai chi, walking, basketball, and dance. Take Spanish or sign language classes; attend seminars, workshops, and classes on fire safety, cardiac rehabilitation, credit fraud, nutrition, home decorating, quilting, and painting; or take cultural arts trips to shows and parks outside the area. Minimal fees are attached for supplies ($5.00 to $10.00).

Transportation is available through the center's coordinator by calling the center's main number. Shopping trips are scheduled for seniors and disabled adults with transportation problems. Rides are available to medical appointments and out-oftown hospitals and doctors' offices in Norfolk and Chesapeake, Virginia, as well as Elizabeth City, Nags Head, and Greenville, North Carolina.

The Fessenden Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 A.M.to 5:00 P.M. and weekends for youth and special activities.