When my wife and I first pulled into Elizabeth City to search for a house, after I had accepted a job here, I was apprehensive. Here was a small town I didn't know much about and at first blush didn't appear to have a lot to offer outside of work, as things go in small towns.

But pulling around a corner, carefully making out the streets and houses, my wife and I spotted it. Muddy Waters Coffeehouse was right there, looking as bohemian as any coffeehouse ever had, signaling to us that there might be something familiar we could latch onto.

We pulled into the small parking lot, went inside, ordered a couple of coffees and sat down. There were people huddled around tables talking while a couple of guys sat on the sofa strumming their guitars. On any table there were newspapers strewn about and people looked like they not only wanted to be there, but also were more than welcome to be there; and all that is summed up by something Muddy's owner Audra Marx calls "the third place."

Marx explains that people first have their house, then their workplace and then, to her delight, the coffeehouse. Muddy's is a home away from home for many locals.

"I come to socialize," says longtime Muddy's patron, Roxanne Bottum, who has spent as much as eight hours in one day at the cafe.

A bohemian coffeehouse and the culture that is intertwined with its hot brew, tables and chairs and lounging patrons, is a good sign there is life in any town, no matter what the size. Like an oasis in the midst of an unknown land, I took Muddy's to be a good omen.

The coffeehouse culture is like that for many people in many countries. Wander into a new town in a strange country and a café is a good place to start out; you get a coffee, ask a few questions and get to know a few of the locals.

"It's like 'Cheers,'" says Muddy's barista (a coffee bartender) Beth Gray. "Everyone knows your name."

The coffeehouse is a tradition that goes back to at least the 15th century in what is now Istanbul, Turkey. That's where the first known coffeehouse opened near the banks of the Bosphorus River.

The coffeehouse of the 15th century wasn't much different than the coffeehouses of today's world; people sat around discussing politics, arts, philosophy and the like while they played games like chess or backgammon.

In modern-day Istanbul I frequented just such a café along the Bosphorus a number of times while traveling the country. Backgammon and chess are still played over hot cups of thick coffee while men and women huddle around tables discussing issues of the day.

"The only thing that has changed is the welcome of women," Marx says of coffeehouse culture over the centuries.

In Europe, coffeehouse culture varies somewhat from country to country but all in all maintains a common thread, the center of social life. Locals gather to enjoy a hot cup while they chat, read or just gaze into the street as people stroll by.

In Seville, Spain, much to my wife's consternation, I managed to spend eight straight hours at one outdoor café, holding court over non-stop café con leche (strong coffee with hot milk) at a table near the edge of the sidewalk. Fellow travelers we had met during the previous days would come and go, sitting down for a talk now and again and in between I would write my thoughts in a journal I kept for a travel column that was being published in the states each week.

This was, to me, the pinnacle of life, sitting for hours on end at a coffeehouse, talking, thinking and writing without a care.

It's that sort of culture that attracted Marx to the coffeehouse business as well. When she was at university, Marx says she became acquainted with café culture and wanted to somehow bring that home to Elizabeth City.

"People warned me that Elizabeth City wasn't ready for it," recalls Marx.

But she was ready for it and was willing to take the risk of going into debt if the coffeehouse venture failed. Of course that was in 2000 and Muddy's is still going strong.

"So we've been blown away by the response," she says.

Being a self-professed risk-taker, Marx believed that enough people were already moving into the area from other places and those places may have had coffeehouses; those people and other locals she knew would embrace her new business.

"I really had the gut feeling it would work," she says.

Muddy's works so well that members of the Coast Guard who first arrive in Elizabeth City are already aware of the coffeehouse. Marx says word travels throughout the Coast Guard about her business and any time, day or night, you can see Coasties sipping a latte while pouring over their laptops, logged onto the Internet.

Coffeehouses are unique places because they tend to transcend social and economic factors. While a judge is at one table sipping coffee, at another table you might find several college students or perhaps a house painter reading the paper.

That's one of the things Marx says she likes about her business; there's diversity in the type of people who hang out at the café.

Beth Gray, the barista, began brewing strong coffee for Marx back in 2000 when the coffeehouse first opened. She too sees the café as a "third place" and although it's her job, her experience as a barista has brought her closer with her community and she says she can't think of anything else she'd rather be doing.

"It's like going to a party, going to a friend's house," says Gray. "I have crazy conversations everyday."

Gray even met her husband, Brian, at Muddy's. He was a regular customer and, well, the rest as they say is history.

"I know several couples who met and married through Muddy's," she says.

While Gray makes a macchiato (espresso with steamed milk) a black and white dog wanders into the coffeehouse. She points to the dog and says her name is Maggie and she's a regular.

Actually, Maggie belongs to Jolie Raper, a Muddy's patron since the coffeehouse first opened. She and Maggie, like other dogs and their owners, are welcome inside Muddy's; and the point is underscored with a basket of dog biscuits available for the canine customers.

"She's got dog friends that come here," Raper says of Maggie. "People get mad when I come without her."

Raper and her friend Roxanne Bottum sit at a table outside laughing about how much time they spend at the coffeehouse. They both know and greet a number of people who come and go as they sit, enjoying coffee and conservation.

The coffeehouse, they say, is really a home away from home. Like Marx and Gray said, it's "the third place."

"They are more friends than customers," Gray says of the coffeehouse regulars.