WHY WE’RE HEREWe’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Beaufort, N.C., a group of women offers a window into what contemporary aging can be in a nation that is rapidly getting older. “If you want to say something,” one woman hollered above the din, “you better scream it!”Ms. Barnes’s home is not a sorority house — she is 86 years old. “We’re not very contained,” said Ms. Barnes, who is the Queen Mother of the group. The Belles are a chapter of The Sweet Potato Queens — an international network of more than 6,500 women’s groups that aim for a similar balance of amusement and mutual support.

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Persons: Martha Barnes’s, Barnes’s, —, “, ”, Barnes Locations: Beaufort, N.C