Celeste and Brown Turkey are the 2 main fig found in NC !

Thanks all!  This seems like a pretty confident ID.  Tad, I'm glad to hear there's other fig enthusiasts around.  Unfortunately I don't have any trees to trade - this is a neighbors.  I may try to get a cutting from her.  Barring that, I might order a Celeste next year.  Would I be looking for the basic Celeste cultivar, or one of the various "Improved" Celeste's?

Don't buy a Celeste... get an O'Rourke instead.

This is interesting:
https://mountainfigs.net/answers/orourke-and-improved-celeste-2-distinct-cultivars/

Many nurseries seem to have confusion around the Improved Celeste and O'Rourke varieties.  My figs look just like the Improved Celeste listed on that page.  Based on the leaves, I would guess my figs are also Improved, and not "regular ol' Celeste".

Get some cuttings. Or, if you don't want to wait, just get a Celeste from a local nursery. Almost any nursery in the most of the US that carries fig trees will have a Celeste. Everyone needs at least one Celeste. There is a reason that this fig is so popular. I wish mine was larger and was producing more....

The "standard" Celeste and the true Improved Celeste are two completely different figs. The Improved Celeste is larger honey/brown sugar fig that is amber inside. Look at the pic in that article you posted. The Imp Celeste is also a great fig and one of the few my wife likes. 

Don't wait until next year, get plant(s) now. I am in Creedmoor just north of you and can tell you that we have plenty of good planting weather left before it gets cold. I prefer the Improved Celest but you need to go with your taste buds. Lots of great tasting varieties out there that will grow just fine in 7b.

Grow figs, have fun!
Figrig

Yes, there is a lot of confusion with the name Improved Celeste. But true Improved Celeste out produces other trees in my orchard, second to Hardy Chicago and Don Fortis.

Celeste

I just got these figs from the farmers market. They appear to be very similar to my neighbors Celeste, but in general are more insipid tasting, even the soft ones that should be ripe. I wonder what they are? The color difference is real, and not caused by lighting or shadows.

Those figs in that picture are not fully ripe yet. They need more heat and more days. They are southeastern brown turkey figs. I just picked a bucket from my friends tree an hour ago. His tree is 15 feet tall and wide. Many were brown but not fully ripe. The dark brown one are and those with cracks on the side. Those guys at the farmers market sold you some unripe figs!

Yeah, pretty typical but beyond that and my neighbors tree I pretty much have no other source of fresh figs

The one thing that gets me most is that one would think that it would be easy to get a true O'Rourke fig tree in Louisiana because they were created here!!!  But, it's not easy to get a true O'Rourke, at least it hasn't been easy for me.  I don't know how many improved Celestes I've got, while trying to get a true O'Rourke.  It's a good thing that the ICs are so delicious and productive.  They are like everbearing figs.

Mine are more bell-shaped, brown and hardy.  Love the flavor.

Gene gave me one of his dead-ripe True O'Rourkes to eat when Mike and I visited with Linda and him not long ago and it was so different inside, from the IC.  It was refreshing in flavor, juicy and I really liked it.

Both are keepers, IMO, and they are distinctly different.

When all is said and done, it's hard to beat a Celeste for an all-round fig.

Recently, I found out the two trees I had that I thought were Celestes and the people I got them from also thought they were Celestes are actually what people call Turkey figs.  I think they're Southern BTs, but I just don't know.  The figs are so close to Celestes, but the flavor of the Turkey figs is richer and very sweet.  The eyes on them are very small and they don't split and sour easily.  The Turkey figs don't produce a large crop all at once like the Celestes do, but I like eating figs fresh the best anyway.  I now have a couple of each variety and that will be good.

noss

There are reasons why Celeste and its "improved versions" are all over the US...because they are hardy, productive, and taste great in their own way when picked ripe.  My neighbor's Improved Celeste and mine (I'd call mine a blue Celeste due to the blue hue on the fruits) taste similar and yet they have different skin color, leaf shape (three vs five lobes), and size of fruit (a little larger than mine, but mine has not matured yet).  

In my limited experience on a limited tasting evaluation, I do not think that I encountered a ripe fig that I do not like.  They all taste great in their own way.  The subtle differences are hard to describe sometimes for lack of accurate adjectives.  To me, comparing the taste among them is mostly subjective and personal preference at best.  One thing about them all is they all taste figgy and sweet.  But these definitive, basic characteristics vary even for figs from the same tree, to the extent that you would think that they are from different cultivars...The factors that affect these basic traits, I think, primarily come from local environments, such as amount of rain, sunshine, soil conditions, and degree of ripeness.  I think the flavor that we cherish so much for a particular fig variety is likely affected by these elements as well.  However, knowing all these, I still want to try two "top name" cultivars myself, just to verify if their tastes are as great as described on the forums and elsewhere.  In the end, I plan on having two to three in ground fig trees (space limitation), based on my criteria of productivity, taste, and ripening time for a long fig fruiting season.  Yes, I am a farmer (actually an amateur gardener) and like fresh fruits at its best flavor.  This can only be done when I grow my own...

I was in Napa Valley a few years back with my other relatives who are interested in wine.  They were given a mouthful sales pitch by one salesman, while I strolled around.  Another salesman approached me to start a chat...He asked me if there is anything I'd be interested in wine.  I said, not really...I like to eat them fresh.  End of conversation.  But then, I started another topic related to wine tasting.  I asked this guy to give me an honest answer about the tasting hype of various expensive wine names, some fetch $90 a bottle at the wine cellars.  I asked, in a blind test, what would those "snobby" or experience wine consumers pick from several brands of same wine category with different price tags.  He pondered a bit, then told me that some would pick their favorite wine that is not the most expensive.  But he then quickly told me that most people would not pick a bad wine.  I am not a drinker of wine, but I do not like a wine that taste like vinegar either...By the way, this saleman has been drinking wine and worked in the winery for more than 30 years.