Sight-Seeing to the North

We're camped in Rodanthe, which is about halfway along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Our plan has been to drive north one day and to drive south another day. Yesterday's journey took us north. We had some errands to run along the way, and north is the more populated area with the best possibility of finding (a) a hardware store, (b) a post office, and (c) a liquor store...not necessarily in that order. It sort of makes sense to enumerate it in that way when you consider that liquor stores in North Carolina are known as ABC stores. Don't ask me why. The one we found yesterday in Kill Devil Hill was quite an edifice.

One of the things we've discovered in our travels is that it's hard to decipher the liquor control laws from state to state. In California, one can buy liquor pretty much anywhere one wants to. In Oregon, the state controls liquor and now-legal marijuana at state stores. When my brother married in South Carolina, we learned that in South Carolina, liquor stores were all painted with big red dots and known as "red dot stores." (I don't know if that's still the case, but it amused my family back then.) Here in North Carolina, you have your ABC stores. And what's up with that? It's almost as if they're catering to children. Anyway...that's a lot of focus on liquor, but it's one of the mysteries one encounters when traveling from state to state in short periods of time. The other question is this: Is it legal to turn right at a red light? If you happen to be in Oregon, the answer is yes.

So to get back to the sight-seeing part of the adventure, we first stopped off at the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Bodie is pronounced like "body," we learned.

I'm kind of tempted to put this one in my sketchbook. Just now I spent some time thinking about a word for it. I think my one word for this One Word Wonder would be "Vigilant." On the other hand, we're going to see other lighthouses, and so I'll probably wait and see if there are better ones down the road.

We were met at this lighthouse by this kildeer. He seemed intent on leading us away from the lighthouse and he was peeping furiously at us.

Here's some information about the lighthouse. It's actually the third one built in this area.

We've learned in our visits to lighthouses that they can be identified by their paint design or by the pattern of their flashes.

The lighthouse keepers' house was what we now refer to as a duplex. There were two tenders here.

The keepers' house was being used for offices of the park service, and off-road permits could be purchased here that would allow one to drive on the beach. At $50, we passed. Here's some information about the keepers of this lighthouse and their job.

To give some perspective, here is the location of the lighthouse on Bodie Island. The Outer Banks consists of a line of barrier islands that buffer the mainland from wave action and storms. We learned in our reading that they are actually moving westward and there is speculation that they may someday disappear altogether when they join up with the mainland.

Moving on down the road a short distance, we came upon the Wright Brothers National Memorial. On the hill there is a monument erected just 25 years after the first flight, but that isn't where it occurred. That's where they flew their gliders as they were experimenting with the shape and structure of the first airplane.

The visitor's center was closed for refurbishing/remodeling, and there was a temporary structure open.

The Visitor Center is a precedent-setting example of modern architecture used in the 1950's and 1960's and was itself designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001. Along with rehabilitation, new interactive exhibits are being developed to replace the old ones. It is expected to be completed in 2018.

Walking on, we could see these two structures where the Wright Brothers did their work. The far structure was simply an open "garage."

The near structure was an office. We couldn't go inside here, but I took this picture through the window.

Imagine how exciting this must have been for the two brothers. Here's some information about the 25 year anniversary of the first flight.

It was accompanied by this image of the celebration.

And here's some information about the first flights. As I think about it, we are nearing the 114th anniversary. We wondered if the Wrights had any idea the ramifications of their work. Did they imagine trans-oceanic flights? How about putting a man on the moon?

Here's the plaque from the "boulder" that is referenced in the information above.

Looking right, here are the markers showing where the first four flights landed.

Even today, walking up to them and past them was somewhat exhilarating. You can see that the brothers took turns with these flights. Someone standing nearby said they drew straws to see who would go first.

It's easy to imagine the first three flights were taken with a bit of caution. After so much work, they wouldn't have wanted to crash land their flying machine...or their bodies.

And so consider how thrilling it would have been to fly for nearly a full minute after years and years of work.

Okay...so that was fun. Moving on to our next area of sight-seeing interest...Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

This is where the Lost Roanoke Colony existed. There wasn't a lot to see here, but there was a 17-minute video about the colony that was very interesting. I've been fascinated by the Roanoke Colony ever since I learned of its existence and disappearance. You can read more about it at that link I've given you. There are some theories that they might have been massacred by indigenous peoples or that they might have moved on. It seems to me that a massacre would have left behind human remains, and so my own guess is that they moved on to more fruitful land.

There is just one stone monument to them, and it was erected in 1896. As I've said before, you know you're old when even your monuments are old.

Being old, it was difficult to read, even standing right in front of it. However, I wanted to mention that the video and the monument placed quite a bit of emphasis on the child, Virginia Dare. The long bridge we crossed getting here to the Outer Banks was named for her. She was the first English child born on American soil in August of 1587. Here is the section of the monument that talks about her and her parents, and I'm sorry it's so difficult to read. We had difficulty reading it too.

Beyond the monument is a replica of the earthwork fort. I didn't even think to take a picture of it because there wasn't much to see. However, I did get a picture of the sign showing what it might have looked like. Below is the text contained on the sign.

One of the more interesting aspects of this site is that it is also a part of the National Underground Railroad, and there was a marker there.

It was also the site of the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island.  It was founded in 1863 during the Civil War after the 18th Army Corps captured the Confederate fortifications on Roanoke Island in 1862. The slaves living there were classified as "contraband," following the precedent of General Butler at Fort Monroe in 1861, and they were not returned to Confederate slaveholders. In 1863, by the Emancipation Proclamation, all slaves in Union-occupied territories were freed.

The island colony started as one about 100 contraband camps by the war's end, but it became something more. The African-Americans lived as freedmen and civilians. They were joined by former slaves from the mainland, seeking refuge and freedom with the Union forces. They were paid for their work and sought education, along with their children. Eventually,  most left the island. Its soil proved too poor to support many subsistence farmers. In 1865, the US Army directed the dismantling of the three forts on the island. By 1867, the colony was abandoned, but about 300 freedmen still lived there independently in 1870. Some of their descendants live there today.

From there, we headed to our final destination of the day, Outer Banks Antiques & More. The "& More" was quilt fabric. It was located on a very narrow historic street in Mantea.

Here's how it looked from the outside.

I'll tell you about what I found there in a separate post. For now, I'll just say that we headed back to the RV park. It was a long and busy day. We got Smitty out for a walk. He seems to have learned to step carefully to avoid the cockle burrs.

After that, we took the advice of some friends back home and dipped our feet in the water. Consider this the baptism of the Teva sandals I picked up when we stayed overnight in a Cabela's parking lot waaaaaaaaayyyyy back at the beginning of our trip. It's actually the first time I've worn them. It's the first time it's really been warm enough for sandals.

As for the water, we estimate it was about 60 degrees, too cold for swimming, but it felt good on our feet. As we walked back to the RV from the beach, I turned and snapped this picture of yet another beach fence.

And that was the end of our day.

We've scheduled a sloth day at this location, and we'll be taking it today. Tomorrow we'll be heading south to the see the sights at the other end of the national seashore.