2 days in North Carolina

Some of you may have noticed that on yesterday’s post, I shared the pictures from Charleston, but I didn’t talk about what I did yesterday.  There was a method to my madness (at least this once).  I decided that, since I would be spending 2 days in North Carolina, I would discuss it all at once.

Yesterday, I visited Fort Fisher, the fort that protected Wilmington, and kept the city open to blockade runners during the Civil War, until the fort fell in January, 1865.  This was the last major port left to the Confederacy, and the last place where the Confederacy was able to import supplies.  When Fort Fisher fell, it was a crucial blow to Lee’s army, and Lee surrendered less than three months later.

These pictures show part of the fortifications, which are about all that’s left.  Much of where the fort stood is now under water.

Today, I drove to Hatteras, which if you look at a map, is a long ways down the string of barrier islands that help protect North Carolina’s coast from the sea.  They have a museum down there called “Graveyard of the Sea”.  This museum highlights a few of the hundreds, perhaps thousands of ships that have sunk in the area of Cape Hatteras.  Most of the museum doesn’t allow pictures, to protect the artifacts.  Here is a picture of the beach near the museum.

I then went to Kitty Hawk, to see where the Wright Brothers were able to make their flights, proving that man could fly.  I didn’t stay long, but here a few pics.

From the left: the Monument put in by the U.S. to commemorate the location; the stone marker showing where the four flights they made that day took off; and the four markers showing how far each of the four flights lasted.  3 of them weren’t very long, but it proved that powered flight was possible, and inspired Orville and Wilbur to continue their efforts.

In answer to another question, I really haven’t had anything spectacular food-wise, but I wasn’t really looking, either.  I think that catches me up to today, so hopefully this has been of some interest so far.  Let me know if any of you have any questions, and I’ll try to answer them as best I can.  Happy Road-Tripping everyone!