Manteo to Murphy – Outer Banks (OBX)

On May 16th we finally drove over the last bridge and arrived on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We would be staying at a campground about 25 miles south of Kitty Hawk and an equal distance north of Hatteras near the town of Rodanthe. As you may recall from our last post, this area was hit pretty bad by high winds and tides prior to our arrival and we saw a lot of evidence of the damage done during that time. On our trip down the island we saw high mounds of sand being scooped off of the road and built into dunes where the ocean had washed across during the storms. Later, we would see more evidence of damages at the beach at our park.

This trip was originally planned around a national rally for owners of coaches such as ours (American Coach) and we were looking forward to meeting other people with similar interests and RV’s in the coming days. However, we arrived several days before the start of the rally which gave us time to explore the area and settle in. Our site was next to a pond on the “ocean side” while across the road were more sites on the “sound side”.

As soon as we were all set up, we walked down to the beach to put our toes in the Atlantic. It was still windy but a nice little walk. Unfortunately, we were also faced with leftovers from the recent storms. Volunteers had spent the previous weekend piling up debris from three homes that had collapsed into the ocean during the storms. Amazingly, by the next weekend, all debris had been removed from the beach.

First views of beach clockwise from Top Left: Campground from dunes, Jill about to head to beach, view south down beach (note fridge and other debris), view north up beach (note pile of lumber debris)

Close up of houses on the beach at Rodanthe. Interesting view of people relaxing on beach right in front of pile of debris from home washed away the prior week.

The day after our arrival, we headed south for a couple of sites. The first would be to visit the famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The lighthouse’s semi-unique pattern makes it easy to recognize and famous. It is often ranked high on lists of most beautiful, and famous lighthouses in the US. Its 198-foot height makes it the tallest brick lighthouse structure in the United States and 2nd in the world.

At the behest of mariners and officers of the U.S. Navy, Congress appropriated $80,000 to the United States Lighthouse Board to construct a new beacon at Cape Hatteras in 1868 (the first one was completed in 1802 and was found to be inadequate in protecting mariners from the dangerous shoals). Completed in just under two years, the new Cape Hatteras lighthouse cost $167,000. The new tower, from which the first-order light was first exhibited on December 16, 1871, was the tallest brick lighthouse tower in the world. It was 200 feet above ground and the focal height of the light was 208 feet above water.

Ever since the completion of the new tower in 1870, there had begun a very gradual encroachment of the sea upon the beach. This did not become serious, however, until 1919, when the high water line had advanced to about 120 feet from the base of the tower (the tower was originally built almost 1,500 feet from the water). Since that time the surf gnawed steadily toward the base of the tower until 1935, when the site was finally reached by the surf. Several attempts were made to arrest this erosion, but dikes and breakwaters had been of no avail. In 1935, therefore, the tower light was replaced by an Aerobeacon atop a four-legged steel skeleton tower, placed farther back from the sea on a sand dune 166 feet above the sea, visible for 19 miles. The abandoned brick tower was then put in the custody of the National Park Service.

The Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration erected a series of wooden revetments which checked the wash that was carrying away the beach. In 1942, when German U-boats began attacking ships just offshore, the Coast Guard resumed its control over the brick tower and manned it as a lookout station until 1945. By then, due to accretion of sand on the beach, the brick tower was 500 to 900 feet inland from the sea and again tenable as a site for the light, which was placed back in commission January 23, 1950.

In 1999, with the sea again encroaching, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse had to be moved from its original location at the edge of the ocean to safer ground. Due to erosion of the shore, the lighthouse was just 15 feet from the water’s edge and was in imminent danger. The move was a total distance of 2,900 feet to the southwest, placing the lighthouse 1,500 feet from the current shoreline. All other support buildings at the site were also moved at the same time. All support buildings were placed back in positions that maintained their original compass orientations and distance/height relationship to the lighthouse. International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo, New York was awarded the contract to move the lighthouse, assisted by, among other contractors, Expert House Movers. The move was controversial at the time with speculation that the structure would not survive the move, resulting in lawsuits that were later dismissed. Despite some opposition, work progressed and the move was completed on September 14, 1999. Today, you can see the route the lighthouse took to its new location and tour the Lightkeeper’s house but due to structural concerns, you cannot currently hike to the top of the lighthouse.

Our next stop was the southern most point of Hatteras Island to visit the Graveyard of the Sea Museum. This was not as interesting as we had hoped but had a few interesting exhibits and info.

The next day we headed back north with plans to visit another lighthouse as well as the Wright Brothers National Historic site. On the way, we traveled over a newer bridge that spans the Oregon Inlet. We learned later that this major access point from the sound to the ocean had been closed by the same storms that had washed away houses down the coast. The Coast Guard were in the process of removing all markers so that people would not be fooled into traveling thru an assumed channel that was now filled with sand.

Oregon Inlet

Next stop was the Bodie Island Lighthouse. And this one could be climbed! You were required to make advance reservations as only so many people were allowed at one time. In fact, the internal iron stairway could only hold one person at a time between landings since it was suspended between landings. As one person reached the next landing, they would call down the next person to “climb on”.

Rainbow created by sun passing thru fresnel lens

The current Bodie Island Lighthouse is the third that has stood in this vicinity of Bodie Island on the Outer Banks in North Carolina and was built in 1872. It stands 156 feet tall and is located on the Roanoke Sound side of a portion of a peninsula that is the first part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. There are 214 steps that spiral to the top. The structure is one of only a dozen remaining tall, brick tower lighthouses in the United States — and one of the few with an original first-order Fresnel lens to cast its light.

Next stop was the Wright Brother’s National Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills. It commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Ohio, based on information from the U.S. Weather Bureau about the area’s steady winds. They also valued the privacy provided by this location, which in the early twentieth century was remote from major population centers.

The Visitor Center is home to a museum featuring models and actual tools and machines used by the Wright brothers during their flight experiments including a reproduction of the wind tunnel used to test wing shapes and a portion of the engine used in the first flight. In one wing of the Visitor Center is a life-size replica of the Wright brothers’ 1903 Wright Flyer, the first powered heavier-than-air aircraft in history to achieve controlled flight (the original being displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.).

Outside the visitor’s center you will find markers noting where the aircraft took off as well as where it landed on each of its first four flights. Between 10:35 a.m. and noon on December 17, 1903, the brothers made four flights. The first and second were 12 seconds, then 15 seconds on the third, and the final, long flight lasted 59 seconds. Distances covered were 120 feet, 175 feet, 200 feet, and 852 feet. Altitudes ranged between about 8 to 14 feet.

A 60 feet granite monument, dedicated in 1932, is perched atop 90-foot-tall Kill Devil Hill, commemorating the achievement of the Wright brothers. They conducted many of their glider tests on the massive shifting dune that was later stabilized to form Kill Devil Hill. Inscribed in capital letters along the base of the memorial tower is the phrase “In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conceived by genius achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith.”

On December 17, 2003, the Centennial of Flight was celebrated at the Park. The ceremony was hosted by flight enthusiast John Travolta, and included appearances by President George W. Bush, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and test pilot Chuck Yeager. An interactive sculpture was donated by the State of North Carolina and dedicated during the celebration. The life sized sculpture, created by Stephen H. Smith, is a full-sized replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer the moment the flight began and includes the Wright Brothers along with members of the Kill Devil Hills Life-Saving Station who assisted in moving the aircraft, as well as John T. Daniels who took the now famous photograph of the first flight.

It was truly amazing to walk in the steps of such an historic event, to be where it happened and to see recreations of the event presented several ways.

Our final adventure of the day was to commemorate the start of our cross state journey. Although we did not stop at a sign to prove it, we did have a wonderful lunch in Manteo with a photo to prove it!

One of the unique characteristics of the campground was that it stretched from the ocean to the sound with a road running thru the middle. One late afternoon we walked over to the sound to watch the kite surfers and the sunset – absolutely stunning!

In contrast, we took a walk up the beach towards the pier to see up close how the homes looked near the shoreline. It was sad to see the houses slowly being reclaimed by the ocean (most of the ones pictured have been abandoned at this point and are not occupied).

In between all the sightseeing, the American Coach Association (ACA) National Rally occurred. We have no pics from the various activities but here are some of the things you do during a rally:

  • Introduction meeting for new/first time rally attendees (that was us!)
  • Familiarization session on the Freightliner chassis our coach is built on
  • General Q&A session with expert on our coach
  • Various general session meetings
  • And of course, dinners and entertainment and meeting people

Our last planned activities was to travel just down the road to the Chicamacomico Life Saving Station (CLSS) which was built in 1874. After the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the United States Revenue Cutter Service merged in January 1915 to create the U.S. Coast Guard, Chicamacomico became a U.S. Coast Guard facility. Under Coast Guard control, it remained active until 1954. After its decommissioning the facility was transformed into a museum.

The CLSS is perhaps best remembered for the 1918 rescue of the British tanker Mirlo on August 16 1918. Mirlo was struck by a German torpedo fired by U117, about 5 miles offshore during World War I. Forty-two crew members of the Mirlo were saved from the burning tanker by Keeper John Allen Midgett Jr. and his crew. Numerous accolades and awards were bestowed upon the 6 life-savers including gold medals in their honor presented by King George V of the United Kingdom and the Grand Cross of the American Cross of Honor. To date only eleven Grand Cross of the American Cross of Honor awards have been bestowed in the history of the United States with six being bestowed upon the members of the CLSS.

Today, Chicamacomico forms the most complete USLSS site in the nation, and still presents the reenactment of the historic Beach Apparatus Drill every Thursday during summer tourist season. This drill includes the historic Lyle Gun and rescuing a live victim from a simulated ship wreck.

On the day before our departure, we found a great little restaurant on the sound where we could eat outside. We had free entertainment watching several kite surfers prepare and start off right in front of us which was a great way to end our time on the Outer Banks.

Time to head west to see some more of the state. Next stop, Raleigh!

Monteo to Murphy – Heading into the Gale

Leaving Wilmington, we headed up the coast of North Carolina to the small island town of Emerald Isle. Not a lot to do on this stop as this was planned as a jump off to catch the ferry to Ocracoke Island (more on that later). We paid top dollar for a campground on the ocean and a site up on a hill with views to the water.

Much of our time was spent enjoying walks along the beach and the views from our campsite.

However, our peaceful campground became quite windy after we arrived, with day after day of gale-force warnings up and down the coast. These were accompanied by cool temperatures that got to the point that it was hard to sit outside (you could bundle up against the cold but the wind was really pretty constant!). This would become a key factor in our upcoming plans as well as impact many others along the coast in the coming week but more on that later.

Only two main excursions were taken while in the area. The first was a drive to Fort Macon, a brick fort built in the early 1800’s and very well preserved. Blackbeard and other infamous pirates were known to have passed through Beaufort Inlet at will before the construction of the fort. Fort Macon was built between 1826 and 1834 and is made up of 2,379,546 bricks—more than any other U.S. fort. It saw action during the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World War II. It also served as a military prison from 1862-1877. Located on Bogue Banks near Atlantic Beach, the fort opened as a state park in 1936. Fort Macon State Park is the second most visited state park in North Carolina, with an annual visitation of 1.3 million, despite being one of the smallest state parks in North Carolina.

Our next excursion took us out to Harker’s Island on the other side of Bogue Inlet to visit the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum. This museum focuses on the history of the local area including exhibitions on waterfowl decoys, history of storms and hurricanes, library with reference materials, local community exhibits, and a lookout tower. It provided an interesting look into local life and how it developed in the area.

After all this culture and education, it was time to wander over to the lovely little town of Beaufort (the one in North Carolina!) for a stroll along the marina and some lunch.

About two days before out scheduled departure, the weather had really gotten interesting. Although we had mostly clear skies, the wind had picked up to the point that the entire coast was under gale-force advisories (winds running between 39 and 54 miles per hour). These were not gusts but sustained winds. The rig was buffeted a lot and sitting outside ensured your hair would be really messed up! Walking the beach was not that comfortable given the sand blasting you received from the airborne sand.

We were supposed to depart for Ocracoke Island which would involve a 1 1/2 hour drive to Cedar Island, then a 2 1/2 hour ride on a large ferry (that could carry big vehicles such as our RV). We’d then spend 3 nights on Ocracoke, an island that can only be reached by ferries (no bridges connect it to the mainland or to other islands) before catching another ferry to Hatteras. Checking the NC Ferry website found that ferry schedules were being disrupted by the high winds which were also kicking up high seas. Each day found the ferry from Cedar Island being cancelled due to weather. The day before our scheduled departure, we called the ferry terminal to determine if we would be able to get across the next day. The answer was a very firm “no”. On top of this, the ferry is booked months in advance meaning that when the weather did clear up, we would not be able to rebook. Thus, we had to make the decision to give up on our plan to visit Ocracoke during this journey. At the same time, we needed to find somewhere else to stay in the interim. After a quick search, we found a quaint little campground outside of New Bern, NC. called Turkey Quarter

This turned out to be a lovely little campground owned and operated by “James”. James was larger than life, stopping by our campsite to chat and see how we were doing, working on extending the campground, working on his dump truck in an empty site and chasing the geese out of his pond to keep them from eating his newly seeded bank. But the most amazing part of our stay was Sunday morning when James and his wife stopped by with fresh baked biscuits and sausage for breakfast. They evidently do this every Sunday for everyone in the campground. Quite an amazing little place!

We really loved this little campground but kept trying to think of who James reminded us. After a few days of contemplation, we finally realized it was Ernest T Bass from the Andy Griffith Show!

James “Ernest T Bass”

Another great byproduct of our detour was the fact that we were able to discover and explore the fine little town of New Bern. This town has several things going for it. It’s small (population of about 30,000), it’s geographically located near many bigger cities (It lies 112 miles east of Raleigh, 80 miles north of Wilmington, and 162 miles south of Norfolk), it is located at the confluence of the Neuse and the Trent rivers, AND is the birthplace of Pepsi!

We first took a self-guided walk thru the historic part of town where many large old homes still stand from the late 1700’s and 1800’s. Many sit with views of the Neuse River.

Beautiful homes of New Bern

We happened to be lucky enough to be visiting while they were having a classic car show in the downtown square so we were able to enjoy a walk down memory lane while admiring the various restored automobiles.

We even found an older version of an RV..

And of course, no visit to New Bern would be complete without stopping by the birthplace of what would become Pepsi Cola. A cute little “soda shop” still exists where the original pharmacy stood but it ain’t the World of Coca Cola!

After this short detour, it was time to finally head to the Outer Banks (OBX) so we could officially start the Manteo to Murphy portion of our trip. But that’s a story for another blog…

Monteo to Murphy – Atlanta to Wilmington

Those who have known us for awhile may recall that we have spent a lot of time in far western North Carolina, specifically around the town of Murphy. Murphy is known as the end (or the start) of a ride that takes you from one end of the state to the other (both driving or hiking if desired) with the end point (or start point) being the town of Manteo located on the outer banks. We have seen little of the rest of the state of North Carolina so we decided to take a two-month trip to explore the whole state and this is the first part of that journey. We’ve been so busy exploring and connecting with friends along the way, it’s taken awhile to find some down time to catch up on the blog so follow along to see what we’ve been up to.

Our plan was to start in the far eastern part of the state and work our way west (thus the title of this post). But to get there, we’d have to make a long run which included passing thru South Carolina. Since we’re retired and in no rush, we decided to break it up by stopping for a couple of nights at a state park in South Carolina. We pulled out of the Atlanta area on April 25th with plans to return at the end of June. Our first stop, Lake Wateree State Park near the small town of Winnsboro. It’s a beautiful park along the lake and was not busy at all when we visited.

We hadn’t planned to do anything for the one day and two nights we were at the park, just relax before our final push to the coast. However, after posting our planned itinerary on Facebook, we discovered we’d be very close to some very good friends from our whitewater paddling days, Fritz and Gwen Drescher. We were able to connect, hang out at the campground for awhile, and then had a wonderful dinner at a little restaurant run by folks from Moldova.

So great to catch up with friends!!!

After two nights of peaceful camping in the countryside, another 6 hour drive got us to Wilmington, NC. This town has a lot of history to explore and we had a pretty packed schedule for the week. For this visit, we selected a KOA that was pretty nice and we had a site with some shade!

Our shiny home in Wilmington

Our first day of exploring took us to the historic section of town where we walked amongst homes built as far back as the 1700’s.

We took a tour of one home in particular that has a long history in Wilmington. The Burgwin-Wright House was originally constructed in 1770, prior to the Revolutionary War. Built on the original walls of a former city jail, circa 1744, the house retains many vestiges of its previous incarnation such as outdoor and sub-basement jail cells and a freestanding kitchen house with a massive hearth. The sub-basement still is shown as it was when it was a dungeon while outside you can see where lessor criminals were held in open areas where local citizens could come and insult and throw food and dirt at them.

The home was built for merchant, planter and government official John Burgwin. But Burgwin’s family lived outside the city at their plantation and he also owned a townhouse where he stayed while visiting on business. The house was actually used for doing business and entertaining while he was in town. The two bedrooms were used for business partners while visiting Burgwin.

When Burgwin decided to sell the house in 1799 Joshua Grainger Wright purchased the structure for 3,500 Spanish milled dollars. He moved in with his wife Susan Bradly, whom he had married in 1791. Wright became a prominent lawyer and orator, member of the Legislature from 1792 until 1800 when he was elected Speaker of the House. He was elected the first President of the Bank of Cape Fear when it was founded in 1809. He lived in the house with his wife and children until he died in 1811. Wright’s name is still prominent in the area. While some may think it was named for the Wright Brothers (more about them later), the beach town of Wrightsville is actually named for Joshua Wright.

Clockwise from top left: Main room for holding business meetings, office, separate building used as kitchen (was jailor’s home before house was built), potty training seat (they would strap the child in until they went), and upstairs bedroom,

The next day we took some time to explore the riverside area which included a boardwalk but we had to say we were less impressed with this and moved on to lunch pretty quickly.

The next day Dan made a solo trip out to Fort Fisher, an earthen fort built to protect the approaches to Wilmington and the Cape Fear River during the Civil War. It was actually one of the last forts along the coast to fall to Federal Forces, not surrendering until January 1865. Only some hills remain to indicate where the fort once stood.

Another day took us to Arlie Gardens, a 67 acre public garden. It was created in 1886 as a private garden for the Pembroke Jones family by Mrs. Jones. The name ‘Airlie’ was derived from the Jones’ family home in Scotland. It was designed as a lush, flowing, naturalistic Southern garden, with thousands of azaleas, camellias, magnolias, palms, and wisteria. One of it’s features is the Airlie Oak, a 500-year-old southern live oak located on the grounds of Airlie Gardens. In 2007, Airlie Oak was 128 feet tall, had a trunk circumference exceeding 21 feet and a crown spread of 104 feet when measured by North Carolina Forest Service employees. At that time, it was designated the largest live oak in North Carolina.

The Arlie Oak

Another highlight is the Bottle House which was created by a local artist, Virginia Wright-Frierson in 2004. It is officially named the “Minnie Evans Sculpture Garden Bottle House” after an artist/gatekeeper that worked at Airlie for many years. This bottle house is also referred to as the “chapel”. Frierson used bottles of all shapes and sizes as well as cement and chicken wire in its creation. At the center of the house is a tree sculpture complete with birds and nests.

We missed some of the large blooming season but still managed to find a lot of beauty in the garden as well as the butterfly house.

The next outing was just for Dan as he travelled down to the river to visit the USS North Carolina Battleship. The ship was laid down in 1937 and completed in April 1941, while the United States was still neutral during World War II.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, North Carolina mobilized for war and was initially sent to counter a possible sortie by the German battleship Tirpitz, though this did not materialize and North Carolina was promptly transferred to the Pacific to strengthen Allied forces during the Guadalcanal campaign. There, she screened aircraft carriers engaged in the campaign and took part in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24–25 August 1942, where she shot down several Japanese aircraft. The next month, she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine but was not seriously damaged. After repairs, she returned to the campaign and continued to screen carriers during the campaigns across the central Pacific in 1943 and 1944, including the Gilberts and Marshall Islands and the Mariana and Palau Islands, where she saw action during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

The ship was undergoing a refit during the invasion of the Philippines but took part in the later stages of the Philippines campaign and was present when the fleet was damaged by Typhoon Cobra. She took part in offensive operations in support of the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945, including numerous attacks on Japan. Following the surrender of Japan in August, she carried American personnel home during Operation Magic Carpet. North Carolina operated briefly off the east coast of the United States in 1946 before being decommissioned the next year and placed in reserve. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1960, the ship was saved from the breaker’s yard by a campaign to preserve the vessel as a museum ship in her namesake state. In 1962, the North Carolina museum was opened in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Much of the below decks area were available to be toured. This included areas of the engine room, various electrical spaces, radio operations, radar and plotting, weapons storage (including projectiles and powder magazines), several mess areas, bunk spaces, dentist and operating rooms, and officers’ quarters. You could also access one of the 16 inch turrets and then entire main deck which included views of one of the ship’s anchors and a Kingfisher seaplane mounted on the stern. Unfortunately, due to repairs and maintenance to some areas of the upper decks, there was no access to the bridge.

Directly under Turret #1, 2 deck shell and powder loading area
Ship’s guard, an alligator that has come shallows in front of the ship. You can see his track to the left of the gator.

Our last big outing of the week was to drive down the peninsula that included Fort Fisher to visit a small aquarium (not much to mention on this), take a car ferry across Cape Fear River over to the town of Southport where we did a little bit of window shopping, and enjoyed a nice seafood lunch on the water.

But before we could load up and depart, we had a special visitor to our campground on our last day in the area. A former colleague of Dan’s from his time at IHG, John Bowden, lived in the area and stopped by to say hello and hang out for lunch. It was great catching up with John and as you can see, retirement looks good on John!

John Bowden and Dan

Next stop was up the coast to a small town called Emerald Isle where we planned to spend a week right on the coast. Originally the plan was to do a blog update for half of our trip thru North Carolina but given how far behind we are, figured we go ahead and publish this first leg to whet your whistle and get you ready for the 2nd leg. So be looking for another update very soon (since we are currently sitting in 90+ degree heat and have no plans to go out for the next week while sitting in the NC Mountains!).