Elizabeth City, Edenton, and Manteo, NC

I love old houses!  For one thing, there is a certain charm in an old house that can’t be found in modern architecture.  The intricate woodwork, the turrets and spires, the windows and their dressings, and the beautiful colors that accentuate their features all lend to the wonder of an old house.  There is also a mystery about an old house.  As you look at it, a snap shot of a days gone by, you can get lost in imagination, forming the story of those who have passed their lives within its walls.  When I was a little girl, my family moved in to a house that was around 100 years old (that seemed like the beginning of time to a 6 year old).  The house was not an elaborate mansion once belonging to some pompous aristocrat, but it was amazing to me.  I think that is when my admiration began, and I think it sprouted from my imagination’s wanderings.  Over a side door, a lattice arch over stood with morning glory vines running along it, and I could just see young lovers whispering sweet nothings on a bright day. There was a room in the basement, just beyond the boiler room (I don’t think we had a boiler, but my dad often referred to the room as the boiler room, or I may have imagined that too) that lay behind a small wooden door.  In hind site, I’m sure that used to be a storage room for coal or some fuel source, but to my young mind it had been a dungeon of sorts where the master of the house sent those who were being punished.  I imagined that the scratches on the door were made by the wrong-doer as they begged to be let out.  Huge French doors separated the dinning room from the main living room.  I would sit on the couch as the keenly dressed ladies and gentlemen enjoyed a five course dinner party and the butler scurried around.  But, my favorite room of all was the large closet on the top floor, complete with dumb waiter.  My best friend and I would lay a blanket out in the floor and spend hours creating stories of the secrets of times past. See, now, why I love old houses?

Because I love old houses, I have had a great time with Bilbo the past few days as we have driven through cities that have been a part of North Carolina since the Revolutionary War.  All of the wandering we have to report in this post happened on a whim, mostly because we had no plan when we left Ocracoke.  We just drove up to our new campground, grabbed some brochures for the area, then hit the road.  Our first stop was Elizabeth City, which is home to the Museum of the Albemarle.  Albemarle is an area in northeastern NC that was named after Lord Proprietor, George Monck, the Duke of Albemarle. 

 

The museum had two main galleries.  The first floor gallery, which may be seasonal, featured pottery by local artists amid a display of pottery artifacts and the history of pottery in the region.  There was a nice educational feel to the exhibit as well.  Posters were hung to tell you how and why pottery was made in the past and how pottery is made today.

On the second floor was an exhibit taking you through the history of the Albemarle region, from before the English landed to today’s booming tourism market.  The region was important in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, it was home of the Wright brothers, and houses the tortured seas of Blackbeard the Pirate (whose cannon is part of the exhibit).  Admission was free, which was a big plus for us, but the museum is in to way second rate.  This small town did a great job of preserving and presenting it’s treasures!

Here is Blackbeard’s cannon…

Shoe buckles worn to the first reception of President Washington…

 

Aren’t these ladies ugly?!  They were the Edenton Tea Party, the first recorded group of women activities.

 

The next morning, we drove to Historic Edenton, NC.  This town is very proud of it’s heritage, and the preservation of the historic homes and sites within its borders.  Bilbo and I didn’t really know what to expect when we drove up to the visitor center, a very pretty pink Victorian style house, but were greeted by friendly and helpful townsfolk.  We paid $1 for a walking tour map, watched a film on the city’s history, then set to walking.  We saw…

The Chowan County Courthouse, built in 1767 and said to be the finest example of Georgian architecture in the south.   In the time of the Revolutionary War, Judges James Iredell and Samuel Johnston heard cases here.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the second oldest church in NC, built in 1736. Three of NC’s colonial era governors are buried here.

The site of the Battle of Albemarle Sound.

And lots of pretty old houses!

 

From there we drove to Manteo, on Roanoke Island.  This is one of our favorite stops when in NC.  It is a pretty little town on the water with an old-timey beach feel.  The first stop in Manteo is always the Manteo Bookseller, where there is a fun selection of books and pottery.  Last year, we bought two vases from a local artist who features his work in the book store.  The potter happened to be there, so the shop owner introduced us and took our picture with him.  The potter gave us his card and told us that he would make personal pieces if we ever called. We haven’t had occasion to call him yet, but we like to refer to him as our personal potter.

Another of our frequented spots in Manteo is Adrianna’s Waterfront Dining.  It is a small, classy restaurant that overlooks the water from pretty much every table.  The service there is great and the food is even better.  This time, we were informed that some circumstance had caused the restaurant to be listed as a private club, we couldn’t tell exactly what the circumstance was because the hostess had a very distinct French accent.  She informed us that all diners are now required to join the club.  Of course, the thought of, “Oh no!  We can’t afford that.  I guess we can’t eat here anymore, “ crossed our minds.  The hostess, however, said that it is only a small fee of one penny for a lifetime membership. So, we now own membership #700!

It is good to go to Adrianna’s at lunch because the prices are a bit lower and the crowd is thinner, but the quality is still on par.  Bill go the soft shell crab sandwich with asparagus.

I got the grilled fish taco, made with the fish of the day.  Both were excellent!

After lunch we hung around Manteo, stopped in a few antique shops, and relaxed before driving up to see the Currituck Lighthouse.

The Currituck Lighthouse is one of the same series that the Ocracoke Lighthouse belongs to.  It is located in Corolla, NC.  We drove through quite a few small towns along the way including Duck, the come of the famous Duck Doughnuts.  The lighthouse was made all of brick, which was pretty neat.  We didn’t climb it because, in our opinion, once you’ve climbed one you’ve climbed them all.  But we did take some time to walk around the grounds, take pictures, and look at the lighthouse keeper’s house.  From there we hit the beaches of Corolla for a few hours before heading back to the campground.

Now, I cannot neglect to tell you about this campground!   It was the North River Campground in Shawboro, NC.  The setting was in a small farming town abounding in corn and wheat.  The list of campers’ amenities boasted hot showers and free wireless internet.  As we drove down the gravel path from the office to our campsite we could hear the frequent “thud” of humungous dragonflies and mosquitoes as they kamikazed against our car.  I’m telling you, the bugs were so thick that we stayed in our car until time to go to sleep, drove to the bathroom, and avoided the outdoors at all costs!  The grounds at the site were great for RV’s, but the tent sites were not developed and seemed like an offhand idea of what to do with the extra space.  So, even though it was nice to have a hot shower (the showers at Ocracoke were cold), I don’t think we will stay there again. 

Well, that’s all about our travels for now.  The next edition will include our anniversary day at Virginia Beach. On another note, the Ramblin’ Bauers will be having occasional sporadic giveaways to add in some more fun and as a way to thank our followers.  And yes, you must be a follower to get something and it’s totally optional since you would have to provide your address for us to mail you. 

Prize number one will be given to the first follower who posts a comment…let the race begin…

Ocracoke Island, NC

We are broadcasting from the lovely Ocracoke Island.  It is the southern most tip of the Outer Banks, or OBX, as some might recognize from those cheesy bumper stickers.  No bridges here folks, you must take one of the 3 ferries to the island.  Neither of us had ever taken a ferry like this before.  We drove up to the ferry station, got in the queue, then drove our car onto the boat!  The ferry ride took about 30 minutes, even though the brochure said it would take 45.  During that time, passengers walked about, looked at the water, slept in their cars, fed the stowaway seagulls (much to the annoyance of the boat captain), and took pictures.  I chose to hang out of the sun roof to enjoy the breeze the movie star way! 
 

When we left Goose Creek State Park that morning, it was a little over an hour’s drive to Nagshead, NC, where we entered the Outer Banks.  We were pretty hungry, so we decided to stop for food before driving out to the Cape Hatteras Ferry Station, especially since we didn’t know exactly where it was and how long it would take us to get there.  We like to use the Trip Advisor app on our iPhones to find restaurants while traveling.  Last time we were at the Outer Banks, Trip Advisor recommended The Blue Moon as one of the better restaurants in the Outer Banks.  We tried to eat there, but the restaurant was closed and it was our last day of vacation.  This time, it was open!  It is a small restaurant with a beach feel a focus on seafood, of course.  They have a large selection of sandwiches that are pretty well priced, so that’s what we went for.  I had the Mahi Mahi BLT—a toasty bun with grilled Mahi Mahi, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a special sauce—and Bilbo had the Shrimp Not-a-Burger.  Both sandwiches came with a generous helping of the best fresh cut fries we’ve ever had! 

With our stomachs full, we headed to the ferry station.  It was a long drive, so we listened to some more Harry Potter as we traversed the entire Outer Banks.  Arriving at the station was very exciting because we hadn’t know what to expect and it was huge!  Arriving on the island was even more exciting, but for a different reason.  The captain made the announcement that we had arrived, we made a few bumps as we entered the docks, and everyone started their car…except us.  Try as he may, Bilbo could not get the car to start.  Luckily we were the last car in our row, so we didn’t hold anyone up and our pride was not so acutely harmed.  Bilbo signaled to the attendant, who told us this happens all of the time.  He brought over some jumper cables hooked to a battery and got us rolling again.  With much appreciation, we bid the seafarers ado and headed on to our camp site on the sunny shore. 
 
We drove along a good majority of the Ocracoke seashore, with it’s beautiful and isolated beaches, until we reached our campsite at the Ocracoke site of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  We were greeted by the very friendly park ranger, who set us up with a site and told us about a festival going on in the Ocracoke Village.  We set up camp, ate some PB&J, then headed to town.  The town was a quaint, folksy, coastal town loaded with artisan and trade shops, bed and breakfasts, and whimsical beach cottages.  The festival that the ranger had told us about was the Ocrafolk Festival.  There were booths of local artisans—painters, jewelers, wood carvers, potters, and more—and three or four outdoor stages set up for free concerts by folk singers and story tellers.  We spent a little time walking through the booths set up around one of the stages, then we inquired in a shop as to where a wifi hot spot may be.  The shop keeper pointed us to the local coffee shop, Ocracoke Coffee Co., and we bought a postcard from her. 

 

We spent a few hours at the Ocracoke Coffee Co. that day.  In fact, that’s where we sent you our last blog from!  We didn’t want to seem like ungrateful mooches, so we got a yummy frozen coffee drink made with chocolate and mint.  It was great!  The atmosphere at the coffee shop was pretty chill, despite the constant flow of customers.  There were couches and booths along the walls paired with mosaic tables. Refurbished antiques and pictures related to coffee were their source of decoration, and artsy music broadcast through the inside and front yard seating.  During our 3 day stent in Ocracoke, we spent a couple hours each morning a the coffee shop sampling their tea—which had a soft mango-like flavor to it and was the cheapest item on the menu—and tackling some internet related items on our to-do list. 

Bills paid, AAA joined, and mail forwarded, we headed over to see the Ocracoke Lighthouse.  It is one of a group of lighthouses built along the Outer Banks shores.  The lighthouse itself was small and plain and you couldn’t go in it.  I’ll admit I was underwhelmed by it after seeing some of the greater lighthouses in the Outer Banks, yet it had a nice charm.  We were pleasantly surprised by to find a cute little kitty cat walking along its path.  He (we just assumed it was a he because it’s rude to lift a cat’s skirt on the first meeting) was very sweet and obviously used to human attention, as he followed us up and down to path.  As a reward for his constant attentions to us, I fed him a few catnip treats out from a bag we accidentally left in the car.  He was ecstatic!  The cute little guy forgot that  anything else in the world existed and spent the remainder of our time there looking in the cracks of the wood for more treats.

 

Bilbo set the goal of driving the whole extent of the island, which was pretty easy to accomplish.  We weaved along the residential neighborhoods, through the town, and along the shore.  During this drive we started to feel like this was a town we could be happy living in.  With this in mind, we went back through some neighborhoods in search of “FOR SALE” signs.  Now, don’t worry!  We aren’t picking up and moving yet!  We just wanted to know how much a house in Ocracoke costs.  There were a fair number of houses for sale and we were able to collect a good sample of flyers.  We were surprised by how reasonable the prices were and concluded that living there is a real possibility.  I’m sure many other towns will catch our eye along the way, so who knows where our future abode will be!

The first evening back at our camp site the skies were becoming cloudy and rain seemed imminent.  Until the rain passed, we decided to play a board game.  Our little tent just didn’t have the room we needed and the sleeping bags and pads were taking up too much space for successful game play.  Our solution…the gaming tent!  Our friends lent us a tent for use later in our trip when we will be joined by a family member, but at this time it was just sitting in the trunk alone, and useless.  We also thought it would be nice to have it available as a storage tent, since taking our stuff in and out of the car was getting old.  So, like true grandchildren of James Fox, we set up a tent for storage and gaming that was larger than our tent for sleeping in and commenced  a game of Washington’s War. 

Now, about the scenery!  From our tent, we could hear the ocean.  There was a wall of sand dunes separating us from the beach, which were full of weird little briars that stuck deep in your skin.  When you came of the crest of the dunes, there it was…the ocean!  The beach was not heavily populated, probably just two or three other families for every  mile of beach.  More importantly, to me at least, there were hardly any crabs!  Why did this matter?  Because crabs are my greatest fear!  You see, for over 20 years of my life I never even thought about crabs…never!  Until Bilbo warped my perception of them. 

 

 

We had been dating for a year or two and, figuring that I was around to stay, the Elder Bauers let Bilbo bring me along on their Outer Banks vacation.  One evening, as we sat on the beach watching the sun set, Bilbo started teasing that the crabs were going to nip at my toes with their razor sharp claws.  He kept on and on until I was so freaked out he had to carry me back to the beach house.  Ever since, I have been afraid of crabs. 

Back to the present…After 3 days of sunbathing, town strolling, and bug swatting it was time to head back to the main land of the Outer Banks.  Along the way to the ferry, we stopped on the side of the road to climb over the dunes.  On the other side lay miles of undeveloped, uninhabited beaches.  It is an awesome thing to find that you are the only people on the beach for miles.  At one of our stops, there was turtle nesting area with a barrier around it to protect the eggs.  As you know, turtle eggs are buried in the sand so we did not see any eggs.  It was neat to imagine the little guys down there, though. 

Content with our morning wanderings we boarded the ferry, waved goodbye to Ocracoke, and settled in for the ride.  Very hot and hungry, we got off the ferry and headed to the grocery store to buy some ice cream.  It is a habit of ours to have ice cream as an entire meal sometimes when we are on vacation.  Last week, Slug Bug had told us about Magnum ice cream bars and insisted that we try them, so we did.  We got double chocolate…YUMMY!  It was so good that I was compelled to do the Magnum look while eating a Magnum. 

A sugar high ensued and we hit the road.  There are more adventures to come in northeast NC, so stayed tuned!   Also, an upcoming message about a few free RB giveaways will be coming soon!