Off to Morehead City NC

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Coming out of Pocahontas State Park in Virginia, we don’t have another reserved campground until 8 nights from now at Skidaway Island State Park just outside of Savannah Georgia. The most direct route would to be to head down Interstate 95 nearly 500 miles thru North and South Carolina. But we were looking to visit some more of the coastal towns along the Atlantic Ocean. We knew the Morehead City Elks Lodge had a spot for one RV with 30 amp electric. This would be an area of North Carolina we haven’t visited yet in our travels. Being a 250 mile drive, we opt to split the drive in two parts and try out the Elks Lodge in Wilson North Carolina which we believe also has some RV spots.

This halfway point is an easy drive down I-95. We make it to the lodge and find the drive back to the rear of the building where the outlets are had some low hanging tree branches but we manage to make it back without incident. We were lucky that the lodge wasn’t open yet otherwise it might have been a tight squeeze to get turned around and situated. A lodge member did show up and we asked about staying. He said we were fine since the lodge wasn’t open that night - even though it was a Friday.

I had earlier read about a place in downtown Wilson that had a lot of whirligigs on display. Since it was midafternoon, we decide to head into town to see what the deal was. Road construction made it a challenge to get to the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park but once we got near the place it was quite obvious. There are dozens of the large contraptions in the two acre park.

Whirligig Park in Wilson NC

We saw there was a visitor center across the street so we head there first before it closed for the day. Inside are numerous smaller whirligigs that a normal person might put in their yard. The woman at the desk gave us the backstory about how this farmer made these works of art and had them on his farm outside of town. They were a big tourist draw for the area but as Mr. Simpson aged, he was having difficulty maintaining them so the town began work in 2010 to create a park in the center of town and move them for future generations to see.

Inside Visitor Center

Since he made all of the whirligigs with scrap parts, they tend to be rather unique. One of the larger displays inside the visitor center was a large star made up old street signs. A sign asks visitors to take a picture with the flash on. It is a rather incredible difference between the two photos. She also tells us we can wander the grounds now but we should really consider coming back after sunset to see a similar display of the large whirligigs outside.

Normal

With Flash

Before heading outside, we see another shop inside the large building that housed something called the American Center for Photographers. From what we could see through the windows, this placed looked like a place two Eastman Kodak veterans need to visit.

Kodak Advertising

Old View Camera

They have a lot of old photographic equipment and a ton of Kodak advertising displays from years ago. I marveled at some of the old view cameras on display. Some of them looked like they would be capable of taking a photo today.

Old Time Photo Display

View Camera with Kodak Ektar Lens

Some of the Kodak displays predated our time at the company but there were quite a few that would have been from the several decades we worked there. This was a wonderful walk down memory lane.

Film Cameras Over the Years

I've Shot Lots of Rolls of Film Over the Years

Now we head out to get a better view of the 30 something whirligigs across the street. These things are huge, reaching near 50 feet tall.

Airplane

Dozens of Whirligigs

Bike Rider

We had a virtual geocache that required us to answer several questions about them. They were not too difficult but it did take some time to notice the various details since there were so many ones to look at. We wander a block away to a display of a lighthouse and cannon to find a physical geocache as well. We were really amazed with these whirligigs and decided we must return after dark to see them. We scope out a place for dinner and then head back to the rig to pick up a tripod and other photo gear.

Stagecoach and Horses

Mini Lighthouse and Cannon

When we came back to the park at 6:30, it was plenty dark. We had been told that there were several light switches around the perimeter of the whirligigs to turn on some special lights to show off the reflective qualities of them at night. We didn’t have much luck getting the lights to come on and stay on but simply using the flash on my camera did the trick.

High Flying Goose

Two Man Log Sawing

We walked around for 20 minutes or so checking them out for various angles. There was a slight breeze so many of them were moving a little bit but not too quickly. We had picked Wilson simply as a midpoint on our travels but it turned out to have some fun things to see.

Stagecoach at Night

The next morning, we start our journey to the southeast. It is just 120 miles to the Morehead City Elks Lodge. It was a nice day and a pretty drive. We arrived at the lodge and knew we wanted to park on the north side of the building if we were going to use the electric outlet. The lodge wasn’t open although a couple of members were out doing some chores. There was room for us to stay, but there were a couple of vehicles and a trailer parked near the outlet so we weren’t able to get very close to it. Turns out the lodge rents out its kitchen to a local caterer and these vehicles were theirs. One of the members called them and asked if they could move the vehicles to different spots. A couple hours later, someone arrived and rearranged things so we were able to pull into the spot we needed for the 5 nights we intended to stay here. The next day was Sunday and we were lazy and just watched some football games.

We had looked at things to do in the area and came up with a few ideas to keep us busy and entertained. Morehead City is right on the Atlantic coast, midway between Cape Hatteras and Wilmington. We head out Monday morning to try out the bike path on the barrier island just off the shore. Emerald Isle is almost 25 miles long with bridges across it on either end of the island. There is a bike path that extends roughly half its length. One of the things that is very difficult for us to mentally handle is the fact that along this stretch of North Carolina, the shoreline runs east to west instead of the expected north to south. Emerald Isle is quite narrow. Under 1 miles wide at its maximum and under 1000 feet at its narrowest point. There isn’t a lot of parking for the trail, but we did scope out a small parking lot near the western end of the island at The Point. There likely would not have been parking if we were here during high season but we found spots since it’s well into October.

The trail is paved but it does follow right next to a main road for nearly all of its length so it isn’t the most peaceful ride. Worse is that the bike path has intersecting roads for most of its length. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of traffic but this might be more challenging during the summer months. We also have a few dozen geocaches hidden along the trail. This is way more than we want to tackle but it does break up our ride for us. About 2 miles into the ride, we come across Emerald Isle Woods Park. There are several caches here as well but our real goal was to find the restrooms likely in the park. But 12:30, we were in need of a place to stop and have the lunch we had brought along. We found a beach access point near the Islander Hotel that worked out well for us.

Our Lunch Stop

Continuing up the coast (east), we stopped at the Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier. We didn’t have our locks with us so we only checked out the pier from the shore.

Fishing Pier

As we went past the road to Emerald Isle Boat Ramp, we detoured to check it out. Well, not so much to check out the boat launch, but to find a geocache hidden in the adjoining park. This ramp provides access to Bogue Sound - the body of water between the mainland and the island.

Emerald Isle Boat Ramp

We were approaching the town of Indian Beach which is where the bike trail supposedly stops. We decided to turn around about a 1/2 miles in from there since our maps didn’t show any sort of ice cream stand in town, and by now we were about 13 miles into our ride. We used a geocache at the small 3rd Street Park to mark the halfway point of our ride. This park is on a less traveled road about a block south of the bike path. We started our ride back on Ocean Drive and found this to be much more pleasant. We didn’t have the constant traffic from the major road next to the path and we didn’t have the dozens of intersections to be concerned about traffic turning into our path. The homes along this road were generally quite nice and from the looks of things they were predominantly rental homes. Other than a few construction vehicles of workers renovating a few of the homes, there was no traffic what so ever.

Eventually Ocean Drive ended and we were forced back onto the bike path. A quick stop at Blue Heron Park for another geocache before finding a Ben and Jerry’s in the town of Emerald Isle. We sat in the air conditioned comfort eating our well deserved treat and chatting with the worker about the area. He asked us how far we needed to go to get back to our car and we told him we had parked at the southern end of the island. He corrected us and said The Point is on the western end and that visitors always confuse directions. We made it back to the car after a 26 mile ride and 16 geocaches found. It was quite a productive and fun day.

Another Beach View

The next day we head back to Emerald Isle but this time to the far eastern end to visit Fort Macon State Park. There are some hiking trails and a beach, but we are coming to see the old fort. Originally built in the 1820’s to protect ships in Beaufort, it was sold to the state and became a state park in 1936. There is a very nice visitor center when you arrive at the fort. The volunteer informs us that there will be a docent giving a tour of the fort starting in just a few minutes.

Display at Fort Macon Visitor Center

Beautiful Timber Roof

As we wandered around over to the fort to start our tour, it is clear that this place is getting ready for Halloween. There are decorations everywhere you look. Turns out, Fort Macon hosts an event called Fear at the Fort each year. It looks like they go all out but that will mean several of the rooms inside the fort are currently closed while they set up.

A Skeleton Crew Works the Cannon

Large Guard Outside Fort Entrance

The entrance to the fort is pretty neat with a brick and cobblestone walkway to the bridge over the large moat.

Pathway to Fort

Moat

We have pretty large group of people for the tour. The docent was excellent and plenty of stories and history about the fort over the past 200 years. We get a good tour and even get some insight as to what we would have seen in some of the rooms presently closed. After the tour is over, we wander around on our own to check the place out and read more of the displays. The upper level is where some of the cannons are located and it provides for a good view of the courtyard, ocean and inlet to Beaufort.

Fort Macon Courtyard from Above

Cannons

Back on the ground level, we explore the rooms that are open. There is a lot to see here and many of the rooms even have audio guides to explain what we are seeing.

Sleeping Quarters

Uniforms

Mess Hall

There is the hot shot kiln that was used to heat up the cannonballs before firing at enemy ships with the hopes of starting a fire onboard. There was a large gunpowder room as well as a display with all the different types of shells that could be fired from the cannons.

Cannonball Kiln

Powder

Shell Selection

There is some impressive brickwork that went into the construction of the fort. One of the staircases between the lower and upper levels has the results still showing where a cannonball lobbed into the fort rolled down the stairs damaging the edge of many of the steps. Apparently some of the more damaged steps needed to be repaired from a visitor safety issue, so it isn’t quite as obvious. We only saw it because our tour guide pointed it out.

Dinged Stairs

There is an outer section of the fort that helps to form the moat. From this vantage point, soldiers would be able to shoot any enemy fighters that got into the moat during an attack.

Stairs to Outer Section of Fort

Looking Into the Moat

We also had an Adventure Lab, virtual cache and the first stages of a multi cache to occupy our time during the visit. All in all, we had a great time at the fort and learned a lot of out the history of this part of North Carolina.

With one more full day in the area before we continue south, we decided to explore Morehead City and its neighbor Beaufort.

Welcome to Morehead City

We used an Adventure Lab to tour us around the waterfront at Morehead City. Being midweek and late October, there weren’t many people around the waterfront area.

Neptune

It was clear that if wanted to take an ocean fishing charter, this would be a good place for it and from all the boats docked in the marina, there were lots of options.

Fishing Boats

Our plan was to next head over the short distance to Beaufort and check out the North Carolina Maritime Museum before finding a place for lunch. The museum is a free attraction but does accept donations.

North Carolina Maritime Museum

There is quite a bit to see here. Obviously it is all about the coastal life whether that is fishing, boating, lighthouses, lifesaving equipment or marine science and ecology. There is a little bit of everything to check out.

Rescue Boat

Whaling Exhibit

One of the main attractions for the museum is the repository from Blackbeard’s wrecked flagship - Queen Anne’s Revenge. This ship was captured by Blackbeard in 1717 and ran aground at the Beaufort Inlet. The museum has an archaeological team that is using modern day tools to examine the artifacts salvaged from the wreck. There is even a room where the work is done that can be viewed by the public. Nobody was working today, but from the looks of things, the room isn’t just a prop.

Blackbeard Video on Transparent TV

Queen Anne's Revenge Model

Lab

We finish out by checking out some of the various fish found in the waters near here and watch the museum’s movie. It is a well done place and definitely worth a visit.

Whale Skeleton Overhead

Sportfishing Species

Blue Marlin

Right across the street from the museum is the Harvey Smith Watercraft Center. The facility is where people can learn to built a boat. Since it was lunchtime, there wasn’t any activity going on however visitors can look inside from either the street or from an inside loft area that overlooks the workshop. They look to have nice woodworking equipment.

Watercraft Center

We had selected the Finz Grill as our lunch stop both from its menu and it is directly across from the museum. We had a seat on the deck overlooking the water and enjoyed a nice meal before continuing our walk along the water.

Double Decker Tour Bus

Cruise Boat

We had two more goals for our time in Beaufort. There are many historic homes that were built in town and Chris has a map with details of many of the more famous and beautiful ones. It was a beautiful afternoon to walk around town and we got in an all the homes we wanted to see and ended up with a fairly long walk in the process.

Tucker Thompson House

As we headed back to the car, we had our next goal - the Old Burying Ground. This is a very popular destination as well. With another map and description printed out, we start to explore the old cemetery. It isn’t a huge place, only taking up half a city block but we discover that if we were to walk to each of the 28 graves sites of interest and read about the person, we would end up spending more time than we were willing to invest. It was an interesting stop but were aren’t as big of history buffs as you need to be to check out all the famous people buried here.

Old Burying Ground in Beaufort

Even though we ran out of interest in Beaufort history, it was only midafternoon so we decided to to drive east a bit to find a few of the more popular geocaches in the area and make it over to the county next door since we had yet to find a cache there. We end up in the town of Swansboro at the small but pretty Riverview Park. We find the geocache we wanted and walked along the boardwalk along the White Oak River. There was a guy carrying a small boat to the dock and looked to be assembling it right there before he put it in the water and started out. It was clear that this was a rather unusual personal watercraft and his propulsion system was battery powered. It wasn’t until I studied the picture of him leaving the dock that I saw his dual motor setup appeared to be two cordless drills tie wrapped to a mount with a couple of ropes positioned on the triggers so he could control each “propeller” independently thus allowing him to turn the boat. It was a quite inventive setup although it was clear how seaworthy the vessel was. Fortunately it was a calm day so he would hopefully be okay.

Riverview Park in Swansboro NC

Unique Boat Motor Configuration

We had a nice time at Morehead City Elks Lodge for the 5 nights. It is a quiet neighborhood and the lodge was seldom open so there wasn’t too much traffic in the parking lot. The most activity we saw was the caterers coming and going on occasion.