Friday, we left Oriental on a driving tour. Chris and Nancy were our guides and we were pretty much lost most of the day. We took the Cherry Branch - Minnesott Beach ferry enroute to Harkers Island. It was about a 20 min ferry ride, pretty similar to crossing Lake Champlain in Charlotte. It was a nice sunny day to enjoy a boat ride.
On Harkers Island we saw some classic fishing vessels, it is fascinating to look at these boats and the rigging they use to make their living from the sea.
Harkers Island is a bit like going back in time, it was a fun stop with a good museum.
As we were touring the museum I could not help but think of our friends Jeff and Linda, Jeff loves to hunt water fowl, Linda is a quilter; this museum is for them, it has both.
The lookout from the top is pretty spectacular.
From the museum we moved on to Beaufort and viewed the NC Maritime Museum, another cool museum. On the boardwalk you can also look into the boat shop where they repair and restore boats.
We also walked the board walk and gawked at the boats, none of which would fit in our marina.
Near Beaufort is Fort Macon state park. It has great beaches that go on forever, which seems to be the case with most NC beaches, fine, perfect sand, forever.
Next to the state park is Fort Macon, a fort built as one of the coastal forts after the war of 1812. It reminds me alot of Fort Polaski in GA, but smaller. During the civil war it suffered the same fate, captured by the confederates, but unable to be defended from the Union rifled canons off shore, it surrendered within a day of shelling. It is still an impressive fort, that is pretty much intact.
Two good looking guys...
From Beaufort we moved onto New Bern another port town. We went there for lunch/dinner. Entering New Bern you immediately notice that there are bears on every corner. These are the New Bern Bears, there are over 80 of them in the village; all uniquely painted. They do catch your eye.
From Beaufort we headed back to Oriental, we crossed a few more bridges....it was another fun day.
Tomorrow we plan to visit Eric (June's nephew) and Myra only about 100 miles from Oriental.
There is so much history in this area, really the whole coast. Chris and Nancy were great tour guides too. Fred took some drone footage of their property, they have a few acres right on the river. On to the next adventure.
ReplyDelete