June Roadtrip, Day 8, Up the Coast

 Day 8

Tuesday. June 8

      Today was a travel day.  I had prebooked the 4P ferry to Ocracoke Island   Best guess, it would be a two and a half hour drive up the coast.  Easy enough.  Booking the later one meant I had no rush getting out, and plenty of time to explore along the way.

      Another great bonus of staying at my sister's place... laundry.  It's amazing how much you can accumulate in just a week on the road.  Thanks Sis!

      After working my way through quite a few construction zones and detours, I finally found my way to Hwy 17, headed north.  The first stop of the day was the town of Hamstead.  Sure, you could drive through it in about fifteen minutes.  Many people do. 

     Emmitt Sniff wanted people to notice.  He was the owner of the Sniff Plastering Company.  Using concrete and plaster, he started building sculptures that you can still see scattered along Hwy 17.  

     This model of the Cape Hatteras Light sits in the lot of a company that builds homes.

    This is in front of the church he attended.

     Hwy 17 took me inland and through the city of Jacksonville.  Outside one of the gates to the Camp Lejeune Marine Base you'll find a memorial to the Two hundred-twenty Marines who died in a terrorist attack on their Beirut barracks in 1983.  They were there as part of an international peace keeping force, when the driver of a truck drove through the gate and detonated his bomb.

   Leaving Jacksonville, I picked up Hwy 24 back towards the coast.  Hey 70 would take me the most of the way.  With still plenty of time, I took a side trip towards Atlantic Beach and Fort Macon State Park.  

    Completed in 1834, its main purpose was to protect a gap in the barrier islands known as the Beauford Inlet.  The area was attacked and plundered by Spain in 1747, and again in 1782 by the British. 

     It was also a regular stop by the pirate Blackbeard.  In 1996, his ship, Queen Anne's Revenge, was discovered off shore. It had been run aground in 1718.  You can read more about the recovery effort here.

     Fort Macon was named after Senator Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina, who arranged the funding for the fort.  Ironically, part of it was designed by Robert E. Lee.  

   Just days after the Civil War began, Fort Macon was seized by Confederate forces.  One year later, the fort was back in Union hands after a lengthy bombardment.  The new, more accurate cannon proved the fort's design to be all but obsolete.  

    After the war, the fort was briefly used as a prison, but restaffed during the Spanish American War.  In the 1930's it was restored and turned over to the state as a historical park.  However, during WWII, the fort became active again.  Artillery were brought in for coastal defense.  Afterwards, the fort was turned back over to the state.

    After leaving the fort, I did make a brief visit to downtown Beaufort.  Naturally, I did stop at Fishtowne Brewhouse for a pint.  

     Along the Beaufort waterfront...

    It was time to go.  I did have a ferry to catch.  I'd rather get there a little early and walk around, than find out I missed my slot.  A sign for a deli caught my eye as I turned onto Hwy 12.  The great staff at the Beaufort Cafe fixed me right up and commented they're the last food before the ferry.

   The road dead ends at Cedar Island and the ferry terminal.  I was third in line, and as it turns out, in no danger of having my slot given away.

   There was an old, gray retaining wall by the beach.  For some reason, I found in intriguing.  

    

      

     Like I said, I was in no danger of losing my spot on the ferry...

      Just killing some time on the ride...

   Ocracoke Island, my home for the night...

      I was only here one night, so I booked a room in the only relatively cheap place on the island, a place called Blackbeard's Lodge.  It's an interesting, yet rundown sort of motel.  To get to my room, I had to walk up some stairs to the second floor and walk out to the terrace area behind the sign. Then I had to go up the outside stairs on the right, and in through the door.  Good thing it wasn't raining.  

    By the way, I had read plenty of articles about how haunted the island is.  I saw nothing out of the ordinary.  

         It felt good to leave the car at the lodge and walk out towards the harbor for sunset...

      On the walk back, I met Beverly.  She retired here and often hangs out in the harbor for sunset.  We shared a few favorites from the evening before heading our separate ways.

       Back at the motel, there was a group of four people about my age.  They were sitting on the landing by our rooms.  They were well into a fifth of Wild Turkey and having a great time.  They invited me to pull up a chair and join them.  It was an interesting conversation.  But, I passed on the whiskey.

June Roadtrip, Day 7, A Long Delayed Name Change

 Day 7

Monday, June 7

     With the chance of rain 50% at midday, I decided to roll the dice and do the four and a half mile loop trail around the lake at Greenfield Park.  I remember this place from my youth mainly for the trees growing out of the water and the dripping spanish moss.   

      One thing was missing.  When we were kids here, there was a carousel.  Sadly, it's now in storage with no plan to bring it back.  

       The good news is, I did make it back to the car before first splatter of rain.  It was a perfect excuse to hole up in the Wilmington Brewing Company for a pint to wait it out.  

      It didn't take long for the sun to come back out.  So, I decided to do a drive through the old neighborhood.  While my family moved away in 1972, everything still seemed so familiar, just not as big.  I could even tell you what was in the neighbor's yards, both front an back.  Funny how that works.

      We had a city park close by that was mostly picnic pavilions and ball parks for the little league teams.  I still remember going and watching some of the older neighborhood kids play.  I also remember chasing down a few foul balls.  Return the ball to the concession stand for a free small soda.  

      

      

   

     This was the park Hugh McRae donated to the city to be designated whites only.   We had no idea who he was back then.  It wasn't exactly something people talked about.  Two years ago, the city took down the signs and renamed it Long Leaf Hills Park.  I was happy to read there was little opposition to the new name.  You can read more about the name change here.

     As evening approached, it was time to head back downtown to the river. 

 With a little time to kill, I walked a bit to the Flytrap Brewing Company.  They were having a trivia contest out in the beer garden.  It seemed a little heavy on pop culture for my taste.  However, their Rye Pale Ale was really good.

    The potential sunset conditions were hit or miss.  Heavy clouds in some places, light in others.  So, I found an empty table along the waterfront and settle in.

    I only mention the table because of the two young women who approached me all excited.  Apparently, this bench was used in a big scene from the show "One Tree Hill."  I'll free admit, I've never seen the show.  But, I found a vlogger who travelled to Wilmington just to visit the shooting sites.  She gets to this table at the 6:24 mark.

    Yes, I did take their picture at the table, on both their phones.

  As for sunset, kind of a bust...

June Roadtrip, Day 6, This Should Be Green

 Day 6

Sunday, June 6

     When I woke up and checked the weather, the radar was showing a large blob of red and yellow headed my way.  So, I decided to try and squeeze in a quick stop at Wrightsville Beach before the rain hit.  

     There was plenty of parking along the road, and what looked like parking meters.  They were at one time.  Now all parking at the beach is done through the Flowbird phone app.  So, I stood there leaning against the car and downloaded the app, registered my vehicle, tag number and credit card.  Only to be used once.  

    There's a decal on the post with a number.  Once the app was loaded and running, it gave me the posted number of that meter.  Great technology, or a bit creepy?

     There’s a small municipal park right by the bridge, and I walked down to it.  On the far side, right next to the bridge is where my Dad worked way back when.  It was a lab that studied corrosion.  The last time I was here, the lot was empty and a realtor told me it was being sold to developers.  This is my first visit since.

     Walking out to the edge of one of the public docks, I noticed a poorly moored boat.  Not until my second look did I realize just how poor it was.  I don’t know who it belongs to, but it had one of those orange stickers on it that you sometimes see on abandoned cars.

     When the rain started, I hung out under the gazebo chatting with a family who had planned to take their boat out.   When it tapered off, it was back to the car, back across the waterway and a stop for lunch at a place called the Fish House Grill.  

     On the far side of their lot, you can see the Harbor Island Bridge.  It's a draw bridge with a grated surface that hums as you drive over it.  As kids, we called it the Whistling Bridge.  It was always green.  Seeing it painted blue just seemed wrong.  

       With the rain starting to splatter again, it was a perfect excuse to spend a little time in another brewery.  The Wrightsville Beach Brewery  was just the place.   

     Back to my sister's house for a while, then out for sunset again.  I ditched the car at a large municipal lot on Market Street and started walking.  No bragging, but how often do you get the second spot, right inside the entrance?

      I hadn't gone far when I came across another historical marker from one of the city's less than memorable periods.  I had only heard of this recently myself.  By the late 1800's, Wilmington was segregated by race.  Both blacks and whites mostly kept to their own communities.  One place that wasn't segregated was the city government.  The black middle class was growing faster than the white.  Laws were being passed to bring down economic barriers.  

     In 1897, nine prominent Wilmington men started conspiring to put an end to it.  They called themselves the Secret Nine.  There first goal was to push white resentment as a wedge issue in the upcoming elections, spinning furiously.  They referred to North Carolina as a "white man's state"  and played up fear of "negro rule."  

     The rhetoric became more and more severe and came to a head on November 9th, 1898.  Hugh McRae, one of he Secret Nine organized a white supremacist rally  at the city courthouse, bringing a copy of the "White Declaration of Independence" to be read aloud.  

     McRae's group summoned the Committee of Colored Citizens and gave them an ultimatum.  Fall into line with the new rules and shut down the newspaper, the Daily Record, or else.  

      The next morning, five hundred white businessmen met at the armory and marched to the office of the Daily Record, doused it with kerosene and burned it down.  After a false rumor started to spread that a group of blacks had fired on the mob, all hell broke loose.  

     The mob grew to over two thousand.  They torched black owned businesses and homes.  Many were killed before the day was over.  The numbers aren't know, but estimated between sixty and three hundred.

     But, that wasn't the end of it.  The mob forced the mayor, city aldermen and police chief to resign at gunpoint.  Alfred Wadell, one of the coup leaders, was then installed as mayor.  A list was drawn up and every prominent black leader forced to leave town.  

      Hugh McRae donated land to the city as a whites only park.  Until two years ago, the park still bore his name.  It was the closest park to where I lives as a kid.  I'm just glad they finally changed the name.  

     On a much happier note, just up the street sits Wilmington's first microbrewery, the Front Street Brewery.  While the brewery only opening in 1995, the building dates back to 1865.

       After a couple of pints, it was time to settle in for sunset.  

         I've heard many street musicians in my day.  This guy had the most eclectic playlist.  He did some blues, Beatles, The Who and even even Bo Diddley.  

Coming Up,

I get approached by two very excited twenty-something women