North Carolina Historic Sites – slowly she turned

It took me a while to get around to this, but Sandy and I spent a much too short weekend at the beach on Oak Island, NC with friends. We ate a lot of great food and played games and made some fine new friends. The house was next to the Intracoastal Waterway on the sound side and the deck facing it was shady and comfortable. I could easily have spent all my time on that deck!

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I walked a little on the beach but my foot wasn’t happy about it. That’s okay. Another time.

Later Saturday afternoon, four of us drove to Fort Caswell, which is private now but they let us drive around for twenty minutes. Just down the road is the Oak Island Lighthouse and between it and the ocean was a boardwalk with informational signs about the flora and fauna of the area. Very nice. You can see Bald Head Island behind Sandy in the distance.

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We really really really really reaaaaaally hope that we get invited back to this spot with this group.

Yesterday Sandy and I drove south to Town Creek Indian Mound, a state historic site in Montgomery County, North Carolina. I had never been there, and Sandy had gone many years ago. Unfortunately, the visitor center with the museum and gift shop was closed, but we could walk around the reconstructed mound and buildings and a prairie had been re-established in the once groomed picnic grounds around the site.

There is a large creek running on one side and a nature trail through the woods that is easy and flat, although this time of year it was muggy and buggy. Still, it was good to go some place different and get outside. I was able to get some nice photos.

I wore a mask outside most of the time because my allergies are kicking butt.

Also, I was surprised to see that Troy and Mt. Gilead had some interesting shops in their downtown areas. I hope that they are still there post-pandemic because I’m not shopping for anything but essentials inside stores until things get much safer.

Morrow Mountain State Park is nearby and one thing that I would like to do during this time is to visit as many state parks and historic sites within a day’s drive as possible to force myself out of the house. We used to go to nearby Lake Tillery and Badin Lake about 20-25 years ago when we had an operating jet ski and friends that had places down there. There was a Revolutionary War reenactment that we participated in a couple of times in the area. That area is where the Henley side of my family settled in the 18-19th century. So I wouldn’t mind going back.

Another family connection, although not by blood, is that my grand nephew is the direct descendant and namesake of the archaeologist who directed the reconstruction at Town Creek.