Doreen and Laura's Excellent Adventure: The Tar Heel State

North Carolina - part one

(Sightseeing and seeing friends)

April 22, 2018 - May 2, 2018

We met a very nice couple at a campground in South Carolina and we happened to link up with them again at a campground in Bogue, North Carolina. Spent most of the time just lounging around while they tried to get their refrigerator repaired. It's always a bit of a struggle when you have to get something fixed and you are living in your motorhome. Somehow the repair people think they can just keep your motorhome in their shop for indiscriminate periods of time. In this case they promised to fix the motorhome at the campground but then keep putting it off for several days, not calling until near the end of the day to say they weren't coming! When they finally arrived and diagnosed the problem, they didn't have the necessary part! Really - you just want to tear your hair out.

Our friends Alice and Bill.
They have done extensive traveling around the world through the years as well as around the U.S. in their RV.
They often work at campgrounds in return for a camp spot. Their home base is currently in Texas.
Bill is an expert in electrical "stuff" and Alice is amazingly creative and has done some beautiful stained glass windows. She's also quite a photographer and can put together a video presentation so fast it can make your head spin!

We know Alice and Bill will be going to the Maritime Provinces this year and we hope we'll see them up there.

North Carolina is called the Tar Heel State because its extensive pine forests lead to the production and export of huge amounts of tar, rosin, pitch and turpentine early in it's history. And now you know!

One of my college friends moved from Michigan to North Carolina and built a home after she and her husband retired. Unfortunately for me, right at the time we were getting close to their location, she and her husband had to go be with their daughter after she had a C-section at 8 month's pregnant. We'll try to see her when we head south next winter. Meanwhile, we saw the sights around the area starting with the Aurora Fossil Museum in Aurora, NC.

One of those little gem's you sometimes find in the most unexpected places.

This museum is the beneficiary of two things. A local phosphate mine and the millions of years of geologic history of the area. Millions of years ago, the area was covered at different times by both deep and shallow seas leaving millions of fossils stuck in the sediments. They are dug up on a regular basis by a phosphate mine in the area. The mine donates this fossil rich gravel to the fossil museum so that visitors can search for treasures. The gravel you see in the foreground of the picture above is one of two piles visitors can dig through.

Looking for fossils is a popular thing to do.
We spent several hours there digging and chatting with others doing the same thing.

Our "dig" yielded all these shark teeth.

These large shark teeth were given to us by one of our neighboring diggers.
We would have been beside ourselves if we had found anything this large on our own!

The museum itself has numerous examples of fossils that have been found in the area including shark's teeth (above) and shark disk cartilage (below).

Note: the small white disk in the lower right is from a modern 12 foot great white shark.
Kind of scary to think how big these prehistoric sharks were.

This specimen of a "scissor-jawed" shark is from Illinois.
This jaw is very different looking than the typical jaw of a modern shark (as shown below).

There where numerous examples of the jaws of various species of modern sharks.
The teeth leave no doubt of the injury they would inflict.

Close up of the teeth from the jaw above.

Laura was swallowed by this giant shark but luckily it spit her back out.

There probably were sharks with mouths this size at one one but this one is just for fun!

This little museum also had collections of fossilized shells, rocks and minerals as well as some prehistoric clay figures from Honduras. We found it well worth the visit.

One of the women we talked with while digging for fossils told us we should see the town of Oriental while we were in the area. It wasn't far from where we were staying so we drove over and discovered a charming little town which bills itself as the "sailing capital of North Carolina."

We found a wonderful park right on the bay which Barney loved. After a walk we got ourselves some coffee, sat down in some Adirondack chairs in the park, and enjoyed the view.

Our last outing in the area was to the town of New Bern, the original capital of North Carolina. It is situated on the Neuse River and is very picturesque. New Bern is also famous for being the birthplace of Pepsi in 1890.

Tryon Palace, the original governor's residence and site of the first sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly is a must see when you are here. The palace is a replica of the state's first capital.

Panoramic view of Tryon Palace and it's adjacent buildings (kitchen on left and stables on right).

The fact that this replica of the palace exists is actually quite an amazing story. The main building and the kitchen burned to the ground in 1798. The remains of both buildings were removed and new buildings and roads soon filled in the empty grounds. The old stable building was re-purposed several times through the years, mostly servings as apartments. Beginning in the late 1920's a group of 5 women got together with a mind to recreate Tryon Palace. It was a daunting task! The original property had to be re-purchased from about 50 property holders. Roads had to be removed and new roads established. Funds had to be raised and plans drawn up. Amazingly the original architectural plans for the building still existed and the original foundation for the palace was located. It took nearly 30 years to jump over all the hurdles and construct the replica and the result is amazing. Leave it to a group of determined women to get the job done!

View from the back of the palace.
The bridge in the distance would not have been there of course.

North Carolina's General Assembly met in this room during the period New Bern was the capital.

The governor's library.
Beautiful details, lovingly recreated.

Some of the period furniture in the Palace.

The dining room.

Exquisite stairway to the 2nd floor.

One of the bedrooms.

They have some really beautiful pieces of period furniture in the palace.

Wonderful fireplace.

Another bedroom with more wonderful furniture.

Center aisle of the restored stables.

Stalls in the restored stables.

Main kitchen in the kitchen building.

Colonial kitchen utensils.

Near the palace are several historic homes dating back to the late 1700's and early 1800's which have been moved to the area from other locations in the city. They are also available to view as part of the overall palace tour.