The Lost Colony

In 1587, 3 ships sailed from England with 110 people including 17 women and 9 children to form a new colony in the new world. Spain had already started settling the new world and the English were worried that they would be left out of the riches if they didn't have colonies there as well. Although they were heading for Virginia, they first stopped at Roanoke Island to resupply a military garrison there. The ships pilot decided that it was too late in the year to head north to Virginia so the colonists were left at Roanoke. The men of the garrison had run ins with the local natives and were missing, so the colonists were dropped off with not enough provisions in hostile territory and no one there to help them get started.

There is replica of one of the ships that actually sails as well as a town site and indian village at the location of the original colony. There people in costume tell the stories of the Lost Colony. Shortly after being dropped off at Roanoke, Virginia Dare was born, the first English child born in the new world. Her grandfather, the leader of the colony left a week later with the only ship to go back to England for provisions. His ship was pressed into service to fight the Spanish Armada and he never returned for 3 years.

When he returned, the colony was gone. All the buildings as well as all the people were missing. There was no sign of a fire, everything had been removed. The colonists were never found and to this day no one knows what happened to them. Even Virginia Dare had disappeared with them.

The original military site has been uncovered because an earthen fort had been built prior to the colonists arrival. It is known where the colony was, just not where everyone went. In the replica town, life as it may have been in the colony is depicted. These poor unfortunates don't know they are going missing. I wasn't sure whether I should tell them.

Most of the male colonists were armed to protect against the Spanish or native attacks. These are authentic weapons and I got to try my hand with a number of them. I was pretty good at the swashing but not so much at the buckling. More practice I guess.

Everything needed to build a colony was either brought from England or built on site. This lathe was built from raw lumber and was quite ingenious. Everything from wheel spokes to chair spindles could be turned out. I've heard of the Lost Colony over the years so its kind of cool to see where it all began. This all happened 20 years before Jamestown, considered the first permanent English colony in North America. A lot of history happened on this little strip of sand where we're staying.

The Wright Brothers

I have always been fascinated by flight and knowing that the spot where heavier than air flight started was only 30 miles away, We had to go see it. We've all heard the stories of how the Wright brothers made the first flight but to be at the actual spot where it happened is special. Every winter for years, they left Dayton Ohio and flew progressively more complex kites to understand lift and aerodynamics which there was little know about. They chose Kitty Hawk because of the constant winds and sand to land on which cushioned bad landings.

Kill Devil hill was over 120 feet high and was perfect for launching gliders into the wind. In the winter of 1902, they made over 1000 glider flights with their improved glider from the top of the hill to the open area below. Although it doesn't look like much, its a steep climb and carrying a 120 pound glider back up must have been tiring. They now had the air frame perfected, but needed a motor to push it.

Between 1902 and 1903, the Wright brothers built their own engine because there weren't any light enough and with enough horsepower to push the plane into the air. The cool thing about the Wright brothers is that they didn't just fly the first airplane. They invented the wind tunnel so they could test different wings. They discovered the three axis of flight, roll, pitch and yaw and developed ways to control them. They hand built the first engine that was light enough and powerful enough (12 Hp) to lift a plane. They hand built the first airplane propellers. All of these were needed for the plane to fly. They truly were mechanical genius'.

On Dec17th, 1903 they flew for the first time. The first flight was 12 seconds long and went 120 feet. They flew a bit farther on each following flight. On the last flight it went 852 feet in 52 seconds. In the centre left of the photo you can see a boulder which marks the starting point of each flight and a white marker shows where they landed. The first one is hidden behind a couple of people and the last one is far off to the right. Sure doesn't look very far does it? The 2 buildings were their workshops and living quarters for the winter.

I'm standing at the take off point for each of the flights. Its hard to believe all of our airplanes, jets and rockets started here. After the last flight, a gust of wind flipped the Wright Flyer over and badly damaged it and broke the engine. They were done for the year.

This monument was built at the top of Kill Devil hill 25 years after the first flight. By then, WW1 had seen squadrons of planes fighting over the battlefields and men had flow across the Atlantic. Things sure took off fast.

This life size artwork was built for the centennial of the first flight. It depicts the moment that the plane left the ground for the first time and is accurate to scale. Its made out of stainless steel and weighs 10,000 pounds. The Wright Flyer weighed 605 pounds.

Because this Flyer is so heavy I though I'd give Wilbur a hand stabilizing it as it takes off.

And whats a monumental event like this without adoring fans. Well, time to fly.

On to Cape Hatteras

As we travel north on our way home we want to see places we haven't been yet. Cape Hatteras on the east coast of North Carolina seems like a good place to check out. Its a very narrow spit of land called the Outer Banks. If you look on a map its not even a pencil line wide. Lets head across Pamlico Sound and check out our new home.

As we drive south along the main road there are spots where the ocean is so close to the sound on the other side that they have piled sand up to keep the ocean from flowing across the road. Water still oozes through the sand and pools on the road. I hope it doesn't storm while we're here.

We arrived at our campground without sinking and took time to meet our neighbours; perhaps when they arrive. I'm standing on the big man made sand dune on the ocean side of the campground. The building with the red on it sits on the other water side. Its about 1/2 mile from sea to sea, to coin a phrase.

This is the ocean view on the one side of our campground. As we go to sleep at night we drift off to the sound of the surf crashing; its very soothing.

Driving here, we spent most of the day in the rain so Harvey was pretty dirty. I decided to take a day and hand wash the grit off. Looked pretty good, I must say. It took all day but its worth it.

Cape Hatteras is beside the Atlantic Ocean and hundreds of ships have sank over the years due to storms and sand bars far out to sea. The worst sand bar is just off the coast where the Cape Hatteras lighthouse sits. That area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic it is so dangerous. This is the tallest lighthouse in the US at 208' and is part of 4 lighthouses along the cape to protect ships.

The lighthouse was originally built where I'm standing and was moved in the 1990's back to where it is now. Thats over a mile. Years ago I saw a program on Discovery showing a lighthouse being moved which was really interesting. I had no idea where it was until I saw this one; it looked the same. There are books at the park office showing how the move was done. In 100 years, the ocean had claimed enough shoreline to threaten the lighthouse and force its move. It is now the same distance from the ocean as it was 100 years ago.

Most of the buildings on the cape are built like this one. Its on stilts about 15 feet off the ground. The lattice works hide the poles and open area. The cape is so low and narrow that big storms or hurricanes will sweep over areas covering them with water. This style of construction survives the best. A large hurricane in the 1930's actually cut the cape into 3 parts. A bridge has been built over one of the openings, but the other was so wide that a ferry service is used to cross the open water to the town which was cut off by the washout. I think I'd head to high ground whenever a bad storm threatens.

We get to watch the sunrise on the Atlantic side (yeah right). By walking a few hundred yards we get to see the sunset over water as well. What a cool campsite. This is one of the best spots we've stayed so far. Being close to the ocean and falling asleep to its roar it very therapeutic. Now lets do a little exploring.

Myrtle Beach - again

If you've been following our blog, you know we stayed in Myrtle Beach when we headed south in the fall. Here we are again. Nothing much has changed except the traffic is worse and the weather is cooler. But, there's still a few things we didn't do when we were here last. This is the typical walk along the beach except this time I felt I was in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds". Didn't get pecked though.

One thing we wanted to do which we didn't do in the fall was go to see a pre-civil war plantation. About an hours drive south of Myrtle Beach was the Hampton Plantation. We did a tour of the mansion but it didn't have any furniture but some of the walls were open so you could see the way the building was built.

The main road to the plantation is lined with Holly trees. You couldn't see most of the house, so when you arrived in front the sudden view was spectacular. To the right of this road was a horse race track so the plantation owners could come and race on Sundays and holidays.

Around the front yard were a number of very old oak trees. These were planted before the US became a country, around 1730. Remember, the US became a nation in 1774.

Right in front of the home is a giant oak, called the Washington Oak. After the US became a nation, George Washington traveled around the country convincing people to support the new nation. The southerners were particularly ambivalent about the whole thing. The owners of this plantation were among the most powerful people in the Carolinas and he stopped here to discuss the benefits of the new nation with them. Apparently, they discussed removing this tree to improve the view of the race track and Washington convinced them to leave it. Its kind of neat to look at a tree that George Washington had looked at as well. Thats around 250 years ago.

Although this was a working plantation, the owners planted a number of plants and trees to beautify the property. One of prettiest shrubs is the Camelia which blooms early in the year.

Our timing was great and we got to see dozens of Camelias in full bloom. In a couple of weeks, they will be finished but then it will be time for Magnolias to bloom. They planned their plants so that something would be blooming nearly all the time.

From 1730 to the civil war, this plantation made a fortune growing rice. A 350 acre island behind the mansion was cleared of trees, leveled and ditches were dug to allow controlled water flow to the rice plants. This was all done by hand by the over 365 slaves who toiled here. The owners made a fortune raising rice until the civil war when the market for rice dried up and the loss of slave labour made growing rice too expensive. A lot of the slaves, when freed, stayed on at the plantation as sharecroppers where they would work a patch of land and give most of the crop to the owners of the land as rent. There is a slave cemetery on the property and descendants of the original slaves are still being buried there. I always though of plantations as growing cotton, and didn't realize rice was also grown in that volume. Descendants of the original owners continued to own the plantation until the 1970's when the property was sold to the state of South Carolina and turned into a Heritage Site.

The Okefenokee Swamp

About an hour from where we are camping lies the famous Okefenokee swamp. With our fridge finally replaced and working fine, we had some free time so figured this would be an interesting place to visit. There is a visitors centre which describes the history and makeup of the swamp. At over 400,000 acres, its the largest freshwater swamp in North America and is fully protected as a National Wilderness area. That means the area is being kept natural and visitors are strictly controlled to protect animals and vegetation.

If you wish to travel into the swamp you need to go in supervised groups with a guide. Thats to protect the area as well as keeping tourists from getting lost. Wilderness canoeing and camping can be done at designated sites although the thought of tenting amongst the over 25,000 gators doesn't appeal at all.

From the visitors centre to the main area of the swamp is a canal to travel on. This was built about 120 years ago by a company called the Okefenokee Swamp Company. Their plan was to run a canal through the swamp which would drain the swamp to the St. Marys river. Then they could cut down all the trees and sell housing lots and they would all get rich. Most of the canal dredging was done by convicts using horses and hand equipment. They managed to go 10 miles before they ran out of money. The canal as still there and is the only water over 2 feet deep so it suits the boats which are used for tours.

The trip down the canal was quite long and the guide gave everyone who wanted to a chance to drive the boats. Grammie is following in the footsteps of hundreds of people who have navigated the swamp over the years. The guide is a 7th generation swamper and had all kinds of stories to tell. The swamp was famous for being a hideout for illegal stills where they made "white lightning".  Stills were made on rafts and if its location became risky, the owner would pole it to another location.

A lot of the swamp is open water like this called a prairie. Its only a foot or two deep with no bottom to speak of. Its all rotting vegetation underwater and when a pole is pushed in, methane gas bubbles up. Sometimes big chunks of the bottom break free and rise to the surface pushed up by the methane. As these float, plants and small trees will take root and soon it looks like a small island. You can walk on the older ones but they bend and twist causing the trees and shrubs to sway. The name Okefenokee is a native word for "Land of Trembling Earth".

All those islands in the background are floating; pretty cool, huh. As you may know, Grammie comes from Grande Prairie, Alberta so we thought this sign was neat. Thankfully it never gets this wet in Alberta.

It was a cool day but sunny so we saw a few gators that have climbed up on hummocks to soak up the sun. After being told there were over 25,000 gators in the park I figured they would be stacked on top of each other but we only saw a few. Kind of makes you wonder where they all are.

Because the water is so shallow, cypress trees will take root and grow. Boaters give them a wide berth because, if you will recall from a previous blog, they have big root knobs (called knees) that stick up above the water line and are one of the few solid objects in the swamp. Big problem if you hit one of them. No water comes into the swamp except rain. In dry years this area may be too low to boat. The water drains from the swamp by the St. Marys River and the Suwanee River. They both start their journey in the swamp.

Without man to disturb them, a lot of animals thrive here. This blue heron is sitting on dry land, its part of the canal wall. Panthers, bobcats, a dozen different snakes as well as many other animals call the swamp home. If you're lower down on the food chain this would not be a friendly place. Because water drains from the swamp and none come in, its considered almost pollution free, just rain pollutants get in. The water is the colour of dark tea and is slightly acidic from the rotting plants underwater. In fact the swamp is mostly peat.
Its one of the healthiest ecosystems on earth; thanks goodness the plan to drain it didn't work out.

Starting for Home - Georgia bound

Although we don't need to be home for awhile yet, its time to take our first step on heading north. So we leave early for 2 reasons, 1 to beat the morning rush and 2 to stop and have our fridge looked at which had quit 4 days ago. Obviously leaving early didn't solve the first reason and after stopping at LazyDays, a huge RV repair depot about an hour along our way, we were told they couldn't see us for 6 to 8 weeks. We discussed that option as we left their parking lot.

It was a beautiful day for a drive and we enjoyed the companionship of the other drivers as we headed north. Lunch gave us a break and a chance to stretch our legs. Coming south in the fall, the rest areas handed out free orange juice; no such luck going home.

Because we left so early and didn't spend much time getting repairs, we arrived at our campsite in Georgia nice and early. This gave us time to do our hookups and even Star Choice for CBC news tonight. We then relaxed in our lawn chairs with a refreshment. This is the universal signal among RVers that not only have you arrived without incident but you are already fully functional and are ready to accept visitors. Neighbours stopped by and commented on our efficiency at setting up and the fact that they don't normally drink until after noon. Fooled them, it was only orange juice. And it was after 4PM.

We went for a walk after supper and found the dock and boardwalk beside the campground. Although we are camped about 10 miles from the ocean, this river, the Crooked River, is still affected by the tides. At the moment, the tide is out and the marsh is nearly dry.

Sea and fresh water combine here making for brackish water that not much lives in. This egret is looking for frogs in the mud. In 6 hours this will be under 6 feet of water.

The next day dawned cold and rainy. This made it an in day which was OK. I needed to find a service company and arrange for a new fridge while Grammie had to do housekeeping and wash some clothes. We both got our jobs done but had to have happy hour inside where it was dry.

The new fridge doesn't come until Thursday so today we decided to head to the coast and see whats there. We found the small town of St. Marys which is famous for being around a long time, as far as I can tell. Its also the departure point for Cumberland Island, an historic island without cars, stores, or much of anything except lots of walking. Look it up, its fascinating!

As we enjoyed our walk around historic St. Marys, we came across the Orange Hall which, according to their brochure, is "A perfect example of Greek Revival type of architecture - every detail correct" That may be, I'm not an expert on that but I found the design fascinating. It was built by a local preacher with a rich family and was the finest statement of modern architecture when it was built in 1826. The ground floor was 10' tall and was used by the servants/slaves. It was built 10' tall because studies had show that mosquitoes and gnats only fly up to 8 feet off the ground. Remember, screened windows never came into usage until the 20th century. The interior rooms on the next 2 floors were large with no walls except around the centre hallways. The staircase to the upper floor was huge and very ornate. All of the windows on both the floors could be opened and were high enough to walk through. So what you say? On a hot summers day (and believe me it gets hot in southern Georgia), all of the windows would be opened. Even without a breeze, warm air would rise from the lower floor, up the staircase and out the upper windows. As the house heated up, this airflow would be so pronounced that the lower curtains would billow in and the upper curtains would blow outwards. Therefore, air movement was created of such volume that some of the discomfort would be mitigated. Now, remember the 10' lower floor? Without that, you would also have a home filled with flying biting insects. You've got to admit thats a great design. Maybe you have to have an Air Conditioning background to appreciate how cool this is. Sorry, I got carried away.

Oh, by the way, theres a great submarine museum in St. Marys which we enjoyed touring. I assume its there because of the nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, just outside of St. Marys. A number of nuclear submarines were decommissioned as part of the arms reduction treaties and just outside the naval base they built a life sized trident submarine as a display using the conning tower from one. It appears to be rising out of the lawn, actually quite cool.