Most of our time in NC was spent on the Outer Banks, but we enjoyed the pretty drive through areas like New Bern where we stopped to see a cool Civil War site:
As for the Outer Banks (aka OBX), this is a killer spot for an extended vacation! They have history, nature, recreation, shopping, and more. We first stopped at Roanoke Island to visit Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. This is the site of the infamous “Lost Colony.” Fort Raleigh was the first English colony in America, but mysteriously disappeared during a 3 year period when its governor, John White, went back to England for more support. When he returned, the colonists were nowhere to be found and almost the entire settlement was dismantled and gone. It was fun to learn about the different theories and speculate about what might have happened (attack, starvation, migration, assimilating into the Algonquin Indian tribe…). I was so impressed when Kate filled out this card on her own… “I thinnk that the colomi starved.”
Next we went to the Wright Brothers National Monument at Kill Devils Hills, NC where they made their awesome advances in flight!
This is the runway with markers that show how far each flight went on the day they finally had success.
I was so impressed when I learned more about these brothers. They worked so hard toward this dream without any formal training and as a result, they changed the world!
Lastly we made a stop at the beach. It was so pretty!
Definitely adding OBX to our list of favorite stops!
We enjoyed the Wright Bros. Museum so much. Jerry had read a book about the brothers and it made it all the more interesting for both of us as he shared things he’d learned from the book.
The Roanoke area was so beautiful. You could see why they wanted to colonize it. Katie’s comment was so impressive. She really internalized it.
We didn’t go to the Civil War site. What a good education these areas are for the kids. The local school children go on field trips there, but I’m sure they take it for granted. The east coast is such a treasure of history and artifacts! I’m always jealous of the groups of children on field trips as we are visiting the historical sites. They are so lucky! And so are our grandchildren!!