Some Time In The South

Over the last few years we have spent time exploring North Carolina. I had once believed I might live everywhere in the US but Dixie. It held no appeal. However, with my domestic wandering days behind me, here I now pleasantly sit.

North Carolina has three regions. From West to East they are the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Piedmont, and Coastal Plain. Each offers something unique, attractive and within a 4 hour drive. The mountains are a cool escape in the summer and a winter wonderland. The beach is pleasant in the summer as well, though the hurricane season is not so much.

North Carolina has interesting history those outside the state would probably never learn. It started out as a privately owned colony run as a business by English owners. It eventually became owned by the Crown like the other colonies, though North Carolinians like the Regulators did not like the taxation that came with it presaging the Revolution. They fought the Governor's militia at the Battle of Alamance over taxation and rights in 1771. North Carolina's status meant it was only populated and developed enough to run as an agricultural plantation and was (and still is) sparsely populated.

No permanent capital like Williamsburg here, until Tryon Palace was built right before the Revolution in New Bern. During the Revolution the Loyalists remained trapped there after the patriot militia used cannon on the mostly Scotch Highlander forces wielding their basket-hilt swords and targes at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776. The victory led to North Carolina being the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain.

North Carolina does have a fascinating, preserved colonial-period town at Old Salem established by German Moravians. It is still possible there to sleep in a period tavern and eat off pewter plates by candlelight.

The State likes to highlight it linkages to Blackbeard the Pirate, who was pardoned by the Governor of all previous piratical acts and settled in Bath off Ocracoke Inlet after burning his flagship Queen Anne' Revenge on a North Carolina sand bar. Of course, the Royal Governor of Virginia invaded North Carolina with militia and Britiah Royal Navy personnel to kill him off and haul his crew back to Williamsburg to stand trial. High schools here regularly call themselves the Pirates, Buccaneers, et al. and the Revenge has been found and preserved as a historical site.


North Carolina also has its share of Civil War ironclads. The CSS Neuse was built, sunk and discovered a century later at the bottom of the Neuse River in Kinston. It only action was to delay Union land forces from New Bern from reaching the railhead at Goldsboro during the Battle of Wyse Fork on March 8-10, 1865. Today, enthusiasts are rebuilding it in Kinston.

The sinking of the Neuse was closely followed by the Battle of Bentonville (March 19-21), being General Sherman's last major battle following his destructive "March to the Sea," the end of the CSA Army of Tennessee, and the last major engagement of the Civil War. Every 5 years the Last Charge of the Army of Tennessee is reenacted by enthusiasts from all over the United States (Some 2500 strong) on the national park site not far from our house. The final surrunder of remaining CSA forces occured April, 1865 at Bennett Place in the next county over. University of North Carolina's athletic moniker the "Tar Heels" comes from North Carolinians who served with the Army of Tennessee, who were called Tar Heels because they never gave ground. To this day North Carolina is known as the Tar Heel State.

Today's North Carolina offers world class symphony orchestra, opera company, ballet and museums of all kinds near our home. I enjoy singing with the chorus. Our family particularly enjoys its state-of-the-art, 500 acre, state zoo in Asheboro. The Piedmont is also host to a variety of wineries and surprisingly good German ethnic eateries.

When the weather is too hot in the Piedmont, we can drive to the Blue Ridge and enjoy sites like the Nature Convervancy's Grandfather Mountain (site of the annual Highland Games), the Yadkin Wine Valley and the beauty of the Biltmore estate. The mountains remind us of Utah and the altitude and summer temperatures fend off the mosquitos.

And if none of the above appeals, there is always the beach. We have been to the Cape Fear beaches and look forward to visiting those of the Outer Banks sooner rather than later; the birthplace of flight (though some in Ohio dispute that).