Roanoke Island and Cape Hatteras Nov 6-7

View from our campsite on Roanoke Is

We camped on Roanoke Is. at a very pleasant RV park along a lake.  Roanoke Island was the site of the first English settlement established in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh.  It lasted about a year, but when Sir Francis Drake showed up the settlers said “We’re out of here! Take us back to England.” The next year Sir Raleigh brought in another batch of settlers, and promised to re supply them in a few months.  Unfortunately, England was at war with Spain, and did not get back to the settlement for three years.  When they arrived, the settlement was empty, 116 settlers disappeared.  We would like to think that the settlers went off and joined the Indians, but there is no evidence to support that outcome.  They might possibly have been saved by space invaders.  It remains a mystery.

The last vestige of the "Lost Colony" (recreated of course)

Today Roanoke Island is a fishing and seafood processing center, or a tourist trap, depending on which end of the island you visit.  The north end of the island has the tourist stuff, the south the harbor. The harbor reminded me very much of Moss Landing, lots of working boats, and weathered buildings.

Toursist Harbor on Roanoke Is

I went to a concert put on by students of the North Carolina Agriculture and Technical University.  It is a traditionally black college, (I am not sure how these schools deal with integration) and the music was a combination of Spiritual music, scenes from Porgy and Bess, and a jazz ensemble.  The music was great and it was quite enjoyable.

Blowing sand on the road to Cape Hatteras

Today we took a day trip down the outer banks to Cape Hatteras.  The lighthouse was built in 1870 and is the tallest on the east coast at 208 ft.  In 1999 it was moved a half mile inland as its original location was getting too close to the ocean.

Pats,Dede at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

It took 2 years to separate the lighthouse from its foundations, put a steel structure underneath that could be jacked up on to a track so that the tower could be moved 5ft at time.  It took 23 days to move the lighthouse 2900 ft.  It sits today like it had always been there.  They also moved the brick lighthouse keepers house and put them in the same relative positions at the new location.  They call the project “The move of the century.”  Lighthouses today are of marginal value to navigation, they are totally automatic, but they make great tourist attractions, and climbing all those steps can help in the battle or fight obesity.  I think we should build more.