Beaufort, NC

Exploring Beaufort, NC... while I liked the SC city better for its beauty, this one has its interesting sites as well. The Maritime Musuem was notable for its vast shell collection, and since I've started a small one of my own, I was fascinated to see all the possibilities out there in the world.

Pic 1: Welcome sign at park at dock area.

Pic 2: Old cemetery has many stories. This grave has 2 people with different last names buried side by side. The story is the couple were married and he went to sea and didn't return. Presumed dead, she remarried and had a child. Many years later, the first husband returned from being marooned and found that his wife was with another man. They decided she would remain with the current husband in life as long as she was buried next to the first husband when she died, presumably to spend eternity with him.

Pic 3: This girl went with her father to visit their family roots in London and died on board ship on the return journey. Normally that would have meant burial at sea, but he had promised the mother that he would see her home safely, so he bought a casket barrel of rum and interred his daughter's body in it so she could be preserved and brought home for burial. The grave site is covered with toy trinkets that I'm thinking have been left by other children who visit and hear the story and want to leave her something.

Pic 4 and 5: The entrance gate and sign. Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers both black and white are buried here. There were many victims of the yellow fever of 1856, especially little ones. I have a morbid fascination with these old places I think I get from my mom. I remember visiting many old cemeteries as we were growing up.

Pic 6: Friday and Saturday nights we were serenaded by a girl named Ashley and her violinist friend at the restaurant on the boardwalk just 30 feet from our boat. They were so awesome that I got the information to follow her career, as I believe she will be very successful. It was hard to believe this was her first "gig", according to her husband. She reminded me of Joan Baez and Jewel. I wish she'd had a CD to buy, so you guys could hear her sing and I could play her music as we travel this wet highway.

Pic 7 and 8: I took a ride on a Carolina Skiff boat out to an island called Shackleford Banks where only wild horses live now (left from the time the Spaniards were here) . The shelling was the best so far and I found several varieties including an intact conch, while my shelling friend for the day Duffy found a large helmet shell, the only one I've ever seen.