#36 NORTH CAROLINA

The Wright Brothers’ achievements forever changed travel. The world would be a much smaller place if on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina the Flyer didn’t make its first successful flight. This monumental event is so much more that just the Tar Heel State’s feat, but it happened in Kitty Hawk, NC and they rightly claim the glory. The two most popular tourist destinations of the Outer Banks are the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. They are terrific sites that I enjoyed on my 2002 visit but I didn’t go to either this time around. In fact I didn’t go anywhere. I checked into my hotel changed into my swimsuit and walked straight into the Atlantic. This was going to be all about kicking back and relaxing. No agenda, if only for 12 hours and I thank the Wright Brothers for their part in getting me here.

Barrier Islands like the Outer Banks rim the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. They are precariously perched bodies of sand parallel to the shore. Only about 2% of the world’s coastlines are fronted by barrier islands. Barrier islands act like living things, responding to the flux of nature by continually renewing and redefining themselves. This, of course, doesn’t lend itself to development. Early settlers built on the protected side of the islands but today the ocean-view demands top dollar despite the vicissitudes of the sea. At Nags Head, on the southern end of the Outers Banks, houses that stood third row back from the sea now have their foundations practically dipping on the surf. My hotel seemed too close for comfort. Wonder what it costs to insure or if that’s even possible. I get too practical sometimes.

Here are my random North Carolina tidbits to wow and amaze you all:

The red wolf was reintroduced to the Outer Banks in 1987 from near extinction. Today more than 100 wolves wander refuges and private land. Spotting them is unlikely unless you have local help. There are Wolf treks available through the Red Wolf Coalition, including “Howl Like a Wolf Hikes”.

Reading of the 1774 Edenton Tea Party in Tyrrell County made me chuckle: “51 ladies in solidarity with their anti tax Boston comrades, publically declared they would not conform to the pernicious custom of drinking tea.”

Wilmington, NC has Civil War sites, Southern mansions and an azalea festival and is on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2008 Top 12 Distinctive Destinations list. The US’s largest film studio outside of California, Screen Gems is in Wilmington. This fall’s The Secret Life of Bees and Nights in Rodanthe are just two of the flix filmed here.

Fayetteville is the home of the nation’s first miniature golf course.

On March 7, 1914, in Fayetteville, baseball player Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run.

More sweet potatoes are grown in NC than any other state. My apologies, but my food and beverage choices for North Carolina aren’t even items that I consume. In 1898, Pepsi-Cola was invented in New Bern. Originally called “Brad’s Drink” it constantly breaths down rival Coca- Cola corporate neck in quest of market share. And then there’s Krispy Kreme doughnuts, first made in 1937 Winston-Salem. I prefer sweet potatoes but Krispy Kreme has taken the world by storm.

Virginia Dare, born in 1587 on Roanoke Island, was the first English baby to be born in America. Sportscaster, Howard Cosell; singer Roberta Flack; actress Ava Gardner, Thelonious Monk, jazz musician, Edward R. Murrow and 11th U.S. President, James K. Polk, came along later.

The Appalachian Trail snakes through the far western arm of the state in the Smoky Mountains. North Carolina ranks as the 13th out of 50 most bike-friendly states by the League of American Bicyclists. The Outer Banks are definitely a road bike destination.

The North Carolina song is James Taylor’s Carolina in my Mind.

My North Carolina book choice comes from Book Club Classics: Kaye Gibbons’ Ellen Foster. Ellen Foster was an Oprah selection about 10 years ago and I read it then along with the masses. Re-reading it I was struck by tragedy and optimism of this little girl. Gibbons is from North Carolina and wrote this book while attending University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Here’s a summary of the first few pages from Oprah.com:
Ellen’s first eleven years are a long fight for survival. Her invalid, abused mother commits suicide, leaving Ellen to the mercies of her daddy, a drunken brute who either ignores her or makes sexual threats. Through her intelligence and grit Ellen is able to provide for herself, but her desperate attempts to create an environment of order and decorum within her nightmarish home are repeatedly foiled by her father. After his death, a judge awards Ellen’s custody to her mother’s mother, a bitter and vengeful woman who hated her son-in-law for ruining her own daughter’s life and who hates the child Ellen for her physical resemblance to him.

To quote Book Club Classics: “So, a light frothy beach read this is NOT. “

It’s a terrific, memorable read and I’m looking forward to picking up the sequel, The Life All Around Me.


http://www.nps.gov/wrbr
http://www.hatteras-nc.com/light/
Islands on the Edge by Jennifer Ackerman, National Geographic, August 1997
www.redwolves.com
www.visittyrrellcounty.com
www.visitedenton.com
http://www.bikeleague.org/news/090508bfs.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNjLUPqckWY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi
http://www.krispykreme.com/history.html
http://bookclubclassics.com/Blog/2008/06/13/kaye-gibbons-north-carolina-native/
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahsbookclub/pastselections/obc_pb_19971027_babout/1