With the rain came the cold weather…and my hubby’s SIBO symptoms.
Since he had been eating rather well, we’re guessing this is a result of some stress, due to lots of forthcoming events all at once.
Thus, we canceled our plans to tour the stunning 1920s waterside home near us, now called the Whalehouse Club.
Promising future trips, we anticipate next time for a visit.
Thankfully, I like our rental unit A LOT, so I felt quite beachy and cozily dry while doing some other actictivies.
SEASHELLS
For one, I decided to go through our massive sea shell collection from our two walks on the beach.
While shopping the other day, my hubby chose the big sea shell display box while I chose the smaller one, so I filled those up and they are ready to pack for home.
Then I settled down to read my souvenir books.
LIGHTHOUSES
From the Currituck Beach Lighthouse gift shop, I bought this book which will make great reference to all the lighthouses we’ve visited.
Meanwhile, I read the history of the lighthouses I’ve thus far visited: Point Isabel, Texas, Assateague Island, Virginia, Point Loma, California, and now Currituck Beach Lighthouse, Outer Banks, North Carolina.
ANDY GRIFFITH
Then I pulled out my Andy Griffith book, which I purchased at Timbuck II Shopping Village in Corolla.
When the cashier highly recommended it, she explained that Manteo is on Roanoke Island, a one hour drive from here, which we did the other day!
While attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Griffith began acting with The Lost Colony production in 1947 as a soldier.
Two years later, Griffith graduated to the premier role of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Falling for the area, Griffith kept his eye on a certain parcel of land near the Waterside Theater, home to The Lost Colony productions.
First visiting it to see a doctor who lived there, to treat his wife’s cold, their second visit was due to a dinner invitation from the doctor.
Although it was a coastal house with views of Roanoke Sound from nearly every room, the doctor had dubbed it Mountain Hill Farm.
From the house they could even view Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, across the Roanoke Sound.
Most exciting to Griffith would be the 60 acres of woods upon which the house sat, a boat dock, and the waters to ride a boat.
In future years, Griffith rode his boat from his home to the Waterside Theater, where he chatted with the young actors before their show.
The book is a quick interesting read about Andy Griffith’s life and connections made to Roanoke Island.
After reading it, I looked through all my photos and realized while we were driving to the Elizabethan Gardens and the Roanoke Colony site, that we had driven past the turn onto Andy Griffith’s property…and I had snapped a shot near that area!
THE LOST COLONY…OR WAS IT?
Then I pulled out a book my daughter-in-love gifted me a few years ago after she and my son returned from the Outer Banks.
Since she knew how 18th century I am, she thought I might enjoy The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island by Scott Dawson. (update: Scott Dawson’s website with a video here)
Determined to read it on vacation, I packed it in my suitcase for this trip.
Thinking this would merely be a review of what I had always heard and read, there was lots of new information. It’s now one of my favorite books!
From that first meeting with Scott, we have been working together to find that crucial archaeological evidence to show that the abandoned colonists survived on Hatteras Island from around 1587, making their lives first as a colony but, having given up hope that they would be rescued, soon moving into the Indian villages, forming relationships, spawning children and creating families. Their descendants, the Hatteras Indians, were able to forge a successful life on the island, surviving until at least 1700 as the “blue-eyed Indians” observed by John Lawson, the next Englishman to record the Outer Banks, since the writings of Thomas Harriot 120 years earlier. – Professor Mark Horton, Professor of Archaeology and Culture History, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, England, foreward to The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island
Growing up on the Outer Banks, I was familiar with the Lost Colony mystery…It was not until I was an adult and finished with college that I discovered the real history surrounding the colony…It started with simply reading the primary sources and collecting Indian pottery from construction sites and evolved into a multinational archaeological dig… – The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island by Scott Dawson, preface
…English military settlements…came to the Outer Banks before the Lost Colony…the word Croatoan left carved into a tree by the colony, was in fact Hatteras Island and…the colony was very familiar with the island and the Natives there…when the governor saw the message of Croatoan he knew exactly what it meant because he had been there and lived there before and the English had a man from there (Manteo) with them in the colony. – The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island by Scott Dawson, preface
We now know not just where they went but also what happened after they got there. It is a story of wars, politics and adventure that ended in the coming together of two very different cultures. – The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island by Scott Dawson, preface
I finished this book just before we left for dinner (my hubby was feeling much better and very hungry) so I chatted all night about all I learned.
Since we have to leave for home the next day, we want to return and explore Hatteras Island next time. Stay tuned!
For more photos, check my Flickr set.
