Blackbeard the Pirate

Our previous stop was in Washington, North Carolina.  About 20 miles east, towards the coast is a small town called Bath.  This was the first town in North Carolina.  In its heyday it was a bustling port city but over time it became irrelevant and is now just a stop in the road with some history.  Besides being the first town in North Carolina it was also the home of the famous pirate, Blackbeard.  Blackbeard was pardoned by the governor of North Carolina and “retired” to Bath, however actually he continued his pirating ways on the Outer Banks and supposedly funneled money to the governor to not do anything about it.  The town of Bath tolerated him because he brought back a lot of goods to the town, however over time they changed their mind and petitioned the governor of Maryland to capture Blackbeard.  Armed forces from Maryland captured and beheaded Blackbeard off the Outer Banks at Ocracoke Island.  We went to Bath and, now that we are in the Outer Banks, we went to Ocracoke Island.

Here are some pictures from Bath

Original church from the 1700’s

Inside the church

House of the founder of Bath

View from the front of the house shown above, gorgeous!

As I mentioned we are now in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We took the long way here to avoid the ferries.  This meant going further north and then coming across via the highway from the mainland through Roanoke Island and onto the Outer Banks.  If we had gone the shorter route it would have meant two ferries with our truck and trailer.  According to the website the ferries can handle large rigs but I had concerns and the ferry rides were long, 2 1/2 hours for one and 1 hour for the other.

We are staying in the non touristy area of the Outer Banks, Hatteras.  This is about 70 miles south of Kitty Hawk.  The RV park has seen its better days but has new owners who are in the process of renovating the place.  We picked the park as it was the best value of all the parks on the island and received decent reviews.  There are only two other RV’s in the park!

On Friday we took the free ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island.  This would have been one of the ferries we would have taken with our RV had we come the shorter route.  Here you can see how tight it is on the deck.

There was a motorhome and a large truck on the ferry, so I could see how it would work, but still to make the slight turn to get on and off the ferry would have been nerve racking.

Ocracoke Island completes our Blackbeard tour as this is where he was captured and killed.  To have some fun, here is a picture of me as Blackbeard

Blackbeard’s real name was Edward Teach.

The island still has a working lighthouse that dates back 100 plus years.  It is made of brick and is five feet thick at the base.

The beaches are absolutely beautiful and you can drive on them if you have an off road permit.

The island had a herd of ponies that ran wild.  As building began and the highway was constructed the ponies were getting killed.  The National Park Service planned to remove the herd from the island but the locals fought that action and the compromise was a large fenced in area for them to roam with a holding pen where they rotate in a couple of ponies so the public can see them.  They are just slightly smaller than a horse.