Bertie County, North Carolina

On February 1, I had a fun daytrip to Bertie County. Earlier in the week, I posted a request on Facebook for ideas of things to see in Bertie County, and that added a lot to my trip!

Bertie County started as a Bertie Pricinct in 1722, and became Bertie County in 1739. It amazes me that this county was formed several decades before we became a country.

Bertie County Courthouse

I set my GPS for the Bertie County Courthouse in the county seat of Windsor, since I often include photos of the courthouse in my blog.It took roughly two hours to get from home to the courthouse in Windsor.

After I found the pretty courthouse, I found the quirky Livermon Park and Mini-Zoo nearby!  I was impressed by the animals in this small park, although I couldn't get too close. Still, it was fun to see them there. Since it had rained the day before, things were a little muddy, but it wasn't too bad.

Turkeys at the Livermon Zoo

After I walked around the park and zoo for a while, I found the nearby (and very pretty!) Cashie Wetlands Walk, a nice walk along the Cashie River wetlands. Things were still soggy and overcast from the overnight rain, but it was still a very pretty walk. I didn't walk the whole trail, but would like to return to finish it.

Cashie Wetlands Walk Sign

Later, I drove to the community of San Souci to ride the San Souci Ferry across the Cashie River. It's one of three cable ferries in North Carolina, and it was fun to take. If you're ever in the area, the San Souci Ferry is a fun ride, free and just takes a few minutes.


A friend told me about the documentary "Raising Bertie," a film about the lives of three young boys in Bertie County. I purchased it on Amazon, and look forward to finish watching it soon

I really enjoyed my trip to Bertie County, and would highly recommend exploring the area! If I make it back, one thing one my bucket list is the Historic Hope Plantation. I drove around the plantation, but didn't take time to get out and take the tour. .

Click on this link to see the rest of my Bertie County photos.

On the San Souci Ferry

Cashie Wetlands Boardwalk

Richmond County, North Carolina

George and I recently enjoyed a chilly Saturday in Richmond County, a rural county located on North Carolina's southern border. Richmond County has been around for a while, formed in 1779 from neighboring Anson County.

For such a rural county, Richmond County has several famous native sons, including musicians John Coltrane (born in Hamlet), Terius Youngdell Nash (born in Rockingham), and  Bucky Covington (born in Rockingham), NFL players Dannell Ellerbe and Melvin Ingram, Family Dollar founder Leon Levine, and former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Henry Frye (born in Ellerbe).

Richmond County Courthouse

One of our first stops was in Rockingham, the county seat. We found the lovely Richmond County Courthouse there. It's been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

One of the biggest draws in Rockingham in the Rockingham Speedway, known now as the Rock.It used to be a NASCAR racetrack until 2004. It's being redone as an entertainment venue. Nothing was going on when George and I stopped by, but it was still fun to see in person. I've never been into car racing, but growing up in the South, I can appreciate the fandom and enormity of the race track.

Hamlet Public Library

George and I also stopped in the city of Hamlet. Hamlet has a history as a railroad hub, and is home to the National Railroad Museum and Hall of Fame. George and I didn't get to visit it this time, but maybe next time we're in Hamlet.

The rest of my Richmond County photos are in an album on Flickr. Click on this sentence to view. 

Cakedy Cakes Mural in Hamlet

Duplin County, North Carolina

Duplin County Courthouse

I drove down to Duplin County to explore over the winter break, and had a fun time! Duplin County is a very rural county, and a pretty one. Duplin County was formed in 1750 from New Hanover County. (Later, Sampson County was created from part of Duplin County.) The county seat is Kenansville, named after State Senator James Kenan, a brigadier general in the Revolutionary War.

After a nice drive through the town of Warsaw, I found the town of Magnolia next. I enjoyed looking around Magnolia, and even found the library (which shouldn't be a surprise to those who
know me! Speaking of libraries and books, there's a book by a Magnolia native, Clara Baker McGrath, called Magnolia Girl's Adventures. After graduating from high school, she left Magnolia for Washington, DC, to work for the FBI.

Magnolia Cemetery

I also visited the Magnolia Cemetery, where I found a geocache.

Next, I visited the unincorporated community of Chinquapin. It's a small town with a rich history. It also has a couple of notable former residents. Caleb Bradham, inventor of Pepsi, was born there. Also, American author Randall Kenan spent time on the family farm in Chinquapin as a young child.

My last stop in Duplin County was in the town of Rose Hill. I stopped at the Duplin Winery, the largest winery in North Carolina. I didn't have take time for a tour that day, but I enjoyed a late lunch at the Bistro there. After lunch, I went down the street to visit The World's Largest [Operational] Frying Pan. It was covered up the day I was there. It would be interesting to see the frying pan in action!

World's Largest Frying Pan in Rose Hill

The rest of my Duplin County photos are here.

Lenoir County, North Carolina

I made a recent trip to Kinston, North Carolina, the county seat, and Lenoir County. Most of my experience with Kinston and Lenoir County before has been passing through on U.S. 70 on the way to the beach, sometimes stopping at King's BBQ. A few years ago, George and I drove to Kinston to eat at Chef and the Farmer, Chef Vivian Howard's restaurant. I decided to return to the area to get to know the county a little bit better.

One of the highlights was finding the unincorporated town of Tick Bite! There wasn't much to see there, but the Google Maps voice welcomed me to Tick Bite, thank goodness! It looked like a lot of rural eastern North Carolina, which I enjoy. Wikipedia tells me that Hurricane Floyd (September 1999) really did a number on Tick Bite, but there are still some homes there.

I also enjoyed having lunch at the Boiler Room Oyster Bar, another one of Vivian Howard's Kinston restaurants. It's more casual than

the Chef and the Farmer, and easier to get into (no reservations). I thoroughly enjoyed my shrimp burger and fries, and warm banana pudding for dessert. I'm glad (and a little jealous!) that Kinston (population around 21,000) has these wonderful restaurants in town.

Geocaching is alive and well in Lenoir County! I found several while I was roaming the county.

The rest of my Lenoir County photos are here.

Currituck County, North Carolina

The day before Memorial Day, George and I took off for Currituck County, North Carolina's most northeastern county! We knew we wanted to see the county seat of Currituck and its courthouse, as well as stick our toes in the sand. We had some bonus adventures along the way, but our big takeaway (other than the gorgeous day!) was that we didn't have time to do everything, and we can't wait to go back!

We started out in Currituck, which is on the mainland but on the Currituck Sound. Currituck used to be called Currituck Court House, but eventually the "Court House" part of the name was dropped, and left with just Currituck. We visited the Currituck Courthouse and the Old Jail next door, and took lots of pictures. 

Just down the road from the courthouse is home base for the Knotts Island Ferry, which offers a free ride over to Knotts Island. Our timing for taking the ferry, exploring, and returning for the rest of the county was off, so that's something we want to do another time!

From there, we stopped in Barco for lunch at Currituck BBQ Company. We had a good lunch there as we decided what to do next. George really wanted to go down on the beach and stick his feet in the water, so we checked Google Maps and decided to head to the public access beach Corolla next, enjoying the sights along the way. (It took us about an hour to get from Barco to Corolla.)

On the way to Corolla, we drove through the town of Duck. (Don't you just love the name?!) Duck's a small town (located in Dare County, but Currituck), but its population swells during the summer. Memorial Day weekend was a busy time in Duck, too, so driving through took a while, but it gave us a nice opportunity to see the sights.

We finally made it to Corolla, our second visit to the town but our first time to this public access beach! We were glad to find a parking space, and made a pretty long walk down to the beach. We enjoyed hanging out on the sand for a while, and George enjoyed the ocean water, though he reported back that it was surprisingly cold. The photo to the left is one of our better selfies together.

Once we got back to the car, we decided to head north, and go as far as we could in our 2WD car, We stopped by the Currituck Beach

Lighthouse for a current photo. We'd stopped there before and walked around, but haven't been up to the top of this one. I'd love to do that sometime! We drove through the Historic Corolla Village, but it was so busy that we decided not to stop this time. (We stopped there a couple of years ago and enjoyed it!)

We continued to drive north until we saw warnings of 4WD needed, and the road started getting sandier. (Next time!) So we turned around and started making our way home. We made one final stop in Kill Devil Hills to have dinner at the Black Pelican. I had a yummy salmon dish there, and George enjoyed some flounder.

We had a fun day on the Outer Banks, and can't wait to go back! The rest of my photos are here.

Davidson County, North Carolina

I visited Davidson County recently, and really enjoyed exploring the area!

Before I started driving from my home in Durham County, I knew I wanted to start out at The Big Chair in Thomasville, North Carolina. The Big Chair is a huge Duncan Phyfe chair in downtown Thomasville, in honor of Thomasville's furniture industry. Since we have a Duncan Phyfe couch and chair (from my grandparents' house) in our apartment, I wanted to see the big one! It was quirky but pretty in its own way, and fun to see in person.

After finding a geocache near The Big Chair, I drove around town a little bit. Thomasville is a cute town.

After that, I was ready for lunch, so I headed to Lexington for some barbecue! Lexington has several BBQ restaurants, but I stopped at a place called Lexington Barbecue for lunch. They served Lexington-style barbecue, of course, which is different from eastern-style barbecue served in Eastern North Carolina. I did an informal poll on my Facebook page, and while some people didn't care, others were adamant that one or the other was the best in the state! There's a Wikipedia article here about the barbecue debate. Our State Magazine weighs in here.

Next, I visited Boone's Cave Park, a pretty county park named after Daniel Boone. It's possible that Boone may have spent some time in a cave in a park. I thought I'd make the trek down to the cave, but I got several flights down the wooden stairs with no end in sight, so I turned around on that warm and steamy afternoon. It's a pretty park, though, with trails and a nice bathroom stop.

On the way back toward home, I decided to find a winery in the area, and with the help of Google Maps, I decided to try Childress

Vineyards in Lexington. I'd never heard of Childress Vineyards that I could recall, so I enjoyed the stop very much! I enjoyed seeing the vineyard, and stopped in the main building to look around. It was about 4:00 when I stopped in, so I missed the tours and official tastings for the day, but I got a small taste of the 2014 Petit Verdot, which I enjoyed a lot!

I made a few more small stops along the way, and found a few geocaches too! It was a fun day in Davidson County! My photos from the day are here.

Camden County, North Carolina

I recently took a day trip to Camden County, a rural county in northeastern North Carolina, one county west of the Outer Banks. According to the 2010 Census, Camden County is the fourth least populated county in North Carolina. One of the reasons I wanted to visit Camden County is because the southern end of the Great Dismal Swamp is in northern Camden County.

I started out in Camden, the county seat, where I located the county courthouse and the old jail, which is now a museum. The courthouse has a veterans monument in front of it. Camden County was formed in 1777, and this courthouse was built in 1847. (The previous courthouse was built in 1782, and burned down in 1845.)

Another highlight was the visiting the southern tip of the Great Dismal Swamp. South Mills, in northern Camden County, is home to the Dismal Swamp State Park, as well as the Dismal Swamp Canal Visitor Center. This is a peaceful, beautiful area, and I'd

highly recommend a visit.

Toward the end of my day in Camden County, I visited the Shiloh community, where I found Shiloh Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist Church in North Carolina.

I really enjoyed my time in Camden County, and definitely recommend a visit! My photos are here.