In the Spotlight: Roanoke Island Festival Park

20 April 2011

There’s no doubt that we enjoyed an eclectic set of activities today.  We started out with quiet, manicured gardens (post here); delved a bit into the early history of the island (post here); and finally got a lighthouse ‘fix’ and had a great al fresco lunch with a view (post here).

To round out our day, we intended to visit the Aquarium.  That plan changed when we turned into the parking lot and found ourselves confronted with five busses — with school names prominently displayed on the windshields.  Shifting gears, we went to the Roanoke Island Festival Park instead.  As the brochure touted, we “traveled back to 1585 and were home in time for dinner.”

The park is designed to celebrate the first English Settlement in the New World.  It has costumed interpreters and opportunities to participate in interactive demonstrations that give visitors a sense of what life was like back in the late 16th century.

It is a family attraction; no doubt about that.  There were plenty of families with kids, and even a school group or two, but we found that the layout of the 25-acre park lent itself quite well to spreading out the crowds.  Of course, it helped that we were there during the off season.  The $8/adult admission is good for two consecutive days; $1 discount coupon (which I had printed out just in case) is available from the website.

We started our visit at the Elizabeth II, a reproduction ship built to represent one of the seven vessels that brought the colonists to Roanoke Island in 1587.  In fact, the repro is named after one of those ships.

Elizabeth II — this 69-foot (21 m) ship is the centerpiece of the Festival Park.

We had the ship to ourselves to explore and wandered above- and below-decks at our leisure.  In the cramped quarters aboard, that was a good thing.  It got a bit crowded towards the end when a group of school kids showed up for the demo-shooting of the gun.  By then, we were ready to move on.  So, after watching the demo, we left the ship for the kids to enjoy.

Tour of the ship (clockwise from top left): gentlemen’s sleeping quarters; cooking area below-decks; rope for lines and riggings; the bowsprit; Mui aboard the ship; meal set up in the captain’s cabin (not sure I care for the main course); captain’s quarters; capstan (used to raise the anchor).

The sailor that is going to assist with the gun demo is ready for action.

Next, we headed over to the area representing the English Settlement.  Here, we had an opportunity to interact with costumed interpreters portraying colonists going about daily life.

We watched the blacksmith make a nail, and the carpenter make a table leg and a tool handle using equipment that would have been typical for the period.  We also had a chance to peek into canvas tents that would have been occupied by the soldiers that were charged with the safety of the colonists.

Mui steps back in time to a 16th century settlement site.

This costumed interpreter acted as our guide, demonstrating the role various tradesmen played in the colony: blacksmith (top left); carpenter making a tool handle (top right); carpenter turning out a table leg (bottom left); soldier in his armor (bottom right).

A school group showed up just as the interpreter finished demonstrating a bowling-like game that would have been popular back in the day.  So, as the English Settlement became overrun with kids, we headed to the American Indian Village.  This area was disappointing as there were no interpreters and we had to rely on limited signage to advance our understanding of life in an Algonquian village.  From what I have read, during the ‘in’ season, the interactive demonstrations here are most interesting.  Too bad we didn’t get to see them.

The American Indian Settlement (clockwise from top left): illustration of a 1585 Indian Village drawn by John White; Longhouses could be 36-72 feet (11-22 m) long; rattles made with turtle carapaces; the Leader’s House was typically the major structure in the village; a pole-and-slat frame called a hurdle was one of the means for cooking fish.

One of the most interesting things we saw in this area was a replica Dance Circle.  Dance was interpreted as part of religious rituals, celebrations, and victories.  Dances usually took place in the settlement, but sometimes the posts were placed in fields between towns so that people from surrounding villages could also participate.

Dance Circles were an important part of life for the American Indians.

Before leaving the Festival Park, we attended a showing of The Legend of Two-Path, a docudrama that recounts the story of the meeting of two very different cultures — the Native Americans of Roanoke Island and the English.  The story is told from the perspective of the natives, but it is based on facts as recorded by the English (the only written information available).  It explores the challenges encountered in the Algonquian characters of Manteo, Wanchese, and Skyco (Two Path).  I’d say that this movie alone was worth the price of admission.

An interesting docudrama; worth the price of admission to the Festival Park.

On that note, we brought our day on Roanoke Island to a close, but didn’t quite complete our sightseeing for the day.  On our way to Hatteras Camp, we stopped to visit the last of the four lighthouses of the OBX.  I wrote about the Bodie Lighthouse in a previous post, so I won’t revisit it here.

By the way, if you’d like to see full-size versions of the pictures used in the collages for this post, go to my online gallery and click the link for the Roanoke Island Festival Park.

In the Spotlight: Manteo Waterfront—Roanoke Island

420 April 2011

After a morning filled with colorful blooms and a quiet stroll (post here), and a trip back into history to learn about the first English settlers that came to the New World (post here), it was time to take a break.  The temperature had climbed quite a bit; as had the humidity.  We were in need of fresh breezes to cool us off and a place to sate our growling tummies.

After consulting the map, we decided to head to the Manteo Waterfront where we were sure to find a casual dining establishment overlooking the water.  We found something even better; but first a stroll on the boardwalk was in order.

Manteo, the seat of government for Dare County since 1870, is one of the oldest communities in the Outer Banks.  It overlooks scenic Shallowbag Bay and is named for a Roanoke Native American who accompanied the scouts that came to the island in 1584 back to England.

Weather’s always a concern in any waterfront community.  Today, modern communication devices provide instant access to important weather information.  Back in the day, there was a simpler means of communicating approaching storms — weather towers.

The 1904 tower, which is situated on the waterfront, was used to fly flags day and night to ‘telegraph’ (so to speak) weather information to the locals, especially to mariners and fishermen.  Beyond the symbolic shapes and colors that foretold rain or a flood tide, used in various combinations, the flags also signaled that it was time to take in the laundry or set the fishing nets.  In other words, the tower was integrated into everyday life in town.

The tradition continues today.  Looking at the helpful chart attached to the tower, we were able to interpret the blue and white flag as signaling a chance of rain.  True for the morning, but by the time we saw the flag, the blue skies and sunshine were telling us otherwise :-)

Our next stop was just a short walk across the pier near the weather tower — the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.  Today’s lighthouse, which sits on pilings where the town’s wastewater treatment plant once stood, is a reconstruction of the square cottage-style building that served as the home and workspace of the keeper of the 1877 screwpile lighthouse.

The original lighthouse stood in Croatan Sound; it wasn’t nearly as easily accessible.
[the light was horrible in this direction, so I processed this with an ‘old time’ filter.]

So, why a reconstruction?  Why not move the original building that was decommissioned in 1955 to this spot?  You see, that building was lost to the sea.  The story, according to the Lighthouse Friends website goes like this:

When the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1955, it was suggested that the town of Manteo purchase the lighthouse and relocate it to the Manteo waterfront.  Before the town acted, a private citizen named Elijah Tate acquired the lighthouse along with two other screwpile lighthouses in the area.  The structure was cut from its foundation and placed on a barge to be transported to its new home.  Not far from its original site, rough seas caused the lighthouse to topple off the barge and sink into the sound.  Apparently, the effort to retrieve the submerged lighthouse was deemed too great, and the structure was abandoned.

"In the years to come, as islanders mingle with visitors along the Manteo waterfront,
let us remember that on this spot, where so many vessels have been built and
launched, dreams still light the way.  For how else can you explain how a lighthouse
now casts its reassuring beam into the night sky …"
[from signage at the pier]

A small exhibit inside the building gave us a chance to learn a bit about the lighthouse, the fifth one I alluded to in my post about the lighthouses we visited on this trip.  It was interesting to note that the original of this structure was actually a replacement for an earlier hexagonal building with a cupola-style lantern room that housed a 4th order Fresnel lens capable of focusing the light of an oil lamp so that it was visible 10 miles (16 km) out to sea.

TOP (L to R): location of the screwpile lighthouse; the 1877 lighthouse – historic photo of the original and one from today showing the  reconstructed one.
bottom (L to R): the Lighthouse from the American Revolution Bicentennial park; the 1857
screwpile lighthouse; stairs to the lantern room in the reconstructed lighthouse.

We wrapped up our visit to the Manteo Waterfront with a picnic lunch ‘on the water’.  And I mean right on the water.  With a view of the lighthouse to boot.  Yes, I posted these next two photos when I first blogged the Quick Look post for the day … but it was a hi-light of our visit to the waterfront, so I see no reason why I can’t post them again :-)

A gazebo that juts out over the water makes a perfect spot for a simple al fresco meal.

Can’t beat the view even if there is a glare from the mid-day sun.

One more site to explore on Roanoke Island and then we’ll call this day quits.

Quick Look III: Flowers, History, and Lighthouses

Wednesday, 20 April

Our day of exploration took us to Roanoke Island, which lies between mainland North Carolina and the islands that I refer to as the outer Outer Banks.  Specifically, we explored sights in Manteo.

Our 8:00a departure from the campground made for perfect timing.  We arrived in Manteo an hour later, just as the places on our sightseeing list were opening their doors.  Our plans called for starting out in Fort Raleigh, but when we saw three busloads of kids in the parking lot, we made a quick adjustment to the order of our sightseeing stops.  All in all, our day worked out quite nicely.

In the morning, we visited …

The Elizabethan Gardens
(above and below)

Fort Raleigh ... Home of the Lost ColonY
(image from an informational poster in the visitor center)

Although we’d packed a picnic lunch, we toyed with the idea of eating at a restaurant on the Manteo Waterfront instead.  Once there, however, we had another change of heart (actually, I did; but Mui didn’t put up much of a fight).  Spotting a gazebo jutting out into the water, we headed there for an al fresco meal.

My hat stands in for me for the lunch photo op.

The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse … the view from our lunch spot.

We had planned to spend the afternoon at the North Carolina Aquarium.  That was before we learned that there were several busloads of kids there intent on doing the same thing.  Switching gears, we rounded out our afternoon in Manteo at …

The Roanoke Island Festival Park
(celebrating the first English Settlement in America)

And, on our way back to the campground, we capped off our day with a stop at the last of the four Outer Banks lighthouses …

Bodie  [pronounced “Body”]  Lighthouse

We were back at the coach around 5:00p.  A few minutes to check our emails; another hour to prepare and eat our steak and shrimp dinner (cooked to perfection in our microwave/convection oven since there are no grills at Camp Hatteras, and we’ve not yet bought one for the coach).  It was 6:30p before we knew it.

Although the clouds had moved in and the winds had picked up, we decided to walk over to the section of the campground that overlooks Pamlico Sound to watch the sunset.  Unfortunately, the stiff wind made it impossible to wait until 7:38p to see the sun disappear over the horizon.  Slightly chilled, and more than a little disheveled, we returned to the coach to enjoy a quiet evening at home.