Beaufort, North Carolina

Our field trip to Beaufort was enhanced by the ghost of Blackbeard, the pirate Edward Teague. Everything about Beaufort points to the sea. Many lovely homes face east and are set high above the street. See how this house goes up, up, up! And although it is helpful to have a bird's eye view of the ocean (or even a slice of it), the real reason for this architectural height is to escape flood waters during hurricane season.

Beaufort has a famous son, another ship captain. Here we honor Cpt. Smith of the Shuttle Challenger.

We spent some time in the maritime museum in Beaufort, and it was excellent. The video documentary of the excavation of the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge was very, very good, very scientific. (Most museum documentaries are a bit fluffy. No fluff here!) I learned so much, and I hope Julia did too. In the museum proper many exhibits vie for attention. Queen Anne's Revenge is significant, but the War of 1812, whaling, and a maritime library are just a few others. A fun children's 'treasure hunt' in the museum keeps the little ones interested.

This machine is the helm control of a steam-powered ship. Full Steam Ahead!

Julia was weary of posing for photos by now :)

This very large replica was exquisite to see. Beautiful wood -- I guess this is also a "double ender"?

My favorite object in the museum is this Fresnel Light. They're used in lighthouses. It was turning slowly, and very beautifully.

This chunk of wood once jutted out on the prow of a ship. They mounted it on a corner in the museum.

This is a small replica of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Many glass cases contained just a fraction of the items retrieved from Blackbeard's flagship. They got 250,000 pieces of lead shot from the ship.

The divers even brought back the sewing pins they found on the ocean's floor.

This pistol is on loan from Williamsburg and is exactly like the gun Blackbeard carried. Very pretty.

See the whale?

So many people don't see the whale :)  He hangs overhead in the museum and everyone is so busy examining straight pins and lead shot, they forget to look up. What a massive jaw!

Whaling was a massive enterprise. This huge cast iron pot is for boiling whale oil.

A whale's tooth, with a "cameo" whale carved on top.

I'll have more on Beaufort in my next post.