Beaufort, part 2

Now I can tell you about the rest of Beaufort. On the first really chilly day in October, the town was unusually quiet, the sidewalks barely occupied. You can tell Beaufort is a gently touristy town, I guess in the summer. But not on this day.
I couldn't resist this spray of bold autumn color.

The residential section of town along the water is so quaint. If you like to walk, it would be worth a couple of hours' time just to stroll and look at houses and peek into the back gardens. Like this --

(Yes, we took Sandy along. She was happy to be with us, and only had to sit quietly in the car a couple of times.)  This is a rather plain house, but I loved the porches, the wooden door and deacon's bench. Many, many homes like this grace Beaufort's streets, and each one sports a bright plaque out front (can you see it by the front door?) telling its original family name and date. These homes are over 100 years old.

I love these homes, but I want them to look more lived-in.

I love this bench!

A round ball of light orange mums is so fallish.

After lunch and the museum, we walked around and finally discovered that Beaufort has a great boardwalk. This is one feature Oriental lacks, and it's such a valuable treasure for a town. Many little shops are scattered along here.

There are memorial stones and small parks.

Adam finally said, "You never have pictures of yourself on your blog." So I let him take a shot. This is so funny, because it's been a rule of mine never to own or wear white pants, for about 30 years. I found a linen pair at the thrift store for 50¢. They really are comfy, but I hate white pants. Don't they make you look fat(ter)? Plus, I'm bound to sit in something colorful and then wear it all day long.

Lots of power boats and big sailboats bobbed in the harbor. We could've eaten lunch in one of the restaurants along the boardwalk, but their prices were heavy. We picked a little sandwich shop called Taylor's Grocery.

These flower pots are designed for hurricane weather! Isn't that a neat idea? They're also nailed into the rail, on the bottom.

In one little park, Julia found a perfect climbing tree.

She still has a good vein of childhood running through her, and we like to encourage it. She's bound to outgrow it soon enough, sad to say.

Oh, I must show you the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center, across the street from the Martime Museum. This facility, entirely manned by volunteers, does a bustling "business" in rebuilding wooden boats and watercraft of all sizes, usually for museums.

 This is a captain's landing craft (I believe that's what the man said) that they acquired from the government after a storm on the East coast. The restoration process had ground to a halt there, so these fellows got the boat for free and are near finishing it. It will go to a museum in Texas, as an accompaniment to a larger ship.

 Isn't this a pretty piece? They also sponsor a yearly boat-building  challenge. That would be exciting! It's nice to know that the wooden boat-building skills of centuries ago are not lost in our modern world.