Halifax, NC
Manteo, NC
The Town of Manteo wraps around Shallowbag Bay on the eastern side of Roanoke Island, part of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Named the seat of government for Dare County in 1870, this waterfront community became official in 1899. In those early days, every store lining the waterfront had two doors - one for those coming by boat, and the other for those coming from the courthouse or one of the inns on Water Street. It is the most easterly town in NC. If you travel from Manteo to Murphy, you would have to drive 545 miles which would take approximately 8.5 hours.
Halifax has given North Carolina more Governors, members of Congress, attorneys general, and brigadier generals than any other county in North Carolina. Halifax County was formed in 1758 and was named for Charles Montague Dunk, Earl of Halifax. He was, at the time, Secretary of the British Board of Trade. Halifax is where the first constitution of the State of North Carolina was written, framed, and adopted in what is known as the Constitution House.
On December 17, 1903, Orville Wright piloted the first powered airplane 20 feet above a wind-swept beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. Three more flights were made that day with with
Orville's brother Wilbur piloting the record flight lasting 59 seconds over a distance of 852 feet. The brothers began their experimentation in flight in 1896 at their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. They selected the beach at Kitty Hawk as their proving ground because of the constant wind that added lift to their craft.
Graveyard of the Atlantic is a nickname of the location known for numerous shipwrecks: the treacherous waters in the Atlantic Ocean from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry south along the coastline to the Outer Banks of Virginia and North Carolina. This area is just off of Cape Hatteras. This is a hot spot for shipwrecks due to the arctic Labrador Current and the Gulf Current from down south. When they meet, it causes very rough waters. In some cases, it also causes thick fog which increases danger. Cape Hatteras has been a deadly trap for sailors that have entered for past centuries. This stretch of shore is home to more than 600 shipwrecks off the shifting sandbars of the Hatteras Islands which has caused many ships to run aground. The sandbars shift due to rough waves and unpredictable currents.
The
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New Bern, NC
Tryon Place
Tryon Palace is New Bern's most famous tourist attraction. The current Tryon Palace is a reconstruction of the royal governor's palace of the province of North Carolina. Colonial Governor William Tryon chose architect John Hawks to design the mansion in 1764. The mansion was completed in 1770. William Tryon left North Caroliona in 1771 to become the governor of the province of New York. In May 1775, patriots seized the palace and converted it into the first state capitol of North Carolina. Tryon Palace served as the North Carolina state capital until 1794 when the state capital was moved to Raleigh. A fire destroyed the palace in 1798 and it was not reconstucted until 1953.
New Bern, North Carolina was founded in 1710 at the junction of the Trent and Neuse rivers. It was settled by Swiss and German adventurers led by Baron Christopher de Graffenried from Bern, Switzerland in what is present-day Craven County. New Bern is the second oldest town in North Carolina.
Bath, NC
European settlement near the Pamlico River in the 1690s led to the founding of Bath, North Carolina's first town, in 1705. By 1708, Bath had 50 people and 12 houses. It soon became North Carolina's first port. Political rivalries, Indian wars, and piracy marked its early years, but in 1746 Bath was considered for the colony's capital. However, when county government moved away in the late 1700s, Bath lost most of its importance and trade.