April 2, 2007

I had the perfect weather today to come up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, NC. Only went ten miles but it was one of those times distance does not make the difference. It was the company that I had with me. The owner of the boat whose home port is Southport, NC came with me today with a little cajoling and made it the perfect day. His wife agreed to drive up and pick him up so he could do this for me and I thank her for that. The city has a river walk the whole length of downtown and we are tied up at the city docks just below the Hilton Hotel in downtown. The history of this area is tremendous and to have a local person with all the knowledge just made it the best day ever. We saw the remnants of the forts which defended this area during the Civil War and even though it was not a good war one cannot just forget all of the history which came with it. One of my goals for this trip was to learn more about all of the areas I traverse through the country. When we arrived in Wilmington I was a little surprised after being in so much low country that the city was pretty hilly. But beautiful beyond words when it comes to historical buildings and the way each of the houses has a plaque on its front porch if it is a historical house and tells you when it was built and sometimes its place in history. The plaques on early and original homes has been something I have forgotten to mention before but it seems to be in all the southern states and I think it shows how much they appreciate the history of things. In our area at home instead of restoration most times they do demolition. I always like to look at the back yards as some of them are as great as the house and rich in detail. One in particular today had balconies around three sides and then circular staircases in the rear of the house which led through three floors down to the ground. Another thing which I have found amazing is the architecture of the churches in addition to the homes. The Catholic Church for instance had a huge dome for the roof but after looking at it for awhile the building is in the shape of the cross. A course in art appreciation which I thought would not serve any purpose in life has me looking at the details of all the buildings as I pass by and then try to remember which period influenced there construction. I could not tell which one, but one of the churches played a hymn at five o’clock that could be heard through the city which I thought was unique. Many of these buildings were built in the 1700’s. The photos I took today and posted tonight I tried to put something in the photo before or after which showed the period it was built in. A lot of the expensive stained glass had been covered with a laminate for protection from weather and hurricanes so it does not show up as well in the photos. Every turn brings some new and wonderful experience that sometimes I am at a loss to describe. About a quarter mile away from me is a boat from Annapolis called Meander which I have heard call on the radio a few times and they said they have heard me talking from time to time. We had a nice visit and they are on a trawler built by Pilgrim which is a very sturdy boat.

This is kind of short but it was that kind of a day, short on miles but long and rich in local history which is a very good day indeed. I know that I forget to add a lot of things each day but when I get home and reread each of these I am sure I will remember more things to add. This morning when I got up there was a very different looking container ship coming up the river channel. I watched it until I couldn’t see it through the binoculars any more. It had a sloping covered bow which probably helped protect it and the cargo in heavy seas. It is just one of many occurrences throughout the day that I sometimes forget.

One other thing if you are still having problems with the photos send me an email at hothpix@sbcglobal.net and I will send you the link. It does not seem to publish right in the blog.