Columbia, Plymouth, Washington and New Bern, NC

Continuing my story of leaving the Outer Banks, by the time we crossed Roanoke and got back on the mainland, the rain had stopped, the sun was out and I got to see some great fall colors.

The colors were great as we traveled through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

 

We spent the night in the parking lot of a seafood market. It was a commercial/retail establishment with a large parking lot. Just like staying at Walmart, it wasn't cheap, even if it was free. We bought fresh shrimp and scallops, had some for dinner, then bought some more in the morning before we left. Notice the tall poll? It was a wind generator and we had to listen to it whine all night long. For the first hour I thought it was a siren and was wondering what kind of accident had happened.

Down the road was the town of Plymouth. We stopped there for breakfast and the owners of the restaurant suggested we take a drive through their historic downtown. Located on the Roanoke River, they even have a light house. Evidently this was once a busy port and there was even some naval action here during the civil war. In April 1864 one of the last major Confederate victories occurred here in Plymouth. Held by the U.S., the Confederates brought in one of their ironclad ships, the Albermarle, sunk the U.S. gunboat, the Southfield, precipitating the fall of the U.S. to the Confederates. The Confederates took over 2500 prisoners, cannons, horses and over 5000 small arms.

We left Plymouth and headed south to Washington, NC.The downtown area had decorated crabs.

And more crabs.....

There wasn't a lot in this town, so we looked in the GPS for the local attractions. Yes, it is a restaurant, but it is also listed as an attraction. Check it out on your GPS. Of course we did eat lunch there. Had the small plate (just $7), split the plate between Max and I, and still took half the pulled pork and most of the coleslaw home for a second meal. Great pulled pork, but neither of us liked their sauce.

Down the road to New Bern, where we spent the night.Built in 1767 by Royal Governor William Tryon, it was once considered one of the finest buildings in America. The main building burnt in 1798. 130 years later it was reconstructed using the same plans used to build the original. Now it is open to the public.

The mascot for the city is the bear.

They are located all over the downtown area, in the parks and near the convention center.

The city logo.

This is only a few of the over 17 bears I took pictures of.

This bear was located at the farmers market. I guess this is farmer bear.

But I imagine New Bern is known best for being the birthplace of Pepsi. This is the location of the pharmacy, owned by Caleb Bradham. Originally known as 'Brad's Drink', he created Pepsi in 1898.