historical sites – Heart Eyes 4 Vintage

We are always so busy and scheduling time to kind of do nothing and just turn off the highway for interesting landmarks is a rare occasion but I think that side trips off Interstate 40 and just exploring small towns is my 2023 goal. Not a resolution, I don’t do those but a couple side trips off I-40 on our way back from Biltmore NC trip really showed that we can find fun and interesting places without spending a DIME!

That’s a great goal as we try to settle in and chill out on the travel for a couple months for a few reasons – money and just enjoying the moment in the moment without trying to schedule and plan every single weekend with something as I tend to schedule/schedule/schedule and then am completely exhausted all the time.

So we are going to try to just do more of the stopping when we see a sign that interests us instead of saying, “next time”. The way life is these days, it’s never guaranteed to be there “next time”. If you have a few minutes or 30 minutes, it’s probably at least driving by and checking it out.

How many of these listed historic sites in North Carolina have you been to?

https://historicsites.nc.gov/

Honestly, before I looked at the list I thought there’d be more. I used to live down near Harnett County and never did make it to the Bentonville Battlefield – in my defense, I’m not really big on history. The beauty is that most of these sites are free and quite accessible and even when there is an admission fee it’s usually $2-$5.

I’ve been to:

Fort Fisher near Wilmington – the NC Aquarium is near there as well
- Until the last few months of the Civil War, Fort Fisher kept North Carolina’s port of Wilmington open to blockade-runners supplying necessary goods to Confederate armies inland. By 1865, the supply line through Wilmington was the last remaining supply route open to Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. When Ft. Fisher fell after a massive Federal amphibious assault on January 15, 1865, its defeat helped seal the fate of the Confederacy.
NC State Capitol building several times, it’s actually super cool and in downtown Raleigh. Free entry and has public bathrooms.
Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson I went with my Mom and my youngest daughter several years ago. Orton Plantation is nearby and so is Beaufort and those are definitely worth a visit.
- A major pre-Revolutionary port on North Carolina’s Cape Fear River, Brunswick was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was constructed atop the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River defenses below Wilmington before the fall of the Confederacy. Colonial foundations dot the present-day tour trail, which crosses the earthworks of the Confederate fort.