August 2009

Old Salem was my last trip to blog about.

I am starting back to school this week so no more trips.

I wanted to say thank you for reading my blog this summer. It has been really fun traveling and spending time with my mom while learning about North Carolina's History.

I think my favorite trip of all was my Roanoke trip. Being on the road with mom by ourselves was really fun. I loved the play and hope to go back and see it again. I loved the Sea Turtle Hospital too .

If you haven't been to some of the places that I have visited this summer, please go. North Carolina is full of history and it is wonderful to have these places to be able to visit.

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This has been a wonderful summer with my girls and I want to thank all of you also who have been following Jessica's blog. These are memories I will remember always.

We did not make it to everything we had planned, but there's always the weekends and next summer .

If you haven't already, please visit our picture gallery. We have taken tons of pictures to share with you.

Thank you again for following our Summer Travel Blog.

Jessica and I hope you have many wonderful and safe travels in your future!

This trip was really nice. Salem was established in 1766 by Moravians.

My favorite part was the toy museum. Seeing all the giant dollhouses was amazing. There were marbles, tin toys and lots of circus toys that were really neat. We weren't able to take pictures in the museum, but I wish we could have to show you.

I really liked the Single Brothers' House too. This was a home where unmarried men lived and apprenticed in trades. We saw people making pottery and pipes, a tailor making clothes and a carpenter. We didn't get a chance to see the Single Sisters' House, but maybe next time.

I also toured a tavern where George Washington visited. There was a copy of a letter written by him on display talking about his stay and visit to Salem.

I really liked the Miksch House. I liked seeing how they spun wool into thread and see how they loved back then. This was the first Salem family home.

We also went the bakery where they made fresh bread and cakes. I got some icecream and then we had to head home. I can't wait to go back to see the things we missed .

http://www.oldsalem.org/

Not historical, but was on my map of things I wanted to do .

After visiting Wilmington and taking the carriage ride, we went to Topsail Island to visit the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital.

We saw 5 turtles that were being treated for different problems. There are more, but on the tour, they only allow a few to be visited. My favorite turtle was a Ridley turtle named Lennie. He is not releasable because he is blind. There were other turtles in there with problems such as boat propeller wounds, fishing net injuries, sickness and other things. The largest turtle we saw was Noah. He was the second largest in the hospital. The smallest was named April. Katie and I got turtle stuffed animals and mom got a beautiful Christmas ornament to remember our great trip.
All of our purchases helped the Sea Turtle Project .

http://www.seaturtlehospital.org/

Cameras were not allowed inside the hospital, so we do not have any pictures, but please check out their website and see all the turtles they are helping. If you are able, please make a donation to help save these beautiful creatures.

This past week we went to Wilmington, NC to take a horse and carriage tour in the historic district. It was a lot of fun. Katie and I love horses and have always wanted to take a carriage ride. Our guide took us on the old home tour. We learned about open brick fences. It's not to make it look fancy, it was for air flow. We never knew that . The homes do not have their original iron gates and fences. They were used during the Civil War to make cannon balls! I also learned that the families slept on their porches during the summer because of the heat. This carriage ride was fun to do.

http://www.historicwilmington.org/

I was excited about Bennet Place! This was a place that I had been wanting to visit since we started our travels.

It is famous for hosting the largest troop surrender of the Civil War. This surrender was made by General Johnston to Union General William Sherman. The first meeting was on April 17, 1865, then another meeting April 18 and the final signing of an agreement and surrender April 26.

Bennett Farm was chosen by General Johnston because it was midway between the two troop lines.

James Bennett, his wife and three children settled on this farm in 1846. In 1921, there was a fire that destroyed the farmhouse and the kitchen. The only thing that is left today is the chimney. I think that is so cool that I touched the same fireplace and chimney that two of the Generals in the Civil War touched and may have leaned against during their visit to this farm.

The day that we visited Bennett Place, there was a Confederate Soldier reenactor that told us about what it was like being a soldier during that time. It was neat learning about their life during the war.

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Jessica pretty much said it all about Bennett Place. It was unfortunate that the chimney was the only original part left, but seeing that little bit of history amazes us.

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/Bennett/Bennett.htm

Today we are writing about Historic Stagville. Before I go on I need to apologize about not writing for a while. We have been really busy. So I am very sorry about that.

In the 1750's the land that is now known as Durham County, farmers started settling and they built small homes. The Horton House was one of them. This small plantation was home to both the Bennehans and the Camerons. One of the things that was very neat was that the research on the American Girl, Addy, was done here on the site.

When we went to Stagville I had a temprature gauge that is used to find cold spots. Cold spots can sometimes indicate ghosts and restless spirits. While we were at the site I found a few cold spots. The base readings around the outside were in the high 80's, and the cold spots would dip down to the 30's! Even in a few very sunny spots!

I think that learning about Addy on the site was really neat. I also loved searching for the ghosts of stagville which was really cool and exciting. I promise to write soon. See ya!

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Stagville was pretty neat . In 1860, Stagville was several thousand acres. The home was built in 1787 and had a dairy, smokehouse, barns, storehouses and slave houses. In 1976, the home and land was opened to the public by the Durham Historic Society.

I really love that the American Girl Doll, Addy, was a real girl and that she was from North Carolina. Jessica really enjoys the American Girl books and has gotten more interested since learning about Addy. It has been wonderful learning so many things this summer with Jessica.

I wanted to point out the picture of the bricks. These bricks were hand made by the slaves that worked the property. You can see fingerprints from where the bricks were still wet when they built their chimneys for their houses. Truly amazing. This could have been the brick that Addy's family member made

http://www.stagville.org/

http://www.americangirl.com/fun/agcn/addy/