I set my sights on a doughnut hole of unvisited counties in northeastern North Carolina. I’d left them untouched until now. No interstate highways passed through them. The didn’t fall on a direct path coming home from the beach. They simply sat there as empty white space on my County Counting map. Seven of them, waiting to be plucked.
Veterans Day fell on a Monday this year. The weather looked good and it seemed like a perfect excuse for a mid-November road trip.
The Route
I’ve successfully captured most of the counties in my immediate area. Unfortunately I can’t get to any new ones without driving about three hours. The little cluster I targeted required a bunch of driving through placed I’d already seen a bunch of times. So I stuck to Interstates 95 and 64 at off-peak hours and endured it as quickly as possible.
Descriptively this geographic area fell within North Carolina’s Inner Banks. That contrasted with the more well known Outer Banks, the barrier islands protecting the mainland. Two almost harbor-like bodies of water bordered the western flank of the Outer Banks: Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. I targeted counties on the northern side of Albemarle Sound: Bertie; Camden; Chowan; Gates; Hertford; Pasquotank; and Perquimans.
Inner Banks seemed like a perfect geographic description. I figured it dated to colonial times. Not so, I learned. It didn’t even go back two decades. Tourism bureaus and real estate speculators invented it in the early 21st Century to attract business. It was nothing more than a modern marketing ploy.
Virginia Zoo
I always enjoy these trips more when I can convince someone to tag along and join he fun. However this came with a rather obvious problem. Who else would consider county counting “fun?” I went to my reliable fallback, the simple bribe. My older son who loves zoos had never been to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk (map). I dangled that enticement and he readily agreed.
Coincidentally, the zoo sat just around the corner from where I caught the C-2 Greyhound to head out to the aircraft carrier a couple of months earlier. That brought back some fond memories.
Naturally I wondered how this particular zoo became THE Virginia Zoo. What made it more important than any other zoo in the Commonwealth? Later I learned that although the zoo dated back to 1900-or-so they actually called it the Lafayette Zoo for most of that time. It sat along the Lafayette River within a park of the same name so it made perfect sense. They changed the name in 1985, I guess because nobody else ever thought to claim it.
The zoo seemed nice, a little smaller than some we’ve visited although well done in appearance and presentation. They also seemed to have an affection for monitor lizards. I’d never seen so many varieties in a single place. We finished in a couple of hours and continued with the trip.
Museum of the Albemarle
Next we continued to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, capturing our first two new counties along the way, Camden and Pasquotank. We planned to stay the night here and use it as our base for the second day. The entire drive went better to expected — no delays this time — so we arrived a lot earlier than we figured.
I wanted to visit the Museum of the Albemarle although I didn’t know if we’d get a chance. It closed at 5:00 pm on Saturdays. However it didn’t open at all on Sundays, this being the South and all, so we had only this one late Saturday afternoon chance. We made it with about an hour to spare (map).
This place is definitely worth visiting and it doesn’t even charge admission! I’d recommend it anyone who happens to be in the area. Obviously somebody put some serious money into this museum and it shows. Oh, it looks like the State of North Carolina runs it. That explained it. Taxpayers fund it.
Ghost Harbor Brewing
Well of course I had to visit a brewery. Conveniently, Elizabeth City included Ghost Harbor Brewing in its compact downtown (map). I didn’t know if they’d allow kids in there so I sort-of hid with my son at a table well away from the bar. I tried a flight of four small pours and we went on our way.
Few breweries seemed to populate this corner of the state, and in fact Ghost Harbor might be the only one. Other parts of North Carolina, like Asheville or even the geographically nearby Outer Banks, had them in droves. Maybe the trend will spread to quieter spots like this over time. Still, I remained grateful that a place like Ghost Harbor existed at all.
Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City (map) felt like a town in transition. The downtown could use a little restoration, maybe a couple layers of fresh paint, some foot traffic and a few more businesses to attract it. Early signs of redevelopment could be sensed though. Lots of people head down this way and want to live on the waterfront. Many towns along the Albemarle Sound took advantage of that and Elizabeth City seemed to be courting the same demographic trend. Give it a little time.
See Also: Day 2 and The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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