Nort Carolina - Stuff to Do

we spent a month wandering around North Carolina in our motorhome and these are a few of the more interesting things we came across. The Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Guilford Courthouse Nat Battlefield Park, Historic Fort Macon and the N.Carolina State Zoo and Aquarium.

Quick Tips:

Except for the Airborne Museum all of these places have nice areas for a picnic lunch.

Best Way To Get Around:

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm - Sundays, from noon to 5pm - Closed on Mondays, but open on all Federal holiday Mondays. - Closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Years Day and Easter.

"Jump into History" is how they describe it when you enter this museum and if you are in the area this is a must see, especially for history or military buffs. Be sure to eat a big breakfast before you go because you’re going to be here right through lunch, plan on three to four hours to view the museum. The museum starts with the original concept of airborne troops in 1940, it explains the training of the first airborne troops and then follows them into WWII and the first airborne assault in North Africa, then Sicily, Italy, Jedburgh, Normandy, D-Day and then onto the Pacific theater. It covers every battle and assault that airborne troops were involved in. They do a great job of displaying and explaining everything so you really get a good understanding and feel of what these troops went through and what happen in the battles, there are volunteers thought out the museum that can answer all your questions.

As you’re walking you pass through the fuselage of a C-47 transport, overhead is a full C-47 with troops parachuting out, you are down on the street of a bombed out French village to see what the ground fighting conditions were like. There is a display of the WACO CG-4A Glider used to transport troops and equipment. Other displays explain their involvement in the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Desert Storm and more, if an airborne troop was there it’s covered in the museum. Other displays include UH-1 & AH-6 Helicopters, a Sheridan tank and other weapons to many to mention.

The museum also covers the start of the OSS and tells of the many secret missions that they were responsible for. The Hall of Hero’s honors the airborne troops that were awarded the Medal of Honor.

There is a theater which shows the film "Descending from the Clouds" which is shown on a four story high screen and the "Pitch, Roll & Yaw Vista Dome Motion Simulator, (tickets $4 each or Combo ticket for $7) also a 48 seat theater that shows various historical films

Open 8:30am to 5pm - Closed New Years Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day .

The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought on March 15, 1781, 1900 British troops under then command of Lord Cornwallis faced 4400 American militia and Continentals under the command of General Nathanael Greene. It is considered to be one of the most decisive Battles of the Revolutionary War. Greene set up three lines of defense against the advancing British, the battle started at 12:30 and ended after 2 1/2 hours of intense and brutal fighting with Cornwallis forcing Greene to withdraw from the battlefield and retreat. Although the British claimed victory by holding the battlefield at the end of the day, it was a costly victory. Cornwallis had lost over 25% of his troops, when the British Parliament learned of the battle, Charles James Fox exclaimed, "Another such victory would destroy the British Army."

The first thing you want to do is stop at the visitor center and watch the Battle Map Program, a lighted map show with narration that explains the movement of the troops and the timeline of the battle. This is very well done and really helps explain the battle. After this proceed to the theater for a 20 minute film they have on the battle, either before or after the shows spend a little time in the museum where there are many artifacts that have been found on the battlefield. You then have your choice of touring the battlefield by car/bike route or the marked footpath, all will take you to the twenty eight monuments within the park. If you have time (approx 2 hours) take the footpath, if not the auto trail will be about an hour. The best part for us was the volunteer, we along with a few other people asked her a few questions, she not only answered them but then talked about the battle for about 45 minutes, give us little tidbits that we would never have known about.

Even though the park is located in the City of Greensboro (named after Nathanael Greene) once you entry the park property it’s just like being out in the county.

Just a note, there are two signers of the Declaration of Independence buried here in the park.

There are a number of restaurants just outside the park for lunch or a snack.

Fort Macon offers you many things to do other then tour the Fort, while there you can take part in all of the following; Fishing, Hiking, Picnicking and swimming but our reason was to tour the fort.

A little history about the Fort first.

Construction of the fort began in 1826, it is a five-sided structure of brick and stone with twenty-six vaulted casements (rooms) with outer walls that are 4.5 feet thick, it was part of the chain of coastal fortifications for national defense. Its purpose was to guard Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina's only deepwater ocean port. It was named after state senator Nathaniel Macon, who procured the funds to build the facility. During its history it has seen Robert E Lee as an Army engineer, seized by the N. Carolina militia, retaken by Union forces to be used as a coal fueling station for the navy, a federal prison, closed in 1903, sold to the state of North Carolina to be used as a state park, restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps and then leased back to the military to be used during World War II.

You enter the fort through three sets of doors in the sally port, you can then wait there for a volunteer or ranger to take you on a tour of the fort or you can set out on your own. All of the casements contain an exhibit showing what life was like in the fort during different times in its history. Each is different and very well done, to really understand the fort you should plan on visiting them all.

Then climb the stair and walk around the top of the citadel, this is great, here you have a view of the parade grounds, a nice ocean breeze and an excellent view of the ocean waves breaking as they enter the inlet, I could stay up there for hours. From here go outside the citadel into the moat area for a walk around the fort, (the moat could be flooded if needed) notice all the gun ports, which could be used to shoot an enemy trapped in the moat.

This is one of the best-preserved Civil War time Forts and the "Friends of Fort Macon" have done an excellent job restoring it and placing the displays.

A quick run through will be about 30-40 minutes, to really see and feel the fort plan on at least two hours, if you still have time enjoy a picnic or a walk on the beach.

My personnel favorite part of the Fort is directly in front of the doorway of Casemate 8, it is a restored hotshot oven, they wood fire up the stove and then place cannonballs in one end on tracks, they would let them heat until they were red hot. They were then fired at wooden warships to set them on fire during an attack.

April 1- October 31- 9am - 5pm
November 1- March 31 - 9am - 4pm - closed Christmas day and during severe weather

This is a big Zoo, so big that they have two separate entrances and parking lots, which are about a mile and a half apart; you have your choice of entering either at the North America and Africa continents. Don’t worry about where you parked or where you exit at, they have a shuttle bus service that runs between the parking lots every ten minutes or so and its free.

The animals are all displayed in "natural habitat exhibits" which resemble what their natural surroundings would be. There are more than five miles of walking trails in the zoo so be sure to wear some comfortable clothes and good walking shoes and you might want to bring a bottle or two of water. It seemed like most of the walking was uphill but half way through there is a sign letting you know that you have reached the peak of Purgatory Mountain (937 feet above sea level) and its all down hill from there.

This is a very nice zoo but it is big so if you plan on seeing everything the zoo recommends five hours at an easy pace to cover it. There is still some construction going on but it only interferes with a few exhibits.

I would say that our favorite exhibit was the Avery where most of the birds are free to fly or run around, I saw my first Road Runner, he didn’t Beep Beep or chase a coyote but it was still pretty cool.

TIP: Most of the Zoo’s have a membership program, we belong to the Toledo Zoo, our cost per year is $45 for the Grandparent membership, this lets the wife and I and all of our grandkids to enter over 125 Zoos and Aquariums around the country free and others at half price. The fees vary from Zoo to Zoo and can run from $35 to $100+, if your local zoo is one of the expensive ones you can search the Internet and find one in your price range, they all offer memberships on line.

It opens from 9am to 5pm daily. It closes Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Free admission on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veteran’s Day.

The New North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is now open after being closed for two years to complete the $25 million expansion. The new facility has nearly 40 new exhibits some of which are fifty feet plus in length and are from the floor to the ceiling containing everything from sharks to shipwrecks. They still have a lot of smaller hands on displays where the kids can reach in and touch the stingrays and crabs.

The first thing you will see when you enter the exhibit area is a 35-foot Mountain waterfall, the exhibits then take you through the five different aquatic zones of the state, from the mountains to the ocean. Outdoors there are two trails and a marsh boardwalk. To do a good job of seeing everything allow yourself at least two hours and probably closer to three.

They get a lot of school trips here but they seem to be gone right after lunch so I would suggest visiting in the afternoon.