Manteo, NC, side-trip off the ICW

Detoured from the boat parade on the ICW to visit Manteo (with a silent t and long e and o) on Roanoke Is near the Outer Banks, an idyllic year round community of boats, fishermen and condos with wrap-around views of Roanoke Sound and the barrier beach.

 On August 18, 1587, Virginia Dare,  the first European Christian to be born in American was born on Roanoke Island; no one knows what became of Virginia or the 120 men, women and children from her settlement; all traces of the colony disappeared by 1591; harsh life for early settlers.

This area of the Outer Banks is known as the Graveyard Of the Atlantic and is home to the "lost" local legend  of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers. In the 1880's the ocean beaches were patrolled 24 hours a day (on foot) by members of the Life-Saving Service  (LSS),  a precursor to the Coast Guard.  Richard Etheridge was born on Roanoke Island as a slave, became a Union Army Veteran in the Civil War and then in 1880, the first African-American to command a Life-Saving station, a position he maintained for 20 years.  Among the many he saved, in 1896 he and his African-American crew are credited with saving the captain and crew, including the captain's wife and 3 year old daughter, of the schooner "E.S. Newman." It was 100 years, and took the effort of a 14 year old girl, a US Congressman and a diligent Coast Guard Officer, before Etheridge and his life saving crew were recognized for their valor and awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal.  I'm reading and recommend  the book, "Fire On The Beach" is a spellbinding story about Etheridge and Life-Saving Crew at Station 17 on Pea Island.

As the sun sets and the soon-to-be full moon rises, the marshes glisten golden hues and the sky promises shades of lilac and plum,  the stars faintly glimmer in the approaching night.  The wind lightly dances across the surface of the water and it promises to be a sterling night of immense beauty at the shore.

This was a day of exploring the area and attempting to find helmets to be worn when we're on the new little scooter that we bought in Portsmith at a marine store????  Of course he didn't have helmets, just one cute little bright blue scooter that seduced us.  So how do you find a helmet in a seaside vacation area???  You ride on your scooter without a helmet and hope for the best; locals told us that we would have to go to Nags Head on the beach, so over the bridge we did go and down the beach in search of helmets....25km later...after checking out the ocean....we came upon scooter with person on board who inquired, "where are your helmets?"  He was kind enough to lead us back over the bridge back, to Manteo, through town, to a cycle shop. Of course we were stopped by a cop as we were preparing to turn left into the parking lot of the cycle shop.....thanks to our guardian angel Mark, who appeared to know everyone, we didn't get a ticket.  Later that afternoon Mark came to the boat and delivered to us a bounty of fresh sea scallops, oysters, and flounder and would not accept payment for what will be many delicious meals for us; we are blessed to meet so many interesting, kind, wonderful people.

Nags Head Beach

                                                        Scooter being hoisted top-side

As the holidays are approaching, I miss no opportunity to breeze through interesting shops; among them Wanchese Pottery owned by Bonnie and Bob, retired art teacher and school counselor from "upstate" NY.  Their shop is as wonderful as their personalities and it wasn't hard to find a few gems that needed a home....Bonnie has created a line of dinnerware that she calls "Outer Banks," so of course I expected them to have a web site, Bonnie explained that they did have one for a week and they had so many orders that they discontinued the site!  I'm putting the phone number in here so I will know where to find it: 252-305-2099; wanchesepottery@yahoo.com.  Again, acts of kindness, Bob offered to us the use of his truck if we needed to provision or tour the area.  

Then there was the visit from the gentleman who will have to remain nameless because neither of us can remember his name;  while eating dinner at Coinjock Restaurant (home to the 32 oz prime rib ), we chatted with two people at the table next to us, they live in Manteo......the gentleman who is retired from a career in IT, and originally from London where he spends 6 months each year, drove his scooter  (he is a para) down to the boat to visit with us:)  The people that we meet along the way are a treasured part of the journey!