A wonderful day exploring the town of Oriental while docked at their free dock. It was a rather warm day - 90 degrees so we did the walking tour in two parts. There is a museum that the town citizens have populated with some wonderful memorabilia, including the movie projector from the old theater. The town was originally named Smith's Creek and there the history begins... The Postmaster's wife decided the town needed a better name and found the nameplate from a wrecked sailing ship "Oriental" on the beach and thought it would make a good name. Around 40 years ago, an artist and part time resident decided a town named Oriental should have a dragon and so began the whimsical tradition in finding dragons all over Oriental - whether it be statues, rocks, pictures or costumes.
This one kinda looks like "Nessie"
Found floating in a pond.
We've decided that naming your boat "Oriental" is not recommended as not only did the town's namesake sink, but a resident of Oriental bought an 82' German boat that was captured during World War II and renamed it "Oriental". The poor boat was later run aground in a storm and smashed to bits on the shore. Thankfully the crew survived.
Here are some other "warm fuzzies" from around town:
This reminds us of the little girl flying a kite in Lacey, WA
How many times have you seen Amaryllis growing in a garden?
This beautiful home was built in 1910 with this gorgeous wrap around porch. It is now a "bed" (not "bed and breakfast" see picture below this one)
I love this fence = each post is topped with a shell - mostly conch.
Built in 1906, I loved the unusual 5-sided dormer. The owner of this home had one of the first telephones in town and volunteered to take calls and relay messages about emergencies and injured soldiers to their families
The beautiful porches - built to catch the breezes.
These were our neighbors on the dock. A little noisy begging for food, but cute anyway.
Docked at Oriental Free
Dock
Update - we are
currently in New Bern for a week of learning at the Looper Rendezvous.
No comments:
Post a Comment