Spent the morning putzing around the trailer before finally getting my act together just before noon and jumping in the truck to head south. My destination for the day was a little town in North Carolina called Edenton. Located on a bend in the Roanoke River, my purpose was to go down there and see if I could find and photograph a Lighthouse that I had read about.
   The Roanoke River Lighthouse had originally been located down river near the mouth of the river and the sea. But years ago the Coast Guard closed it down and built a new automated light to replace it. Luckily someone had the foresight to buy it and then move it up river to it's current position. (All of that is actually talked about in one of the pictures posted below).
    I did find the lighthouse of course, it was located in the beautiful little public park that the city of Edenton had built right along side the banks of the river. I spent more than an hour there taking pictures and sitting on the benches on the dock overlooking the water. Unfortunately the lighthouse wasn't open when I was there, but it appears like it often is, so maybe another trip to see it at some distant time in the future.
   I think it is a pretty little lighthouse even if it no longer has its Fresnel Lens up in the lantern house. I took lots of pictures and the ones below are, I think, some of the better ones.
    After the lighthouse I spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of the town itself. Lots of Pre-Civil War houses and other buildings, most of which were still occupied and in good repair. I found a cute little cafe there by the water front late in the afternoon, and even though it is St Paddy's day, I ate fish tacos with my beer instead of corned beef and cabbage. I'll just have to have some of that next week I guess.
   It's already late here though, and I want to be up pretty early tomorrow so I can go see Colonial Williamsburg...... so enjoy the pictures below.

Roanoke River Lighthouse in Edenton, NC - March 17, 2016

A cute little structure, I understand that this design was pretty popular in spots where the water is shallow, such as at an entrance to a river.

Since I didn't get a chance to go inside I can't say with exactitude what the little roofed bump out structure on this side was for, but since it overhung the side directly over the water, I can make a pretty good guess.

I really like the covered porch that ran around nearly the whole structure. Of course where it was originally placed would of been completely surrounded by water with out any access ramp to the shoreline. Everything, including the people, would of been brought in by boat and then hoisted up. It must of been some ride when a hurricane passed by.

A sign that explained a little bit of the history.

I don't think there is any light of any kind in the lantern tower any more, but there may be a small one there that I couldn't see that would mark the entrance into this small harbor.

There were a couple of people sitting on the front porch there when I arrived. As it faces out on the expanse of the Roanoke River it would be a nice place to sit and watch the sun go down.

You can see some of the public park in the background as well as a few of the boats moored in the harbor.

The old part of downtown Edenton is located just behind the red buildings in this shot.

 

You can see part of the screw jack system that the structure was built on in this picture. Evidently they would pound a series of wooden piles into the mud and then mount the metal jacks onto them. They could fine tune the height by turning a screw mechanism on top of each leg.

One last picture.

*brk