Skip to main content

A Southeastern North Carolina Run

Ok, So I have been lazy the past few weeks...but hey. Two weekends ago, I took a roadtrip with Joe Babyak around Southeastern NC. I picked up a few new miles on highways and also crossed the Cape Fear via the Fort Fisher/Southport Ferry for the first time.

The Trip route: River Road in Wilmington, US 421, NC 211, I-95, NC 20, NC 87, NC 11, NC 53,US 117, NC 210, I-40.

The entire Flickr set with over 154 photos is here.

Now some have commented that I don't take sign photos anymore. So lets get this out of the way first.

It's the national southern end of US 421 at Fort Fisher State Park. That sure is a long way from Michigan City, Indiana isn't it.

The Fort Fisher/Southport ferry is a nice trip over the Cape Fear. The southern most route of the NC Ferry System, the cost to cross is $5 for most vehicles. The ride is certainly not uneventful as on many days you will pass numerous sailboats, pleasure craft, and freighters along the Cape Fear.


Near the Southport landing is an abandoned lighthouse.

This is the former Price's Creek Front Range Light. It was in operation from 1849 to the Civil War; however, it's been dark ever since.

Next up, was a stop at Southport. Southport is a great coastal town and boasts to being the home of the North Carolina July 4th Festival.




Also from Southport a few unique signs:

It's kinda hard to see this NC 211 shield from the road...and

how's that for a street name.

The next stop was the abandoned Super 6 Gas Station and Food Mart in Bolton. You may have seen a feature about this store in Carolina Lost.



NC 211 is a Scenic Byway and early November the fields are lined with cotton.



At NC 410's East End at NC 87 in Dublin, it appears that folks from Michigan installed the sign.

Finally, we stopped at a small Pender County town of Atkinson. Just off of NC 11/53 is the former Atkinson High School, and with a late afternoon setting sun, it made for some great photos.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...

New Idria Road to the New Idria ghost town

New Idria Road is an approximately 21.5-mile rural highway located in the Diablo Range of San Benito County.  From Panoche Road to approximately 20.6 miles to the south the corridor is maintained as the paved San Benito County Road 107.  The remaining 0.9 miles to the New Idria ghost town are no longer maintained and have eroded into a high clearance dirt roadway.  Upon reaching New Idria the roadway continues south as Clear Creek Road which passes through the Bureau of Land Management owned Clear Creek Management Area.   The New Idria Mercury Mine claim was staked in 1854.  Following the theme set by New Almaden the community and mine of New Idria were named after the famous Slovenian mercury mining town of Idrija.  Following a slow start the mines of New Idria would boom and the community would reach a peak population of approximately 4,000 by 1880.  New Idria Road and Panoche Road were constructed to facilitate stage travel to San Juan Bautista...

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...