Harmony Hall Plantation

Harmony Hall Plantation

As I was driving to Wilmington last month, I noticed a sign for Harmony Hall Plantation (one of the oldest homes in North Carolina.) Since the plantation is only opened 4 hours/weeks (Saturdays from 12:00 - 2:00, and Sundays from 2:00 - 4:00), I wasn't able to visit the plantation on my way back from Wilmington (fortunately, the plantation is only 25 miles (40 km) from Fayetteville....so it wasn't an impossible drive.

Now, when I hear the word "plantation", I tend to think of Gone with the Wind's Tara or other large antebellum homes. Sadly, Harmony Hall bears no resemblance to these later, more elaborate, homes. Built around 1760, the two-story home is a very simple structure with only two rooms on each floor (and a very scary-looking attic above.)

Dining Area of Harmony Hall

The first floor included a middle hall (which was quite cool thanks to the front and back doors provided a breeze through the house.) On one side, was a simple dining area, which looked very much like a 18th-century colonial room; the other room was a living area, which was obviously furnished with furniture from a much later time period.

Climbing the exterior stairs led to two unremarkable bedrooms. A smaller set of interior stairs let to a small, and very creepy attic-space (which was furnished with nothing but a bed.) The attic was probably a very good representation of a room during the time period, but I don't think you could paid me enough to sleep in that room (it was scary in the middle of the day!)

Kitchen at Harmony Hall

After the tour of the main house, I saw the outlying kitchen and several other historic buildings (which were not original to the site.) Overall, Harmony Hall was a somewhat interesting site - though I wish I could have timed it so that it had been a 20-minute stop on my way to or from Wilmington.

Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex

Poe House (built 1897)

I was rather excited this weekend when I read in the paper that the Museum of the Cape Fear was hosting an exhibit on the 1898 Wilmington Race Riots (I had just finished reading a children's book about this event, so I was excited to learn more.) However, since this was my first visit to the museum, I decided to explore all the museum complex had to offer.

I began my excursion with a 45-minute tour of the Poe House, the home of a well-to-do merchant from the late 19th century. Built in 1898, the house was filled with the family's original furniture and supplies from that time period. It was very interesting seeing how difficult life was during that time period (especially the original coal stove!)

Foundation stones from the Fayetteville Arsenal

After seeing the Poe House, I enjoyed a nice walk across the complex to the a park, which was originally a Arsenal for the US government. Sadly, the entire arsenal was destroyed by the Union army during the Civil War; today, there are merely foundation stones and a reconstructed "ghost" tower that recreates one of the original four look-out towers.

Reconstructed "tower" from the Arsenal

After touring the Poe House and Arsenal Park, I entered the actual museum building. The museum space itself was nothing all that impressive - pretty much just a small local history museum. Sadly, the Wilmington Race Riot exhibit which originally drew me to the museum ended up being the low-point of the museum. The exhibit was little more than a short documentary and a few photographs of the integrated state legislature of the time. (Perhaps this speaks more highly of the book I'd read, but I learned nothing new about the event from this exhibit.)

Airlie Gardens

Swan on the lake at Airlie Gardens

All the guidebooks I've read on North Carolina seem to highlight the annual Azalea Festival in Wilmington as one of the most popular events in the state. Although the Azalea Festival didn't quite look like the pictures in the guidebooks (most of the guides used had this picture), the Airlie Gardens did provide a beautiful setting for a spring outing!

Southern Belle for the Azalea Festival

The gardens are home to over 100,000 azalea plants - and countless spring bulbs, so there was plenty of color to go around! The Azalea Festival originally focused on these plants; however, today, it seems to serve more as a festival of antebellum culture (the "flowers" of today's festival are the young girls who parade the festival in the traditional hoop skirts worn before/during the Civil War Era. Sadly, this was the only belle that I saw at the garden (there was a large parade and festival in downtown Wilmington, so I'm sure most of the belles were there.)

Fountain in the Spring Garden at Airlie Gardens

For me, the highlight of the garden was its true Southern charm, with twisted oak trees shrouded in Spanish moss. The garden's small ponds, which were surrounded by these trees, also served as the home to white swans and dozens of turtles; it was nice seeing a mixture of animals and plants.

Wrightsville Beach

After my walk around the gardens, I continued a few streets further east to Wrightsville Beach. Sadly, the parking situation was less than desirable at the beach (one lot wanted $20 to park for the day!) Since I wasn't planning to stay at the beach all that long (I didn't have my swim trucks...and it was far too cold to get in the water), I just parked my car illegally and ran towards the beach long enough to snap a couple pictures.

After my brief beach outing, I started downtown to attend the actual festival. Sadly, the traffic situation for the street festival was even worse than that at the beach. Since I didn't really need anything from the festival booths (and was likely to only buy high-calorie foods), I skipped the street fair and began my 2-hour trip back to Fayetteville.

Cape Fear Botanical Garden

Children's Garden

I finally decided that we are far enough into spring, that the local botanical garden might actually be a good option for an afternoon of spring flowers. Although the Cape Fear Botanical Garden was nowhere near the nicest botanical garden I've ever viewed, it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. I think the thing that most surprised me about this garden was how little "formal" garden area it contained. When I think of botanical gardens, I typically picture small segments devoted to different varieties of plants (roses, water lilies, cactus, etc.) The Cape Fear Botanical Garden was much more "natural" than the average botanical garden; it was almost more of a park/forest than what I normally think of as a botanical garden.

Cape Fear River

The highlight of the garden for me was the Cape Fear River Loop. The garden had a small trail that wrapped through the forest and passed along the Cape Fear River. This is actually what I had hoped for when I first walked the Cape Fear River Trail many months ago. The Cape Fear River Loop provided a secluded little walk through nature - with a symphony of birds in the background.

North Carolina Heritage Garden

After walking the garden's exterior, I returned to the more traditional gardens. While I did enjoy the Camellia garden, the others were a little lacking. The Heritage Garden did have a great collection of historic (or historic-looking) buildings. Although it was a great little "town", I wish I could have toured the interiors.

New Bern

Tryon Palace

This morning, I headed east to the town of New Bern - the English capital of colonial North Carolina. Today, the town's main attraction is the reconstructed colonial governor's "palace" from the early 1770s. Located in the historic center of town, along the Trent River, the original Tryon Palace was destroyed by a fire in the late 1790s - and only rebuilt in the 1950s. (Though great lengths were taking to make it as historically accurate as possible.

Tryon Palace (which was named after the colonial governor who built it) had a great tour that gave a realistic view into colonial life in the 1770s. I was especially impressed to see all the traditional garments worn (I never really knew what women wore under their skirts to get them to stick out to the sides (I'm more accustom to seeing the later hoop shirts and petticoats. The house also had an interesting kitchen area, where female volunteers were cooking traditional recipes using colonial techniques.

Gardens of Tryon Palace

Outside Tryon Palace, there are a variety of gardens (which all seemed to be in full bloom!) The grounds included: a traditional French-style hedge garden, a "native" garden (which featured plants from North Carolina), and a kitchen garden with a variety of vegetables. Sadly, the view of the Trent River behind the palace was ruined by a number of ugly concrete bridges...

John Wright Stanly House

In addition to the palace, there was a tour of two other "smaller" houses from the colonial period. The John Wright Stanly House was built during the same period as the palace, and even hosted President Washington when he toured the Southern states. The house was very beautiful, but the thing I found most interesting was the fact that this building served as the town's public library from the 1930s - 1960s. I can't imagine working in a building that was over 200 years old! (Something tells me they wouldn't appreciate 40 preschoolers shaking their sillies out in a historic home...) After the tour of the Stanly House, we also viewed a slightly newer (1810s) Dixon House, which had belonged to one of North Carolina's early congressmen. All in all, it made for a very interesting trip back into the 1700s.

Fayetteville Camellia Show

This afternoon, I finally visited the Cape Fear Botanical Garden so that I could attend the annual Fayetteville Camellia Show. Since this was the first flower show I have ever attended, i wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Inside, the Camellia Show was primary table after table of camellia blooms in tiny glasses. It was interesting to see all the different varieties (though it got to be a little overwhelming.)

The show also had a small collection of informational booths; sadly, the displays were a little information heavy (with pages and pages of small print on each poster.) Although it was useful information, I don't think it was displayed in the best method. There were some lectures scheduled for the afternoon, but I wasn't that interested in the topics (and the start time was an hour later.) I did enjoy looking through the collection of camellias the Camellia Club had for sale, but I didn't buy any since they're probably not the best indoor plant (and I wasn't going to spend $25 to put a plant outside a rental unit!)

For a first visit to a flower show, I can't really complain. If I were to return in the future, I would probably try to attend on Saturday rather than Sunday - I think they blossoms would have been a little fresher looking, and there would have likely been a larger selection of plants for sale.

Museum of History

North Carolina History Exhibit

Early this afternoon, I made the hour-long drive north to Raleigh so that i could visit the North Carolina Museum of History. Located in the heart of the capital city, the museum's main exhibit (and entire first floor) is dedicated to the state's history. I was actually surprised at how many historic items could be found so close to home; the museum's collection had a large number of items from the state's colonial days.

After viewing the main exhibit, I continued upstairs to the traveling exhibits, which change every few months. The current attraction is a collection of memorabilia from the movie Gone with the Wind. This extremely popular exhibit included costumes, the original score, Academy Awards, and much more. It was a nice display, though I was a little disappointed by the display of the costumes (you would think they could have gotten real mannequins; fortunately, the interesting screen tests (from a variety of Hollywood stars) made it worth the trip.

Besides the Gone with the Wind exhibit, there were also small exhibits on the Girl Scouts and North Carolina's military history (though I wasn't really interested in either of those exhibits.) After my time at the Museum of History, I considered visiting the Museum of Natural Science - but decided to return home early instead. Still, it was enjoyable first trip to Raleigh.

Vivien Leigh's dress from Gone with the Wind