10 April 2013

Three churches in Albemarle

I'm on vacation in the U.S., visiting family on North Carolina coast. I'll be back in France soon.

Albemarle [AL-buh-marl] is a large town, pop. 15,000, in central North Carolina, a little east of Charlotte. It was incorporated in 1857, the same year as my home town, Morehead City. Charlotte is much older. I'd never been to Albemarle before today.

The North Carolina state flag

We were driving back home on what is called the Charlotte-Morehead City highway, NC 24. The road runs for 450 km (nearly 300 miles) east to west through the center of the state, making it the longest NC state highway. I had never driven across the state on that route before.

As in many Southern places, churches are the town's most distinctive feature. Since I posted three pictures of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris yesterday, today I thought I'd post three photos of typical southern U.S. protestant churches.









 

A Methodist church in Albemarle...


The drive home through central N.C. took about seven hours. We drove through the center of Charlotte, and then continued on to Troy, Carthage, Lillington, Dunn, Mount Olive, and Goldsboro on NC 24. Part of the drive, toward the west, took us through rolling hill country and an extensive national forest.








 

...and a Lutheran church

 The grand First Baptist Church of Albemarle

As we arrived at Goldsboro, on the eastern coastal plain, the land flattened out and forest gave way to wide fields. It's 100 miles across that plain from Goldsboro to Morehead City. The road passes near New Bern, which was the British capital of the colony before the War of Independence.

11 comments:

  1. Funny how you always manage to get to Goldsboro on your trips home.

    A new BBQ place opened up in Fayetteville (PA) and it was pretty good. Not Wilbur's, not even NC style, but it saves us a trip south.

    This is my third try! What's up with this thing today?

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  2. Carolyn, we stopped at Wilber's in Goldsboro and also at King's BBQ in Kinston to get some food to bring home. I'd never been to King's before.

    Just got up. Don't yet know what's going on with blogger.

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  3. Wow, that First Baptist church IS grand.

    What's it like to be driving around in such different country / scenery than what you've grown accustomed to in France?

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  4. Judy, the cars are really big and move very slowly. The roads are wide, and there are many stoplights (instead of traffic circles). Big cars are definitely more comfortable than little cars. It feels like everything is moving in slow-motion, however. The scenery along highway 24 is beautiful, especially through the Uwharrie National Forest, which covers 205 sq. km (80 sq. mi.).

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  5. Loved these church photos of the various faiths.
    You're really covering some distance Ken...keep on having fun.

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  6. Ken, welcome home. Tell your mom hello from me. Love Wilber's. We stop there almost every time we go home. If you can use apps on your tablet, download the free app Blogpress. You can upload photod with it.

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  7. Slow travel at it's best! Churches like those can be found in the Alabama countryside also.

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  8. Nice to be able to follow you here in the U.S. Hi to your family.

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  9. Not much comparison between Notre Dame and North Carolina churches!

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  10. Cheryl, MA says hi. Joanna is coming over for dinner (turkey and collard greens).

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