Today, my mother and I paid a visit to The History Place, which is Morehead City's museum and cultural center. An old friend of mine — we grew together as playmates, neighbors, and distant cousins — does genealogy research there on a volunteer basis. We talked about old times and the old families of the town.
Morehead was founded as a municipality only in the mid-1850s, but Europeans have lived here on the spit of land where the town is located, known earlier as Shepard's Point, since the mid- to late 1600s. In fact, the first English colony in the New World was established just a few miles north (or east — there is some question about which coastal island it was located on) in 1585, but it was a failure. The colonists all disappeared within a couple of years and were never heard from again. The first English child ever born in America was born there, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England.
As for the town gate mentioned on the sign on the left, a few decades later it was moved to 14th street. That's where my family lived starting in the late 1800s or earlier. It's where I lived from 1949 until about 1970, and where my mother lived, in the same house, from 1951 until 2005. I was born in a neighborhood called "the promise land" (the land of promise). We were part of the local clan of people named Willis, who came here from England.
This wall painting on a downtown building is much more recent. The story is that it was painted by a group of high school students, maybe in the 1980s. By then, I had been making trips to France, and living there off and on in, for more than a decade.
Off topic - I think the Sanitary Restaurant burned awhile ago. Was it rebuilt? Hope you get to Wilber's for some BBQ. Please say hello to New Bern for me.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of any fire at the Sanitary, and I see no evidence of it. I'll ask MA. I don't know whether I'll get up to Goldsboro or not. The round-trip drive is 200 miles (more than 300 km). I'll give your regards to the NB.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. The history of your coastline is still mysterious. I guess the English were trying to establish themselves apart from the Dutch at that time.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting -- so fascinating that the first English child ever born in America, was born there!
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be indiscreet, but how is it that you were living in that house from 1949 on, but your mother not until 1951?
Judy, when I was born in 49 we lived in one house. Then, in 51, we moved to a different house on the same block. MA lived in that house until 2005, when she sold it to move into her retirement complex apartment.
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