They were still there for the next few hours going about their business of pretending to be Blues and Grays with a bit of lecturing thrown in there. It does appear that they were pretty authentic and had camped out overnight at the fort. I wandered about trying to sneakily take candid shots of them...while trying not to include the small crowd of us modern folks.
This is a small group of Confederate soldiers congregating at the entrance to the fort.
A union soldier on the parade grounds cleaning his rifle
A group of Confederates socializing. There were quite a few women playing their parts. Most wore simple dresses, but this one lady had a very lovely dress with some interesting green and purple trim.
I also managed to discover new parts of the fort I'd never explored before having mostly stuck to the parade grounds previously. Here's a model of the fort that is in the visitor's center
As you can see, the parade grounds are in the center, then there is the main part of the fort...outside of that is a moat-like area with another structure around that. There are more places to explore in that outer ring.
When you take the steps down from the main entrance, this is what you see when you round the corner...a mysterious room in the outer wall.
Inside, there are a series of rooms like this one. Nothing in there but some water...and no signs explaining what the rooms were used for.
I wandered about a bit and tried to stay out of the mud (it had rained overnight and was still drizzly on and off).
This is the secondary entrance that leads from the parade grounds to the moat area. Anyway, I was diggin' the fort as you can see...but I think I saw all that I could. However, this time the gift shop was still open.
I got a Christmas tree ornament and a cobalt blue "onion" bottle, similar to the ones they found in the wreckage of the Queen Anne's Revenge. Then, it was off to do more shopping...well, only a little more. All of the cheezy surf shops around here are having "end of season" sales, so it's my chance to buy cheezy souvenirs. I didn't get much and managed to get a couple of Christmas gifts while I was at it.
I did eat dinner out at the 4 Corners Diner here in Atlantic Beach. I had breakfast there once with my mother and it is EXACTLY as I remembered it. Same blue and white tile floor, same yellow tables and fake wood booths. I got one of the dinner specials of a bowl of their homemade clam chowder and a sandwich. For my sandwich I chose a shrimp burger (which basically means a bunch of fried shrimp on a hamburger bun. The chowder was really good...as were the hush puppies I ordered. The shrimp burger was ok. The shrimp had not been de-veined which, fried or no, affects the taste for me. Still the waitress was awesome and it was a cool place. I brought most of my hush puppies back with me.
I got back to the condo and decided to head out to the beach. It is another chilly, windy day, so I got my hoodie and kept the sneakers on. Grabbed the shell bag and camera and headed out to say goodbye to the ocean. It was freakin windy!
Nice hairdoo huh? I walked about a mile in the direction of the defunct fishing pier...which means I ended up in Pine Knoll Shores, which is more beach houses and less condo resorts. Although it was pretty windy, the surf wasn't too rough and the waves were breaking close to shore.
The beach was pretty deserted except for the birds.
It started to get pretty dark, so I headed back quickly. Back in the room now and gotta finish this up so I can pack, do some cleaning up, and get to bed. Gonna try really hard to get an early start!
I doan wanna go homeeeeeeeeeeee.
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