It’s time to head home! Thursday morning we said goodbye to Ocracoke and took a rainy ferry ride to Hatteras to begin our trip home. We will have driven most of the length of the Outer Banks Scenic Highway (from Cedar Island to just past Kitty Hawk). We stopped at the Wright Brothers Museum in Kill Devil Hills, on the site of the first motor-powered airplane flight. It is a well-done description of the process that the Wright Brothers went through for many years perfecting their glider and then adding an engine and propellers. There is a full-scale model of the first plane with bits and pieces of it on display (much of it was destroyed on their 4th flight later in the day of the first flight. They kept it in the air for 59 seconds on the 4th flight and traveled almost a mile.)
Our first stop is in Chesapeake VA, chosen for its proximity to the Dismal Swamp Canal trail. The Dismal Swamp Canal has a sad history which we learned from the interpretive signs along the trail. From 1793 to 1814 the canal was dug using slave labor to connect the Chesapeake Bay to the Albemarle River. Generations of families lived hidden along the Great Dismal Swamp including formerly enslaved people, Native Americans forced from their homes, and other outcasts. The Canal became a key route on the Underground Railroad as well.
What started as a towpath along the canal eventually became US Route 17. In 2003 US Route 17 was rebuilt and an 8 mile section of the original 17 was converted to a recreational trail for bicyclists, walkers, horses, etc. It’s a freshly paved 2 lane highway with periodic rest stops, interpretive signs, benches, picnic tables and no cars! It’s also part of the 113,000 acre Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge so birds and other wildlife abound, including bears! I hugged the bear before I read the sign!
We had a great ride and then went out to lunch at an all-day breakfast restaurant as we’re staying in a very small AirBnB guest suite with no cooking facilities. Our meals didn’t seem remarkable, but the waitress commented on our clean plates, “You two sure must have been hungry” and told Tom that she was amazed that he managed to eat his whole breakfast. We had a good laugh as we rolled back into the car.
We’ll spend the next two days getting home. It’s been a great trip!