One Wedding and a Fort

It's time to continue our road trip in Carteret County located along North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks.  On Monday, I took you on a tour of the lovely and picturesque town of Beaufort which was our home away from home during Mr. Piggybank's 45th birthday weekend. (You can catch that post here!)  The reason for our trip to the coast was to visit family and attend a wedding, but this was no ordinary wedding location.

When I told my son the location of the wedding we were attending, you would have thought that it was "Christmas."  He, all the sudden, went from not wanting to get to dressed to go  to a wedding to rushing to put on his dress shoes.  He couldn't get in the car quickly enough.   I think any boy, young or old, has a special spot for where we were going.  I know my husband does!  He grew up going here.

Here's where we went.

Our destination was approximately 20 minutes away from Beaufort. We crossed the bridge onto to Bogue Island and ventured to Fort Macon State Park which is located on the eastern end of Atlantic Beach.   If the walls could talk this fort would have a lot to tell!   In the 18th and 19th Century, Beaufort was very vulnerable to attack.  Blackbeard and other infamous pirates were known to have passed through Beaufort Inlet at will while successive wars with Spain, France and Great Britain during the Colonial Period provided a constant threat of coastal raids by enemy warships. Beaufort was captured and plundered by the Spanish in 1747 and again by the British in 1782.

North Carolina leaders recognized the need for coastal defenses to prevent such attacks and began efforts to construct forts.  Construction on Fort Macon began in 1826.  It fell into the hands of Union Soldiers during the Civil War and later became a federal prison during the Spanish-American War. 

Today it is a state park, and it has undergone extensive renovations.   It's a fabulous place to visit.  There is a fantastic educational center adjacent to the fort that opened last year.

But on this spring day, it was the sight of a very beautiful and simply elegant wedding.

And it was also a very quick wedding which was great for us because this one wanted to run around.

And this one wanted to go inside the "dungeons" as he calls it.   He's been to the fort several times now, and each trip is just like the first.



But luckily, we kept everyone in place long enough to grab this family photo.  That breeze did lots for my hairstyle!

We didn't have time on this particular trip to visit another one of our favorite attractions, The NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. This great attraction is about 20 minutes from Fort Macon, and definitely worth a visit.

We missed the sea creatures this trip, but we had a great time on the Beaufort Inlet at the wedding reception.

And some even sneaked in some very unique dance moves.

If you are interested in a trip to the Crystal Coast on North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks, you will find a lot of helpful information at http://www.crystalcoastnc.org/

Because blogger went down on Wednesday, the above post  on the wedding reposted on Friday.  Don't forget to check out the post that I posted today, "Ann Street Decadent Brownies."  You will not want to miss this Beaufort recipe.

Adore to Decor