North Carolina, USA: 2. Outer Banks & Durham
Photographs Copyright 2008 by Tom Dempsey. I last modified
this page on December 24, 2008.
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Index to North Carolina:
-
Page 1: Appalachian
Mountains:
Map ; Great Smoky Mountains National Park ; Blue Ridge Parkway
& Mountains ; Hanging Rock State Park, in the Piedmont
-
Page 2 (this page): Durham:
Duke University Chapel
& Gardens, Eno River State Park. Outer Banks:
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Bodie Island Lighthouse, Wright Brothers
National Memorial, Kitty Hawk
See also:
- Tennessee: Appalachians: Great Smoky
Mountains National Park ( geology , Cades Cove , Little River Road , Roaring Fork
Motor Nature Trail , Clingmans Dome ) ; Cherokee
Lake
- Virginia: Appalachians: Page 1: Shenandoah National Park , Luray Caverns , geology | 2: Cumberland Gap , Natural Tunnel State Park | 3: Plantations: historic maps , Historic Jamestowne (Pocahontas), Colonial Williamsburg , Shirley Plantation , Monticello/Jefferson , UV Rotunda
- West Virginia:
Babcock State Park , Harpers
Ferry , Green Bank Telescope , New River Gorge Bridge , Hawks Nest State Park , geology map
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Durham
Duke University Chapel
In 1838, Methodists & Quakers founded a private school in North Carolina which
was renamed Trinity College in 1859. Trinity College moved to Durham in
1892 with the help of endowments from tobacco industrialist Washington Duke, who
said to “open its doors to women, placing them on an equal footing with
men." In 1924, his son James Buchanan Duke established The Duke
Endowment, prompting the institution to change its name in honor of his
deceased father. Besides academics, research, and athletics, Duke is
also well known for its sizable forested campus and Gothic architecture, especially Duke Chapel.
Above: The gothic spires of Duke Chapel soar skywards in the heart of the
campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. This
ecumenical
Christian chapel is the center of religion at Duke University, which
has strong
historical connections to the United Methodist Church. Constructed from
1930 to 1932, the Chapel seats about 1,800 people and stands 210 feet
(64 m) tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in Durham County.
The Chapel is built in the English Gothic style, characterized by its
large
stones, pointed arches, and ribbed vaults. The building resonates with
a 50-bell
carillon and three pipe organs, one with 5,033 pipes and another with
6,900 pipes. Duke University is a private research university in Durham,
North Carolina.
Left: Visitors stroll beneath Duke Chapel.
Right: A banner on a glowing light pole displays the shield, seal and latin motto of Duke University, "Eruditio et Religio" (Knowledge and Faith).
Left: Warm sunset light strikes Duke Chapel.
Below:
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
Left: Geese fly over an ornamental Japanese stone lantern which decorates the pond shore at Sarah P. Duke Gardens.
The Sarah P. Duke Gardens spread across 55 acres
(223,000
square meters) of landscaped and wooded areas at Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina, USA. Allées, walks,
and pathways wander five miles (8 km) throughout the gardens. The
gardens are divided into four
parts, the Historic Core, the H.L Blomquist Garden of Native Plants,
the Culberson Asiatic Arboretum and the Page White Garden. The gardens
memorialize Sarah P. Duke, wife of Benjamin N. Duke, one of Duke
University's benefactors. Address: Sarah P. Duke Gardens, 426 Anderson
Street, Box 90341, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0341.
Right: A white bridge arches over the pond at Sarah P. Duke Gardens, at Duke Univeersity, in Durham.
Left: Sun backlights grass seed heads at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, at Duke Univeersity, in Durham.
Right: The lake shoreline curves through Sarah P. Duke Gardens.
Yellow fall leaf color and white tree trunks reflect in the pond at
the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Photo Copyright by Carol Dempsey.
Left: A couple pauses on a white bridge reflecting in the pond at Sarah P. Duke Gardens, at Duke Univeersity, in Durham, near a stylized stone lantern.
Right: Grass seed heads glow alongside the pond at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.
Left: The Duke Gardens feature Japanese garden icons of a stone lantern, an arched bridge, stone steps, a pond and Asian plants.
Right: A Great blue Heron eats a fish at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.
Left: The Muscovy Duck, (Cairina moschata), is a large duck, native
to Mexico, Central and South America. A small wild population reaches
into the US in the lower Rio Grande River basin in Texas. There also
are feral breeding populations in North America in and around public
parks in nearly every state of the USA and in the Canadian provinces;
feral populations also exist in Europe. Although the Muscovy Duck is a
tropical bird, it adapts to icy and snowy conditions down to –12°C
(10°F) and below without ill effects. Photographed in Duke Gardens, Durham, North Carolina.
Right: A Muscovy Duck swims in Duke Gardens.
Eno River State Park
Left: Fall leaf colors reflect in Eno River, in Eno River State
Park, which is in Durham and Orange Counties, North Carolina, USA.
Native Americans of the Eno, Shakori and Occoneechee tribes lived along
the river prior to European settlement. Some of the tribes merged in
the late 17th century and established a village near present-day
Durham. Settlers moved to the area later to set up farms and more than
30 mills along the length of the Eno River. Efforts to establish
Eno River State Park started in 1965 when the city of Durham proposed
building a reservoir in the river valley. A group of concerned citizens
led a campaign to save the Eno and formed the Association for the
Preservation of the Eno River Valley. In May 1972, the state of North
Carolina approved the park, and the reservoir was not built. In 1975,
the state—with help from the Eno River Association and the Nature
Conservancy—acquired more than 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land for the
park.
Right: Trees lean over reflections in Eno River State Park near Durham, North Carolina.
Left: Tree trunks and fall leaf colors reflect in the ripples of Eno River, in Eno River State Park. Photo Copyright by Carol Dempsey.
Below: Red fall leaf colors in Eno River State Park. Photo Copyright by Carol Dempsey.
Left: Tree trunks reflect in Eno River State Park near Durham, North Carolina.
Right: Leaves turn bright yellow in Eno River State Park.
Left: Leaves turn orange, red and yellow in Eno River State Park.
Right: Twisted roots plunge into leaves in the Eno River.
Left: Tree trunks and leaves reflect in Eno River State Park.
Right: Eno River State Park offers many miles of pretty trails along the river near Durham.
The Outer Banks
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge
Left: Grass grows on a dune on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge (adjacent
to Cape Hatteras National Seashore), located on the north end of North
Carolina's Hatteras Island, a coastal barrier island and part of a
chain of islands known as the Outer Banks. The Pea Island sanctuary is located 10
miles south of Nags Head, North Carolina on NC Highway 12. The refuge
objectives are to provide nesting, resting, and wintering habitat for
migratory birds, including the greater snow geese and other migratory
waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors, and neotropical migrants,
as well as habitat and protection for endangered and threatened
species. The Refuge was established May 17, 1937.
Below: The Atlantic Ocean washes ashore Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a nice place for people to walk the beach.
Left:
This sand dune pattern is on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Right: A bird's tracks emboss a rippled dune.
Left: shells and a skate egg case on the beach at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Right: Skate egg case.
Bodie Island Lighthouse
Left:
The current Bodie Island Lighthouse (originally Body's Island, after
the family name of the land seller) is the third that has stood in this
vicinity of Bodie Island on the Outer Banks in North Carolina and was
built in 1872. It stands 156 feet tall and is located on the Roanoke
Sound side of the first island that is part of the Cape Hatteras
National Seashore. The lighthouse is just south of Nag's Head. Its
first order Fresnel lens focuses its 1000-watt bulb to be visible up to
19 miles. The US Coast Guard owns the tower, and the National Park
Service owns the site. The lighthouse has white and black bands with a
black lantern house. Cape Hatteras was once dubbed the "Graveyard of
the Atlantic" for its treacherous currents, shoals, and storms.
A stuffed falcon grasps its prey, on an "Unauthorized Entry Prohibited"
sign, at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge visitor Center.
Wright Brothers National Memorial
Left: Wright Brothers National Memorial (called Kill Devil Hill Monument until 1933), located in Kill Devil Hills, in Dare County, North
Carolina, USA, commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered
flights in a heavier-than-air machine. The memorial tower, built in
1932, was designed by Rodgers and Poor, a New York architectural firm.
From 1900 to 1903, Orville Wright (born August 19, 1871 – died January
30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912) came here
from Dayton, Ohio, attracted to the area's steady winds and privacy.
The town of Kitty Hawk (established in the early 1700s as Chickahawk)
was made famous on December 17, 1903, when the Wright brothers made the
first controlled, powered airplane flights six kilometers (4 miles)
away near the sand dunes known as Jockey's Ridge.
Right: Painting of Wilbur and Orville Wright (left to right) and their first flight, by Gregory Kavalec 2003, displayed at Wright Brothers National Memorial.
Left: The Wright Brothers National Memorial (called Kill Devil Hill Monument until 1933) makes a silhouette on Kill Devil
Hill, in Dare County, North Carolina, USA.
Right: Bronze bust sculpture of Wilbur Wright at the foot of the Wright Brothers National Memorial.
Above: These stone monuments mark the site and lengths of the first controlled, powered airplane flights on December 17, 1903, by the Wright brothers, at the sand dunes known as Jockey's Ridge, six
kilometers (4 miles) from the town of Kitty Hawk (established in the early 1700s as
Chickahawk).
In the two years afterward, the brothers developed their flying machine
into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to
build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first
to invent aircraft controls that made fixed wing flight possible. The
brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of "three
axis-control", which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft
effectively and to maintain its equilibrium, a method which became
standard on modern fixed wing aircraft.
Left: A visitor contemplates the magnitude of the Wright brothers' achievement.
Right: Bronze bust sculpture of Orville Wright at the foot of the Wright Brothers National Memorial.
North Carolina, USA: 2. Outer Banks & Durham
Index to North Carolina:
- Page 1: Appalachian
Mountains: Map ; Great Smoky Mountains National Park ; Blue Ridge Parkway
& Mountains ; Hanging Rock State Park, in the Piedmont
- Page 2 (top of this page): Durham: Duke University Chapel
& Gardens, Eno River State Park. Outer Banks: Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Bodie Island Lighthouse, Wright Brothers
National Memorial, Kitty Hawk
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