Here are a couple of pictures from last year’s invasion:

Last year we stumbled upon the Pirate Invasion by accident. We were going to the beach and decided to check out the waterfront at Beaufort first. We had no idea what was going on when we started seeing all the folks who were dressed as pirates! We didn’t come prepared to stay for as long as we would have needed to so we took a few snapshots and left before the actual invasion took place.

The Pirate Invasion is a reenactment of the invasion that took place in 1747. The Spanish pirates captured the city temporarily until some of the locals gathered together and fought back and chased them away!

For more information about the Beaufort Pirate Invasion, click here.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ken

Students Lead Way In Saving Old Cemetery

Havelock is not a huge city. Despite being around since the early 1700s, Havelock’s reported population in 1950 was only 100! In 1965 it had grown to about 3,500. You’d hardly think that today as it is bustling along everyday! According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.6 square miles, of which, 16.7 square miles is land and 0.9 square miles is water. The population is approximately 23,000 people. Most of those people are affiliated with Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, located in Havelock.

The Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station is the largest Marine Corps air station on the East Coast.

Havelock is situated about 18 miles east of New Bern, North Carolina and about 18 miles to the west of Morehead City and the Crystal Coast beaches.

One other interesting aspect is that Havelock is also located in the Croatan National Forest. Talk about changing venues, I went from the farm and flat land of North Texas to a National Forest and 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean!

HISTORY

In 1858, when the Atlantic and North Carolina railroads came to a crossroads and a depot was built, the folks of this community needed a name for it. Havelock Station was named after Sir Henry Havelock. It is one of eight cities in the world named after him. The town of Havelock wasn’t officially established until 1959.

According to the City of Havelock web site, “this area boasted permanent plantation sites as early as 1707 and was home to many fishermen, woodsmen and farmers before the American Revolution”.

One interesting fact I found was that Havelock Station, as it was known in 1862, was the staging point for launching an attack on New Bern and Fort Macon during the Civil War. The Union armies captured these locations and were able to hold on to them despite resistance from the Confederates. I plan on writing more about this as I am able to learn more. I’d also like to be able to include some pictures with it!

I know this may not seem like much, but I am writing as I learn. There’s a whole lot more to this area than meets the eye!

Some of the other cities that are nearby and I will eventually write about are New Bern, Morehead City, Beaufort, Newport and Oriental. I’ll probably eventually write about some of my favorite beaches also!