Albemarle Hospitality

* Albemarle Loop *

4 stops, well 3 –  97.5 miles –

As we left the Outer Banks, we headed west into the heart of the Albemarle Sound. Bypassing the ICW and the Dismal Swamp, both routes that would take us to the Chesapeake Bay, we continued west. Up until a year or so ago, we had never heard of the Albemarle Sound, we still can’t pronounce it, but inpired to journey the road less traveled.

The Albemarle Sound is 60 miles long and 15 miles across at its widest point covering an area of 450 square miles. Many inland Tidewater communities along the Albemarle today are classified as part of the Inner Banks region of the state of North Carolina. Much of the water in the sound is brackish or fresh, as opposed to the saltwater of the ocean, as a result of four rivers pouring into the sound.

Most loopers traverse through quickly, not stopping on the sound. The area has been enticing loopers and snowbirds to enjoy the area with seven municipalities or marinas taking part in an organized effort called the Albemarle Loop. These eight locations offer two nights free dockage each, six with power and water, some the power is free, and a couple only charge $3 per night for power. What a deal! Two marinas are gateways to the loop and offer support the loop, they include Shallowbag (#9) in the Outer Banks, which we just departed and Waterside (#10), to the north in Norfolk.

With no schedule, and months before we return to Florida for the winter, we have plenty of time to take in the Albemarle Loop. The great loop is typically done in a year. We have been on the journey a little over a year total and have made it about halfway around. Our first ten months took us from the Ohio River to the East Coast of Florida. The last couple of months have taken us to Northern North Carolina from Florida. We are what some call sloopers. Slow Loopers and enjoying every minute of it.

“All Who Wander Are Not Lost”

The past week has taken us to three quaint towns North Carolina towns on the Albemarle, Columbia (#2), Edenton (#3), and Plymouth (#7) and one bypassed dock in Roper at Mackeys Marina (#5). All have their own personality and their claim to fame. True to most small towns, they are struggling to keep residents and the downtowns are a bit barren. We have been able to find a restaurant or two in each town, a trusty hardware store that have turned into our favorite places to visit, and deep-rooted civil war history. We’ve also been getting the dinghy down and venturing up the rivers that feed the sound with beautiful cypress trees everywhere.

We’ve met many of the town folk and been treated like royalty by the town personnel. In addition to the free mooring, we’ve been given access to restrooms and showers, a guided tour of a light house, free laundry, a courtesy truck, goodie bags, and been able to stay more than the noted 2 nights. We have been in the company of only one other vessel doing this loop, seeing them at two of the towns so far. This is clearly the road less traveled.

Columbia (#2), a 49-mile cruise from the Outer Banks, is on the south shore of the Albemarle, closest to our intended great loop route. We stayed three nights as we anchored the first night as a boat was already at the towns one large vessel dock when we arrived. Columbia is known for white potatoes! They have the largest harvest of potatoes outside of Idaho and many brands of chips are made with Columbia potatoes.   

We “dined” at one of two restaurants in town, a walkup Mexican joint that also was a Mexican quickie mart, ice cream spot, tax handler, and money transfer center to send funds to Mexico. We used the picture menu to order (this wasn’t our Indiana Mexican menu, and we don’t speak Spanish) and dined with several others. Tasha was able to find the second food place on a walk, a takeout pizza place. She purchased a salad to go to add to our evening meal. We were thankful for the two places that were open as in addition to them a hardware store and the barber shop were the only places in town with open signs.

We walked into the visitor center located right by the town dock and used the restrooms. Come to find out this was a roadside rest park. Town dock on one side, visitor center in the middle, and a roadside rest park for US 64 on the street side. We biked to another roadside rest park in Plymouth, and will be visiting one by boat that is shared with cars on the Dismal Swamp. Not your I-65 road side rest parks!

Columbia also had a great federally funded nature trail and nature boardwalk. Picosin Lakes National Refuge Wildlife Center. A very neat trail, we could only visit the outside exhibits as the center was closed early week. A dinghy ride and a stop at the Court House rounded out our two days.

We then ventured 26 miles Northwest across the sound to Edenton (#3). Edenton was a wonderful village. A vibrant small community of 5,000 with an active downtown and a community of philanthropists who have stepped up to invest tremendously in their community. It shows.

The town docks are in a small harbor with the 3^rd Roanoke River Lighthouse (1887), the first was destroyed by fire, the second ice floe. Believed to be the last surviving example of a square-frame American lighthouse built for a screw-pile base, this captivating landmark served as a beacon for ships from 1887 to 1941. Restored to its original state as a lightkeeper’s home, it was originally located in Albemarle Sound at the entrance to the Roanoke River near Plymouth.

We have seen two square frame replicas in Manteo and Plymouth. There were only 4 designs in the original 17 located in the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. They provided a network of navigational signals along the inland waterways.

Upon arrival in Edenton, we took the trolley tour. Edenton was the first Colonial capital in North Carolina incorporated in 1722. Constructed in 1782, the three-story welcome center was originally home to Penelope Barker, who organized the famous Edenton “Tea Party” of 1774, along with 50 other local women, to petition against the purchase of taxable British goods in a rare female-led political protest that caused quite a stir. The tea pot is in the town crest and a replica in the town park.

The downtown was filled with shops and restaurants that were open. And another great hardware store, one of two in town! The town has a rich history in peanut processing, and we were gifted a bag of peanuts upon arrival.

In addition to a free dock, they offered a courtesy truck. We were able to make an easy grocery run, visit the 2^nd hardware store outside of the downtown for supplies to make a PVC fender board, and drive parts of the town we hadn’t seen on our trolley tour or by walking. We even found another Now or Never at the local marina.

But with all the enjoyment and vibrancy, soon came the storms. And wind. Lots of wind. The Southern winds brought white caps and waves 10 miles across the sound to hit the Now or Never on the beam. It was a rough night.

Dolly Parton returned on her pogo stick and mixed it up with bumper cars as we hit the dock pilings. We were side tied, with no pilings on the non-dock side so we had no way to break the impact. Tasha emerged from down below in the morning indicating she was ready to go home and a fleeting thought for the need to recruit crew to assist the captain moving the boat.

The morning seas were still a bit rough and big winds were going to return in the afternoon. The captain knew the first mate would not do well with another day and night of this, so we set out (sooner than we would have liked) to head across the sound to the south and a marina in a back reek with protection.

As Tasha contacted the dock master just prior to our arrival at Mackeys, he mentioned there was a bit of water over the dock. Curious to what that meant, we curiously rounded the corner to the “marina” and the picture shows what we saw. We hovered in the creek determining if we should dock. Would be great place to cool your feet sitting on the dock! We were gonna need our water shoes. We contemplated for a bit on how to run power and since the Now Or Never was taller than the structure how to ensure that our aft cabin roof wouldn’t collide with the dock house roof. Knowing more rain was coming, we wondered how that would affect the water levels too. We went to plan B and headed to Plymouth further west and south. Hindsight has us wishing that we had been a little more adventuresome, that scenario certainly would have been a great story!

Our days jaunt took us just over 21 miles and up the Roanoke River to Plymouth (#7) and nine well-appointed solid town docks in front of another lighthouse.

We were so happy for the calm waters and the peaceful night of sleep, only to be abruptly awoken at 5:30 AM with a megaphone countdown and 100 bass boats in a tournament that started and ended less than 100 feet from us! We got up to and went to the aft deck watch! The wakes of 100 bass boats in a 30-minute period and throughout the day were much more tolerable than our night at Edenton. The tournament was so fun that about 25 boats did it again the next morning at 6!

Plymouth is home of the Black Bear Festival, which we just missed by three weeks. The largest black bears on the planet are found in eastern North Carolina and the highest concentration of black bears in the world are on the Albemarle – Pamlico Peninsula which is where we are! We enjoyed finding all the bears around town, as well as visiting the Plymouth Maritime Museum and the Port of Plymouth Roanoke River Museum.

Unfortunately, the Bear-ology Black Bear Museum was not open. Dinghy rides were enjoyed each night to cool us off as the weather has turned hot! We are experiencing out first 90+ weather, we’ve had a great run until now. We also witnessed a Sunday night wedding on the community peer next to us with Latin and soul walk down the aisle tunes!

Our two-day stay turned to four because as you might have guessed it, weather, wind, and storms. Our next stop would be more on the open water, and we were happy with our safe haven on the Roanoke River that we stayed put.

A few more stops (#1, #4, #6) on this “loop” to explore before we head up through the Great Dismal Swamp to Norfolk and the Chesapeake. We are enjoying these small communities and people on the Albemarle Loop. All have been so welcoming and have treated us like best friends ensuring we have a great experience in ther community. Truly southern hospitality at its finest! The marinas we pay to stay at could learn lot from them! We are enjoying wandering America, one small town at a time!

Cheers!  David, Tasha,  

                  & Remy forever in our hearts!

 

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