Category: North Carolina

American museums often have a difficulty that they have nearly no exhibits to explain their history before the European settlers came over, namely because a lot of items owned by the native Americans were either transient or discarded and didn’t survive. The usage of the word “ancient” can in American terms can really be relatively recent, but this is one of the oldest exhibits that I’ve seen in an American museum that’s from the local area and isn’t a piece of stone.

It’s a thirty foot long canoe which was used 3,000 years ago by native Americans in Lake Phelps which is off towards the east of North Carolina. Generations of people used canoes in the area and in 1986 archaeologists discovered two dozen of them sunk into silt at the bottom of the lake, although they left some there for their own protection (of the canoes, not the archaeologists). Humans only reached this area around 15,000 years ago or so, meaning in terms of human history in the region, this canoe certainly is ancient. There’s more about this canoe at https://www.qaronline.org/blog/2020-06-01/artifact-month-lake-phelps-canoes.

At least I can’t be accused of clickbait with such a boring post name title.

But, it’s a little more interesting that I might have suggested by calling it an old jug. It’s actually a tankard which was found in what is now Martin County, off to the east of North Carolina. It’s notable as it’s the earliest surviving European style ceramic piece found in the Americas, dating from somewhere between 1680 and 1720. I think there’s a little bit of magic in that, something which has survived for so long and which had some considerable meaning to its original owner.

Incidentally, as some back history to all of this. Although the tankard itself isn’t connected to this, it isn’t that far (about 75 miles) from Roanoke Island, the mysterious lost colony that was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh and then disappeared from the record. And I mention this also because Raleigh is where the city name comes from, the locals named it after him.

Continuing on my theme of underselling the post with the title, these are Marginella shells which were used in trade by native Americans, with these ones dating from between 1711 and 1713. They can date this so accurately due to the Tuscarora War, when the Tuscarora people were thrown off their lands by European settlers and I think that these were used as grave goods. This falls into the category of museum exhibit which particularly interested me because of their heritage and how important they would have been to someone at the time. It’s also firmly in the middle of the period of when North Carolina was an English colony, which was between 1653 and 1776.

I only had one day in Raleigh and also needed to get to my hotel as it was about to get dark, but I felt the need to quickly test one well reviewed brewery out, which is Crank Arm Brewing Company. It’s a bright and cheerful place, with the staff being helpful and friendly.

There’s the beer list, but they did a beer flight with smaller quantities of beer which allowed me to try more of them. And extra points for the Untappd screen and their beer list on the app.

And there are my options for anyone remotely interested.

The brewing equipment all added to the atmosphere and integrity of the venue.

And they’ve gone heavily with the bike theme, as can be seen with the array of them hanging on the wall, and also appropriate given that they’re in Raleigh.

As one of my occasional reminders, all the beer I’ve tried is listed at https://untappd.com/user/julwhite. I was surprised and delighted with the quality of these beers, they were all decent, but the Attack Position which is the imperial stout at the rear was the best of the lot. Rich, decadent, chocolatey, notes of vanilla and it’s 11% wasn’t too apparent. I very much enjoyed this visit, it was a laid-back and comfortable atmosphere and I liked people watching from the bar. And also, extra marks for the excellent presentation of that cog thing, or whatever it’s called (Liam will know as both an engineer and a bike obsessed person).

I had been pleased to discover that the buses in Richmond are free until 2025, and in Raleigh they’re also free until at least next year. As an inclusion policy it’s quite brilliant, as it is hugely helpful to those residents who can’t afford cars and are reliant on the buses. It’s also a positive way of getting people onto public transport, and it is something being pushed by Luxembourg and Malta in the EU. I hope that there are more schemes such as this, I’m sure it benefits the community. The bus station wasn’t as well signed as I would have liked, but I found the bus that I needed and did just double check that it was free when boarding to avoid any awkward incidents.

And dropped off on time at the tree of my choice, just a short walk from the hotel.