94. Brunswick County -- Bolivia (Southport) -- 5/31/08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_County%2C_North_Carolina
To get to our next county, we had to wind through the wilds of Wilmington (New Hanover County) and cross over the rivers to get to Leland in order to cruise on down to the bustling metropolis of Bolivia. No, not the South American country, but apparently, it's named after it (even though I can't find real proof of it besides Wikipedia!).
And no, Bolivia isn't too much of a metropolis, as its population of 176 could attest. While Brunswick County's population doubled (50,000 to 100,000) from 1990 to 2007, the county seat's population is just chillin' at 176. Brunswick County is fortunate to be the host county for NC's southern-most beaches, and even Calabash-style seafood! But I don't like seafood. But I've eaten at a a Calabash restaurant before (I just got chicken...which was good!). The population boom came mainly from these beaches, and not really its interior. But, Bolivia is in the interior, so that's where we went to hang out!
I have a friend from college named Erinn who lives near Carolina Beach. I saw her at a UNC football game in the fall, and she wanted to throw down some Courthouse Chasing. I called her up the night before, and she was like, heck yeah! So she met Willy T, Steve and Martin (I like to put "Steve" and "Martin" in that order because it looks like "Steve Martin" the actor) at the courthouse in Bolivia.
You may be wondering why I have (Southport) listed in the title of this post. That's because Southport was the county seat until 1978 when it was moved to Bolivia. Therefore, Bolivia is pretty much a road through some fields and forest, with a relatively modern Governmental Complex along the way. If you have to go to court in Bolivia, there aren't a lot of restaurants or shops in walking distance.
We parked in the parking spot of the District Judge around the back by the razor wire of the jail, and we wandered around until Erinn arrived. There wasn't too much going on at the courthouse complex on a Saturday...the prisoners weren't even out. After some CRAZY dancing in the parking lot, Erinn got there, and we took that amazing picture of us with me being held. It was kinda fun!
So, we got in our cars and headed toward Southport because our Courthouse Chasing wasn't done yet for Brunswick County, oh no!
Southport is a beautiful town on the Cape Fear River. The main road in Southport, NC 211, comes in and dead ends at the water front. I remember coming here for a church youth event when I was younger, and was blown away (figuratively). We used the Southport Community Building. Then, 2 years ago, my friend Stu got married in Carolina Beach, and they had their reception in the same place! It has a nice view of the water. My favorite part is being able to see both the Oak Island and Bald Head lighthouses at the same time.
When Stu got married, I hung out in Myrtle Beach the night before with some friends. We passed Bolivia a few times, and I begged them to please stop so we could grab the courthouse...especially in their tuxes and my suit. I thought that would be a phat picture. But alas, they woudn't stop, and so I had to make the trek down here again! But Brunswick County is a fun place to visit. On this trip, I really wanted to go to Bald Head Island, since I've never been there before. I heard it's pretty cool. Cars aren't allowed, so you have to walk or use golf carts. It costs $15 round trip on the ferry, so on our short time frame, we decided it wasn't worth it. Also, we wanted to go to Brunswick Town, which is a "colonial ghost town" burnt down during the Revolutionary War, but we didn't make it. I'll have to go back AGAIN!
Another interesting fact is that while most of the islands in NC are moving toward the coast (albeit slowly), Sunset Beach is the only one moving away. Isn't that cool?
So what DID we do in Southport if we didn't do a bunch of other stuff?
Well, the first thing was to go to the parking area where NC 211 dead ends. There's a pretty turquoise sign that says "2 hour parking", and we happened to go over and touch it. It fell over. So, we started taking pictures of ourselves holding the "2 hour parking" sign with the nice view in the background. That was cool. Willy T even sang with the sign (he sings everywhere, so it's not unthinkable). Then we went wandering around, read some neat-o historical markers, including one that talked about the original town layout that asked us to "believe in Joshua's dream." I do. Your mission is to find this marker and take a picture of YOURSELF in front of it, doing your best to believe in Joshua's dream. Can you find it? First person who does wins a prize from me (maybe some gum or something).
Erinn asked a local where the old courthouse was (of course I wouldn't ask because I'm a stubborn male), and we were off. It was a block away, and is now the City Hall. The picture doesn't really do it justice...the tree is in the way. It has a neat cupola, and it rather boat-ish, kinda like Bertie County's courthouse. We decided to go with a crazy picture for this one, too. Martin is trying to do some sort of Greek sculpture pose, and I'm laying on the ground. I had decided that I didn't have a picture of me on the ground, so I needed one. Erinn's on the phone, Willy T's chillin on the steps and Steve is happy to be Steve and non-married (see the Pender County post for why).
We definitely had to ride a ferry while we were on the coast, so we headed down to the ferry docks and took the $5/car DOOK ferry (boo Dook) to Ft. Fisher from Southport. So far, courthouse chasing has given me 2 ferry rides (The other one was Minnesott Beach/Cherry Branch during the Pitt/Beaufort/Pamlico/Carteret/Craven trip). I love ferries, and have ridden the Ocracoke/Hatteras and Ocracoke/Cedar Island and Southport/Ft. Fisher in the past.
On the ferry, my roommate called to let me know I had forgotten to switch the electricity to my name since he was moving out, and that there was no longer power at our place. Whoops. And my new roommate was moving in the next day. Luckily, the Duke Energy guy came at 12:45 in the morning after my trip to turn it on. What a nice guy! I thanked him profusely. See, the sacrifices of courthouse chasing.
We got to Ft. Fisher, which is in New Hanover County again. I had never been there, and we still didn't get to see the fort. But we went wading (I jumped in completely...I mean dang, I wore my bathing suit in all of today's pics!). Then we said good bye to Erinn, ate dinner, and were on our tired way back to the Triangle. We all spoke non-stop on this trip, except for about 5 minutes on the way back as Willy T began drifting off to sleep.
And no, Bolivia isn't too much of a metropolis, as its population of 176 could attest. While Brunswick County's population doubled (50,000 to 100,000) from 1990 to 2007, the county seat's population is just chillin' at 176. Brunswick County is fortunate to be the host county for NC's southern-most beaches, and even Calabash-style seafood! But I don't like seafood. But I've eaten at a a Calabash restaurant before (I just got chicken...which was good!). The population boom came mainly from these beaches, and not really its interior. But, Bolivia is in the interior, so that's where we went to hang out!
I have a friend from college named Erinn who lives near Carolina Beach. I saw her at a UNC football game in the fall, and she wanted to throw down some Courthouse Chasing. I called her up the night before, and she was like, heck yeah! So she met Willy T, Steve and Martin (I like to put "Steve" and "Martin" in that order because it looks like "Steve Martin" the actor) at the courthouse in Bolivia.
You may be wondering why I have (Southport) listed in the title of this post. That's because Southport was the county seat until 1978 when it was moved to Bolivia. Therefore, Bolivia is pretty much a road through some fields and forest, with a relatively modern Governmental Complex along the way. If you have to go to court in Bolivia, there aren't a lot of restaurants or shops in walking distance.
We parked in the parking spot of the District Judge around the back by the razor wire of the jail, and we wandered around until Erinn arrived. There wasn't too much going on at the courthouse complex on a Saturday...the prisoners weren't even out. After some CRAZY dancing in the parking lot, Erinn got there, and we took that amazing picture of us with me being held. It was kinda fun!
So, we got in our cars and headed toward Southport because our Courthouse Chasing wasn't done yet for Brunswick County, oh no!
Southport is a beautiful town on the Cape Fear River. The main road in Southport, NC 211, comes in and dead ends at the water front. I remember coming here for a church youth event when I was younger, and was blown away (figuratively). We used the Southport Community Building. Then, 2 years ago, my friend Stu got married in Carolina Beach, and they had their reception in the same place! It has a nice view of the water. My favorite part is being able to see both the Oak Island and Bald Head lighthouses at the same time.
When Stu got married, I hung out in Myrtle Beach the night before with some friends. We passed Bolivia a few times, and I begged them to please stop so we could grab the courthouse...especially in their tuxes and my suit. I thought that would be a phat picture. But alas, they woudn't stop, and so I had to make the trek down here again! But Brunswick County is a fun place to visit. On this trip, I really wanted to go to Bald Head Island, since I've never been there before. I heard it's pretty cool. Cars aren't allowed, so you have to walk or use golf carts. It costs $15 round trip on the ferry, so on our short time frame, we decided it wasn't worth it. Also, we wanted to go to Brunswick Town, which is a "colonial ghost town" burnt down during the Revolutionary War, but we didn't make it. I'll have to go back AGAIN!
Another interesting fact is that while most of the islands in NC are moving toward the coast (albeit slowly), Sunset Beach is the only one moving away. Isn't that cool?
So what DID we do in Southport if we didn't do a bunch of other stuff?
Well, the first thing was to go to the parking area where NC 211 dead ends. There's a pretty turquoise sign that says "2 hour parking", and we happened to go over and touch it. It fell over. So, we started taking pictures of ourselves holding the "2 hour parking" sign with the nice view in the background. That was cool. Willy T even sang with the sign (he sings everywhere, so it's not unthinkable). Then we went wandering around, read some neat-o historical markers, including one that talked about the original town layout that asked us to "believe in Joshua's dream." I do. Your mission is to find this marker and take a picture of YOURSELF in front of it, doing your best to believe in Joshua's dream. Can you find it? First person who does wins a prize from me (maybe some gum or something).
Erinn asked a local where the old courthouse was (of course I wouldn't ask because I'm a stubborn male), and we were off. It was a block away, and is now the City Hall. The picture doesn't really do it justice...the tree is in the way. It has a neat cupola, and it rather boat-ish, kinda like Bertie County's courthouse. We decided to go with a crazy picture for this one, too. Martin is trying to do some sort of Greek sculpture pose, and I'm laying on the ground. I had decided that I didn't have a picture of me on the ground, so I needed one. Erinn's on the phone, Willy T's chillin on the steps and Steve is happy to be Steve and non-married (see the Pender County post for why).
We definitely had to ride a ferry while we were on the coast, so we headed down to the ferry docks and took the $5/car DOOK ferry (boo Dook) to Ft. Fisher from Southport. So far, courthouse chasing has given me 2 ferry rides (The other one was Minnesott Beach/Cherry Branch during the Pitt/Beaufort/Pamlico/Carteret/Craven trip). I love ferries, and have ridden the Ocracoke/Hatteras and Ocracoke/Cedar Island and Southport/Ft. Fisher in the past.
On the ferry, my roommate called to let me know I had forgotten to switch the electricity to my name since he was moving out, and that there was no longer power at our place. Whoops. And my new roommate was moving in the next day. Luckily, the Duke Energy guy came at 12:45 in the morning after my trip to turn it on. What a nice guy! I thanked him profusely. See, the sacrifices of courthouse chasing.
We got to Ft. Fisher, which is in New Hanover County again. I had never been there, and we still didn't get to see the fort. But we went wading (I jumped in completely...I mean dang, I wore my bathing suit in all of today's pics!). Then we said good bye to Erinn, ate dinner, and were on our tired way back to the Triangle. We all spoke non-stop on this trip, except for about 5 minutes on the way back as Willy T began drifting off to sleep.
posted by Charles @ 10:25 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
My goodness, the Brunswick County Courthouse is ugly, but at least its beige color mirrors the dirt and dead grass surrounding it. Truly, the best buildings take account of their context, and work with it.
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