Fort Macon State Park
Visiting Fort Macon State Park | Camping at Oyster Point | New Bern Civil War Battlefield Park | North Carolina | July 2023
The plan for our drive from Wilmington, NC back to the Midwest was to hug the coast and drive up the Outer Banks of North Carolina and up to Norfolk, VA before cutting across Virginia and the Appalachians. We had campsites planned along Cape Hatteras, lots of sites to see, and a pretty good itinerary.
We began our drive, following US-17 North towards Jacksonville, and then back out towards the coast and Morehead City where we crossed the Intercoastal Waterway to the barrier island of Bogue Banks. At the East end of the island we found our way to Fort Macon State Park.
This trip was very reminiscent of our time in Charleston and our visit to the forts up and down the South Carolina Coast. Fort Macon was constructed as part of the third-system of Forts along with Fort Sumter, Fort Caswell, and Fort Pulaski, this time protecting the port of Beaufort.
History of Fort Macon
During the Civil War, General Burnsides was tasked with closing the North Carolina ports in the beginning of 1862. Working North to South, he was able to capture Hatteras Inlet, Roanoke Island, and the city of New Bern. With New Bern secured, the only remaining Confederate concentration was that at Fort Macon which would also prevent the use of Beaufort’s port.
The fort was put to siege in March of 1862 by a joint Navy/Army venture and by the end of April, the Confederate garrison surrendered. From here, Burnside could have conceivably continued up the Neuse River into the heart of North Carolina, or continued down the coast to capture Wilmington. But around the same time, President Davis appointed General Lee as his lead military advisor, and then as commander of the Army of North Virginia. This lead to the difficult end of the Union’s Peninsular Campaign and the recall of all available troops (Burnside especially) to help in the retreat and subsequent defense of Washington.
North Carolina was left with only enough soldiers to defend what Burnside had captured and harass the countryside. None of the ports and forts were recaptured by the Confederacy, but no further military gains were made in North Carolina until the end of the war with the capture of Fort Fisher and Sherman’s March across the state in 1865.
Charlotte was not allowed inside the Fort, so Jess and I took turns walking through the brick fortifications. The Fort is very well restored and maintained, and offers impressive views out to the sea. Unfortunately, it was unbearably hot, even this close to the ocean. The air had a humid haze, the sun was bright and hot, and Charlotte was not enjoying herself. So we left the ocean and drove to Oyster Point Campground in the Croatan National Forest.
The campground was a nice spot tucked on the back bay behind Morehead City, and we found a great spot to park with shade and an almost perpetual breeze. But even with the shade, Charlotte was clearly not having a good time. When it came time to go to bed, she would just stir restlessly inside and outside the car. We set up the tent outside, but it wasn’t any cooler than the van. It was uncomfortable for sleep, and disconcerting for us.
And then it hit us. What on earth were we doing? The whole country was in the middle of ‘the hottest day/week/month/year’ on record and here we were, planning a trip almost exclusively on beaches…in the middle of summer. We’re not beach people – we’re mountain people. The only time we go to beaches and have fun is when it’s winter and no one else is on the coast. I somehow even thought that, just being by the ocean, it would magically feel like the beach in winter. We immediately scrapped all our Outer Banks plans, saving them for some time not in the heat of summer, and started map surfing for a new, more “us” plan.
We turned to the mountains and that great Eastern road trip that we’ve always thought of doing — the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were only 5ish hours away from the Virginian section of the parkway, and looking at the NPS websites for the campgrounds showed that there was supposedly plenty of unreserved campsites. And so after a long and warm night of restless sleep, we packed up and took off heading Northwest.
We made a brief letterboxing and history stop South of New Bern at a county park preserving some of the fortifications used to defend the City during Burnside’s invasion in 1862. Even here at 8 in the morning, it was starting to get humid, so Jess stayed with Charlotte in the shade while I walked the loop trail. Otherwise our day was uneventful, just filled with driving, but very effective in claiming even more North Carolina counties. We like to guess which state will finish next, and North Carolina is definitely in the running.
All of this is just a great example of why we hardly ever make camping reservations when we travel. We like having the option to switch gears if our original plan goes awry. We held our breath as we neared our intended new campground for tonight, hopeful that our change in plans would all work out, and when we arrived we breathed a sigh of relief. Not only were there plenty of spots available, but we also found ourselves transported to the cool, refreshing mountain air, the first real break in the heat and humidity that we’d been living through for the last 3 weeks in Wilmington. We shook our heads wondering why we ever thought it was a good idea to stay on the coast. We belong in the mountains!
