Thursday, May 21 Norfolk, VA

We didn't really have a plan for today but it turned out great.

Our hotel is downtown in a pretty central area.  We walked to the Chrysler Museum of Art which also includes the Glass Studio.  We started with a docent lead tour which we usually like to do.  We see what they want to show us but better informed that what we know.  I do love glass and they had a nice collection.  I would definitely recommend a visit.

After our docent tour we headed over to the glass studio for a glass blowing demonstration.  After the demo we meandered through the art museum. 

Then it was lunch time.  We first thought we'd try at the MacArthur Center shopping mall.  A 3-level mall that was almost completely void of occupants! Pretty sad to see.  Tom looked it up and it's stated it will become a hotel, so that's good.

We went to lunch at the Freemason Abbey Restaurant nearby.  I mention this because it  was a cool old building that started out as a Presbyterian church in 1873 and changed hands over many years.  We had a good lunch and I loved my Arnold Palmers.  When we went in for lunch it was once again hot.  When we came out it was raining.  We hung out in the vestibule until the rain subsided to a drizzle. 

We just had a few blocks to walk to the MacArthur Memorial & Museum.  It was an excellent memorial & museum.  There is a movie about MacArthur, lots of his stuff including hat, sunglasses and pipe.  He and his wife are buried here. They kicked us out at 5:00 at closing time.

A front has moved in and it's windy and has cool off.   They need the rain and it was too hot for us.  But who cares, we're leaving tomorrow.  

Wednesday, May 20th Norfolk, Viriginia

It was another HOT day - 95 degrees.  

We visited the USS Wisconsin, a retired battleship.  What do you know about battleships?  They're big.  So the Wisky was pretty much our day.

We got a combo ticket to the Wisconsin & a harbor tour.  

The Elizabeth River Harbor has lots of Navy ships.  There are some ships in dry dock.  There are some newly received cranes (light blue).  And more ships, aircraft carriers, a ship that will be building wind turbines.  The big ship with 78 on it is the new Ford class ship, the USS Gerald R Ford.

The Holland America ship Volendam was docked next to the Wisky, so Tom had to take a picture.

The last picture is the machine shop in the Wisconsin taken because that's where my dad worked when he was at sea so many years ago on the USS Guston Hall, a landing craft ship.  

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/6ygB1CDy97

For dinner we took the ferry across the Elizabeth River to Portsmouth for dinner.  It was a fun little adventure.  We wouldn't have known about the ferry if we hadn't gone on the harbor tour.  

Tuesday, May 19th OBX, NC to Norfolk, VA

It was hot today.  The OBX (outer banks) was not as hot, but it's definitely hot in Virginia!  The locals tell us it's a bit early to be this hot.  Hot, 93.

This morning we drove just a few miles to visit Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers Museum.  I thought I knew it all about the bros, but I learned a lot.  

First we could see the Kitty Hawk monument to the Wright Bros from our hotel room.  The hill the monument is on is Kill Devil Hill of which there were 3 but being dunes the hills change.  This hill was seeded with grasses so it would stay.  The brothers flew thousands of gliders off the hills.

The museum has a replica of their first "airplane".  It was controlled by hand and their hip - did you know that?  I guess that's part of the reason they laid on the plane.  They had to control pitch, roll and yaw, hence 3 controls.

Their first flight was actually four flights within about 2 hours.  The time it took to fly then drag the plane back to the start and set it up again.  The fourth flight was almost a minute - amazing!  

The brothers actually moved to Kitty Hawk when they were working on their flying machines.  At the beginning they lived in a tent then they added buildings.  There are replicates of their work barn and eventually they lived in one of the buildings.  

The pictures are the same link as yesterday, keep scrolling until after the lighthouse with scaffolding for Kitty Hawk.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/64phSX7329

We visited the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.  Lots of hotels, restaurants, tchotchkes, tee shirts, etc.  You get the idea.  There are some statues including a giant King Neptune, those pics are on Tom's phone, coming later.

Monday, May 18th Outer Banks (OBX), NC

This morning we started at Ft Raleigh.  Ft Raleigh is on Roanoke Island.  You may (or may not) remember this was the spot of the 1st English settlement in 1580.  The 1st child born here was Virginia Dare.  I read a biography on her in 3rd grade and was enamored with the story ever since.  Now we visited it.  So what happened to the Lost Colony...

It is also the site of a Civil War battle.  A tidbit on this is Gen Ambrose Burnside fought here.  Burnside kept his chin clean but let his hair grow to his mustache thus the creator of "sideburns"...  You're welcome.

Next was a visit to a lighthouse.  What's a visit to the the coast without a visit or two to a lighthouse.  We visited Bodie Island Lighthouse and climbed the 217 stairs to the top where we saw the 1st order Fresnel lens, built in 1872.  Enjoy the pictures.

We drove the stretch of Hwy 12 all the way down to the end of the highway which ended a the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.  The ferry to the next group of island is here too.  It was an interesting little museum.

Then we visited the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  The lighthouse was moved inland, 2,900 ft, in 1999.  Yes, moved.  Kind of like the space shuttle is moved.  If they hadn't moved it would be in danger of falling into the sea.   It is the tallest brick lighthouse in the US.  It is being renovated currently so it was encased in scaffolding.  Take a look, it looks funny.  We visited the museum but couldn't walk up to the top of the lighthouse, but it's similar to the Bodie Lighthouse.

This trip was lots of driving because the Graveyard museum is 66 miles from our hotel.  

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/64phSX7329

Sunday, May 17th Wilmington to Kill Devil Hills, NC

We had another great breakfast at our historic B&B, but no dawdling we've got 5 hours of driving and 2 stops before we reach Kill Devil Hills on the Outer Banks (aka OBX) of NC.

I cannot find reliable info as to why the town is named Kill Devil Hills.  It is the site of the Wright Bros 1st flight but at the time the town didn't exist.  Kill Devil Hills town received its municipal charter in 1953 (1st flight was 1903).  It is the most populous town on the OBX with a population of ~7,600.

We start with a visit to Ft Macon, another fort captured by the Union after an 11-hour bombardment.  The fort dates back to 1826. And was also the site of an American Revolutionary skirmish in 1782, when it was called Beaufort. Also used briefly during WWII, now a National Park site.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/a68Tm1422a

We visited New Bern, named so after Bern, Switzerland.  It was the site of the 1st capital and the governor's palace.  It was only used for about 20 yrs and the capital was moved to Raleigh.  The palace is a Georgian style, being symmetrical on both sides.  This palace was complete gone but was brought back to life through preservation work and original blueprints.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/5gwR608915

We drove to the Outer Banks.  On our way to the barrier islands we drove through estuaries, the 2nd largest in the country, on long bridges. 

The Outer Banks is very touristy, as you might imagine.  As you drive on the islands there are places you can see water on both sides, and there's houses!

Saturday, May 16 Wilmington, NC

Another great b-fast at our historic B&B.  For the past 2 days b-fast starts with broiled fruit, it's very good.

We started our day with a visit to Moore Creek National Battlefield which is 20 miles NW of Wilmington.  A short but important Revolutionary battle.  It is a swampy area where the Scot Highlanders, commanded by Gen. Donald MacDonald, were attempting to march to the coast.  (who names their kid their last name)

Anyway the  British Loyalists  were equipped with broadswords and the Patriots stopped them from crossing the bridge by removing the planks and greasing the joists -- and they had guns.  This is the case of bringing a knife to a gun fight.  The battle lasted about an hour which resulted in the capture of 850 prisoners.  It was also our first decisive victory of the Revolution.  Two months later North Carolina declares their independence, the 1st colony to do so.  Hence their license plate motto "First in Freedom".

The site includes several monuments commemorating the battle.

I think I already mentioned that Venus Flytraps are endemic to to Wilmington, 75-100 mile radius.  My friend Val told us about a carnivorous garden.  Enjoy the pictures of pitcher plants and Venus flytraps, we saw lots!  It's a small but important garden.

Wilmington has lots of historic houses because as the Union troops marched through the mayor peaceful surrendered and therefore the city was not burned during the Civil War.  One of the houses was the Bellamy Mansion, also saved from the wrecking ball.  The home included some "deluxe" slave quarters.  It is a small two-story brick building.  The mansion is a white Antebellum style.  I guess I'm not suppose to call it that but that the building style.

We had a guided tour and learned lots.  It's great the house survived but the owner was a white supremacist, doctor and businessman.  His children were also white supremacists so much so that this was detrimental to the black population of Wilmington that is still felt today.  Some of the furnishing are original and some are period pieces.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/moRj0G076p

We went to mass at what we were told is the only Catholic church in downtown Wilmington, the Basilica Shrine of St Mary.  It was also built by Rafael Guastavino who also built the basilica in Asheville.  So St Mary's looked similar with a self-supporting tile dome.  No incense and fewer chapel veils but mass was 1 hr and 25 mins, partly because there were 5 baptisms, which is always great to see.

Friday, May 15th Wilmington, NC

We are staying in a historic home bed & breakfast  It was another great b-fast.  

We started our day by visiting another important historic site.  Ft Fisher was the site of a Confederate earthen fort during the Civil War.  Can you imagine building a fort from earth, much of which was sand.  

Ft Fisher is at the inlet to the Cape Fear River which the Confederates used to move supplies.  Therefore the Union needed to capture it to cut off the Rebels supply line.  It took the Union two attempts but they finally captured the fort.  An interesting Civil War site.

We drove along the coast from Ft Fisher to Johnnie Mercers Fishing Pier.  We sauntered along the coast and looked at the Atlantic Ocean.  No fishing for us.

Our B&B is not too far from the Riverwalk, so we went to dinner and walked along the river.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/F129q0q51v

Thursday, May 14th Charlotte, NC

We had an awesome breakfast at the mansion, one of the best breakfasts I've had in a long time.  The tea was "the other brew" from Asheville.

We drove to Uptown Charlotte, there is no Downtown Charlotte.  Charlotte is on a slight hill so town is not down, hence Uptown is "downtown".  I know this because we took a golf cart tour of Uptown Charlotte.  It sounds like something old people would do...  We wanted a walking tour but settled on the golf cart instead of the Segway tour, 1/2 the price and I'm not sure I trust Tom on a Segway.

From our tour we learn lots.  Charlotte is sometime referred to as the Queen City.  That's because in 1750 or so the colonist of Carolina asked Queen Charlotte (of England) for money to help them build a courthouse and she gave it to them.  So they honored her and named the city after her.  There's a statue of Queen Charlotte, she was 4'11" and loved children, she had 15.  So a crown is a symbol of the city.

Another symbol of the city is a hornet's nest.  That comes an American Revolution battle when Cornwallis' men got stung by some bees and called Charlotte a hornet's nest.  I can't find a reference to this online but that's what the tour guide told us. 

Charlotte is home to lots of banks; Bank of American, Truist, and others I can't remember.  BoA has lots of building in the skyline, one is blue and another has a stylized crown on top.  The low glass building is the Nascar Museum.

Charlotte has lots of American Revolutionary history within it.  A big one which I  don't remember learning about is the Mecklenburg Resolves which denied the authority of British Parliament in May 1775.  You would recognize some of the wording from the Declaration of Independence.  Why don't I remember learning about this in school but I know all the words to Hotel California...

We past several art museums and outside is the Firebird which is made up of 7,000 pieces of mirror.  The locals call it the disco chicken.  There are several pieces of art we past.

We past the stadium where both football team play, Panthers, which were indigenous to the area, and the FC, The Crown.  We also past the stadium where the Knights (protector of the queen) play which is the Chicago White Sox farm team.

The big church is a Presbyterian church.  I think this covers all the pictures.  Let me know if I missed something or you have questions.

After our tour we had a +3 1/2 hour drive to Wilmington.  Good thing we're listening to a good book, The Project Hail Mary.

We had dinner with my college friend Val & her husband Steve.  We have met up with Val & Steve when they lived in MI and when they were visiting their daughter & family in Portland and now we've followed them to Wilmington.  They were great hosts and we had a lovely evening.  

Let me know (email or comments) if you have questions on any pictures.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/071Zv233B3

Wednesday, May 13th Asheville to Charlotte, NC

We grabbed b-fast and were off to Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, NC which is a National Park Historical Site.  

His house was filled with his books he acquired during his life.  We were told it was a train box car full of books when he moved from MI to NC.  The Sandburg home was also a goat farm.  It was a very interesting tour.  The most I knew about Carl Sandburg was a high school near my Illinois home.  I've got more reading to do of Sandburg's works, winner of three Pulitzer Prizes.  He wrote poems, songs, illustrated books, children's books and several books on fellow Illinoisian, Abe Lincoln.

Next we visited Chimney Rock State Park and passed through Bat Cave and Chimney Rock towns which are along the Broad River.  The Broad River was one of the rivers that overflowed its banks during the 2024 hurricane.  This was a sight to see.  There were still houses and businesses which had not yet been cleaned up from the effects of Hurricane Helene.  We could see furniture and appliances hanging precariously from the buildings. The road was re-routed and you could see the guard rails hanging in the air because there was no ground.  

We made it to Chimney Rock State Park which was pretty amazing.  We took the elevator up to the top (elevation 2,280 ft) but then continued on to Devil's Head (note the rock formation) to Opera Box ending up at Exclamation Point (elevation 2,480 ft).  Once we were done climbing up we walked down Chimney Rock.  Really great views of the surrounding area.  Lake Lure is a dammed lake with lots of recreation and cute town. 

We arrived in Charlotte and stayed at The Duke Mansion hotel!  At one point Mr. James Duke, of Duke University, owned the house.  Then more rich people owned it.  Then it was going to be turned into condos and rich people bought it and saved it.  It's now a non-profit hotel and it's lovely. There was a tiny doorway between our room and the bathroom, but a small😉 price to pay to stay in a cool room.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/7jFz124mrC

Tuesday, May 12th Asheville, NC

Today we had reservations for 10:15 am to tour The Biltmore.  We grabbed breakfast and ate in the parking lot.  

I started reading a book about The Biltmore, The Last Castle, but I ran out of time.  After being here and seeing the house I think I will continue reading about it.  

The Biltmore was commissioned by George Washington Vanderbilt II, grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt the robber baron.

It seems sometimes the house and/or George Vanderbilt are vilified but there are good things about him and the house.  When he started buying land in Asheville it had been abused so he got it cheap.  Once people knew who was buying the land the prices went up.  At the peak The Biltmore Estate was 125,000 acres (195 sq miles), it's now only 8,000 acres (12.5 sq miles).  Some of the land was sold to the US Forest Service.

The house was amazing with some really giant things like fireplaces, windows, stairways.  It was modelled after castles in the Loire Valley of France and we've been there and seen some of those castles and they need help.  Needless to say this house needs lots of care.

Enjoy the pictures.  Questions on any pictures, let me know and I'll add to our blog.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/yd861uUM94

Monday, May 11th Asheville, NC

We went to Mt. Pisagh and hiked at Water Rock Knob.  It was a short but steep hike to the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway Trail system.  A highlight of the hike was a Painted Trillium at the peak.  Then Red Trilliums near the bottom of the hike.  Trilliums are one of my favorite flowers.  

We also visited the towns of Cherokee, which we visited when we were at the Great Smoky Mountains,  and Bryson City.  Both towns are pretty touristy so we just drove through.

I wasn't feeling great so called it an early night.  Tom thinks I had altitude sickness. Maybe, but doing fine now.

Picture link is the same May 8-May 11.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/v970S1n65K

Sunday, May 10th Asheville, NC

The big draw to Asheville is The Biltmore Mansion.  We think Asheville is a mini version of Portland, Oregon.  We seen homeless people, hippies, yuppies and normal people, like us.  There's thrift stores, junk stores, high-end stores and dispensaries.  It's a real mix.

Our hotel is another cool old building called The Flat Iron Hotel.  Most flat iron building I know of are triangular in shape, and this one is no different.  Turns out "flatiron" derives from its triangular shape.  Our hotel was an office building so some of the doors on each floor have business names on them.  Across the hall from us is the Social Security Office.

We started our day with 9:00 Mass at St. Lawrence Basilica, which was within walking distance.  Mass was pretty crowded, because it was Mother's Day or because there's lots of Catholics in Asheville?  After mass there was a 30 minute tour and we learned about the designer, Rafael Guastavino.  He built the church known for its self-supporting arch made with tile and mortar.  Guastavino also helped build the Biltmore.

We drove north on the Parkway to Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi.  We didn't think we were going to make it to Mt. Mitchell because it was backtracking, but we (I) wanted to on the peak.  It was a 1/2 mile high from the visitor center, how can we not do it.

The NC Arboretum was our last stop.  We arrived in time to view the bonsai collection.  I really enjoy looking at bonsai.  I have one that really need attention.  There's a lot of specialized care that bonsai need.  But i really enjoy looking at what's possible.  See our Japan blog from May 2025 for some awesome bonsai from the Osaka World's Fair.

Picture link is the same May 8-May 11.  Questions on any pictures, let me know and I'll add description to our blog.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/v970S1n65K

Saturday, May 9th Boone, NC

We actually stayed in Blowing Rock which is a small town next to Boone.  Boone is home to Appalachian State University and it was graduation weekend.  It was pretty busy.  

After breakfast we went back to Flat Top, the Cone's summer house, to tour the house.  The Cone's bought the property before the Blue Ridge Parkway was conceived and they were upset when they were going to run the Parkway right in front of the house.  Thankfully the view out the front of the house remains beautiful, the Parkway is at the back and eventually the house & property donated to the NPS.

We went to Grandfather Mountain which is a privately owned entertainment area which includes a swing bridge, rocky trails and other stuff.  There is a great view of the surrounding area.  You'll notice a white shoebox building that ruins the view.  We were told it was a casino which has caused the laws to be changed that no other such building could be built...kind of too late.

We had to detour again off the Blue Ridge Parkway but did make it to Linn Cove Viaduct.  This is 1,243 ft of concrete and built on piers so as to not disturb the beautiful surrounding area.  There's a spot where you can hike to view the viaduct, of course we did that, check out the pictures.

Then we had another detour we were not aware of on the Parkway.  We finally made our way to the Museum of NC Minerals.  We were the only ones, besides the ranger, in the museum.  It was a pretty small museum.

On to Asheville via the interstate, because of the ongoing Parkway closure.  Repairs are on-going because of the damage from Hurricane Helene.  The actual weather patterns is called a cut-off or detached low.  The low pressure comes in with the front, in this case a hurricane, but breaks off and hovers bringing rain and wind.  

Picture link is the same for May 8-May 11.  Questions on pictures, let me know and I'll add to the blog.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/v970S1n65K

Friday May 8th Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to Boone, NC

Today we started out trip towards the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We stopped at the Pilot Mountain visitor center and took some pictures.

We are a bit early for the season, we pretty much have the road to our selves.  The unfortunate side to this is not everything is open yet,  that includes the road.  There is lots of road work being done especially as we get closer to Asheville.  There was lots of destruction from Hurricane Helene in 2024.

Do you know the song "Tom Dooley"?  We visited the spot where Tom Dula (pronounced Dooley) killed his girlfriend. or did he kill her...  Seems it could have been a love triangle.  His girlfriend killed his other girlfriend...

We followed that up with a short hike to the Cascades Falls where the volunteers were working to clear the trails!!  The volunteers were no spring chickens, they'll sleep good tonight.  We also saw 4 ladies slippers which are funny looking flowers, I think they're rare.

Our last stop was at Flat Top, a summer home for the Cone Family later donated to the NPS.  We have a tour scheduled for tomorrow morning.  

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/v970S1n65K

Thursday May 7th Winston-Salem, NC

 We started our day with a drive to Greensboro were we visited the International Civic Rights Museum in the original Woolworth store where 4 black youths sat at the counter to be served in 1963.  

Next was Guildford Courthouse Battlefield from the Revolutionary War.  We did not win this battle but tired the Redcoats out enabling us to win at Yorktown.  It's an interesting story surrounding how this national park came to be.  Some guy bought the land because he knew it was near a battlefield but then he didn't have all his facts right so the battle lines and other facts had to be revised.  At least he had the good sense to preserve it.

Next we drove to Winston-Salem to visit Reynolda, the home of RJ Reynolds & his wife.  We wanted to tour the house but it was be renovated so we just viewed the art. Not that much art so kind of boring.  In between rain storm we toured the gardens so that rescued our visit.  Then it was off to dinner and hotel.

Our hotel was the original HQ for the RJ Reynolds company.  It is an art decor building supposedly an inspiration for NYC Chrysler Building.  It's a great looking building that is part hotel and part apartments with a great basement with awesome workout room, slide, bowling lanes and basketball court.  Sounds amazing but true, we saw it with our own eyes.  The slide was not that much fun.  

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/v970S1n65K

Wednesday May 6th Raleigh, NC

 This morning we started at the Raulston Arboretum, it was nice gardens.

Next we drove to the North Carolina Museum of Art.  It was good timing because it was kind of overcast & rainy.  The museum is two buildings and sculptures on the grounds.  It was a nice visit.

Next was a visit to NC Museum of National Sciences in Raleigh.  As you might have guessed it was teeming with children.  This was also a nice museum and very much geared towards educating children.  By this time we had had our fill of museums.

It was a little rainy but we did visit a couple of parks.  The first park we visited was Pullen Park.  It is large with both an amusement park and regular park toys.

We happen by another of the parks that was on our list, Dorothea Dix Park which has Thomas Dambo trolls.  We were lucky enough to see Daddy Bird Eye as we drove through the park.  There is a family of five trolls in the park.  Do you know about Thomas Dambo Trolls?

https://www.thomasdambo.com/ 

https://www.flickr.com/gp/8663407@N07/v970S1n65K

Tuesday May 5th Raleigh, NC

We adjusted our sleeping & eating schedule a bit so we did not sleep in today.

Visiting this area is known as the Triangle, which is Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.  It is in reference to the three major universities North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University in Durham and North Carolina State University at Raleigh.

Our hotel is in Raleigh and today we visited Chapel Hill. We visited the University of North Carolina Botanical Garden and Coker Arboretum.  They were nice gardens.  We were particularly interested in the carnivorous plants.  Pictures are coming.  Some of these plants are only found here, more than half of the species are native here!  We just saw a story on the Venus flytrap on TV, now endangered!

Next we visited Duke U in Durham.  It is a private university with more graduate students than under-grad.  Graduation is this week so the campus was busy.  We visited the chapel, which is the tall tower you see in pictures.  Very nice,  The buildings are mostly Gothic.  We walked around the campus visited the Union, the quad and the library and of course their gardens.

Next we visited Bennett Place where Union Major General Wm T Sherman and Confederate Grnl Joseph Johnston negotiated the surrender mirroring Grant & Lee surrender at Appomattox. Not all general believed the war was over, but Johnston believed it was a lost cause.

We wrapped up our day at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, which was home to Lucky Strike cigarettes.  Now converted to a community space.  It's still got the smoke stacks (ha ha) but now stores, restaurants and offices, nicely landscaped.  

 

Monday May 4th Fly to Raleigh, NC

Star Wars Day 

It's a travel day, what can I say about that.  

Here are some North Carolina facts:

• Admitted to the Union Nov 21, 1789, the 12th state
• Named in honor of Charles I of England
• Capital is Raleigh, population 516,800
• State population 10,551,162 (2021)
• Known as the Tar Heel State because historically they were the main producer of tar, pitch & turpentine.  Originally derogatory but during the Civil War they embraced it.
• State bird is the cardinal, same as Illinois 
• State reptile is the Eastern Box Turtle
• State flower is Dogwood
• Presidents born here: James K Polk, 11th and Andrew Johnson, 17th.
• The state insect is the honey bee 

The English attempted to colonize in 1585 with the Roanoke Colony.  Virginia Dare was the 1st person born in the new colony.  I read a book about her in 3rd grade and was amazed at her story.  I must have been if I can still remember it.  We will be visiting Roanoke Island near the end of our trip.  This group of people are referred to as "The Lost Colony".

The Province of Carolina was formed in 1629 and became an official province in 1663.  The province of Carolina was split into North and South in 1712 to form the Province of North Carolina and the Province of South Carolina.