On the Beach

Sunday was a windy but sunny and warm day in Nags Head so Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. grabbed the Sony and went forth to visit some of their favorite beachwalking haunts.  Some of the results are presented herewith.

This cottage just north of Surfside Drive in South Nags Head was knocked slightly askew by a storm this winter.  Worth Hare movers of Elizabeth City plucked it off the beach and moved it back a bit and it looks like it will get a new set of pilings where it now sits. This strategic retreat might give it a few more years of  life. Who knows.

The former location next door to another house that is now the sole remaining occupant of this section of the public beach. A massive sandbag wall has helped it survive for the past several years.

. The Worth Hare company has probably moved more houses on the Outer Banks than all the other housemovers put together.  It's a fascinating process to watch, especially when that rabbit really hunkers down and pulls..

Battered Seagull Drive has been prepared to receive a gravel surface which will enable owners and renters to reach the houses on the left this summer.  A dozen or so houses on the right are condemned and awaiting demolition or removal which will probably occur sometime around the time hell freezes over if  previous experience with such structures is our guide.

The new gravel street will not be the first "fix" for Seagull Drive.  Shortly after Hurricane Isabel, using FEMA funds,  the town built a new "temporary" street (shown here on the left) as well as a huge berm of trucked-in sand to protect it.  The whole works washed away in a relatively short time suggesting that "temporary" is the operative word for structures on the ocean front.  The cottages on the right are the condemned buildings shown in the previous picture.

No sandbags or bulldozers needed here.  The expansive beach in front of the "historic" cottages of Nags Head demonstrates the virtue of  "retreat" as a way of coping with erosion.  The older cottages in this picture have been moved back several times (often by Worth Hare) on their lots which were platted from the water to the Beach Road.  Unfortunately most of South Nags Head was chopped up into smaller lots in such a way that retreat is seldom possible, hence the large number of cottages that are "trapped" at the ocean front.

The iconic Buchanan cottage, largest and grandest of all the houses in the historic district of Nags Head, is on the market for $3 million.  It was built in 1934 and only recently moved back to what will possibly be its final resting place close to the Beach Road.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt once lunched here while in town to attend a performance of the "Lost Colony".  Google "Buchanan Cottage" for further information and pictures of the interior.

Fun in the Sun

Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. are enjoying a tranquil week in Nags Head along with several thousand motorcycle enthusiasts.  He has turned his new hearing aid way down so the noise is not as bad as it could have been.  Between the bikes on the Bypass and the bulldozers on the beach maybe "tranquil" is not exactly the right word to describe the Outer Banks right now but they are having a good time anyway. All too soon they will have to return to the peace and quiet of  Baltimore (which is marred only by the occasional gunshot and police siren) so they are enjoying  their stay at the beach as much as they can under the circumstances

. Construction of the new Jennette's pier is proceeding apace.  The pier house looks like it will be a formidable structure in its own right.  It is beginning to remind Uncle Jack of the grand West Pier at Brighton on the south coast of  England, pictures of which he has provided below.  After seeing the fate of the Brighton pier he can't help wondering if the new Jennette's pier might not be the wisest use of public funds given Mother Nature's implacable tendency to obliterate man-made structures placed too close to the sea no matter what they are made of. Time will tell as it did in Brighton.

Brighton West Pier just after it opened in 1899.  Victorian hubris at its zenith.

This is what was left when Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. visited Brighton a few years ago.  It cost more to remove the wreckage than it did to build it in the first place.

There's not much sand sculpture to be found in April but this would stand out at any time of the year. This is probably the only kind of building at the seashore that makes any sense.

A modern day Sisyphus at work in the shadow of the troubled Comfort Inn South which has survived another winter on the edge of catastrophe. It's a happy time for the 'dozer operators who are working from dawn to dusk to stave off the inevitable---at top dollar.

Your better class of bikers dine at Sam and Omie's.  The rest are at Hooters.

Saturday morning about a zillion cormorants like these flew north past James street in South Nags Head.  Ten minutes later another flock of similar size flew south past the same spot.  Does anyone understand cormorant behavior?
  

Mea Culpa Redux

Uncle Jack discovered this morning that more than a month has flown by since he last blogged.  An apology to his faithful core (corps, corpse?) of  readers is long overdue once again.  He still doesn't have anything particularly interesting to say but he did want to let you know that as he closes in on his 80th birthday in June he is in good health and enjoying life to the hilt. He and Mrs. U.J. have gone to numerous concerts and plays during the past month and he can tell you he has enjoyed them more than ever since he got his new hearing aid. He still doesn't understand how a little gadget you can stick in your ear could cost as much as a 52 inch, flat-screen, high definition you-know-what but it did.  Unfortunately after wearing it for a month he has discovered he can't get along without it so he will just have to get over the outrageous cost which, of course, is not covered by his medical insurance.
     Quite a while ago they planned to spend next week in Nags Head only to learn recently that their visit will coincide with "Bike Week" which will surely put some mileage on his new hearing aid.  He heard a rumor that now that Myrtle Beach has put out the unwelcome sign to bikers there may be as many as 35,000 of them descending, unmuffled, on the Outer Banks for an entire week instead of just a weekend. Time to buy some stock in Hooters, for whom the recession would seem to be over.
      The Orioles are off to a great start----one win to 8 losses--- but when you have a 52 inch flat-screen you-know-what to watch them on it's still fun.  Sort of.

 Watergate, as seen from Kennedy Center where UJ and Mrs. UJ recently saw a terrific play by Terrence McNally called "Lisbon Traviata".  It was here that the Republicans began their long slide into the mucky political swamp in which they now find themselves. "Rove, Rove, Rove Your Boat" has supplanted "We'll Take the High Road" as the Grand Old Party's theme song.

Spring has sprung in Charm City.  Two days of 90 degree weather last week caused an explosion among the cherry trees, dogwoods, tulips, etc. The 6.5 feet of snow that fell a couple of months ago has disappeared, leaving a fresh crop of monster potholes in its wake.

The oldest railroad station in the U.S., now a B. & O. museum in Ellicott City, a charming old mill town just a few miles up the Patapsco River from Baltimore.

Almost all the buildings in Ellicott City are made of thick granite so they have been almost impossible to tear down.  They are now occupied by a thriving collection of antique shops, restaurants and other tourist-friendly businesses. Some of these structures date back to the 18th century. Charming town.even though traffic on the main street is horrendous.

This passenger car dates back to the days when the B & O's trains were pulled by mules.  Many of the great Baltimore fortunes derive from the folks who owned stock in those days and hung on to it.