Whoa is it just me or did this summer go by in a blink of an eye? I can’t believe Labor Day weekend has come and gone. Crazy! Thankfully, Fall is my favorite time of year, and we have a lot to look forward to over the next 3-4 months. However, before we bid farewell to summer, I thought I would recap our adventures.
The summer started with a Memorial Day weekend trip out to Chicago with my sisters. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, staying long enough to attend a baby shower, spend some time with family and to experience the Chocolate Pinata from Uncle Julio’s.
Back at home, more celebrating as our nephew Josh graduated high school and Robbie and I went on some college visits. Oh, and Nicholas and I started our ice cream tour. 🙂
The summer continued with me heading down to Orlando for a work conference. I stayed at Universal Studios for the first time, and though the weather was terrible, I was able to try some local treats.
And I wonder why I gained a few pounds this summer?
At the end of the month, our travels took us to West Dennis Beach and Provincetown, MA. P-town is located at the tip of the Cape. My sister had a family wedding and needed someone to her little guy. My other sister and I, along with my kids, got and kept JJ overnight. We took in some of the local sites as well.
June came to a close and the 4th of July was upon us. Every July 3rd, we head over to Gilette Stadium,
I feel blessed to live in such a great area of the country. Yes, it gets warm and can be stifling, but it rarely lasts more than a few days. The weather is great for hanging at the beach or exploring our cute seaside towns. We can watch movies outside while enjoying some yummy meals.
Ahhh, Topsail Island, you own a piece of my heart. Five years ago we started spending part of our summer on this little piece of paradise. After taking a couple of years off to sail to Alaska and the Mediterranean, we went back. This time it was Nicholas and I, along with a friend and her family. Bill and Robbie chose not to come due to work obligations. The vacation started a bit rough as I had some sciatic nerve pain and numbness in my foot. The 16-hour drive was brutal. We stopped in VA overnight, but that was not enough time to recoup. The remaining 5 hours was horrible. Each morning I could not sit until I had taken 4 Motrin and 2 Aleve. Even then, I could not sit for long periods. However, I made the most of it and enjoyed our time on the island. We spent plenty of time on the beach, went to a craft show, ate out, explored the island, and found fresh farm goods, explored Bellamy Mansion, and did an Escape Room.
The drive home was a tad better. I made sure to stop and stretch every two hours. Nicholas and I treated ourselves to a stay at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. I was a bit sore, but we did take some time to eat and snap a few photos.
Back home, Robbie was busy at his new job and spending lots of time with his grandfather. I missed having my boy with me, but I understand that he has obligations, and I am proud of him.
We had a couple of weekends home before our next adventure, so we stayed closed at home. I worked on my 2018 vacation scrapbook. I am happy to report I finished that. I read a couple of books, and we went blueberry picking. Nicholas attended camp at a local college. For three weeks he took Fishing, Forensics, Chemistry, and Wildnerness Exploration. He has participated in this camp for three years in a row and looks forward to it each year.
No sooner did he finish camp up at home, we were on a flight to Huntsville, AL where Nicholas was to attend a week at Space Camp at the U.S. Rocket and Space Center. I will be doing a separate post on this, with help from Nicholas, so be on the lookout for that. Nicholas stayed onsite at the camp, while I worked out of a hotel for a week. I spent some time walking the grounds of the Space and Rocket Center each morning and afternoon. I also checked out the Huntsville Botanical Garden.
Phew.. after a whirlwind trip back home, we had a half a day to recoup and then it was all about celebrating this cutie. Our nephew John Joseph, IV (JJ) turned one year old!
Finally, we ended our summer at the most magical place on Earth, Disney World. Be on the lookout for more on this trip, but it was an adventure. It involved a hurricane, a journey to a Galaxy Far, Far Away, club level at the Beach Club, walking onto rides with little to no waits, a Halloween party and more. What a way to end the summer!
No wonder the summer went by in a blink, we were go, go go Were there things on our bucket list that we did not get to do? Yep! Fortunately, these are things that can be carried over to the Fall. Speaking of Fall, I am working on a post about the top 10 things to do in the Fall in New England. I will also be sharing my bucket list for the remainder of the year.
Until then,
Heather
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Last month we spent a full glorious week on Topsail Island, North Carolina. Topsail is one of my favorite places on Earth. It is quiet, the beaches are gorgeous, the waves are enormous, and for some reason, though she had never been, it brings me close to my Mom. She loved the ocean and had always wanted to see the North Carolina coast. Perhaps, this why I feel her presence when we are there.
The seas were rougher than usual this trip, and there were warnings of rip currents. We knew the kids would want to be in the water all the time, so we decided to take a break and head down to Carolina Beach, about 45 mins south, and check it out. Unfortunately, it left a lot to be desired. While the beach was gorgeous, there wasn’t much to do until the evening hours. It appeared that nothing was open on the boardwalk, and we were left saying, “Now what?”
We talked about going to see a plantation, but time was not on our side. Most of the estates were closing in an hour, and the ones of interest were 30 minutes away. As we were poking around on our phones, Kim pulled up Bellamy Mansion in Wilmington, NC. It sounded interesting, it was opened later than the others, and we all had enjoyed Wilmington when we were there on our last trip.
Bellamy Mansion is located in downtown Wilmington. The grounds include the mansion, the carriage house and the slave quarters and replicas of the original gardens. Though the mansion and other structures were built by 1861, it was not until 1870; the beautiful gardens were planted.
Dr. John Bellamy lived in the home with his wife, Eliza and their ten children. For eighty-five years, members of the Bellamy family occupied the house. The last remaining child of Dr. and Mrs. Bellamy was Ellen Bellamy, and she passed away in 1946.
The house has quite a history. It was built between 1859 and 1861. It has Greek Revival and Italianate styling. The home consists of twenty -two rooms and was built by both enslaved and local freed black artisans. Dr. Bellamy wanted his family’s home to include modern amenities. This included a specially designed ventilation system to keep the house cool in the Carolina heat.
The Bellamys moved into the house in 1861. Mrs. Bellamy was pregnant with their tenth child. The Bellamy’s moved into the main house, and their nine enslaved workers moved into the slave quarters. The home was taken over by federal troops during the Civil War and survived a disastrous fire in 1972. It served as home to two generations of Bellamy family members, restored in 1992 and now following extensive restoration and preservation is a functioning museum.
As I mentioned above, Mrs. Bellany had beautiful gardens planted on the property. However, by the time the restoration of the mansion happened in 1992, traces of the formal garden had disappeared. Today, what you see for gardens is based on historical research and archaeological investigation. In 1996, through significant funding from the Cape Fear Garden Club, the Bellamy gardens were recreated and maintained today through volunteers.
When we first arrived, we checked into the carriage house, which now serves as offices and a gift shop. Our guide was a local college student that had a great interest in history. He gave us the history of the home, told us a bit about the Bellamy family and painted us a picture of what life was like for the family back in the times of the civil war and beyond. Two months after moving into their new home, North Carolina seceded from the Union. Dr. Bellamy was in favor of the succession and quite proud of his state for taking such a stance. A few years later, in 1865, Fort Fisher had fallen to the Federal Troops. Federal Troops came into Wilmington and took over the city. The Union occupied the nicer homes, as many of them had been abandoned during the war. The Bellamy’s had been staying on their plantation, so their home soon become headquarters to the military staff. When the war ended, the Federal Government seized many of these properties, including the Bellamy’s home. Due to Dr. Bellamy’s ties to the Confederacy, initially, he was not allowed back into Wilmington to reclaim his home. Finally, after a lengthy process, he received a pardon from President Johnson to retrieve his property.
As we toured the home, we saw the formal dining room, the ironing room where the children often ate with the slaves, formal parlors, bathrooms, and bedrooms.
After a tour of the home, we were able to explore the slave quarters. The rooms were tiny, and the bathroom was quite something to see.
As we toured the slave quarters, we were told the story of William B. Gould. Mr. Gould was an enslaved Bellamy plasterer. In 1862, he escaped and joined the Union navy. He kept detailed notes of his time in the war. His great-grandson William B. Gould, IV edited his great-grandfather’s diary into a book titled Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor. When I got home, I researched him a bit more and found out he was discharged from the Navy, right here at the Charlestown Navy Yard, married a local woman and raised their family in Dedham, MA, two towns over from me. Pretty cool!
I found the tour fascinating, as did my friend and her family. We had five children with us, ranging from 12 to 17 and all enjoyed the tour. It was a nice change from the beach, and next time we will make sure to visit another one of these historic homes in the Wilmington area.