Friday, August 10, 2012

Standard intro

Who am I? I'm Laura, and I'll be your guide to the stuff I find interesting about living in North Carolina.

What do I want? I want to share some of the exciting and perhaps not so well known bits about my native state. I haven't been everywhere, and I don't know everything, so this isn't a comprehensive exploration. It's just stuff that catches my fancy, especially stuff that other people who live here seem to be surprised to learn about.

Did you know that North Carolina had a gold rush, years before the ones in California and Alaska? It's true. It's why there was a branch of the US Mint in Charlotte. Said branch has now been turned into the Mint Museum, the state's first art museum.

Did you know that the Germans staged a major World War II offensive just off the Outer Banks? During the first half of 1942, German U-boats sank over 80 ships off the NC coast, and a total of almost 400 ships off the Atlantic coast. The Outer Banks already had a reputation as The Graveyard of the Atlantic, but in 1942, the area earned a new nickname, "Torpedo Junction."

Those are the kinds of things I'll be sharing.

Look for a review soon of Torpedo Junction by Homer Hickam, that details the U-boat attacks of 1942.




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Hey, thanks for stopping by. Pull up a chair and set a spell, and we'll get to talking. Just remember, if you wouldn't say it to your mother, please don't post it here.