Skip to main content

A Little History From a Non- History Buff

I thought it would be a good idea to include a little island history for the Outer Banks history buffs.  However, I’m not one, so I intend to spend as little time as possible quoting historical facts and figures.  Besides, I would hate to get something wrong and really offend serious historians!

Other than Blackbeard the Pirate, who was supposedly beheaded on or near this island in 1718, no other event is as prominent as the sinking of the British ship HMT Bedfordshire off the coast of Ocracoke Island during WW2.  There are many other shipwrecks off the coast of the outer banks and some might be prominent, but I don’t know about them. There may have been some other really big historical events on Ocracoke, but I don’t know about them either!  (For more info on Blackbeard, just visit the island!)

Just off the Silver Creek harbor is British Cemetery Road.  The road ends about a mile at the Sound (don’t quote me on that because I’m no good at judging distance). Or at least it seems like a mile when you’re walking it. (Apparently I’m no good at photography, history, OR judging distances.)   Approximately half way down that road, is the small and very quaint British Cemetery.  It’s definitely worth a walk or drive to see it and to listen to the recording that goes with it.  



During World War II, the HMT Bedfordshire and her crew were working with the Coast Guard and US Navy to protect American shipping lanes from German U boat attacks during the war effort.
 At the height of the German submarine campaign, this ship was torpedoed and sunk, and all on board were killed. Four bodies were later recovered from the waters near Ocracoke and buried here.  Two grave sites belong to British soldiers Thomas Cunningham and Stanley R. Craig, respectively. The other two are marked unknown. The cemetery was built and established as a memorial to the British Royal Navy.
















A plaque at the site reads, “If I should die think only this of me, that there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.”  (From Rupert Chawner Brooke’s “The Soldier”).

Every May, the US Coast Guard and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum conduct a memorial service at the Cemetery and all are welcome to attend.

This cemetery is beautiful and looks lovingly and respectfully kept.  Don’t miss it!





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Porches

Things have changed a lot during the last couple of years; some good, some not so good (e.g. a daughter’s wedding, a hurricane disaster, the loss of a pet)  but no change has been as dramatic (for me, that is) as the change of the last 5 months. Life, to wit, has been kind of a blur of activity for as long as I can remember where I blissfully involved myself in all kinds of righteous and dutiful and honorable activities so that I could consider myself a “productive member of society” even though I have not worked outside the home for many years. (A plight of the stay-at-home mom!) Volunteering my time in many capacities gave me something to do, made me feel important, and gave me opportunities to help others.  Now that we are in COVID Isolation, even though things have been taken away, something new has been added:  TIME  because volunteer work apparently is "non-essential".   So....... I have now gone from filling my time...

Boats, SmacNally’s, Music, and Growing

  Another 2 weeks on Ocracoke Island in May-June and I am surely spoiled! We timed this logistically so that our first week covered Memorial Day weekend when our children would only have to sacrifice 4 vacation days instead of 5, and then covered the next week which covered the full weekend of the Ocrafolk Festival, an annual event that we were able to attend for the first time ever! We also hauled Big Fun (the brother-in-law’s boat) down to use for the 2 weeks there. Having a boat at 10 Cuttin Sage really is Big Fun! The men spent a huge portion of the week fishing and catching! I made sure I took a walk every morning to avoid blood clots (yes, I’m still on blood thinners, bummer, see last post). We probably spent an inordinate amount of time at SmacNally’s restaurant on the harbor. It’s just too good, and probably a health hazard, but hopefully the fried stuff is outweighed by the fresh catch in it! Fried oysters, shrimp, mahi, hush puppies, french fries........

Peace

We were on the Island (The Doer and I) for 2 weeks at the end of September to beginning of October 2020.    We hauled my brother-in-law’s boat (named Big Fun) down for the 2 weeks and had the kids there the first week and then some good friends of many years there for the second week. There’s no need for details that have already been described in the blog numerous times before: wonderful food, sunsets, fishing, reading, relaxing, laughing, etc. I did a whole lot of sitting on porches (see past posts), reading, and watching scenery. I tried to get a few walks in at least the first week, but mostly sitting. In fact, I did so much sitting and relaxing that by Wednesday after we returned home, I found myself in the Emergency Room at our local hospital with blood clots so large that the doctors couldn’t believed I was still alive and walking around! Evidently, too much sitting still (also spent 2 days in the car traveling back because w...