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Fish Town Letterbox LbNA #15840 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 13, 2005
Location:
City:Beaufort
County:Carteret
State:North Carolina
Boxes:1
Found by: Mahatma Dondi
Last found:Jul 9, 2006
Status:FaaFaaaaaa
Last edited:Jun 13, 2005
Drive to Front Street of Carteret's county seat, a seaport founded in 1709 and one of Blackbeard's haunts. Exchanging primarily lumber from Newport River plantations for glassware, furniture, cloth, coffee and rum, this town was the third largest port in the state during the American Revolution. Explore "Fish Town" by foot, leaving your car parked near Clawson's.
Walk (with the water and Carrot Island on your right and the town on your left) to the corner of Pollock and Front Street to enter a post shipping cargo of paper. You are going the right direction if you pass the black pole that indicates the dividing line between old and new town. You will later see the piece of artillery that formerly stood in this spot. Once in the post, study the four murals within, painted by Sitka Simkhovitch, a Russian immigrant artist, during the Depression. Pay particular attention to the fiery mural on the left side wall that depicts the events of the stormy night of January 11, 1886.
Moving on, travel down Pollock street (away from Front Street). Look for the colorful canine standing guard over house number 113. Turn left onto Ann Street and follow the white picket fence around the corner. Pass the spot riders tied up their trusty steeds when visiting a friend. Follow Ann Street until you come to the intersection of Ann and Craven Street. At this corner pause to survey the scene ahead. To your left is a gracious haven for weary travelers greeted by a bowing gent. Look right and the center place that lies between two churches is where you want to head. Enter on Ann Street passing through the tall white pawns. This historic site is where you treasure waits.
One of the oldest cemeteries, this sacred spot for burial was deeded to the town of Beaufort in 1731. The oldest grave marker is marked 1756 and the older graves in the northwest corner are covered with cypress slabs, shells and brick. There are over 200 stones dated from before the Civil war. Many residents during the early 18th century were laid to rest facing east to "face the sun when they arise on Judgment morn'."
Stop directly after the gate and walk left along the perimeter of the cemetery to salute Captain Pender, who seized Fort Macon before North Carolina seceded from the Union in 1861. Continue to follow the path ahead to look left as you pass Josiah Davis' grave, the former resident doctor at the town apothecary.
Straight ahead and to your right keep your eyes open for the baby, with the name of a European city and an herb (#4), buried in a glass casket after dying of yellow fever. After the grave was exhumed by vandals and found intact until opened. The body disintegrated into dust when exposed to air from the outside world. Leave an apple for her neighbor, Leffers the schoolmaster (#5).
Continue straight to meet the grave of Josiah Bell, who lived in the yellow house on Turner street. Under grave marker #9 lies Nathan Fouller, believed to be a direct descendent of the Mayflower pilgrims.
Blow kisses to the sweethearts, Sarah Gibbs and Jacob Shepard, although the husband was lost at sea and the wife remarried they were reunited beneath the ground to forever rest. March past the Colonel William Thompson (#18), the highest ranking officer from Beaufort to serve in the Revolutionary war.
Journey to the edge of the burying ground and look for the grave of an officer of his Majesty's Navy, buried standing up and saluting his homeland. Read this aloud for all to hear: "Resting 'neath a foreign ground, here stands a sailor of Mad George's crown, name unknown, and all alone, standing in the Rebel's ground."
Think back to the post office's mural and remember the night the “Chrissie Wright went down." Here is the resting place of the ship's sailors that froze to death on that bitterly cold night. Tied to the ship's mast in a human huddle to conserving body heat was futile for these brave sailor's, in the end only the ship's cook survived. This tragedy led to the establishment of the Cape Lookout Lifesaving Station in 1887.
Facing the common grave, do a 180-degree turn and follow the path in that direction. Walk towards the large cannon on top of the grave of Captain Otway Burns, one of North Carolina's greatest war heroes off the war of 1812. A famous privateer, Burns died on Portsmouth Island and was brought to this site by boat. The cannon is from the captain's ship, the Snapdragon, which sailed up and down the East coast plundering British ships. On one such trip from Nova Scotia to South America, Burns supposedly captured cargo worth more than $2,000,000.
Follow the path alongside the Craven street perimeter to spy the supposed grave site of a young soul forever preserved in a keg of rum. A father took his young daughter on a long journey across the Atlantic to see his homeland. Promising his wife he would return their daughter to the North Carolina coast in "one piece." After touring England, the two boarded a ship returning to their home in the New World. Alas the voyage home was doomed, as the little girl grew "gravely" ill and died. Determined to keep his promise, the forlorn father placed her small lifeless body in a wooden barrel filled with rum. The contents of the keg preserved her body for the journey home, where upon arrival she was buried in the Old Burying ground (#24).
After touring the graveyard, return to the hidden tombstone of C.B., found in the space between a soldier of a foreign land and a grave for many blessed souls.
"Fish" around in the foliage near C.B.'s footstone to find your prize. Be careful of briars!