After last summer’s sudden Bonner Bridge electric cable mishap cancelled our family vacation to Cape Hatteras we quickly jumped on a back-up plan and landed in beautiful Emerald Isle, NC. Having never visited Emerald Isle before we weren’t sure what to expect, but we were all blown away by the tranquility of the beach, beauty of the area, and convenient day excursions. Whether your family wants slow-down time at the beach or adventure at local parks, aquariums, or museums Emerald Isle has it all!
Fort Macon State Park
North Carolina has a long history of trying to protect its coastal harbors. Successive wars with Great Britain, France, Spain and pirates in the 18th and 19th centuries prompted the United States government to beef up its national defenses. After the War of 1812 the United States further improved its defenses with a string of Third System forts. Fort Macon was part of this system.
Fort Macon State Park is located at 2303 East Fort Macon Rd in Atlantic Beach, NC at the eastern end of Bogue Banks. Brig. Gen. Simon Bernard designed the fort and the US Army Corp of Engineers built it. Construction on Fort Macon began in 1826 and finished in 1834. They named the fort after statesman, Nathaniel Macon.
The Confederacy took over the fort at the start of the Civil War. In 1862, a year later, Brig. Gen. John G. Parke’s Union forces bombarded the fort using new rifled cannons. Col. Moses J. White and his Confederate troops surrendered and were held as prisoners of war. The Union army held control of Fort Macon for the remainder of the war and used it for coaling and naval repair.
After the Civil War, the fort served as a prison and then used again briefly in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. The fort became abandoned in the early 1900s until the state of NC purchased it in the 1920s. The State restored the fort and area and opened it as a state park in 1936. During World War II it was used as a lookout station for German U-boats.
Fort Macon State Park is surrounded on three sides by water. Though we didn’t explore much beyond the fort, the park features hiking trails and recreational beach areas. We spent some time inside the visitor center exploring the kid-friendly ecology exhibits before heading to the fort.
The actual fort itself is a pentagonal-shaped structure made of bricks and stone. It has an outer ring of defense, the covertway, and an inner citadel ring. A large grassy ditch separates the two areas. The inner citadel features 26 casements, many of which have been renovated to showcase different periods from the fort. The girls loved going into the different rooms and running in the tunnels. We visited nearly all the exhibits on our own, while Bill attended the guided tour, which they provide daily.
We climbed the stairs in the corners of the fort to access the top, where we saw beautiful views of the water and more closely saw the cannons. The ground is rather uneven and there aren’t guardrails at the top, so we closely monitored the littles’ movements. Overall, it was breathtaking to explore such a historic place.
NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort
After visiting Fort Macon State Park we took a short drive into Beaufort. Years ago an impending hurricane thwarted our long weekend trip to Beaufort. Thrilled to try again, we first stopped for ice cream in downtown Beaufort. After filling the girls with ice cream, we walked a few blocks to the NC Maritime Museum.
The NC Maritime Museum was much more kid-friendly than I anticipated. The girls loved finding hidden items in the scavenger hunt. The museum features exhibits on lighthouses, seafood industry, motorboats, marine life, history of boating, artifacts from Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge, and more. I look forward to visiting one of the two other NC Maritime Museums when we visit those areas.
NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores
Inevitably you’ll have at least one rainy beach day. For our rainy beach day we headed to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores located at 1 Roosevelt Blvd on the Bogue Banks. This aquarium is similar to the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island in that it features indoor and outdoor exhibits. The girls especially loved seeing the owls, sea horses, sea turtles, and jellyfish. The aquarium features a large touch tank, scuba diving tank, imaginary sea turtle rescue and toddler play area.
After being inside, we walked along the nature trail to see the snake exhibit and watch the egrets over the water. Then, the girls spent a lot of time exploring the outdoor play area. They loved climbing the rope ladder, swinging on the tire swing and flying down the slide. Overall, I thought this aquarium had more interesting animals and exhibits than the aquarium on Roanoke Island.
Hiking & Biking in Emerald Isle
We brought our bikes to the beach and I’m so glad we did! We were able to hop onto our bikes from our house and get onto a divided bike path and bike for miles in either direction. The bike path runs 11 miles from Indian Beach to the Point at Bogue Inlet. One morning I biked about 4 miles down to the Point and felt as if I entered a natural beach preserve. The beach extended for at least 50 yards with beautiful crystal water everywhere, justifying the nickname, “Crystal Coast”.
Along my bike ride I passed a beer shop, the Holiday Trav-L-Park RV Resort and Emerald Isle Woods Park. Bill and I biked back to the beer shop for a mini day-date and added the RV Resort to our short list of campgrounds. Another day we returned with the family to Emerald Isle Woods Park. Emerald Isle Woods Park is located on the sound-side at 9404 Coast Guard Rd, just past where Route 58 turns to the mainland. This park features disc golf, hiking and birding trails, picnic pavilions and boating for beautiful sound access.
We hiked a short 1.0 mile loop trail that started at the main trailhead and followed blue trail markers along a twisty, loopy unpaved trail. We passed over bridges and saw green swampy areas full of croaking and bird calls. Eventually we came to a boardwalk that extended into the sound and it was a beautiful sight! The girls spotted oysters and crabs in the brackish water – a great ecological find! Though the trail signage was not great, we eventually made it back to the car with a beautiful appreciation of the hidden sights we saw.
Thumbs up: beauty of the beach, friendliness of Morehead City ER (true story for another time), hiking/biking opportunities, day excursions, great museums and parks, tranquility at the Point, photo ops
Thumbs down: nothing to report
Fort Macon State Park Gallery
NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores
Hiking at Emerald Isle Woods Park
