Basecamp 103 – Post Three
Drive to Charlotte, NC
The drive to Charlotte is only 3 hours, so 4 for us. We have time to find a stop for
lunch. I enter “North Carolina State Park” on “maps” then “add stop” and we find Ft
Dobbs is in Statesville, NC. I have never heard of it, though we lived 25 miles away for
20 years. Turns out it opened in 2019.
Back on I-81 – south
We pull into a wide open field with one enormous 4-story log house that has small
square windows along the top floor. It is a military fort we learn from a charming young guide dressed in a long wool coat, knickers, white knee socks, and a 3-point hat from the pre-revolutionary colonial period. He explains the fort was rebuilt from the original plans and replaced here where it was during the “French and Indian War” that lasted from 1755 – 69. It was inhabited by local men in the local militia to intercept and stop the British invasion. We hear how the Cherokee Indians, among others, befriended the white man to get what he needed. Other tribes were assisting the French coming down from the north. Basically, the Brits got caught in the middle! The story of this confusing war across the continent is a splatter of incidents between Europeans and indigenous peoples while settlers were attempting to survive in this untamed countryside. There were many battles,
small and horrific, that left deep scars of distrust that perpetuated the war.
Fort Dobbs State Park, NC
4th floor of the 1755 fort rebuilt from original plans on the original site in the middle of a wide flat field…
We are the only visitors! It is very windy and cold. The intermittent rains resume, so
we wrap up the history lesson as politely as possible to sequester in the camper for a bite of lunch snug around the end table out of the elements. It will be an hour to Charlotte, I mean an hour or two.
4th floor of the 1755 fort rebuilt from original plans on the original site in the middle of a wide flat field…
We feel a sense of relief and cheer as the Basecampbacks into the tree-lined narrow driveway that is a warm home to our son Cael and his family. Three cheers to Michael for backing safely past the neighbor’s brick wall and all the lovely parked cars on the suburban
cul de sac. We hug three grandchildren, their welcoming mom and dad grateful we can be here, then we head straight to their warm showers.
Charlotte, we have arrived!
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