Charles Temple jokes with me, remarking that if he hears two locals deep in animated conversation on the Community Store porch the talk might be some exciting gossip about something that happened the day before, or it might be about a fist fight or other scandal that occurred a hundred years ago.
Today I share with you an event that transpired at Ocracoke four hundred and twenty-three years ago. On this date, in 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh's flagship, the Tiger, ran aground in Ocracoke Inlet. It was the first of nearly 1800 vessels that have wrecked along the Outer Banks.
Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the brave and courageous members of the US Life Saving Service. You can read it here.
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Philip,
ReplyDeleteAbout your post of two days ago, re. installing your hand pump, is the groundwater fresh and (more or less) potable or somewhat brackish? I'd suspect the latter, since I know that many folks used cisterns to capture rainwater, but it also seems that groundwater away from the immediate shoreline might be fresh.
See our June Newsletter (click on the photo posted on this journal for Monday, June 30 to go directly to the newsletter). Ocracoke ground water is "fresh" if you don't sink the well point too deep, but it's not generally potable. Islanders almost always used cistern water for drinking and cooking. Ground water was used for the animals and for the garden, as well as for bathing if the summer was dry and cisterns were getting low.
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