THE CAROLINAS

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is jack douglas with a brief introduction to tonight's colorful armchair vacation a month or so ago we vacationed in the carolinas south and tonight we crossed the border to visit south carolina's sister state also one of the original 13 american colonies the tar heel state as she is popularly known is full of surprises for the vacationer and these colorful preview scenes are merely a sample of what's in store for us during the next 30 minutes as we enjoy an armchair vacation to the carolinas north you see these women taking water from the village pump and you tell yourself that surely this is another time another place another century that it is for this is old salem founded in 1766 by pious yet persecuted protestant moravians who had fled germany to find peace and peace of mind in the new world in fact the moravians named their settlement salem a hebrew word meaning peace old salem is today one of the most authentic restorations in america and each well-preserved building has a story of its own the mixed tobacco shop founded in 1771 the salem tavern are in with its promise of entertainment the old firehouse almost as sturdy as our fire stations of the present and the single brothers house the home of salem's single men the house was framed in just one day because the timbers had been pre-cut and numbered in advance notice the roman numerals carved on this massive timber they dressed in salem as they did in the old country and even a simple gate was self-closing as it was in the days of their forefathers these moravians were excellent craftsmen and to this very day the tin smiths you will see in old salem work at their craft using the implements and methods centuries old [Music] to the moravians any time was a good time for prayer and meditation we followed these women reenacting a typical and traditional scene and were rewarded with this authentic moravian hymn played on one of the few organs in existence made by the great david tannenberg during the 18th century [Music] salem's old cemetery is known as god's acre and the democratic moravians saw to it that all the grave markers were identical it's called the living indian village o'connor left the indian village in the cherokee reservation at cherokee near the tennessee border don't be frightened this is a living [Music] i want to welcome these people to through the indian village and us hope they enjoy the good through the indian village what you will see at oconolofti village is the cherokee way of life as it was as it really was 200 years ago grinding cornmeal weaving baskets and of special interest to women is the beadwork of the cherokee squash possibly the most exotic beadwork of any indian tribe east of the alleghenies just a few minutes after these scenes it began to rain and we left the village in order to stay on schedule but plan to spend at least half a day here at okana lefty there is really that much worth seeing and knowing now we're flying over the capital of north carolina the city of raleigh like most of the state's larger cities it's an attractive community and judging by its architecture raleigh is hardly a backwoods tobacco road the new state legislative building is a delightful place to visit especially on a hot summer's day [Music] three statues dominate the capitol grounds those of presidents andrew jackson james polk and the courageous andrew johnson who deserves more admiration than he has received all three were born north carolinians airborne again were flying over the university of north carolina at chapel hill about 35 miles northwest of raleigh it is the oldest state university in the nation and incidentally you could spend at least three vacations trying to see all of the state's institutions of higher learning there are over 60. this is one of north carolina's man-made scenic spectacular's fontana dam located just a stone's throw from the tennessee border at the base of the smoky mountain national park the dam was originally built as a rush job to supply power for the oak ridge atomic energy project in the early 1940s fontana backs up the waters of the little tennessee river forming a lake of some 20 miles and what a setting for a lake and yet so few people use it we saw only a couple of small boats and one or two water skiers that's all it must be that most people simply don't know about fontana and bypass it [Music] scenically the view from the dam is all that you could ask for and you don't have to be a water skier to enjoy it those are the peaceful majestic smoky mountains in the background leaving the dam we passed through fontana village on our way across the state to cape hatteras we stopped our car however when we saw this scene so typical of the region an outdoor daytime square dance little little girl in a one year there oh one and three go into the middle and come on back like a random star in the middle [Music] the caller is harry lackey of greensboro and he's kept busy the year round especially in fontana they dig this kind of music and dancing in the tar heel state and don't we all [Music] we're flying over part of cape hatteras one of the most fascinating of america's national seashores a thin barrier of sand on the outer banks of north carolina even in shape and size cape hatteras excites the imagination the sliver is 70 miles long yet it preserves only 45 square miles of sand and soil a free ferry service from the mainland makes a visit to the cape doubly delightful it's hard to beat something for nothing especially when the vacation budget gets smaller and smaller so remember the ferry service to the cape is free the cape itself that chunky point there in the center is about 25 miles from the mainland so the crossing is long enough to please the youngsters without boring the adults after a comfortable and thoroughly enjoyable crossing of the sound our ferry docks and we notice cars from other states vacationers like ourselves from maryland ohio virginia and tennessee [Music] all right we're here and first off we'll take the family exploring observing this nicely worded reminder take only pictures leave only footprints the cape has been the graveyard of many a ship and these are the last remains of the wooden schooner laura a barnes nearby is a small green box and raising the lid a printed text under glass tells the tragic tale of the laura barnes there are three lighthouses on the cape and this one the hatteras light looks rather small seen from a distance actually it's the tallest lighthouse in the usa and you can get a touch of dizziness if you look up slowly and gradually we stayed at the light until nightfall and if you can spare the time you'll be rewarded with some unforgettable snapshots of your visit the wright brothers national monument at kitty hawk is farther north from the cape but also offshore and not on the mainland here at kill devil hills in kitty hawk the wright brothers made the first powered flight in history and this huge boulder marks the starting spot of the flight on december 17 1903 the flight lasted only 12 seconds the distance 120 feet well three other flights were made on the same day and finally on the fourth flight wilbur wright remained aloft 59 seconds and flew a distance of 852 feet man had been given powered wings this exact replica of the plane is in the visitors museum center with an airplane exactly like the one you see here wilbur and orville wright on december 17 1903 shaped the course of future world events the plane isn't hard to describe there's not much to it a pair of wings two propellers a 12 horsepower engine weighing 170 pounds and a few basic instruments all exposed to the elements yet this plane sparked the conquest of space cape hatteras like cape cod is a boating and fishing wonderland boats from every state and union can be found here at the height of the vacation season and it goes without saying that you can rent or charter a boat without fuss or bother now he's not play acting he's testing real pull and brake strength against the handheld scale fishermen like golfers have a world of their own and isn't that a fact anyway they were having a marlin tournament on this particular day there's part of the marlin fleet putting out to see we weren't around for the finish although we did go aboard one of the boats for several hours frankly i think we jinxed the boat no marlin but still a mighty game fish for its size later on shore we uh not over this catch and there's the starry 522 pounds it's not a record by any means but i know a lot of rod and reelers who would love to have it well we can't all own or charter boats or land 500 pound marlin but all of us can't afford this a rod a reel maybe a dollar's worth of wine and lead so we don't catch the big ones maybe not even a minnow but there's a certain magic here money can't buy the roaring silence that follows the crashing surf and the sweet salt smell of an ocean bigger than continents i'll take it and i believe you will too in the carolinas north new bern is located just a few miles from north carolina's atlantic coastline and this is why we have come here this is trion palace named after the first royal governor william trian who inspired and occupied this stunning mansion that was back in 1770 when the carolinas were merely a part of england in america but now a word of greeting from an official host of citroen palace mrs linda r morris hello and welcome to royal governor trying to palace in newport north carolina this is the first colonial capital in the first state capital of north carolina now we'd like to take you on a tour of the grounds and of the palace [Applause] [Music] while the grounds of the palace are breathlessly beautiful the mansion is even more so indeed it has been described as the most beautiful building in the colonial americas the restoration of trion palace did not take place overnight it involved eight years of devoted effort by hundreds of north carolinians and the generosity of a native of new bern mrs maude moore latham governor tryon's furnishings which he had brought with him from england were destroyed by fire but numerous and accurate inventories enabled the restoration committee to faithfully reproduce the appearance of every room in the palace this portrait is of the governor's father charles tryin a painting gifted to the palace by the trium descendants in england and all that is here even the most unassuming detail is absolutely an antique of the period and not a made to order reproduction you must not miss it on your north carolina vacation the triangles at new bern this is a section of highway 28 near franklin in the western part of the state the area is known as the land of waterfalls such as bridal veil falls which you can drive under and dry falls which you can walk under without getting wet well that may be true on a calm summer day but as this poor victim discovered it's not so dry if there's the slightest breeze in the air you'll get soaked to the skin by the spray and even an umbrella won't help but then who needs a dry waterfall dry falls is wet and all the better while you're in the franklin area make a stop at the schuler ruby mine in cowie valley that's right rubies in north carolina the schuler mine has been operating for more than 10 years and it's one of the few commercial mines open to the public now here's what happens you sit at the flume trying to look as professional as a prospector and meanwhile one of the supervisors keeps you supplied with buckets of mud and gravel from one of the mine pits now anything you find you keep rubies sapphires and a variety of semi-precious stones and rubies and sapphires worth up to five thousand dollars have been panned by visitors like ourselves they proved it to us at the cowie valley lapidary shop where we saw and photographed just a few of the many valuable gems and stones mined in the area we didn't bother pricing these rings we simply made certain the gems were the real thing and here are some unmounted beauties a ruby surrounded by star sapphires still in the general area of the western part of the state we highly recommend at least a brief trip to grandfather mountain the highest in the blue ridge range the travel brochures describe grandfather mountain as carolina's top scenic attraction and we certainly won't argue the point the big deal is the mile high swinging bridge now the sway isn't too noticeable when only a few people are on the bridge but get enough visitors on at the same time and you'll wish you had just stayed on the ledge like these sensible people are doing anyway the view from the ledge is one that should be seen by people from abroad who say america is too crowded well you could place new york city in this forest of balsam spruce and lose it that's a fact there are other minor attractions on the peak such as this blanket of tiny mountain flowers and major photogenic subjects such as split rock truly a geological natural wonder and said to be one billion years old as old as the mountain grandfather mountain lake is ideal for boating and canoeing and i might add that the 5 000 acre recreation preserve also has excellent facilities for camping [Music] well sir we were passengers on the tweetsie railroad at blowing rock north carolina and i'm not putting you on all right all of a sudden this masked bandit started shooting it up and the engineer took the hint and slammed on the brakes next thing we knew the cash box was hauled out of the mail train and just like in the movies one of the crooks shot off the rock while his buddy chased the pretty thing who tried to get away well she was mighty embarrassed but not full on bang bang here's the good guy charging in against odds of three to one well that did it she got her close back the cash box was recaptured the engineers stopped shaking and the tweetsie railroad continued on its three-mile journey to the town of blowing rock what a day [Music] this man in the mid-1880s set out to fulfill a burning ambition to build the finest country home in america he could afford to try his name george w vanderbilt of the vanderbilts and this was his dream come true biltmore house just south of asheville to george vanderbilt biltmore meant much more than merely money or even pride to it he gave many of the best years of his life he personally traveled throughout europe selecting canvases tapestries other priceless furnishings and the finest and statuary art and while he searched the continent a thousand workmen spent five years creating biltmore and that's just one of many staggering statistics we were graciously given permission to photograph whatever we wished the gardens the statuary the mansion itself but we stopped at the front door because how could we do justice to 250 rooms some the size of a small football field yes 250 rooms george vanderbilt was one of the lesser known vanderbilts little known to the public but in giving us biltmore he gave america one of the most elegant country homes in all the world and a reminder of the rich culture of the french renaissance period biltmore is open to the public and to see it is to remember it always a highlight of your vacation too the carolinas this harbor wilmington north carolina they have permanently anchored a battleship with a war record that is the equal of any fighting ship in american naval history this is the uss north carolina memorial a memorial made possible mainly by the contributions of seven hundred thousand school children commissioned just before world war ii the north carolina went on to pile up an astounding war record guadal canal eastern solomon's the gilbert and marshall islands western new guinea laity luzon iwo jima okinawa and many other naval engagements her guns destroyed dozens of enemy ships and planes and she in turn was torpedoed in 1942 clayton smith first lieutenant of the memorial was aboard the battleship when the torpedo hit i had just been relieved on the watch when the torpedo hit i was down on the third deck just got in my bunk when the trophy they hit all their bunks come falling down on me i was scrambling around trying to get out man my battle station we had five casualties and incidentally one of the men was a man that had just relieved me off watch he got blown over the side the north carolina survived the torpedoing and everything else the enemy could throw at her well the proud ship was decommissioned in 1947 and she was scheduled to be scrapped by 1960 but the people of north carolina especially the school children rallied to her rescue they raised the money to buy the battleship and retire her in the state after which she had been named and listen stay aboard until nightfall for a spellbinding lights and sound performance [Music] so the performance which includes a well-produced movie and features truly unusual lighting effects lasts for a full hour a whale of an hour for visitors of all ages bye