A photo a day from Oriental, NC, the surrounding Pamlico County area, and nearby rivers, creeks, bays and other waterways of coastal North Carolina.


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Sunday, May 23, 2010

5.23- Low waters uncover Oriental history

Scraps from the Roper Lumber Co. mill at the end of Midyette St.

When the wind blows hard out of the Southwest for several days, our local water levels go way down, as they get pushed out into Pamlico Sound.

Extremely low waters reveal a field of "slabs" off the end of Midyette St. - They are the round outside portions of logs that were sawn off (and discarded) in the initial stage of processing at the vast John L. Roper Lumber Co. sawmill that inhabited the site before burning down in the 1920's.

Also visible are the stumps of many pilings that made up the Co. docks at the present site of the NC Wildlife Ramp and the Oriental public "kayak" dock.


I was very careful walking around the normally submarine artifacts, as the shorelines of local creeks are habitat for water moccasins (and other less dangerous critters.)

Here I caught a shot of one snake slithering away amongst the slabs (at right)...

As I was processing these pics, however, I noticed that this snake (center of pic below) was not the only one around... in the water in the lower right corner, maybe a foot or so from my bare legs, was another one I had not noticed.

(click images for full size)
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3 comments:

tapirgal said...

Very interesting post, nicely photographed, and I won't need to rent that scary movie tonight. I'm not generally afraid of snakes, but I can assure you, I would be careful if I thought moccasins were about!

Unknown said...

My Grandfather E.S. Venters was the manager of the Roper lumber co. mill before it burned down in the 1920

Unknown said...

I can't wait for that to happen again.... so I can get all my darn lures back from that minefield lol