Memories, that's why I share pictures and blogs about my adventures. It's a way to document, to remember, to be able to look back and bring up feelings that may fade from my mind. It's been more than two years since I posted to this blog. I always intended to keep writing, but there was always another distraction. I guess it was easier to write when I was living in the middle of woods. So I'm taking the time now to give a glimpse of the past two years.
I left off in October 2015, just before my last hitch with the SCA NH Corps. For that hitch we traveled to Hampton Beach State Park. As you can imagine it's fairly chilly on the beach in New England in October. It also happened to rain a few days. Both of these made our project of painting a few of the park buildings even more difficult. Below a certain temperature the paint won't dry properly, so each morning we did what prep work we could and waited for the hours of workable warmth. This hitch was far different from backcountry, but there were still a few puddles in tents and cold nights. After finishing our time we loaded up and headed back to Bear Brook State Park. We were happily surprised to pull into camp and find a small welcoming group with a banner across the road symbolizing us crossing the finish line of another season.
(Saying goodbye to the I.S.L.E.)
The next week was a mix of activities from bowling to hiking and even more group bonding (one would think after 10 months you would know everything, but there were some surprises yet to be revealed). There was also paperwork to be wrapped up and cleaning like we'd never done before. The morning after our last night festivities we all one by one made our way to the lodge to say our goodbyes. We didn't all leave right away but eventually we had all headed towards new adventures.
For me that meant heading home to Tennessee for the winter. After months of job applications I found myself headed back to New England. In March 2016 I started my first National Park Service job at Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts. This is the site of the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. Being able to work in a historic location adds an entirely new element to a job. On quiet cool mornings I could close my eyes and almost hear soldiers marching down the rock wall lined trail past open fields where homes used to stand.
(Minute Man Statue)
(North Bridge)
While March in the south means spring had begun, in New England there were still a few snowy days left. Same as the year before, snow fell the night before my first day. But after a few weeks the weather began to change and turned into a hot summer. The difference this time was that after a long day of work, I had a house to go home to (even though there was only air conditioning in one room it was still cooler than a tent). I stayed in a home owned by the park, and had various housemates in and out through the year.
(Farwell Jones House)
(Downtown Concord)
As my six month season came to an end in September 2016 I searched for my next location. I ended up finding another SCA position in Boston, about a 30 minute drive from my current park. I worked in historic preservation at three National Park sites; Frederick Law Olmsted NHS, John Fitzgerald Kennedy NHS, and Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters NHS. This gave me the opportunity to not only move into a new chapter of Revolutionary War history but also into two other sites of very different historical values. I was also able to spend my an entire fall in New England enjoying the changing colors and welcome another winter.
Just before Christmas I received a call about a job I had applied to in North Carolina. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up so I cut my time in New England short and headed back south in January 2017. I moved to Manteo, a town on Roanoke Island, part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I grew up close to the ocean and it's always had a place in my heart. I had only been to the Outer Banks once, but it left me with the memories of seeing the Cape Hatteras Light being moved and my first flight at the Wright Brothers National Memorial.
That season I worked at Fort Raleigh NHS. I lived in the park just steps away from a sandy beach on the Roanoke Sound and a short drive to the ocean. I watched some of the most incredible sunsets of my life and was able to spend hours after work each day walking in the sand. I spent my time off traveling up and down the Outer Banks and the surrounding area, taking in everything around me.
(Sunset over the Roanoke Sound)
(Cape Hatteras Light)
(Wild horses in Corolla)
Winter and early Spring the the Outer Banks is quiet. Businesses close for the season and the majority of people around are locals. This changed drastically when the weather began to warm up. But with the changing season also brought the start of summer jobs at the various NPS sites. After a few months without meeting anyone new at work, I was excited about new seasonals. But what I didn't expect was how quickly friendships would begin and how strong those bonds would grow. Almost every minute outside of work was with that group of friends, and a good portion of that time spent eating ice cream.
It was everything a summer should be, but eventually the end of those six months came calling again. In July 2017 I headed to Yorktown, Virginia to work at Colonial National Historical Park. While I wasn't spending every night by the water anymore, I was only two and a half hours from my previous site. I was able to visit a few times, have some more adventures, including going skydiving for the first time (but certainly not the last).
In VA I moved on to the final battle of the American Revolutionary War. This park is the largest I have worked at so far. It includes Yorktown Battlefield, Historic Jamestowne, and the Colonial Parkway that connects the two sites. I once again have been working in maintenance/grounds, which gives my the opportunity to be outside enjoying the site every day.
Just as with the Outer Banks sites, these locations hold memories for me from my childhood. I spent my summers in Virginia with my grandparents, and I remember visiting these sites on multiple occasions. This was my first time returning to these places where I could walk the same paths I had many years before.
(Overlooking the York River)
(Yorktown Battlefield West Tour Road)
My six month season at Colonial NHP ends in January 2018, but I may be leaving here early. My next job will take me to Charleston, South Carolina to work at Fort Sumter National Monument. This time I will be going to the start of the American Civil War. I once again will be moving to a new site and meeting all new people. Each place I've been has led me into the next and there's no way of knowing what the future will hold. Just looking back on these past two years I've been in five different states. While part of me is always nervous about moving to a new location, there's also a part that can't imagine staying in one place for too long. No one knows what adventures lay ahead, but I hope to make the most of each one of them.
