ENC Project #5: The Nastiest Pirate You Ever Did See!

The most famous pirate, Blackbeard

That's right, I'm talking about Blackbeard! I went to the Maritime Museum this weekend to catch up on some research on him.
He was the meanest and most unfair pirate ever. He worked hard to earn that title too. Many of the people he encountered would surrender before throwing the first punch. Even the sight of Blackbeard would scare off some of his opponents. He had a beard that almost covered his face, he braided and tied ribbons in it, and he put fuses in his hair. He has been referred to as "Blackbeard the Pirate" for many many years, but people claim his real name was Edward Teach.
No one is really clear on his birthplace, expect some research shows he was born in either Bristol, England or somewhere in London.
He made most of his travels and faught his battles on the coast of North Carolina, and died in Beaufort, North Carolina. He would take boats, treasures and, well... just about anything that looked nice to him-became his. His ship was named 'Queen Anne's Revenge'. It carried the sharpest knives, the strongest guns... and yep, you guessed it. The MEANEST Pirate. Blackbeard would do ANYTHING to scare someone off. He'd even set his hair on fire!
We don't have much information on his background, but we do know he was from England. It is said that he had 14 wives.
When death came for Blackbeard the Pirate, he was decapitated and had his head placed on the bow of a British Ship. What now nasty man!
Some info:

Maritime Museum, Beaufort, NC
http://www.thepiratesrealm.com/Blackbeard.html
Pictures:
Blackbeard- http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/blackbeard_uy1q.jpg, by the B.S Report

ENC Project #4: Butta!

The kid can crack someone up. We were churning and he was singing in this.

For this ENC I went to a butter churning workshop after school. It was fun! My partner was Quentin..:P
In this little lab, we learned how butter was used, made and stored. Did you know it was used as medicine? That's neat isn't it. To make butter, first you had to milk a cow. The milk had to sit until the fat, or cream, rose to the top. Then, the colonists had to take the cream off the top and put it in a butter churn. They had to churn it until it the cream turned into butter!
It was used for eating, cooking and like I said, medicine.

Me and Quentin making butter!

The kids and the mother of the colonial home usually did the churning. To keep the kids from
getting bored, they would sing songs.
Back in the olden days, butter was a daily need for every person. Now, people believe its fattening and not good for you. Back then, what it was worth gave the colonists loads of money.

I learned a lot from this and it was a very entertaining way to learn about NC! Butter makes it better!:)

ENC Project #3: Groovy Graveyard:)

About 3 weeks ago, 8th grade took a trip to Historical Beaufort. During this trip we stopped at a courthouse, went in the Maritime Museum, the boat building place (sorry, forgot the name) and the Old Burying Ground. The site I found most interesting was the Burying Ground. I mean really, don't you find it super cool and hard to believe that there were those type of people in little bitty North Carolina? It's crazy. My favorite grave was that of the guy standing up and looking homebound. Another favorite was the one where this woman was in love with one guy, and he went out to sea and she thought he had been killed. But then, he makes his return and shes now with another man, and they had a child together. It was a favorite because even though on earth they could not be together any longer, they would be united once again in death and in heaven.
Throughout the trip, I noticed a few graves were facing different directions. Some were facing towards their home country and some were facing east. This was because they were 'facing the sun when they rose on judgement morning'. Thats neat!
Some of the people resting in this cemetary date back to the late 1700's, and some are recent. There are soldiers, babies, families, polititians, generations of people from wars and even people from Europe taking up the space of the graveyard. In some way, they all made Beaufort the place it has become today.

Above is the grave of the girl buried in a rum barrel. She went out to sea with her father when her mother finally said she could. On the voyage, she became sick with yellow fever and passed away on the ship after a few days of suffering. Her father promised she would make it home, so he put her in a rum barrel, took her back home and in this graveyard she lays to this day. The reason we put toys atop her grave is tradition, and also, rumors say that in the night sometimes you can 'see her playing with her toys'. This hasn't been proven but people say they have seen it. I had fun on this trip! Even though I go to Beaufort 48578349 times a year, I still learn somthing new every time. It's full of history and information from the past, but makes a fun adventure for everyone! :)

Picture of Otway Burn's grave-http://www.beaufort-nc.com/history/old-burying-ground.shtml

Picture of the Girl Buried in a Rum Barrel-https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxODDX9IIyyvQ817bdsOKqrBf9UX7T9uTsm9uEcpeTBANwaU2R-zC5nWXf1qH_ibXlSK5Z3ZozwZfHzD6cNSTriJ0vTjfV8EkmbfTDgykKWmrM6NsclFveZAyVZ20URyjxsYrSCk2uDw/s400/Girl+In+Rum+web.jpg

To learn more, visit the graveyard itself or check out this website.-http://www.beauforthistoricsite.org/oldburyingground.htm

ENC Project #2: Cherokee Indians

Cherokee Indian

Who Were They?

Cherokee Indians were a big tribe in NC, as well as all over North America. These people basically traveled everywhere before settling in North Carolina. Here they discovered land, forests, mountains, rivers and streams, and valleys. The wildlife was abundant and the Cherokee's were happy. They stayed here in NC for thousands of years.

Then, later on in life in the mid 1800's, the Indians were forced out of NC from the US government and pushed from their land. They were then introduced to a new home- a place located in an area they had left 4000 years before. They were forced to walk all the way to Oklahoma, leaving many of them to die. This became known as the "Trail Of Tears".

How Did They Live?

The Cherokee Indians were basically a right hand tribe. They lived in villages and in each village, there were 30-60 homes, a plaza, a town square, and a council house big enough to hold all the Indians in that village during a village meeting. A wall of tall poles tied together surrounded each village. There was a summer village and a winter village.

In this culture, the men and women were considered equal. They both did an equal share in work and lived almost the same, except men cut down trees and used the wood to built canoes, homes and pole fences to go around the villages. Women were warriors, they ruled the home. Men built the homes, but the women owned them. They also made colorful baskets and they were the farmers. So in a nutshell, the women of Cherokee houses were the top of the food chain

Cherokee Religion

The Cherokee worshipped the "Deer God". They never wanted the deer god mad at them and they only killed what they thought the deer god wanted them to kill, and what they needed in their families.

The Cherokee also believed in many animal spirits. They wore animal skins as clothing so they had the skills of the animals they wore. They believed everything in nature had a spirit, and prayed to the spirits for good health.

Also, Cherokee Tribes held a bunch of festivals. In these festivals, the Indians thanked their gods for their good fortune, and prayed to their gods for continued good luck.

What About The Kids?

The kids had easy lives. In past times, the children of Cherokee families had many chores to do and less time to play, but a couple years later they just lived it like normal kids. They played, went fishing with their fathers and went to school just like us today. They had dolls and toys and played some neat sports.

Marriage
You could not marry someone from your own clan, but once you found someone from another clan that you wanted to marry, there were other rules you had to follow. First, you had to ask a family member if this was a good decision and you had to get a positive answer. If you couldn't find someone to agree with you, then you could not marry that person.
Second, you had to ask the chief of the woman's village to determine if your marriage would be a good one. The chief would put two roots in his hand, and say a prayer. If the two roots moved at the same time, it meant good luck, and yes, you could marry. If only one root moved, it meant bad luck, and no, you could not marry. These steps let the people in small villages know they would get along. That was important.

Below is a myth about the Cherokees.
Cherokee Origin Story - Ye ho waah

Cherokee Picture-

http://www.native.net/se/cherokee/images/se_cherokee_indians_4.jpg

By: Native.net

Sites-
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/southeast/cherokee.html
Heres a video of a cherokee indian dancing. It was part of their culture to have neat dances like these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWMYXZCmg50

ENC Project #1: My Trip to The Cape

*A photo of the lighthouse and I*
A CAPE IS CALLING...

This past weekend I went with my family over the the historical Cape Lookout Seashore. We toured the museum and took loads of pictures, all of which had much information about this place. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed and we were unable to get reservations to climb to the top. But we still had a blast just being there! The huge amounts of information included the lighthouse in general, who kept the lighthouse through all the years, when it was built the first and second time, and even the people that actually lived there!

The present tower that stands today was built in 1859. It became completely automated in 1950. Did you know that the light at the very top is visible for 19 MILES? I didn't, that is neat! Also, the lighthouse that still stands today played an important role in the Civil War. It served as a military base! Today, it is owned and operated by the Coast Guard.

Cape Lookout stands 163 feet tall with 269 steps leading to the top. It has black diamonds aligned north to south and white diamonds aligned east to west, which are used as a daytime navagation aid for incoming/outgoing ships.

There was once a city along the shore called Diamond City. Located in between Shackleford Banks and South Core Banks close to Barden Inlet, it was home to people who lived from the sea and held up to 500 people in it's time. This place was home to pilots, fishermen, rescuers of victoms from shipwrecks, and people just amazed by the sea surrounding them. Even though no one lives there now, Diamond City was a delightful home to every person.

*The first picture is me and the Museum, the second is me on the brick walkway to the lighthouse, and the third is me on the steps to the opening (throwing up a peace sign:P).*

The Museum was very informational. Inside it I learned that the person in charge of the lighthouse is called the "keeper"--and alongside of them was an assistant! Charlotte Ann Mason was announced assistant to her father in 1872. Usually, most female keepers are or were the widows/daughters of a man, and wore no uniform. Cape was home to vacationers and permanent residents both. I also found out that Shackleford is an extention of Cape Lookout.

Cape Lookout is one of 7 lighthouses in North Carolina. Those include Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Okracoke, Bald Head, Currituck, and Oak Island.

For more information that meets the eye, go to http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_ns/nc_clook.htm

Introduction

Hey! I'm Holly. This is my last year in middle school, I'm in 8th grade. I play bunches of sports, and I play them so much my mom calls me superwoman. My dream is to either go pro, or be a firewoman. I have always lovedddd fire, so just recently I decided that firefighting was the thing for me. I'm hilarious and always positive, I always turn every bad situation into something better whether someone likes it or not. I'm a sucker for green eyes and I love dark brown hair. I have this bad habit of succeeding, and this huge sickness of being my best. No situation is big enough for me to give up. I try hard in school and math just happens to be my weakest subject, everything else has always been easy for me. I don't know why! I'm self motivated and get my energy on the court or field from the people screaming my name. I like good music, except that freaky screamy emo stuff. Just recently got my braces off and oh my heavens its a relief..(: I laugh a lot and its easy for people to make me smile, I can never be serious and I joke around too much. Well, that's me! What about you?

(:Bye.

My first bloggy thing!

Okay so, I really dont know what I should put here.

Soooo, here are some random things about me!:



-people give me a lottt of nicknames.

-my mom is not only my mom, shes my best friend.

-im an athlete, pretty good at anything sport like

-i play bass clarinet!

-my phone, omg, its purple.:P

-i loooooveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee SHIA LABEOUF, and JOHN CENA, oh and dont forget LEBRON JAMES...

-my dream is to be a firewoman, because i like fiiiiah!

-colleges? duke, ecu, syracuse.

-i have big muscles(:

-my number is 23, after my moms birthday, LEBRON JAMES, and MICHAEL JORDAN

-my dad can identify any plane that flies...on the planet

-im soooouthernnn

-annnnnd i think im done now!





thanks so much for reading my fantastic blog.(: