Visiting the Estuarium
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Saturday was balmy, no rain. I packed a picnic
lunch for the three of us – yes, Buddy was included.
Only about an hour’s drive from Edenton there’s a little town with a big name. Washington, usually referred to around here as Little Washington, was founded in the 1770s, and was the first town to be named for General George Washington. The town has a long, modern boardwalk along the Pamlico Sound near the second-largest estuary in the United States.
I’ve had a love affair with estuaries since my youngest daughter was in 4th grade. I was her Girl Scout leader when the troop used their hard-earned cookie money to attend Bios Camp, an integrated study of the marshes and estuaries on Jekyll Island, Georgia.
We waded through the marshes, learning the secret walk of water fowl so not to get stuck in the muck. We watched the periwinkle snail at eye level, moving up and down the reeds cleaning them of the salt deposits, keeping the marsh alive. We reclined on inner tubes in the estuary and waited for the tide, which we not only saw visually, but experienced as we lifted and floated down the wet paths through the grasses. We warmed up while lying on the blacktop bike path, exactly like the amphibians of the marsh. I hope the girls learned as much as I, and now as adults appreciate and protect our nation’s fragile waterways.
Our destination in Washington on Saturday was the North Carolina Estuarium. I’d not heard of an estuarium, but it sounded interesting. It has some fascinating exhibit ideas, and a 20-minute video of beautiful photography and aerial views of the estuary accompanied by lovely flute music, but no narration. It seemed to me that some of the exhibits were incomplete, with not much take-away or memorable information.
I hope as school groups or tourists come through, they get more hands-on interesting information, meet the wildlife. The estuaries’ lives depend on such education. People who are in love with the estuaries are people who will steward them.
As I write this on Sunday evening, the winter is moving in as predicted. I’ll have time to look over more Chamber of Commerce pamphlets and pick out our next great adventure. You can learn more about this one at www.Pamlico.com/nc-estuarium.