North Carolina Part III

Finally, the conclusion to our fun NC trip...

Our next stop was Lenoir City, TN and Fort Defiance. We had actually chosen the long route home that we did in order to make this stop. Fort Defiance was the homestead of General William Lenoir, a Revolutionary war hero...and my great great great great great grandfather (that is 5 greats!). http://www.fortdefiancenc.org/index.htm It was built in 1792 and has many (over 300+) items, such as furnishings, clothing, letters, artifacts, etc...that were original to the house. Although we got there 10 minutes before closing, the gentleman that lives and works there (it is now owned and operated by a historical foundation) let us stay and gave us a wonderful tour through the house and grounds that really took you back. It was pretty amazing what they knew about our family back then. They were apparently avid note takers and huge pack rats, so there is a lot of detailed and accurate history - fascinating. There was also a family graveyard with tombstones from the 1800's. We are so glad we made this stop. Although Collier was not interested in the detailed tour and info (poor kid had been in and out of the car all day with no real nap), Carson was fascinated by it all and listened to every word the historian spoke! Pretty cool that Em and Henry now live so close to this part of our past...

The drive back to Charlotte was easy and uneventful. After a long day of driving and sightseeing, we were all glad to pull into their driveway. The rest of the evening was spent washing clothes, upacking, repacking and getting ready for our flight home the next morning.

Our trip home on Saturday was easy once we got on the plane and in our seats...lots of drama leading up to that...running late, very busy airport, overbooked planes, change of planes due to mechanical difficulties, etc...but in the end we made it home safe and sound!

The week went by way too fast, as we knew it would. We packed A LOT in to a short amount of time and the kids were complete troopers! They really are great little travelers. It was such fun to spend time with Em and Henry...what special memories were made!