Aaaaaargh!!!

A couple of weeks ago, DM and I visited our old stomping ground... Raleigh, North Carolina.



Downtown has changed significantly since we lived there... they have a new (gigantic) special events center... and they have opened a section of downtown which used to be accessible by foot traffic only up to vehicles.


This, however, is not why we visited. DM's job requirements were changing and we decided to go do something fun for the day. So, we packed up the car and headed to Raleigh on a moment's notice in order to go to the museum.


Why, you ask? Because DM wanted to go and view the pirate exhibit.


The exhibit is called "Knights of the Black Flag" and has loads of information and artifacts on pirates.

There is a section on women pirates...

For those of you who are interested, some female pirates were known to be females while others disguised themselves as males.

"Aaaaaargh"

This contraption looked like it was the opposite of fun....


The main focus of the exhibit is the legendary pirate known as Blackbeard.


His wreckage is believed to have been discovered. Many of the items from his ship were on display in the exhibit.



Even his skull....

Sorry, that's the best I've got. No photos of the skull were allowed. But, I shall give you a quick description. For those of you who aren't aware, Blackbeard was killed and decapitated... his skull was passed around through many hands and at one point it was dipped in silver. Although it went missing for many years, it is believed that the skull on display is the actual skull of Blackbeard and it is indeed silver.



An actual canon from Blackbeard's ship.


Bullets, etc.
Personally, I found this pretty interesting. There were several aquariums located in one section of the exhibit that contained items inside of them. These are items from the wreckage that have not yet been properly excavated... this is how they were found in the ship at the bottom of the ocean. Proper measures must be taken (ie keeping the items in salt water) until they can be cleaned by trained experts.


They even had a section on modern-day pirates.


DM as a pirate... BEWARE!
I don't know who this person is... Nope, no idea. Not me, though. I know that much. Yeah.


We also visited the exhibit which contained photography of the agricultural lifestyle in the mountains of NC. Basically, it contains 3 of my favorite things... Photography, Farming, and the mountains of NC!

I have more photos... but I won't bore you to death today. See how kind and thoughtful I am? You're welcome!