Today, I want to take you with me to a historical town named Edenton in North Carolina. Edenton was established in 1712. It was the first colonial capital of North Carolina. The state’s oldest courthouse was built in 1767 and still in use. It is also a landmark in women’s history, which was known as the Edenton Tea Party in 1774. Are you ready to come along with me for a day trip in Edenton?

It was a Monday morning. After recovering from the long road trip, we had a relaxing breakfast, and I didn’t have a big plan for the day. So, we decided to visit this historical town Edenton, which was not too far away from Roper, the town we were staying. The resort was sitting on the side of the cross-river bridge. We drove over the bridge, got on the country road, then we were in the middle of nowhere. I felt so empty while watching outside of the window. Then I let my brain stop thinking, being empty too. You know what? That actually made me feel pretty good with the emptiness in my mind. I was so relaxing, didn’t have to think or worry about anything(of course just for a short period).

We arrived in Edenton after 20 minutes driving, parked in the parking lot of the Welcome Center. There were not so many visitors because most of the historical site was not open on Monday(I didn’t know this until we got there, but you all know now). The sun was playing hide-and-seek with us. It was hot and humid. My children weren’t pleased because I dragged them here for a tour.

We grabbed a tour map from the Penelope Barker House Welcome Center, and purchased the tickets for the trolley tour in the afternoon, and enjoy several exhibitions inside of the house. Penelope Barker was the leader of the Edenton Tea Party. There were exhibitions of the history of the Tea Party, with Barker’s portrait on the wall, and teapots and cups on the table. There was a deck outside of the window. You could walk through the back door to the deck, and sat on the rocking chairs, facing the water from there. Edenton Bell Battery was on the side of the house too. I walked through the house, didn’t read much about the history, then went to sit outside waiting for my husband, who was reading every single post of the exhibitions. He enjoyed his reading, I enjoyed my rocking chair, not bad at all. What did the kids do? You knew, on their phone.

After my husband finished talking to the welcome center lady, we started the walking tour, which my son was joking “the Torturous Tour”, because he had to walk in the street with the temperature near to 90º F. The first stop was the 1886 Roanoke River Light House. The lighthouse was established in 1886, served as a guide for ships to enter Roanoke River. It was restored and moved to the current permanent location in 1941. It’s standing on Edenton Bay, watching the town of Edenton from sunrise to sundown. We didn’t have a chance to go inside but that’s okay.

We kept going to the oldest courthouse, 1767 Chowan County Courthouse. This courthouse was listed for the National Historic Landmark. It is still in use today, exactly like the way it had been since 1767.

There was a jail on the backyard of the courthouse. Finally, kids found something interested to do – locked themselves in the jail. I was joking we should leave them there until we finished our tour. My son promised he would not complain anymore about the rest of the tour, so we sent them free.

Our next stop was The Cupola House. This house was built in 1758, for the family using for over 141 years. When the family couldn’t afford the house anymore, they sold the garden of the house for commercial development, but still not enough to save the house. In 1918,  The Cupola House Association took over, started the protection of the house. Today, The Cupola House was well maintained and still standing in Edenton as another historic landmark.

After short walking, we need a cold drink so bad. We walked into this coffee shop. I ordered my iced coffee, each kid got a triple berry smoothie, and my husband had his black coffee as usual. We sat on the table by the door side, then I saw this T-shirt handed up there, with the quotes: “All I need Today is a little bit of COFFEE and a Whole Lot of JESUS!”. I thought this was so neat to have a shirt like this.

The trolley tour was fun too. We were the only passengers that afternoon. They took us toured the whole town. We saw a lot of Victoria Style Buildings throughout the town. This was much better than the walking, regarding my son’s comment.

Before we came here, we thought it was just a small town with few historical buildings. But we were totally shocked by its beauty, history, and architecture. It was one of the prettiest towns in the United States. I highly recommend you come to visit Edenton if you are around this area. Trust me, you will enjoy it.