Finally We Meet the Captain

I kept heading south after seeing the concrete ships. My next destination was First Landing State Park near Virginia Beach. As the name suggests, this is where the original colonists landed in 1607. These settlers would eventually migrate a bit further south to Jamestown. Today, there is a lovely beach next to the Chesapeake Bay, and while I had to pay to enter the park, it was a great little break. And finally, the sun was out! Near the beach are the signs that detail the landing and the connection to Captain John Smith. You can read the stories if you zoom in on the photo. From there, I drove to the Oak Island area for my week with my sister, but we'll pick up my travels to National Parks on the way home!

This layout was also created for the CM March 2025 Virtual Crop. Scroll to Sketch #3. I looked through my papers and was happy that the dark blue background had the same tones as the brightly toned wood papers. Those papers were made about 20 years apart! The dark blue is from the Old CM Primary paper packs. The bright boards are from an advisor-only pack. The background papers have a sand pattern, though it's less visible. I scoured my stash for the rest of the embellishments. The seagulls were from one collection, the title stickers another, and the "Picture Perfect" from yet another kit! Luckily, it all came together nicely. For some fun, I drew a stitched border around the dark blue paper.

Who Knew Concrete Floats?

My next stop on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake Trail was to Kiptopeke State Park in Virginia. You can get to this boat launch area if you drive through the park. Yes, John Smith came through here (his maps were quite detailed, so he likely sailed every inch of the shore). But I don't think he saw these concrete ships. I never knew you could make ships from concrete AND that they could float! However, this became a popular solution during WWII when metal was needed for planes. After the war, they were no longer needed, so they sunk them here to create a breakwater. Birds and other wildlife use them for protection and for fishing. Humans can fish here as well. The weather was terrible during my stop, so it was a brief photo stop, and then I kept driving south.

I created this layout from the CM Virtual Crop in March. Scroll to sketch #2. You can see that I doubled the sketch and turned them 90 degrees so that the paper strips made left and right borders. I used papers from CM's Shiplap (an advisor-only collection) and some scraps from some other neutral-toned papers. Not only does it match the grey skies, it feeds into the "concrete" concept. I didn't use many embellishments. I found a couple of borders that filled the gap between photos and scraps. Then, a few arrows and other small word stickers completed the layout.

The Inside Story

I took a guided tour of the house. Here, you can see both the main floor and the upstairs bedrooms. Some lovely objects were on display, such as the purse and fan used by the lady of the house. In the dining room, the table was set for a fancy dinner. Yes, they did have pineapples, though they were rare in the 1700s. It denoted a family with money who could afford to import them. 

This is another layout from the CM March Virtual Crop. Scroll to layout #4. I chose papers from the Gem Tones collection (a previous secret box offering). I have been using this for historic homes for a while and am getting close to the end (truthfully, I had to create multiple strips of the base papers and layer them on a base of white cardstock). That's why the banner on the right is from a secret box in 2023 called Sweet Blossom. It's not a perfect match, but the tones were close, and I liked the floral stickers in the kit (they were made to be stacked). Since I needed 4 borders, I used 2 matching stickers for the top and 2 similar ones for the bottom (both from the Gem Tones collection). 

Hitting the Trail

My next adventure was in July 2021. My sister and her husband invited me to spend a week at the beach in Oak Island, North Carolina. I agreed, and on July 2nd, I started heading south. My first few stops concentrated on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. I've visited several locations on this trail before. You can find information about the trail on the NPS page here. You can click the label at the bottom to find more entries related to this trail on my blog.

So what does Ker Place have to do with the good Captain? Likely nothing. 😀This house is the main location for the local historical society, making it a convenient place to store a stamp (which, to be honest, I had to hunt for through the kitchen to get my ink). A sign near the waterfront (about a mile away) references the Trail. As his travels were in the 1600s and this house was built in the late 1700s, the Ker Family never saw the expedition. However, I will regale you with my scrapbook pages because I got the stamp here.

This layout was created for the March CM Virtual Crop (scroll to sketch #1). I was in a hotel room in Washington, D.C., but I had brought my scrapbook supplies with me in two cases. The papers I chose came from the Our Moments collection. I did not include a photo of the facing page. I added an 8 1/2 x 11 pocket for a brochure about this house (front) and 2 other photos (an interesting piece of carved wood in the basement and a mastodon tooth the owners had found and was on display). But these 3 photos summed up the entirety of the visit (though there is another post with the lovely interiors). 

Bay Window

My next set of park visits occurred when I went on vacation with Jim's family in September 2019. We had returned to the Rehoboth Beach area and I took a day to drive west toward the Chesapeake Bay. I drove to the small town of Vienna, MD where the Nanticoke River Discovery Center had a stamp (of course) and a small display of Captain John Smith and his travels. I also visited the nearby waterfront to get a look at the water. It was late morning but a beautiful day to be outside. 

The trail follows the historic route taken by John Smith (yes, the one that married Pocohantas) and his crew in the summer of 1608. He is credited with mapping much of the East Coast and those detailed records, published in England, were the impetus for many to migrate to the New World. In essence, he might more rightfully be considered the man who Discovered America!

This sketch is based on the June 2024 Virtual Crop from Creative Memories (scroll to sketch #2). You can see that I doubled the sketch to reach 2 pages. The paper is from Creative Memories' Serene Water collection. The coordinating cardstock colors include orange. While that is a color I don't use much, it gives the perfect POP to the middle square. As you can see in the directions, there are 4 strips of 3" decorative paper underneath. This type of sketch is a great way to use scraps if you have them. 

First to Stamp!

In June, the National Park Travelers Club was notified that a new stamp had been made and placed in Wrightsville, York County. That's near my house! So in early July, I decided I would take a drive to locate the stamp and made a stop on my way home from work. I was the VERY FIRST PERSON to use the stamper. I even helped the folks to set the date wheel. Unfortunately, the ink pad was quite wet and it took a while to get a decent impression, I doubt the docent really understood why I wanted my photo taken of me stamping but she complied. The home is part of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail--a water-based trail that commemorates Captain Smith's explorations in the early 1600s. I'll need to return eventually as the site was open,  but no tours were scheduled until the next day.

This is the left page of a 2-page spread. The base of which is a layout I made at a Paper Loft class during one of the Lancaster Scrapbook Conventions. It was the July 4th weekend and the combination of the red and blue papers gave it not only a patriotic touch but also had a nice historic rustic look that worked on this page. The following page is about our dinner cooking on the fire pit so I didn't photograph that half of the layout. I like having pre-made pages ready to go. It can make for fast page completion. Notice that there are 2 vertical 4x6 photo mats. I don't always allow that to determine how I layout the photos. I just consider them part of the background and use it as I would any other component.