America 06 Feb 2007 02:37 pm
North Topsail Beach, war zone, and zone of forgetfulness
On the first day we arrived here, at North Topsail Beach, where we are spending some time before we can move into our house in Shutesbury, my partner and I would hear this bumping sound. It was windy that day, and we thought that must be a window that was banging open, or a chair that was banging against something outside. We’d keep hearing it - sometimes it was so loud we could feel it, too. Sometimes, it was several sounds an hour, sometimes hours would go by without the sounds.
We kept hearing it, but basically ignored it, because it wasn’t predictable, and we couldn’t find out where it came from.
One day, Ruth walked on the beach, and she realized that the sound was still with her - she’d hear them as she walked down the beach. So we realized it wasn’t from the house, it was from somewhere else.
It turns out, it’s from Camp Lejeune, about 15 miles down the beach from here. They hone their skills at shooting things, from guns and rifles, to missiles.
We never would buy a house here, for a variety of reasons. First, neither of us is attracted a house on the beach, second, the area is, well, pretty whitebread for us. What’s also true is that North Topsail Beach is a barrier island, and very precariously placed if there is a hurricane. In 1996, hurricanes Bertha and Fran almost wiped North Topsail off of the map. There were even proposals to abandon it, and make it a park. But since then, there has been a real estate and building boom, with lots and lots of new houses, and more being built every day (they are putting in the pilings for a new house just down the street from this one, as I write this.) Clearly, the lessons of 1996 have been completely forgotten.
So, if one sold real estate here, one should disclose: “You’ll hear missiles and bombs going off at all hours of the day and night, and in case of a hurricane, you may no longer have a house to vacation in.”
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