The NGS Conference this year is held in a much better location than last year! Raleigh is a favorable town, with loads of culture, southern hospitality, and historical items of interest.

 

The day didn’t start out well, for my flight was delayed for 2 1/2 hours due to some mechanical problem.  It figures, it was American Airlines… I have more problems with them! Anyway, after 2 hours of sitting on the plane at the gate, they finally decided to call it a wash, and gave us a different plane. I guess I’m glad they go through all of those checks though — it turns out that it was critial, for it was the navigation system that was causing the problem. Their computer kept saying “Pull up! Pull up! Terrain ahead”. Uh, yeah, I’m glad they made us wait and put us on a different plane :-}

After that rather nerve-wracking delay, I finally arrived in Raleigh. I checked-in to my hotel and then I headed straight for the NC State Archives.  On the way, I just happened to meet the Queen of England. Yeah, that’s right — the QUEEN! Well, actually, she was playing the Queen of England.  She and a group of actors were dressed up in very extravagant costumes — unbelievably detailed and amazing. They were promoting their upcoming play, “The Lost Colony”. 

 

 

I would love to see their play, but unfortunately it doesn’t open until May 29th… long after I’m gone from Raleigh. Darn. It looked like it would be a fantastic play.  Here’s a link to it: http://thelostcolony.org/

 

Anyway, I did actually make it to the Archives, and after a quick  pre-registration, I was able to get into the records right away. I dove in and found everything I was looking for within my 2-hour time allotment.  I actually held in my hands the original documents that were signed by my own ancestors… 5th great-grandfather William J. FELTS, 5th great-grandfather John BROWN (it figures I’d end up with a “John Brown” in my family! ), 4th great-grandfather Isham Buell FELTS, and 3rd great-grandfather James Jabash MATHIS. Very cool indeed.

 

Tomorrow starts the Conference sessions. I’m hyped!