This Land, Your Land

The National Park Service said Friday it would build a passenger ferry depot on Front Street in Beaufort for service to the Shackleford Banks and Cape Lookout areas of Cape Lookout National Seashore.

A private firm will operate the site, which is to be located at the new Beaufort Town Hall (the former Post Office building) and Grayden Paul Park, according to a news release. Service is expected to begin in 2014 after contracts are let in 2013.

Currently, Cape Lookout is only accessible by private boats or private ferries.

The National Park Service decided in 2008 to develop a ferry service, and various options were presented for public comment last March.

The state Division of Parks and Recreation confirms that Fort Macon State Park will fire its newly acquired cannon for the first time publicly this Saturday.

The exhibit dedication and firing ceremony will be at 11 a.m. at the state park in Carteret County, a news release says.

The gun replicates those sent to Fort Macon from the Norfolk Navy Yard during the Civil War to guard the entrance to Beaufort’s harbor. Cast with an interior liner, the replica is capable of firing blank gunpowder charges. It was mounted on the wall of the fort last month.

Students at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro built a sliding gun carriage of aluminum to hold the 4,200-pound, 20-foot cannon, which was manufactured in Maryland. Wooden carriages at the seaside fort deteriorate quickly in the salt air. The state parks saved about $20,000 through the students' work.