On the Carolina Coast, there are many islands that make up part of the Inter-coastal waterway. Many of these islands are great family vacation spots with beach houses to rent, and very few bars or noisy crowds that are packed with spring-breakers from college. A lot of people live there full time. These islands make great place to bring a family.
My family loves to go to Holden Beach, NC. My parents live nearby, so we travel there often. In our early days, we heard from one of the locals about a mysterious mailbox located “at the end” of the island. He said that many of the local islands have mailboxes at the “end”.
We weren’t sure if he was just trying to send us on a wild goose chase, like some sort of prank that the locals played on the vacationers. This particular island is almost 5 miles long. But one day when we were spending the day at the beach near the north end, we decided to walk as far as we could to the remote end of the island, and try to find it.
Much to our delight it was really there! Inside were several spiral bound notebooks and lots of pencils. We signed the book along with all the others who have left their mark at the mailbox at the very end of the island. Apparently there is some sort of curator for all the books who changes them out periodically.
Now that the kids are older and we go for longer walks, we try to sign the book at least once every trip.
Once, a spiral had been shredded apart and stuffed back into the mailbox. We took it home to try to repair it. We read every entry in the book. Some were just happy memories, thoughts of gratitude, or just a signature. Some were prayers. Some were letters to lost family. Some were just an outpouring of emotion left there for others to feel. We put it back together as best we could, and returned it to the box.
The mail box is labeled “Golden memories”. Finding the box and leaving our mark is always one of our favorite vacation memories.
