As we were on our way home on Sunday, we decided to take our time and stop at any place we thought looked interesting. We hadn’t gotten far past Rocky Mount when we started seeing signs for “Historic Halifax.” A quick google search told us that it would only be a few minutes off our path, so we made the detour.

One of the things that Tim and I had noticed earlier in the day was that excepting the highways, everywhere we went seemed deserted. We come from an area that hardly ever slows down, so it was strange to be someplace where a Sunday morning silence descended on everything.

The town of Halifax was no exception. We drove into yet another quiet, deserted town. This one, however, boasted an impressive historic district. Think Williamsburg, but much smaller. There were plaques to read, houses and businesses to look at, and literally no one to encounter. I’m sure there are people there during the week, but on an early Sunday afternoon, we had it to ourselves. For the nearly two hours we were there, only one car passed us. We parked behind the historic jail and set off to discover what we could.

We had an impromptu history lesson as the kids learned about stocks and pillories. We wandered through a historic graveyard and peered through the windows into living rooms and dining halls decorated to reflect early colonial life. We even found a run down outdoor amphitheater and the kids sang and danced under the gently swaying trees.