First Sunday Hike, September 7th

A few days before our September First Sunday hike it rained enough to fill the Eno River and then some.  The dam west of town is about 12 ft high and only the top 4 feet showed after the rain.  The recirculator below the dam was throwing four foot diameter trees ten feet in the air.  The driftwood shown next to a paved walk by t he Eno is about ten feet above normal flow vertically and about thirty feet from the river bank.  Note the job of barking it did on the oak.

Though the recent flood kept us from visiting Hillsborough's first bridge and downtown ford sites, we did get to see a bit of it.  The purpose of this hike was the usual one of showing people the immediate presence of 18th century landscapes and artifacts and, also, to familiarize them with the high cost to our heritage paid to construct the building housing Weaver Street Market, the associated parking deck hanging so elegantly above the Eno, and a few county buildings near by.  That construction cost us almost all the archaeological information contained by the the soils of seven of Hillsborough's original town lots.  For example, in the map to the right (drawn in 1863 by Jos. Turner),  Lot 0 contained the town water supply mapped by Jean Sauthier in 1768.  Construction of a new justice complex simply dug out the old spring and contained it in a modern drainage system.  Justice indeed.  There were likely to have been similarly important materials bulldozed on all seven lots marked on the map and that isn't the end of the list.  It is all pretty sad and we are seeking ways to prevent it from ever happening again.

So, a little bitter, a little muddy, and a bit exciting as we were gifted with the sight of a clutch of rat snakes hatching out near the old ford, and the day was warm and the Locopops were cold.  Everybody had a chance to see the race at the mill at the foot of Wake Street, and the hike was just about long enough for some and just a warm up for others.  We had fun.

First Sunday Hike, October 5th

We will hike at the Triangle Land Conservancy's Johnston's Mill Nature Preserve on October 5th.  As usual we will launch the hike at 2 PM.  We'll meet in the parking lot just west of Turkey Farm road where it crosses New Hope Creek.  This is a wonderfully serene setting within a few minutes of both Durham and Chapel Hill.  When we visited there a few weeks ago we saw families hiking and wading and generally enjoying the place.  We'll learn a little about the Hogan family and some about local roads, fords and mills as there are remnants of all these and more in the Nature Preserve.  Obviously, this preserve captures some of the human aspects of a past environment, vestiges of premodern times.  One of the neater aspects about this site is that flowing through it is Old Field Creek.  "Old Field" was a common descriptor for abandoned Native American cornfields and the creek name which appears on early maps indicates that at some point at some time there were Native American fields in the creek bottoms.  Almost half the park is in an area called "Hogan's Bottom" so that is the likely location of the original old fields.  We'll see all this and more on the 5th between 2 and 4.  We hope to see you then.

Kings Highway Park Cleanup Rained Out

The storm that crimped our First Sunday Hike on the 7th of September also nixed the planned cleanup of King's Highway Park on the 6th.  All trails were very muddy and too delicate to be tromped on, and some of the park was still under water on the 6th.  It was too dangerous to work that day.  So, we have rescheduled that work day.  Scouts and other volunteers will work at the park on September 29th.  This is a local teacher work day and it is hoped the clean up will give our youth something to do.  The trails are somewhat grown up and we'll need to cut back weeds, there are a few trees and limbs down that will require cutting and moving.  Please, bring gloves, weed cutting tools, and a mattock if you have one for grubbing out the trails. If you have a small garbage bag or wastebasket liner, bring it as there is some trash (though not as much as in past years). 

For those of you new to the TPA, the King's Highway Park is an experiment in park development.  We wanted to see how inexpensively we could preserve a historically important site.  Turning heritage landscapes into tourism attractions is one good way to make the land more valuable undeveloped than developed.  In this case the intersection of two 18th century roads well known in North Carolina history provides the name and the reason for the park.  The Great Road to Salisbury met the Road to Cross Creek and Wilmington just in the great bend of the Eno River.  Their remnants are seen in the park along with a piece of the original North Carolina Rail Road at-grade railroad bed.  All the work of building the park has been done by high school students from Orange High School and Cedar Ridge High School and by Boy Scouts striking for their Eagle Scout award plus Adventure Scouts just being good citizens.  The park is into its sixth year of construction and has vista benches and a picnic area as well as about 3/4 of a mile of trail.  Total cost to the Town of Hillsborough, so far, is probably under $100.00.

It won't take long to dress the place up.  Come out and lend a hand and it will take even less time.

November 1st Sunday Hike Location Open

We are still not committed to a November First Sunday Hike location.  If you have a place you'd like to share, let us know.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, September 25th, 7PM, Commissioners Room, Louisburg, NC, Tom will be part of a panel discussing studies needed and how to engage county institutions in the historic studies. at the initial meeting of the Benjamin Franklin Society of Franklin County.

Monday, September 29th, Trail cleanup at King's Highway Park, Orange County, NC.  This park is located in the Great Bend of the Eno, west of Hillsborough, NC.  Trails are a bit overgrown so bring brushing gear if you have it.  Bring a garbage bag.  Cleanup from 9 until 4.  Donate what time you can.

Sunday, October 5th, 2PM until 4PM, First Sunday Hike, Johnston's Mill Nature Preserve, Turkey Farm Rd at New Hope Creek, in Orange County, NC.  (see map above).

Tuesday, October 7th, 9 AM, Blowing Rock Conference Center, Blowing Rock, NC, Tom will speak about NC history to Duke's Continuing Education Students from the OLLIE program.

Saturday October 18th, Carolina Country Club, Pinehurst, Tom will speak to the local DAR Chapter

Saturday November 8th, Town Hall, Main Street, Denton, NC, Tom will speak on premodern transportation with some focus on the earliest transportation channels in the Denton area.

Suggest A Hike

If you have an idea about a place to hike or an interesting spot you'd like us to visit, let us know.  We are more or less on hiatus in July and August, and we may resume First Sunday Hikes in September.  Meanwhile if you have a place we can hike without bugs and other varmints bothering us, please  let us know about it.

 
trm