Jan 11 Dungannon Plantation and Heritage Preserve

 

An Honest Man is the Work of God

Another former plantation, now a wildlife preserve. This one had a maze of roads and hard to follow trails. However, we managed to make it out to the Wood Stork lake. As soon as we arrived, one Wood Stork took off and a Great Blue Heron squawked and squawked at us. It must have been announcing our presence to its friends. We didn't see another for our 30 minute visit. We did spot a Belter Kingfisher, Flicker, Phoebe, a couple Cardinals, then a Sharp Shinned Hawk landed on a branch just above us. A Downy was spotted too. 

The preserve is the 3rd largest nesting site in SC for federally endangered Wood Storks.

Most of what I have found out about the former plantation is from the writings and memoir of Rosalie Roos, a Swedish activist. She served as a governess for the 2 Peronneau girls for 4 years. Although, she opposed slavery and never abandoned her opposition, she wrote the 60 slaves at the plantation were not mistreated and appeared content. 

A book published in 2002 entitled Slavery and Emancipation describes the letters and diaries of Rosalie Roos as “one of the most interesting and least-known documents” on antebellum Southern society, but includes only a brief excerpt from her writings concerning courtship customs.

There were only songbirds around this water. I assume the larger birds can't see the fish, so they hang out in non-algae waters. 

Another rice plantation? Maybe.

Jan 10 Botany Bay

Ice house 

Botany Bay Heritage Preserve is a former rice plantation near Edisto Beach. The main house is long gone. It was named  the "Bleak House". The Charles Dickens satirical novel was the inspiration. An odd choice in my mind but I don't know the back story. The ice house remains. Ice was shipped from New England during the winter and stored beneath the floorboards, insulated with sawdust. 

What have we here? Out in the woods behind the plantation site is the east end of Bache's baseline. I guess we are 7 miles, give or take a couple inches, from where we were earlier at the west end.

If a place is going to have a cool name like Botany Bay, it better be a cool place. This qualifies.

When I first learned of Botany Bay, I assumed the trees were deposited here by currents. That is not the case. The ocean is eroding the shore and has reached into what was once a forest with massive trees. Some are still rooted and upright and others have toppled. It is one of the coolest places I have ever seen.

Since 2010, it is prohibited to collect any shells or wood from the beach. It is a bit of a walk from the parking area. No dogs are allowed either. 

Jan 10 Edisto Beach State Park

 

Oysters

Our visit to Edisto Beach State Park is a first time visit. There is a beach. It is adjacent to the town of Edisto Beach. There are lots of beaches around here. That was not our focus. I wanted to see the 4000 year old oyster shell midden. We had to walk 7 miles to do that but also learned about Alexander Bache and coastal survey as a bonus.

Grape vine

I have never heard of this guy before. Alexander Dallas Bache was a brilliant guy. Being the great grandson of Benjamin Franklin may have had something to do with that. After graduating from West Point and serving in the army, he went on to head the US Coastal Survey. His invention, the Bar of Invariable Length was used  to make surveying more accurate. In 1849 surveying was a tedious job. Mapping the US coast was needed for military and shipping concerns. Bache headed up this effort. On Edisto Island he contracted with a local planation to cut a "straight as an arrow", road, 7 miles long. This is known as establishing the baseline of a survey triangle. Surveying then and today is all about trigonometry and triangulation. Bache's "bar" was made of two rods of different metals. Since metals shrink and expand with temperature changes, Bache chose two metals that cancelled each other out. Thus he now had a long rod or bar of invariable length that could be used to survey that 7 mile long road. Using tripods, the long bar was leapfrogged from one end to the other. Stone monuments marked either end. Under the monument was a brass bolt that marked the exact point. In the 1990s a gps survey was conducted to test the accuracy of Bache's measurement. He was off by less than 2 1/2 inches.

A couple points of trivia here. Bache was the the first president of the US National Academy of Science. He was the first person to hire a woman for a scientific position. And he roomed with a president at West Point, Jefferson Davis. 

Bache monument west end of baseline

Along one of the creeks in the state park, is this Native American midden. It dates back 4000 years. Although, mostly oyster shells, it also has fish, bird and animal bones and broken pottery. The midden is only a small fraction of its original side. The creek has been eroding the mound. 

Jan 9 Walker Creek Trailhead

 

In a Covid world, ribbon cuttings are weird.  That is Terry Savery with the US Forest Service out front. Behind her are members of the Uwharrie Trailblazers including Dave Gardener and Merritt Maness - tireless trail volunteers, Joey Moffitt whose father is the father of the Uwharrie Trail, lawrence Bachman, Eric Kalin, David Craft - the guy who makes things happen, Mary Joan Pugh who initiated the purchase of the property and Crystal Cockman who has spent her career protecting the Uwharries. I believe they are all smiling.

It was years in the making and many people had a hand in making it possible. Now everyone can enjoy it. The Uwharrie National Forest has officially opened the Walker Creek Trailhead to the public. Two and a half miles of new trail have been added to the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail, now 26.2 miles, a marathon. 

Note the weathered sign and kiosk in the background. The QR code is part of a audio tour of the Uwharries. 

The parking area, fencing, kiosk and trail and road signs were all paid using private funds. The trail was built by and is maintained by volunteers. The land the trailhead sits on, was sold to the Forest Service at a bargain price by a non profit organization. Dedicated and civic minded people made this happen.

The address is 6871 High Pine Church Road, Asheboro NC. The trailhead now appears on google maps. There is a short but steep drive to the parking area. Plenty of overflow parking too.

The property was once a home and a few of the buildings still exist.

If you stroll up the gravel drive beyond the gate, there is a nice north facing view of the Uwharrie River valley.

Lets Hike

Starting at the parking area, the trail enters a mixed hardwood forest along an old road.

At 0.1 mile there is a side trail signed "Slate Pile", leading to - you guessed it, a slate pile. And a rather small one at that.

In and out of new forest and old forest, the trail winds its way until you are on a well defined old road. pay attention here to the trail blazes (or "reassurance markers" in Forestservicespeak). 

At 0.7 mile there is an abrupt left turn into mature forest.

At 0.9 mile you walk through a spot where several very large Red Oaks uprooted. The Uwharrie Trailblazers Saw Crew spend an entire workday sawing through this mess last year.

At 1.0 mile you'll see this rusted piece of equipment. If this were found in New England, it most likely would have been used to boil Sugar Maple sap into syrup. Here is was probably used to boil sorghum sap into sugar, one of the main ingredients for moonshine. Sorghum would have been harvested and squeezed by a horse operated cane mill to extract a gooey green liquid. The liquid would be boiled to sugar on this type of kiln. 

At 1.3 miles the trail crosses Walker Creek. Just downstream from here is a lovely lunch spot among a number of boulders in the creek. These boulders are referred to often as "Biscuit Rocks". 

A bit further at 1.7 miles is an upland pool on the right. Upland pools are important breeding spots for amphibians. There are no fish here to dine on them. I expect this pool will have its share of frog and salamander eggs soon.

At 2.0 miles, the trail crosses a private and gated road. The trail turns left on the road for about 100 feet before ducking into the woods right at a road gate.

Just beyond here, you'll see evidence of a Native American rhyolite quarry. Many of the rhyolite outcropping in this area were highly sought after due to the quality of the rock and how it fractured. A nearby spot was the site of a archeological dig conducted by Wake Forest a few decades ago. 

At 2.3 miles a series of 10 switchbacks bring you up a steep hill to the crest of a ridge and at 2.5 miles the trail joins the old Uwharrie Trail route. From this point right, the trail goes 2.6 miles over King Mountain to Joe Moffitt Trailhead on Thayer Rd. And left, the trail is 0.5 mile to Luther Place Trailhead, a very small spot to park 2-3 vehicles. The cryptic directions to find this trailhead are best left unwritten. 

For the past 7 years I have been exploring the area along Walker Creek. Here are some of my previous blog entries:

Jan 9 2014 Scouting the Walker Creek Area

Dec 20 1915 A Walk along Walker Creek

Mar 2 2016 Walker Creek Trail Relocation

Jan 16 2018 Walker Creek Offtrail

Apr 22 2018 Trail Building to start on Walker Creek

Oct 20 2018 Trail Celebration and Thru hike at Walker Creek

Oct 9 2020 Boogie Woogie on Walker Creek

Oct 26 2020 Walker Creek Offtrail

Jan 8 Francis Beidler Forest

 

I learned of this place several years ago and have wanted to visit it. I recall years ago seeing it on a map but with no clue as to what it was, there was not an interest in it. After visiting Congaree several times, I knew this would be a special place as it was the second largest old growth forest in SC behind Congaree.

It's a swamp. Sound exciting? What is a swamp? A swamp is a forest that is sometimes but not always, under water. Not to be confused with a marsh - a flooded grassland. Around here, there are also pocosins which are poorly drained flat forest. And, of course, the mysterious Carolina bay lakes which I recently blogged about here.  More specifically, this is a Cypress-Tupelo swamp. The Bald Cypress trees are significantly larger and older than the Tupelos. The oldest Bald Cypress here is said to be 1500 years old. That is a mere teenager compared to the Bald Cypress trees in the Three Sisters swamp along the Black River in NC. The latest core dating done there has a tree pegged at 2223 years old. I have floated through the Three Sisters swamp twice and those trees are immense compared to what I saw today. 

The 1.75 mile long boardwalk is the way to see the swamp. In a Covid world, you have to make reservations up to a month in advance and have to be in and out between 9 and 1 on the day of your reservation.  As we drove up, we called to check in, gave our names and ticket number and were told to have a great time, call us if you have any questions.

In a non-Covid world, this is where you'd meet to get a lecture on the swamp, by the "Meeting Tree".

September 21, 1989 Hurricane Hugo blew through here. It made landfall just south of Myrtle Beach and roared inland. In this forest, it uprooted hardwoods and broke Pines in two or knocked out their branches but the Cypress stayed in place. Except the one above. It toppled and took out a section of boardwalk, in the foreground. In all, about 1/3 of the boardwalk was destroyed that night. My condo in Cherry Grove rode out the storm with minimal damage. A couple days later, I rode down with a friend to see properties his bank owned and how they fared. I recall the incredible devastation through the Coastal Plain. Entire Loblolly plantations were destroyed.  

Cypress knees - what's the point? Nobody is sure but it is thought that they create stability. On dry land a Cypress may not have a knee or just one or several. In water, Cypress have many and they can be very large.

It doesn't look like a 7 ft high knee, but it is.

I know it is named the Francis Beidler Forest but this swamp has another name, Four Holes Swamp. The name dates back to the 1700s but no one remembers why it is named that. It is about 60 miles long and covers 40,000 acres, drains 430,000 acres and drops about 30 feet in elevation before it empties into the Edisto River. Right where we walked, the elevation was between 55 and 60 feet above sea level. We drove an hour and half from Kiawah Island to get here. I don't recall any hills. 

It was a dreary and cold day with some light drizzle. We didn't hear much. A Barred Owl and Pileated Woodpecker made their presence known. The water looked still but where there was an obstruction, you could see it moving.

An inter-species affair in the swamp.

Knees at attention.

A bald knee of a Bald Cypress.