Jun 10 Joara, Remembering Lost History

 

Artifacts get sorted and identified

We know it now as Joara. Hernando de Soto called it Xuala. Juan Pardo named it Cuenca. It is also known as the Berry Site, for the landowners, the Berry family. Soto visited in 1540. Pardo came in 1567 and 1568. It's located in Burke County NC just outside Morganton. 

The landowners, the Berry family allow the Joara Foundation to conduct an archeological dig on part of their property. I was able to visit the site with the Swannanoa Valley Museum of Black Mountain NC.  

Archeological evidence tells us that the site has a long history from Clovis Indians to modern day. Artifacts from various Native American cultures and 16th century Spanish are weaving a fascinating narrative here. One that possibly changed history.

The Native American presence can be traced back to 12 - 13,000 years ago evidenced by the discovery of a Clovis spear point found in the 1970s. Other stone points, tools and pottery from various Native American cultures have also surfaced. The earlier Native presence would have been temporary or seasonal encampments. Later during the Mississippian culture a much larger and important settlement developed. The Mississippians were mound builders. My first question was where is the mound. Our guide for the visit is Mike Cunningham, a Joara volunteer. He replied that there was a mound investigated by the Smithsonian in 1891. It was measured as 200 feet wide and 20 feet tall. Sometime in the 1950s, the landowners bulldozed it away to level their agricultural field. At that time, no one knew the significance of this place.

We know from the scribes and chroniclers of the Soto and Pardo expeditions that both had passed through this area. We still don't know where Soto stayed but recent discoveries have pinpointed the spot Pardo visited. Juan Pardo and 120 men left the Spanish capital of Florida, St Helena (now Parris Island, SC) in 1567 to establish a land road to silver mines in Mexico. The Spaniards had grossly miscalculated the distance. They thought the Blue Ridge was the same mountain chain that ran through Mexico. Pardo's orders were to establish a land route and secure it with forts. They wanted to protect their claim to the land, mainly from the French.  

Pardo arrived at Joara and, at first he had a good reciprocal relationship with the Catawba Indians who occupied the site. He ordered a fort built, named it Fort San Juan. It consisted of a palisade and a moat around it. Their quarters were several houses built outside the fort. Pardo was called back to St Helena and left 30 men to man the fort. The Natives convinced the soldiers to settle some scores with their enemies. The Spaniards and Catawbas raided several tribes in the Saltville VA and East Tennessee areas. They killed many of the Catawba enemies and burned a couple villages. The Spaniards were captured near Asheville and held captive. Pardo, already nearby, came to their aid. Pardo found the solders and was in the process of returning with them to Fort San Juan when they learned of an ambush. That delayed them but they finally made it back to Fort San Juan. After recuperating for 20 days, Pardo left Fort San Juan on Nov 24 1567 for St Helena, leaving 30 solders to man the fort.    

In May 1568, news reached St Helena that Fort San Juan and 5 other forts had been burned and all solders killed except one. The one survivor claimed to have hidden during the raid and then made his way back to St Helena traveling at night and resting during the day. However, his story didn't add up and it is more likely he was spared because of a relationship with a Native woman. Although, I can't find any documentation for this, we were told that the Native woman must have accompanied him back to St Helena and years later filed for his military pension after his death. 

Enough history! Let's walk around the Joara site. The Spanish built their fort and living quarters in close proximity to what is likely the Native cacique's home and a ceremonial pole. The fort had a V shaped moat around it. The fort's footprint showed up on ground penetrating radar as did the living quarters and  the Native house which was likely occupied by the local cacique. These have all been excavated. It is likely the Natives swept the fort clean before burning it and killing the soldiers, so nothing much was recovered there except for a few items the Natives would not have found useful. It is speculated that the bodies were dumped in the moat and covered over. The moat has yet to be excavated. 

The cacique's house located nearby is being excavated now. Below is a piece of metal from a wedge or chisel. There is a record that Pardo gave this type of item to Natives along his journey. It was found in the cacique's house along with many other artifacts that were likely gifts from Spaniards and other Natives. The metal piece was dug the day before and found in the wash station earlier in the day. The head archeologist was very excited about it.  

Once an area has been excavated, it is covered with plastic and then fill dirt is placed over it. The landowner has given the Joara Foundation permission to dig in an area that does not encompass the entire Native village. There were a number of other native houses that are not be investigated at this time. Volunteers come daily to dig. They are permitted to dig down to a certain level where artifacts are revealed. The pros take over at that point and dig down until artifacts disappear. Each grid section's dirt is screened. Whatever is left is taken to the wash station where dirt is washed away. Archeologists sift through everything, separating stone tools, pottery chards, lithics and anything else. It is all bagged up with the grid from which it was located noted. Looking at this process, I saw lots of pottery chards. 

During our visit, there must have been 30 people working various tasks at the site. Most looked like grad students but there were also many volunteers there. You can arrange a work visit through the Joara Foundation. 

I mentioned earlier that events here possibly changed history. The Spanish abandoned the forts and road they were attempting to build to the Mexican silver mines. Had they succeeded in creating a presence here, they would have created settlements and defended their claim. It was decades before The English even attempted to colonize the area. There would have been a strong Spanish presence along the coast and in the interior. Instead, the Spanish abandoned the project and St Helena and concentrated on the Caribbean, Central and South America, allowing the England to fill the void. 

May 19 Watkins Glen

 

One of the top 10 state parks in the US, Watkins Glen sits right beside the town of the same name, the race track of the same name and at the southern end of Seneca Lake. It is a narrow 400' deep gorge that takes the water of Glen Creek to Seneca Lake. An interpretive sign at the park tells us that it takes the water flowing in front of you 25 years to reach the Atlantic Ocean. I contemplated tossing a plastic duck in the creek but I might be 100 years old if the duck actually made the entire journey. Although there is an outlet on the southern end of the lake, most water exits at the northern end, taking it to the ocean via Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence. It is believed that recessional moraines created dams on the southern lake end during the recent Wisconsin glaciation 26,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The origins of the gorge go back to the Pleistocene glaciation two millions years ago. The ice sheet carved the Finger lakes, deepening Seneca Valley to create waterfalls and rapids.  Besides creeks like Glen Creek, the lake receives most of its water from underground springs. Due to that, the lake's flow is circular preventing it to ice over. 1912 was the last time the lake froze over. Those ice sheets dug deep. Seneca lake is over 600 feet deep at its deepest point, making it below sea level. LIDAR shows there is as much as 250 feet of sediment at the bottom of the lake. That includes many boats and barges. 

The final flow to the lake

Watkins Glen's recent history picks up in 1794 when John Watkins and a partner bought the area, 325,000 acres of it. John Watkins died leaving the gorge to his brother Samuel. He built several mills in the "Big Gully", as it was known at the time. After his death, the town was renamed in 1852 from Jefferson to Watkins Glen in his honor. His widow inherited the gorge and remarried George Freer who inherited it when she died. 

In 1856 Morvaten Ells, a newspaperman from Elmira moved to the area and began exploring the gorge. He was so enthused, he partnered with George Freer and began building stairways, pathways and other infrastructure to turn it into a tourist attraction. In 1863 they opened it up as Freer's Glen and sold 10,000 tickets the first year. 

In 1869 they sold out to EB Parsons of Troy who continued to build and run it until 1906. The State of New York purchased it. Watkins Glen State Reservation was run by a concessionaire until the state fully took control in 1911.

The Great Flood of 1935 wiped out most of the infrastructure. Locals claimed the gorge nearly filled to the top during the flood. Much of the current infrastructure was built by the CCC during the 1930s. 

The current layout has a main trail, Gorge Trail, that follows the creek at the bottom of the gorge, winding its way over and under the creek on a series of bridges and grottoes behind waterfalls. Did I forget to mention the 800 steps? That's 832 stone steps to be precise. 

Two other trails go along each rim of the gorge, so you can see the place up close and from above. A circuit hike up one trail and down the other is less than 3 miles. There is no entrance fee except for the $10 parking charge. The town of Watkins Glen comes right up to the entrance. You can walk to restaurants, shops and throughout the town from the parking area. I bet that ice cream shop scoops a ton of ice cream during the summer. 

Looking down at Glen Creek

Nearby, another State Park features Taughannock waterfall. At 215' it is the highest single drop waterfall east of the Mississippi River. It flows into Cayuga Lake, another and second largest Finger Lake. Has Glen Creek not carved the gorge it did, it might have looked like this. 

May 10 Bridging Talbot Branch

 

The before and after pictures

Just a short distance from Tot Hill Farm trailhead near Asheboro, the Birkhead Mountain Trail crosses Talbot Branch shortly before it flows into Betty McGee Creek. A wood foot bridge has crossed the branch for as long as I can remember. Beginning about 10 years ago, some of the tread boards began deteriorating. Several were replaced over the years by trail angels. It became apparent that the tread boards all needed to be replaced. 

The Uwharrie Trailblazers hatched a plan to do this. The old tread boards were regular 2x6 (actual dimensions are 1.5" x 5.5") treated wood like what would be used for framing. I learned that the bike club-  Fat Tire Society's bridges were built with rough cut and treated wood. The rough finish was better for bicycle tires to maintain traction especially when wet. Working with them, we were able to source some rough cut treated 2x8 boards. 

Everything seemed to go as planned until we had one last work plan meeting at the bridge site. The bridge is supported by two spans (retired utility poles). One of them had a rotten spot which had previously gone unnoticed. Now, we needed to replace that span. One of our members, Matt, had such a pole laying beside his yard. It looked solid and would work well. Now, how do we get that 29' utility pole out to the bridge site.

It certainly was not easy but the trailblazers came through with Matt figuring out the logistics.

Now that the pole is out there, we need to remove the old tread boards and rotten span. Then get the new pole in place and cover it up with tread boards.

I drove to Tot Hill by 7am hoping to be able to at least get in the parking lot. There was almost a full parking lot when I arrived. It was a tight turn but I was able to snag the first spot right by the kiosk. 

Gotta carry them out there

The new pole on the left needs to be rolled into place and leveled with the other pole. 

Normally, we see Matt with a machete but today he uses a splitting maul.

Once the spans were in place and leveled, the tread boards went on. We used spacers and a caulk line to make it look nice and straight. 

When removing the old boards, we could see that many of the deck screws used, had corroded and some were corroded into two pieces. So, we used 5" Timberlok fasteners which were about as expensive as the tread boards. 

All done

May 7 High Rock Ford

 

This historic property on the Haw River is owned by MARC, Museum and Archives of Rockingham County. For the first two weeks in March 1781, General Greene and his troops camped here on 3 occasions and Cornwallis camped here once. Greene was biding his time, slipping away from Cornwallis until Henry Lighthorse Lee and his 1000 troops could hook up with him. They had lured Cornwallis away from his supply line which was in Hillsborough. Once Lee had joined Greene, they were ready to engage Cornwallis at Guilford Courthouse. 

American strawberry bush

The ford had been used by Native Americans long before colonists arrived. The construction of a dam and a couple mills may have altered the river but it appears the ford was right by the high rock.

It is a small property but there some hiking trails and more are being built. There are remnants of an old mill and dam built after the war on the site of a 1754 gristmill. I appears the high rock which you can see in the photo below, was part of the dam and mill complex.

High rock is in the background

Part of the old mill

The ford may have been right here.