Go with the Flow

Following North Carolina's Groundwater 

From the Mountains to the Coast

(Stopping in my back yard to check out my town and the local campground.)

Boone, NC

    In North Carolina the flow of groundwater is kind of complicated. Water moves from areas in the mountains, like the Appalachian temperate rain forest, through a layer of weathered rock and soil, called the regolith, into cracks in the crystalline bedrock to the aquifer underneath. The water flows through the fractures and emerges as springs and streams in the lower elevations.

NC rivers 1830

 The creeks and rivers flow through the Piedmont Plateau picking up sediment, eventually crossing into the Coastal Plane at what is called the fall line, where the hard bedrock of the Piedmont shifts to the softer coastal formation and the rivers have rapids and waterfalls.The rivers pick up more sediment as they travel through the permeable sand hills and swamps, eventually depositing this sediment to help form NC’s distinct coast line. Groundwater in the Coastal region is absorbed from creeks, rivers, and swamps. The interaction with the ocean has created a complex freshwater-saltwater transition within the coastal aquifers.

    I’ve written about the Cape Fear region a couple of times. And I have mentioned how the Cape Fear River has its beginnings far from the coast. In fact, the Cape Fear is a great example of how NC’s watersheds work. The Cape Fear river begins in Haywood, close to the Chatham and Lee county line where the Deep River meets the Haw just south of its exit from Jordan Lake. These are rivers that begin with springs in the Piedmont. The area where these rivers begin has head springs which feed many rivers. There are megacrystic features and intrusions of granite from the Paleozoic Era, what that means in plain English is that the terrain in this area has cracks or veins in the rock bed where past geological events like earthquakes, volcanoes, or other plate movement pushed large crystalline rocks and older granite up into the younger bedrock. These intrusions give groundwater a flow path both to and from the aquifer and thus many springs can be found in areas with this type of unique geology. 

    The Deep River actually has multiple head springs, the East Fork of the Deep River begins in the Sandy Ridge area near the runway of the Piedmont Triad International Airport. The West Fork begins in Kernersville near the intersection of two major highways. (Runoff mitigation has been a continuing issue at these headwaters.) The West Fork flows south to High Point where it feeds the man made Oak Hollow Lake (where I live). It exists Oak Hollow at a controlled dam and flows across the northeast side of High Point into City Lake. The East Fork flows from Sandy Ridge through northeastern High Point and then into City Lake. The two become one as they exit this lake headed southeast. The river leaves Guilford County near Jamestown where it heads through Kersey Valley into Randleman Lake Reservoir. From there the river flows south through Randolph county from Randleman northeast of Asheboro. It winds eastward to Franklinville, then at Ramseur it heads south until High Falls where the river moves west and northwest along the fall line. 

    The region where the river runs in a counter intuitive direction is significant geologically, not just because of the fall line. The Deep River coal field is an area of Triassic rocks stretching 36 miles along the river in Chatham, Lee, and Moore Counties. In the age of dinosaurs there was a vast swamp along an ancient river. As swamps tend to do, decaying plant matter formed layers of peat in the humid dense environment. Over huge amounts of time shifts in plates and other events changed the landscape and large amounts of sediment flowed down and gathered in the area where the river turns. The pressure of the massive layers of sediment created the perfect situation to turn the peat into coal. For 200 years people have attempted to dig this coal out of the ground. Deep River is NC’s only commercial coal bed. The coal industry is extremely dangerous and many tragedies are associated with mines. Over time the abundance of illness, death, and mishap creates a need for explanation in the human mind. As we often do, people created legends to place blame somewhere that would give them the opportunity to feel like they could continue working and create superstitious ways to protect themselves. It was a way to rationalize a terrible industrial human rights travesty without placing blame on the industrialists. In NC's coal mines, it came in the form of a demon. The Deep River coal field is cursed by this disturbed demon, and many have lost their lives in his clutches.

    As the river leaves the coal fields and drops onto the flatter plain to the east of the fall line, just north of Sanford. Southeast of Pittsboro, it joins the Haw River, just below the Haw's emergence from Jordan Lake.

Mermaid Point

     The area where the two rivers converge to form the Cape Fear River is called Mermaid Point. Legend says that mermaids would swim up the Cape Fear River from its mouth seeking the fresh water source. (Click HERE for more on Mermaids of the Cape Fear)

    

    Of course, Native Americans lived along the river for thousands of years. Europeans were settling in the Deep River basin from the Virginia or Pennsylvania colonies during the 1700's. The town I live in developed later with industrialization and improvements in transportation. First in the area was James Mendenhall, a Quaker like many who were moving to the area, received a land grant in 1762 in the place that is still called Jamestown. He built a gristmill and a sawmill on the river.

Mendenhall Home

His heirs built a home and by the 1800's the Jamestown Quaker’s had a thriving community. However, in 1851 the North Carolina Railroad built its tracks to the south of Jamestown instead of through it. The placement of the railroad was hotly debated at the time. It’s location would be a boom for whatever community was closest. At the railroad’s highest point it intersected NC’s Great Plank Road. This intersection was incorporated in 1859, becoming High Point. The area's location was ideal for trade because of the transportation hub. People in the area grew tobacco, cotton, and produced furniture from the vast hard wood forests of the western Piedmont and foothills.

High Point, 1913

By 1889 High Point had its first furniture factory. In the next ten years thirteen more furniture factories and a handful of textile mills turned High Point into a bustling industrial town. In 1905 NC held its first furniture exposition, the Southern Furniture Exposition Building was built in 1921. It was ten floors and 249,000 square feet. Throughout the 1920’s the furniture industry continued to grow, as did High Point. The city purchased the land that had been the original Mendenhall site along the river, and tore down all the structures.

They built a dam to create City Lake, a reservoir for drinking water as well as recreation. City Lake Park has a number of amenities; a large swimming pool with a water slide, grills, picnic tables, shelters, a merry-go-round, miniature golf, and the 340-acre lake. Of course my memories from childhood are of the miniature train that goes around for taking in scenic views of the lake. Also back then there was an old fire truck that kids could play on.

I love kitchy roadside stops and furniture city has a few. High Point chamber of commerce built the world's largest chest of drawers in 1926 to showcase the towns industries, furniture and textiles. Neighboring Thomasville, not to be out done, created the world's largest chair.  The chair has been re-titled, the largest Duncan Phyfe Chair, after the famous man who designed the chair and many others. 

    The Piedmont is home to the original Krispi Kreme Doughnut shops and though the store on main street has been rebuilt to modern standards, they have kept the vintage neon sign. 
    

    Oak Hollow Lake, High Point, NC is a relatively new man-made lake. The dam on the West Fork or West Prong of the Deep River was completed in 1971. A larger water source and recreation facility for a booming international city. High Point was becoming a global center for furniture sales and manufacturing. Of course the 1980's and 90's deregulation of global trade led to deals with countries where labor and natural resources were cheaper. Many manufacturers moved plants to other countries. This changed the economic outlook for towns like High Point. No longer booming much of High Point's growth today is centered around the University, though furniture market is still the main economic driver. 

Oak Hollow Lake happens to be my back yard. Well almost. There is a campground, a marina, a playground, and picnic areas just a short drive down the street. I had never really utilized this beautiful place until recently. Last spring I started taking the kids I babysit to the lake side playground. It is beautiful. I hope to plan a camping trip to one of their lakeside spots as our first attempt at camping with the baby. (Safely less than a mile from home.)  I will post about it for sure!