TPA UPDATE May 2008
Contents ***
Internet Issues *
We Have A Vehicle We Have A Canoe We Have A File Tank *
Great Wagon Road Migration Trail Status *
Durham Project Status ***
June First Sunday Hike, At NCSU Experimental Forest
May First Sunday Hike, King's Highway Park
Roads Scholar Talks [Tom has exhausted his allotment of Humanities Council talks for the year and won't be doing any more until November when we start a new year. If you want to have him speak at an event before then, please, make a proposal. ]
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Internet Issues:
If you've had difficulty with our web page or emailing us, it wasn't your system's fault. Our internet host has had "issues" with his hardware for a while and it now seems to be almost resolved. Meanwhile, please, be patient, the hosting service is free. Things have a way of working out..... We Have A Vehicle: The TPA acquired a 2002 Nissan Pathfinder and we are up-fitting it for use in the field. Jim Adams, the chairman of our board and a metal sculptor, is fitting on a skid plate to protect the underside from rocks, and he'll also artfully fabricate some sort of bull-bar to protect the grill, lights, and bumper.
We Have A Canoe: Amanda Smith (Durham, NC) donated a canoe so we now have the ability to cruise shorelines.to search for roadbeds from the water when land access is unavailable. When you see her, thank her. We've needed this capability for a good while. We Have A File Tank: Somebody must have noticed the hanging files stacked on various surfaces and hanging from metal racks around the office because Art Mines and Elizabeth Dyer (Hillsborough, NC) donated a three drawer tank. Now we have no excuse for a visible mess and we can concentrate on other messes. Thank Art and Elizabeth when you can .
Great Wagon Road Migration Trail Status We held a second organizing meeting of stakeholders in the Great Wagon Road Migration Trail corridor this past week and it proved remarkably upbeat. Participants heard Kitty Barker of Virginia Tourism Corporation talk about how she and the VTC organized and built their Wilderness Trail and its appendix, the Virginia section of the Great Wagon Road. Once the attendees realized how far Virginia was along in building a channel along which tourists will find North Carolina, enthusiasm for the project surged. At the end of the day we had commitments for producing a portable GWR show, engaging a tourism consultant to the project, and for preparing basic grant applications with which to underwrite the startup. Durham Project Status  We are writing the final draft of the Durham project and that may not seem like much but, after editing the report will be about 120 pages long ad contain 60-70 maps. This project consisted of ground-truthing (looking at the ground ....professionally, of course) the banks and bed of the Little River in Durham County (west of Highway 501). We studied approximately 10 miles of stream bank and in the ten miles found 28 artifact sites 23 of which were not previously recorded. These included sixteen stream crossings, mills, factories, bridge sites, a likely tavern, at least two packhorse fords, and some of the oldest stream crossings yet seen in Durham County. We've never done anything quite like this before and therefore had no way of knowing what we would find. Too bad we can't charge per site found. In the process of doing this work we began to use LiDR images (Digital Elevation Models based on laser illumination). This technology has proven remarkably useful for confirming and extending findings and for pointing to likely artifacts. Witness the before and after pictures to the left (raw) and right (highlighted) where we marked probable artifact roadbeds. Bear in mind that these pictures were taken through leaf cover. This project should be complete in the next week. That will make room in the calendar for work on donor maps. Please, be patient.
Next and Most Recent First Sunday Hikes June First Sunday Hike DH Hill Experimental Forest in Durham County, NC The TPA will hold its June First Sunday Hike at Hill Forest on the 1st of June, from 2 PM until 4 PM. The Hill Forest is NCSU's experimental forest and outdoor classroom for students of forestry and the environment. It sits astride one of the more import channels of the Trading Path too. We will meet at the George K. Slocum Forestry Camp, just west of the Flat River bridge that carries State Forest Road eastward from the camp. Keep an eye out for signs after leaving 501. Directions from I-85 at Durham: Take Hwy 501 north 12 miles to Moores Mill Road at Quail Roost. Turn east on to Moores Mill Rd, and then after 300 yards turn east again on to State Forest Road. The meeting place will be about 4/5 of a mile, 1.5 kilometers from the turn. We haven't actually settled on the hike route yet, but we can say with confidence that the hike will be on trails minimally prepared, on slopes not excessive, and will see artifacts as yet to be defined. So, wear sturdy shoes, and know we'll probably encounter ticks. It promises to be hot so bring water. If you click on the image to the right you'll bring up a map representing a good deal more of the park. This site has been on our list of places to see for a long, long time. Upstream from Stagville there are four or five major fords over the Flat River. We visited the top most a month or so ago, when we walked down to the all season all weather Flat River crossing on the North Fork just above the forks of that river. There is another fair crossing (soft river bottom) at Harris' Mill downstream from the forks of the Flat, and an excellent crossing at the bend in the Flat east of Rougemont. Then there are two likely fords in the Hill Forest. These we may view on the hike. Below these fords there is another major ford at Bahama and then the crossings at Stagville. After that you reach the first ford over the Neuse at Bennihan's Brick house store. 
May Fir st Sunday Hike, King's Highway Park, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC We met at Kings Highway Park (KHP) in the Great Bend of the Eno, west of Hillsborough on May 4th o admire the handiwork of the numerous young people who have worked on this park for five years or more. This is truly a product of our children, and the TPA hikers were duly impressed. In recent work seasons, Eagle scout projects have resulted in the installation of trails, a picnic area (complete with bench), an entrance kiosk, and two vista points (with recycled plastic benches). One overlooks the confluence of 7 Mile Creek with the Eno River (seen on the left side of this page), and the other sits below an impressive, old brick abutment railroad trestle where you can watch Amtrak trains while they're actually moving. Like so much of what we're doing, this park is a work in progress and it may be another year before we can call it finished, but we will hold a grand opening sometime in the next year. Meanwhile, you can come out and enjoy what has been done and envisage with us what will be done. You will most likely be impressed with what our much maligned youth have done for the common wealth.
Finding the park can be a challenge. It is west of Hillsborough. If you stay as close to the Eno River as possible while driving through Hillsborough you will end up at the park. It is reached along Dimmock Mill and then Ben Johnston Road. When you see the pump station at the Lake Ben Johnston Reservoir, you are at the park. An off road parking area will open at the park in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, except in the wettest weather, the shoulders are solid enough for parking along this stretch of road. The park is on both sides of the paved road between the railroad bed and the Eno river.
************************* As a "Road Scholar" for the NC Humanities Council, Tom will go anywhere in the state of North Carolina to speak on transportation and migration in the colonial backcountry of the southeast. Paid for with grants from the Humanities Council (www.nchumanities.org), these talks must be open to the public, so we'll announce here and on our website (under "Events") whenever we have a talk scheduled. Kindly notify the hosting organization of your intent to attend.
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