November First Sunday Hike: On the Road to Synnott's Tavern

Michael Synnott was a sea captain.  He retired to the piedmont in the 1750s, bought land, and opened businesses.  Generally, he picked his land well.  "Synnott's Hole" on the Eno at West Point on the Eno was his piece of the river.  He had hundreds of acres around what appears to have been a prosperous little place on the northern-most sweep of the Eno River, about five miles east of northeast from the future site of Hillsborough.  Already when Orange County and then Hillsborough came into being, there was a concentration of people gathered on what was probably the best all season, all weather ford over the Eno River.  It is likely the success of this little place without a name was what led to the construction of St. Mary's Chapel on the Trading Path out on the north side of the occupation zone.  Anyway that is what it is starting to look like out around St. Mary's Chapel, and we'd like to share some of our St. Mary's findings with you on the First Sunday in November.

At 2 PM on Sunday 1 November we'll depart from 6120 St. Mary's Road, Lochill Farm, a horse operation six and a half miles east of Hillsborough, NC in northern Orange County.  We'll loop out the old road that ran from Fanny's Ford to the likely site of Michael Synnott's Inn on the Trading Path.  We'll visit a cemetery and a few other pretty special places on our way back in.  Along the way we'll look for a church site, and we'll get some idea of how these old roads evolved, came into being, fell into secondary status and finally fell out of use.

As the map to the right indicates, the hike may entail up to three fords.  If there's been a recent rain we'll reroute things, but normally there is little water in these streams and we'll just step across.  There may be a need to step up two or three steps, but we've done a lot worse and should have no problems if we take our time and help one another.  The entire hike is a bit under 1.5 miles and we should be back at the trailhead by 4 PM.

Where long pants and sturdy boots, and dress for the season.

October Mystery Site

Before we set off into the woods for our October adventure, Steve Rankin and Gene Dodd examined some of the stones in the well preserved cemetery we used for our trail head.  About thirty people showed up for what we had touted as a mystery tour, and we had a near perfect day for the event.  Setting aside the incident with the yellow jackets, a good time was had by all in the woods by Peter Kramer's house.  We approached the site from a new direction and that added to our findings some.  In fact we found even more stone wall and a second dam, and it is all just too confusing for words.  We solved no mystery but we had a good time (but for the yj).  To the right is a picture of a heap of stone inexplicably placed in the middle of what, if it were a farm field, would have been where the farmer picked up the stone.  So, why was the stone where the stone was?  The mystery remains a mystery. 

While Susan Gladin, our hostess  and a potter was showing us some kayolin clay deposits, she upset a hive of nasty tempered, ground dwelling, sting-happy, winged demons.  They tagged Susan six times before moving on to the rest of us.  It was, fortunately, about the end of the event anyway so we beat a retreat to Susan and Peter's farm, nursed our wounds, swapped lies about the battle with the bugs and (courtesy of our host and hostess) enjoyed refreshments in their music studio. 

As the picture to the left indicates, desperate artists avail themselves of the bucolic silence at the Gladin-Kramer place.  After we left we received the following note from Peter and Susan. 

*****************

To initiate or renew your membership in the TPA, we now offer the following three options:

Option 1: You can renew using your credit card via the Triangle Communities Foundation at: www.trianglecf.org

Option 2: You can click the "Donate Now" button on the right side of the screen, and that will take you to PayPal, a secure transaction site.  You'll be asked a few questions to create an account so as to protect your sensitive information, and then you'll be able to donate using a credit card or other vehicle.

Option 3: The membership form can be downloaded from the website and sent in to the address below with your payment.
 
Thanks for your continued support!

So, you want to suggest a First Sunday Hike.....

Please, if you want to suggest a First Sunday Hike, there are a few points to bear in mind that will make preparing the hike a lot easier.  For example:

1. We need to know the names and contact information for all property owners that will be affected,
2. The site needs sufficient parking for a dozen or more cars,
3. The hike needs artifact content, historic merit, something to trigger the hikers' imaginations; we need a description of the site,
4. There needs to be a passable route suitable for hikers of all ages,
5. The route should be less than two miles long, depending on artifact content.  That is, the more there is to see, the shorter should be the hike.
6. The trail head needs to be accessible without heroic driving.

-

 
trm