North Carolina – Kings Mountain Trails Part 3

KINGS MOUNTAIN GATEWAY TRAIL

We previously mentioned the interconnected trails along Kings Mountain’s ridgeline. On another day we explored part of a trail system located in the city of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, not to be confused with Kings Mountain National Military Park and Kings Mountain State Park in South Carolina.

The City of Kings Mountain (originally known as White Plains) took the name Kings Mountain in 1874 commemorating the 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain 10 miles away. This small city had periods of prosperity from the railway, mining, and textiles. According to this sign, “The mine yielded one million dollars in gold by the time it closed in 1895.” That’s a lot of money for that time.

The Kings Mountain Gateway Trail is a network of multiuse trails. Unlike the trails we mentioned in our previous posts these are wide, smooth paths; some parts are even paved.

The best way to describe the route we took is to show you a map.

We walked the Rail Trail Loop (yellow), Plateau Loop (blue), and Cardio Hill (red). The Rail Trail was flat; the other two paths climbed hills. In fact they could have both been named Cardio Hill. We saw Kings Mountain’s ridgeline through the trees.

We heard lots of noise on one portion of the hike as we were just above a quarry in full operation. (The quarry is barely visible in this picture of the ridge.) On the other side of the hill all we could hear was cicadas.

There was a trail called the Butterfly Highway at the top of one of the hills.

Several days after our hike a woman came into the Kings Mountain National Military Park asking where the butterfly trail was. We knew right where it was and we had to tell the woman she was at the wrong Kings Mountain.

The Kings Mountain Gateway Trail is part of the Carolina Thread Trail, a collection of 260 miles of greenways and trails some connected and some not.

The trail association hopes to one day link the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail to the Crowders Mountain/Kings Mountain area trails. The Foote Trail (grey in the map above) is the beginning of this connection and maybe some day we’ll get a chance to explore it.

In the meantime, we enjoyed exploring this section of the Kings Mountain Gateway Trail.

North Carolina – Charlotte – Billy Graham Library

The closest big city to Kings Mountain National Military Park is Charlotte, North Carolina. Since we had a rainy day we decided to check out Tripadvisor’s #1 “Thing to do” in Charlotte: the Billy Graham Library. This free library/museum shares the story of Christian evangelist Billy Graham’s life and ministry. The library grounds include Billy Graham’s childhood home, the barn shaped library, and the Memorial Prayer Garden.

We started with the Memorial Prayer Garden. This peaceful garden on the edge of the woods is the burying place of Billy’s wife, Ruth. Billy Graham, now 98, will be buried there when the time comes. In addition a few other people associated with Graham’s original team are buried in the vicinity. We read that there were some family and friends who opposed this location for burial, not wanting the graves to become a tourist attraction. Nevertheless the grounds were lovely. A plaque near Ruth’s gravestone read,

While riding down the highway years ago, Ruth noticed a sign beside the road. "End of Construction—Thank you for your patience." With a smile, she said that these were the words she wanted on her gravestone.

Those words are engraved on her stone, as well as, the Chinese character for Righteousness. She was born in China and carried a lifelong love for the Chinese.

Next we walked through the Graham Family Homeplace.

This home, originally located four miles away on the Graham’s 300-acre dairy farm, was carried here brick by brick and board by board and decorated as it was when Billy grew up. Docents explained about the house and Billy’s family life.

Since Billy Graham grew up on a dairy farm, the Billy Graham Library looks like a barn with barn décor.

a talking cow introduces one to the Journey of Faith

To tour the place one goes through “The Journey of Faith” a pathway through over a dozen rooms and stations that tell the story of Billy Graham and his wife Ruth, explain the Billy Graham Crusades, and share a summary of the gospel message optionally giving visitors a chance to commit their lives to Christ and have someone pray with them. The rooms used state of the art multi-media displays that created a different atmosphere in every room. One room made it look like you were in a tent reminiscent of Billy Graham’s early preaching days. Another room honoring Ruth replicated the cozy fireplaced room of their home. And yet another room had lots of old black and white TV sets displaying Graham’s use of the TV in preaching the Christian message. Some was tasteful. Some was kitschy and touristy. Some honored Billy’s ministry and message but some seemed to emphasize his notoriety.

There was one small exhibit that particularly resonated with Barbara. The book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand had been on Barbara’s list of books to read for several years and then she found it cheap at a library book sale. She held on to the book for a while as she knew it was a tough story and wanted to be up for it. She finally picked it up and started reading it shortly before our trip to the Graham library not aware of any connection with Graham. Little did she know there’d be a display on it. The book is about Louis Zamperini, an Olympian and World War II prisoner of war survivor. The display mentioned the book and Graham’s influence on Zamperini. Now Barbara has to finish the book.

One exits the Journey of Faith by going through the bookstore and there also is a barn-like café where we grabbed lunch and aptly topped off our barn experience with a milkshake.

booths like barn stalls in the café

North Carolina – Kings Mountain Trails Part 2

In our last post on Kings Mountain trails we shared how Bill hiked the 16-mile Kings Mountain Recreation Trail (purple) and Barbara hiked the Living History Farm Trail (yellow). Now we mention some trails in Crowders Mountain State Park.

THE RIDGELINE TRAIL & KINGS PINNACLE

The site of the Battle of Kings Mountain (orange) is on a modest hill along a ridge extending from Crowders Mountain in North Carolina to Browns Mountain in South Carolina. It is part of the Carolinas’ piedmont.

a picture of the ridgeline shown on a sign in Kings Mountain NC

The Ridgeline Connector Trail (blue & grey on the map above) goes along much of this ridge connecting the trails in the three parks: Kings Mountain National Military Park SC, Kings Mountain State Park SC, and Crowders Mountain State Park NC.

One day Bill hiked part of the Ridgeline trail (the part in blue), hiking about 10.5 miles. Barbara dropped Bill off at a road crossing and he headed north toward the Crowders Mountain Visitor Center. The focal point of this trail is Kings Pinnacle (1,706ft). This cliff offers a good view of the surrounding area including a quarry and the town of Kings Mountain NC.

He continued north to the Visitor Center and then retraced his steps and continued south to the Boulders parking area, where Barbara picked him up. The trail continues on to Kings Mountain (grey) and he may hike that portion at some future date.

CROWDERS MOUNTAIN

On another day we hiked Crowders Mountain (red) from the Crowders Mountain Visitor Center. The trail is shaped like a lollypop. We started up the more gentle Crowders Trail.

When Barbara got to the 2-mile mark she headed back completing a 4 mile hike. Bill continued on, going up lots of steps to the Rocktop trail, getting to the overlook by the towers, having lunch at another overlook, and completing the 6+ mile lollypop. The overlooks offered a nice view.

We may hike the mountain from the northern side at some point which offers the shortest way up the mountain, either on Backside trail or the gravel road that leads to the cell towers. Then Barbara can get to the overlooks, too.

Since Bill has now hiked most of the area trails he can offer good advice when Kings Mountain visitors inquire about area hiking.

South Carolina – Kings Mountain Trails Part 1

Kings Mountain National Military Park borders Kings Mountain State Park. The National Park preserves the historic part and the State Park provides land for recreational use, but they each have history and recreation.

trails in the National and State Parks

The focal point of the National Military Park is the 1.5 mile Battlefield Trail (the orange trail on the map above), which we hope to cover in an upcoming blog post. The National Military Park Visitor Center also connects to a 16-mile loop trail going through both parks called the Kings Mountain National Recreation Trail (the purple trail on the map above). One day Bill hiked this whole trail. Our trailer is within walking distance of this trail, so Bill planned to make one big loop from our campsite with the goal to finish by 5pm when the National Park closes. Mostly the trail meanders up and over hilly terrain through the woods and passes some streams. A spur trail leads to the summit of Browns Mountain that provides a view through the trees.

Hikers visiting the park often hike along part of this trail either from the Visitor Center to Browns Mountain or to Lake Crawford, but rarely hike the entire 16 mile trail, so Bill was breaking cobwebs and negotiating fallen trees and rickety bridges on the less popular part of the trail.

Want to cross this bridge?

Most of the areas needing trail maintenance were in the State Park. Bill saw a dead rattlesnake along the trail.

Interestingly, a few days later, the Visitors Center got a call from some Browns Mountain hikers who said they came upon a rattlesnake and wanted permission to kill it. The answer was “No.”

Bill hiked the entire trail plus two spur trails in plenty of time to make it back by closing time.

In the meantime, Barbara checked out the Living History Farm at Kings Mountain State Park. The Living History Farm recreates a pre-Civil War farm with a collection of farm buildings some moved here from other locations and some constructed by the park.

Then Barbara headed out from there on a short trail, the Living History Farm Trail (the yellow trail on the map above).

This wooded trail had the greatest selection of mushrooms Barbara had ever seen.

While bending down to photograph a mushroom, Barbara heard a “Grrrrrrr…” Not a comforting sound. She looked up to see two large unfriendly-looking dogs that fortunately were leashed to their owner. The scary dogs put her in the mood to terminate her hike. Nevertheless she enjoyed discovering a multitude of mushrooms.

South Carolina – Musgrove Mill

The Musgrove Mill State Historic Site in Clinton, South Carolina preserves and interprets the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill, which took place August 19, 1780 (a month-and-a-half before the Battle at Kings Mountain). The Visitor Center contains an exhibit that explains the battle using a topographical map with red and blue lights showing the Loyalist and Patriot troops’ locations during the battle.

The battle map is under glass and hard to photograph.

This image from the web is slightly clearer than our picture.

THE BATTLE

Patriot militia commanders Isaac Shelby, James Williams and Elijah Clarke with their 200 mounted militiamen intended to attack a Loyalist camp with about 200 troops guarding the ford of the Enoree River at Musgrove’s Mill. They sent out scouts who were spotted by a small Loyalist patrol resulting in a skirmish. Meanwhile the Patriots got word that the 200 Loyalists had been reinforced the previous night by an additional 100 Loyalist militia and 200 Provincial Regulars. That meant the 200 Patriots were actually up against 500 – not good odds. To attack their camp seemed like a dumb idea and to retreat with their wearied horses also seemed like a bad plan. They instantly developed another strategy. They rushed to build a make-shift defensive barrier of logs and brush along a ridge a half mile from the ford. The majority spread out along this 300-yard long, semi-circular line with the horses hidden from view, while about 25 mounted men headed toward the camp to entice the Loyalists back to the Patriots’ line.

1 square ~ 25 men

It worked. The unsuspecting Loyalists fell for the trap.

The fighting resulted in 67 British dead, many wounded, and 70 taken prisoner. The Patriots ended up with 4 dead and 12 wounded.

It wasn’t until at the end of the battle that they learned of the devastating loss for the Colonial troops at Camden just three days previous, but their success here may have fueled their will to fight two months later at Kings Mountain.

THE STATE PARK’S BATTLEFIELD TRAIL

Being a very hot day we opted for just one of the two trails at the State Park: the one through the battle area. Signs described the battle along this mostly wooded path.

The trail also passes a little waterfall called Horseshoe Falls.

We had a nice walk in the woods while we learned about this Revolutionary War battle.

South Carolina – Ninety Six

On a day off we visited Ninety Six, a National Historic Site in Ninety Six, SC.

Yes. That’s the name of the town! No one knows for sure how the town got its name, but one theory proposes that traders thought this intersection of roads was 96 miles from the Cherokee trading village of Keowee. In 1751 Robert Gouedy opened a successful trading post here. Later when tensions developed with the Cherokees, they built a stockade around Gouedy’s barn which became Fort Ninety Six.

By the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Ninety Six was a prosperous frontier village with people swearing allegiance to both sides of the Loyalist vs. Patriot divide. Then on November 19, 1775 approximately 1,900 Loyalists attacked 600 Patriots starting the Revolution’s first Southern land battle. Days of fighting led to a truce and established this as a Loyalist stronghold, but incidents of tension continued throughout the War.

British commander Lt John Cruger took command of Fort Ninety Six in 1780 improving its defenses by making it into a star shape and reinforcing the earthen walls.

this depiction on a sign shows

the star fort & the square village behind

In May 1781 General Nathanael Greene, commander of the southern Continental Army, started what ended up a 28-day siege on this well-fortified fort. They devised a trench system to draw nearer to the fort and one night they erected a tower that could look down on part of the fort, but the fort was impenetrable and Loyalist support troops were approaching. A last minute attempt to breach the fort led to Continental casualties and the siege was aborted. Later the Loyalists abandoned the fort and town and burned it so the Continental Army couldn’t use it.

Now all that remains are the earthworks showing the shape of the fort and some reconstructed replicas.

image from www.nps.gov/nisi/learn/historyculture/the-star-fort.htm

The park has a video, tiny museum, and several trails. We took the one-mile Walking Trail that passes the fort and town sites.

tower replica

At the time of the Revolution their frontier town was fortunate to have a courthouse and brick jail to take care of bandits that roamed the territory.

the Logan Log House, a typical 18th century home

 

We had an interesting outing learning the history of Ninety Six.