EXPLORE
Addie Ladner (GREAT BEND, GIRL ON PATH); Joe Miller (HORTON, CARVERS CREEK)
Clockwise from top left: Horton Green Nature Preserve; town of Glencoe; two spots in Carvers Creek State Park
HIKES WITH HISTORY Six paths to explore that take you back in time by JOE MILLER
Y
ou’re hiking a new trail and you begin noticing subtle curiosities: a depression maybe 4 feet deep, 8 feet long; a stand of brilliant yellow daffodils amid the brown of late winter; a pyramid of stones, seemingly
gathered intentionally — but why? The sylvan oasis you’re wandering today was likely once a thriving community. That depression? A root cellar, where food was kept cool. Those daffodils helped brighten a homestead, a sign that spring was nigh. And those rocks were painstak-
ingly gathered by a family decades ago, as a new field was being cleared. History is everywhere along North Carolina’s trails; you just need to know what to look for. Here are six nearby trails that invite a deeper dive into what our area was like as far back as the 1700s. The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 45
