Raven Rock State Park

Campbell Creek Trail
This morning, I traveled 30-miles (50 KM) north to Raven Rock State Park, a small park that wraps around the Cape Fear River. When I drove to the park, I intended to hike the Campbell Creek Trail (which is decent-length 5.5-miles (9 KM) hike.) My guidebook recommended this trail because it is the park's least traveled trail - and provides quiet walks through the woods. The first three-miles of the trail pasted through a forest filled with the sound of animals (birds, frogs, and a variety of small rodents shuffling through the dead leaves.)

Lanier Falls
After walking about three-miles of the Campbell Creek Loop, I came to a small side trail that descended to the Cape Fear River and a very small Lanier Fall (thankfully I had read in advance that the waterfall was only a couple feet tall, so I wasn't expecting a huge waterfall!) The river and "waterfall" provided a welcome break from the forest, though the river banks were a little crowded...

Mountain Laurel Growing along Campbell Creek
After the waterfall, I the trail continues along the river until it meets Campbell Creek. From here, the trail turned away from the river and followed the smaller creek for a couple more miles. Although the creek provided a welcome view, it definitely didn't look like water I'd want to step in! For some reason the water was nearly stagnant (and almost black in some areas); although this didn't make me want to swim, it did provide some nice reflective surfaces. It was particularly nice since there were several mountain laurel trees growing along the creek's banks (and throughout the park!)

Cliffs of Raven Rock
After finishing with the Campbell Creek Trail, I decided that it would be a shame to leave the park without seeing the shorter (and more popular) Raven Rock Trail. This 2.5-mile (4 KM) trail loops through a thicker portion of the forest (and leads to Raven Rock Cliff.) Raven Rock is a large sandstone cliff that borders the coast of the Cape Fear River; after descending several flights of stairs down the cliff, I was a little disappointed by the actual cliff.

When I returned up the cliff, I continued around the loop trail, which provided little else of interest other than a small lookout point that provided a panoramic view of the Cape Fear River and the surrounding forest. I believe the view from this lookout would be much better in fall or winter (there were far too many leaves at this point to provide a good view...) After a long morning of hiking, I finally found my way back to the parking lot and returned home for a quiet afternoon.

Harmony Hall Plantation

Harmony Hall Plantation

As I was driving to Wilmington last month, I noticed a sign for Harmony Hall Plantation (one of the oldest homes in North Carolina.) Since the plantation is only opened 4 hours/weeks (Saturdays from 12:00 - 2:00, and Sundays from 2:00 - 4:00), I wasn't able to visit the plantation on my way back from Wilmington (fortunately, the plantation is only 25 miles (40 km) from Fayetteville....so it wasn't an impossible drive.

Now, when I hear the word "plantation", I tend to think of Gone with the Wind's Tara or other large antebellum homes. Sadly, Harmony Hall bears no resemblance to these later, more elaborate, homes. Built around 1760, the two-story home is a very simple structure with only two rooms on each floor (and a very scary-looking attic above.)

Dining Area of Harmony Hall

The first floor included a middle hall (which was quite cool thanks to the front and back doors provided a breeze through the house.) On one side, was a simple dining area, which looked very much like a 18th-century colonial room; the other room was a living area, which was obviously furnished with furniture from a much later time period.

Climbing the exterior stairs led to two unremarkable bedrooms. A smaller set of interior stairs let to a small, and very creepy attic-space (which was furnished with nothing but a bed.) The attic was probably a very good representation of a room during the time period, but I don't think you could paid me enough to sleep in that room (it was scary in the middle of the day!)

Kitchen at Harmony Hall

After the tour of the main house, I saw the outlying kitchen and several other historic buildings (which were not original to the site.) Overall, Harmony Hall was a somewhat interesting site - though I wish I could have timed it so that it had been a 20-minute stop on my way to or from Wilmington.