Solivagant USA

I woke once again at daybreak with the morning sun sending me rays of encouragement to walk down to the lake and see what other critters were up and about at Lake Norman State Park. Two nights ago I tried to sleep with all my clothes on to keep me warm. Which isn’t that many layers, as I only travel with a change of underwear, top, and leggings. I also wore my coat, gloves, and wool socks that made the 10-pound travel limit because I decided I’d need them to keep warm on various plane rides. Excited to find this North Carolina State Park within 20 miles of the several destinations I want to explore, I’d spent the evening chatting with Sue, the campground host. Charmed by the 60 degrees, sunny daytime weather, I didn’t think to check that temperatures still drop into the mid-30s at night in this southwest section of the Piedmont area. So, to keep warm as the temperature dropped to the mid-30s, I walked the campground roads under the moonlight for several hours. I entertained myself by thinking about my 5X  and 6X great grandparents Stevenson, Fleming, Glatfelter, Foster, Leonard, and Hinkle families did to keep warm in the 1750s when they pioneered this very area.

I fired up the motorized vehicle and was out of the campground gate at 7:00 a.m. Ms. Maplady directed me to the Goodwill store in Statesville. Arriving an hour before they opened, I took a snooze in the parking lot until noon. The store was quite the happening place on Friday and I was pleased to score a sleeping bag, pillow, and padding for $15. All I have to do is wash and return in a few weeks. The last two nights I’ve eaten dinner while watching the sunset, and crawled gratefully into my nest in the “back forty” of this monster SUV.

I’ve put the pedal to the metal with copies of original North Carolina land grants, and land sales for my super great grandparents. Lake Norman is 50 square miles and fed by the Catawba River. Like all man- made lakes, it consumed historic sites, cemeteries, plantations, homes, businesses, and native trails and traces. Davidson college students released a map a couple of years ago that identifies some of the sites under the lake. Check out https://www.davidson.edu/news/news-stories/140604-under-lake-norman-project for the gateway to the online map. My Fleming grandparent’s cemetery appears to be under my campground. Cowan’s Ford, owned by the parents of the first wife Mary Cowan of my super-great grandfather David Foster was also flooded. Cowan’s Ford was more than a place to cross the Catawba River in northwest Mecklenburg county in the 1770s. The Battle of Cowan’s Ford (28 Jan 1781) was significant in the American Revolution as less than 1,000 Patriots under General Nathanael Greene annoyed Lord Cornwallis and his 5,000 soldiers. They fought unconventionally, by using their long rifles to take shots randomly to create a diversion and running away to their neighbors. Greene lost, but ultimately, of course, so did Cornwallis.

I’m staying at Lake Norman for a week or so. The morning hikes around the lake, and daily visits to places where my long-ago families toiled, loved, and fought for their lives is humbling. I feel a connection to these rivers where they settled, and communities like Sherrill’s Ford. As I drink my morning coffee atop a small rise in Sherrill’s Ford today, I think of what General Daniel Morgan saw on that cold morning in January 236 years ago. The area doesn’t seem to support 5,000 soldiers attempting to subdue the local population. I’m confident my super-great grandfathers joined the 500 militia, half of which didn’t have the flints for their muskets, at Beatties Ford—where I ate lunch yesterday—to push back. But, that story and more about the battles of where I’m camping is for another blog.

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