Bird-hiking at Horton Grove Nature Preserve

by mybirdwalks, posted in Walks

Hiking is walking on a mostly natural surface (i.e., a trail) for scenery and exercise.

Birding is intentional observation and identification of our feathered friends.

Carolina Wren

At a rich, birdy site you can easily spend 3 hours and go, maybe, a half a mile. Intense, but not very cardiovascular. On this particular day, we chose 4.5 miles of fitness (but still with camera and zoom and bins, because birders are very hopeful people).

The meadow at the beginning of the hike was the only open grassland of the route. The rest was heavily forested, so birding was indeed thin. Only 16 common species with mostly far away views (like these Northern Flickers).

The “Bird Deck” in the meadow did not improve our species count.
Maybe in spring?

We found the natural beauty and the history of the area more interesting than the birds. For example, the trail loops are named after enslaved families who once lived and toiled on the plantations’s 30,000 acres: Holman, Justice, Walker, Peaks, and Hart.

And there are always fun surprises along maintained trails, like this bench with an ottoman:

We learned that this alligator-bark tree is an American Persimmon.
Cool.

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”
― Khalil Gibran

End of hike…..and now some local history!

Adjacent to the Horton Grove Nature Preserve is the Stagville State Historic Site, which we had driven past on our way to the trailhead. Now we stopped to learn more.

The original two-room Horton House was built in the mid-1700’s by a subsistence farmer. Purchased and enlarged by Richard Bennehan, it is surmised to have become the home of the plantation’s overseer as the family prospered through enslaved labor.
The Bennehan home was impressive for its time. (This is a internet image–we didn’t visit this structure.) The 30,000 acre plantation was the largest in North Carolina and one of the largest in the entire South.
Built in 1860 by then-owner Paul Cameron, the Great Barn primarily housed mules for plowing. (Also internet images)
But most unusual for the era were the houses built in the 1850’s for the enslaved.

“Throughout the South, a typical enslaved house would have been a one-room, one-story structure.  The design of the Horton Grove slave houses employed brick nogging, which not only provided insulation from the heat and cold, but also deterred rodent infestation, which could have created health problems.  Family records reveal the design of these buildings was a deliberate attempt on Paul Cameron’s part to provide a healthier living environment for his slaves.  In other words, his architectural investment protected his human investment.”

And within 15 years, that “investment” was free to leave…although as we learned earlier, many descendants are still in the region.

It’s good to have these places to help us reflect on our not-so-distant past.

One thought on “Bird-hiking at Horton Grove Nature Preserve”

Leave a comment