NC's Newest State Park

For Thanksgiving, Sandy and I were heading down to the Fayetteville area for dinner with family. Dinner wasn’t until 4, so we had some time to go hiking and work up an appetite beforehand. In September, North Carolina’s newest state park opened to the public – Carvers Creek State Park. Since I hadn’t visited this park yet, this would make a perfect opportunity. We left around 9 or so and got to the park around 11. Currently, only a small portion of the park is open to the public. The Long Valley Farm property was given to the park by The Nature Conservancy and has a mile or so of trails for hiking. From the parking lot at the visitor center, the James S. Rockefeller Trail goes through a fence and follows an old road towards the historic farmhouse of the trail’s namesake.

Along the way, it passes through an interesting landscape with a pine forest to the left and an open field to the right. After about a half-mile, the trail ends at the Rockefeller House, a beautiful old farmhouse on a millpond.

The farm was the former winter estate of James Stillman Rockefeller. The house was built in 1938, overlooking the 100-acre McDiarmid Millpond.

A sign on the fence indicated the park was working to restore the house and eventually open it to the public. After a few pictures, we got on the Cypress Point Loop Trail that meanders along the southwest side of the millpond. There were really nice views across the pond of the house and pavilion.

We also hiked down a peninsula in the millpond with many cypress trees growing in the shallow water.

There was also an interesting “bridge to nowhere” here, mostly hidden among the trees. One would have to walk out several feet in the water to get to the bridge and the other end didn’t appear to go anywhere.

There may have been a small island over there, but I couldn't really tell through the trees. We got some pictures and then hiked back from the peninsula and turned right to finish out the loop.

After finishing up the loop, I stopped to get a couple more pictures of the Rockefeller House before heading back to the parking lot.

Although we didn't see anyone in the park during our hike, there were a few people heading in as we were making our way back. I guess we weren't the only ones who wanted to get out for a nice hike on a chilly Thanksgiving.