Waterfall Hero Hikes: Carvers Creek State Park

Carvers Creek State Park, located in Cumberland County north of Fayetteville and Fort Bragg, is one of the newest parks in the North Carolina State Park System. The park is still in a state of development, but officially opened to the public on September 9, 2013. The park is currently divided into two sections - Long Valley Farm and Sandhills Property. The Sandhills Property opened to the public in May 2019. This property was donated to the state by The Nature Conservancy. The millpond on the Long Valley Farm was destroyed following devastating flooding in September 2016 that breached the dam.

Contact Information:

2505 Long Valley Road
Spring Lake, NC 28390

Phone: (910) 436-4681
Email: carvers.creek@ncparks.gov
GPS: 35.19703,-78.97679

Directions:

Long Valley Farm:

From Fayetteville, take NC-210 or NC-87/NC-24 (Bragg Boulevard) north from the city. Just past Spring Lake, turn right on E Manchester Road and the park entrance will be on the left in about a mile. From Raleigh and the Triangle, take US-401 south to Lillington and take NC-210 south for about 15 miles. Turn right on E Manchester and the park entrance will be on the right in about 1.5 miles.

Map:

Hiking:

There are about 3 miles of trails at Long Valley Farm and about 11 miles of multi-use trails at Sandhills access.

Cypress Point Loop Trail:

Location: Long Valley Farm
Length: 0.75 miles (loop)
Difficulty: Easy
Blaze: Blue Circles

The Cypress Point Loop Trail starts at the intersection with Rockefeller Loop Trail just west of the Rockefeller House. Going counterclockwise, the trail leads along the southwest side of the millpond and a spur leads to a peninsula overlooking the millpond. The floating overlook here was destroyed in the flooding in 2016. The trail then loops back and follows an old road back to the Rockefeller Loop Trail. The following photo is from before the millpond was lost.

Dead End Spur Trail:

Location: Sandhills Access

Length: 0.6 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: Yellow Triangles

Dead Spur Trail splits from Fox Squirrel Loop Trail and leads out and back to the park boundary.

Fox Squirrel Loop Trail:

Location: Sandhills Access

Length: 1.1 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: Yellow Hexagons

Fox Squirrel Loop Trail splits from Longleaf Pine Trail after the culvert over Carvers Creek and loops back to it just before the footbridge over the Carvers Creek tributary. Dead End Spur Trail splits off from the trail.

Little Pond Spur Trail:

Location: Sandhills Access

Length: 0.1 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: Blue Triangles

Little Pond Spur Trail is a short trail that splits from Longleaf Pine Trail and leads out to a small pond.

Longleaf Pine Trail:

Location: Sandhills Access

Length: 4 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: White Triangles

Longleaf Pine Trail is the main trail through the Sandhills access area and connects with all the other loop trails in this area.

RCW Loop Trail:

Location: Sandhills Access

Length: 1.5 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: Orange Hexagons

RCW Loop splits off Longleaf Pine Trail after crossing the tributary of Carvers Creek. The trail loops through an area where prescribed burning is used to improve habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker.

Rockefeller Loop Trail:

Location: Long Valley Farm
Length: 2.0 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Blaze: White Circles

The Rockefeller Loop Trail starts at the welcome center and follows an old gravel road up towards the Rockefeller House. At the house, it turns left passing two intersections with Cypress Point Loop Trail. The trail then turns left and follows the property line south passing right behind some neighboring homes. Near the visitor center, the trail cuts left again and crosses the entrance road back at the welcome center.

Wiregrass Loop Trail:

Location: Sandhills Access

Length: 1.4 miles

Difficulty: Easy

Blaze: Blue Hexagons

Wiregrass Loop Trail is a 1.5-mile loop that starts with the Longleaf Pine Trail at the Sandhills access parking area. It loops through an area where prescribed fire has restored the longleaf pine forest and wiregrass understory.

Points of Interest:

Rockefeller House:

The Rockefeller House, built in 1938, was the vacation and winter home of James Stillman Rockefeller and his wife Nancy Carnegie Rockefeller. The house is not open to the public, but restoration is in the works and it may be at some time in the future.

Spring House:

The Spring House was built in 1914 by Robert Wall Christian. It was built on top of a natural spring and was used to refrigerate items, such as milk and cheese.

Canoe House:

Wildlife:

When there are frequent prescribed fires, the longleaf pine forest understory is dominated by wiregrass or pineland three-awn grass (Aristida stricta).