Random Notes

Morrow Mountain State Park

Naked Mountain - 8-17-08

Morrow Mountain is named for James McKnight Morrow. His gift of land helped create Morrow Mountain State Park in 1939. Before it was Morrow Mountain it was known as Naked Mountain.

For over a hundred years the history of the area was linked to a ferry. Where the Uwharrie River joins the Yadkin River the two form the Pee Dee River. John Kirk and his descendants owned a ferry that crossed along this dividing line of Yadkin and Pee Dee. The ferry landed on the west side of the river at what is now the Morrow Mountain State Park boat access. Along with the ferry the Kirk's owned an inn. The Kirk Inn sat on a hill that is now crossed by the park's Three Rivers Trail. From that hill one can look across the Yadkin-Pee Dee and up the Uwharrie.

In 1883 David Tillman Lowder bought the Kirk Inn and Ferry. On February 19th, 1884 the Great Southeastern Tornado Outbreak also known as the Enigma Outbreak swept across the southeastern United States. That night the Kirk Inn was destroyed. David Tillman Lowder's wife Ellen Austin Lowder died a few days later as a result of her injuries. The trees on top of Morrow Mountain were blown down leaving it naked.

It's possible that Morrow Mountain was half-naked before 1884.

Lowder's Ferry

Ford Edison Camping Trip - 10-15-09

A story has been passed down in our family. It claims that Henry Ford and Thomas Edison crossed Lowder's Ferry on their 1918 camping trip.

In an effort to prove this story true, I did some research. It was about 1998 when I surfed the web and sent some email. I was soon in contact with Norman Brauer the author of "There to Breathe the Beauty" . He was generous with his time and we exchanged a few letters. The news was bad. He concluded there was no evidence Ford and Edison ever passed through Stanly County.

A picture in the January 2nd, 1950 editon of Life Magazine caused much of the confusion. The picture is at the bottom of page 45 of this Google Book version of Life Magazine. Norm Brauer identified this ferry's location as Virginia. I don't recall the exact location, my letters from Mr. Brauer were given to Morrow Mountain State Park.

More recently I've found this article by Molly Grogan Rawls. She describes the 1918 trip that passed through North Carolnia from Asheville to Winston-Salem on August 29, 1918.

I can't prove the famous campers didn't sneak into Stanly County. However it's hard to believe that Mr. Brauer and others have found no record of a trip to Stanly County.

(January-21-2012) I've learned that Thomas Edison passed through Mooresville, NC in 1905, stopping at Turner Hardware. Perhaps this trip took him through Stanly County and across Lowder's Ferry.

Uwharrie River

New Warra or New River of Mills - 11-06-09

Below is an excerpt from REMINISCENCES OF RANDOLPH COUNTY by J.A. Blair, 1890. On page 33 it describes the origin of the name Uwharrie.

"This beautiful stream flows through the middle belt of the western half of the county, and has been there from time whereof the memory of man extendeth not. It derives its name from "Werra," a river of Germany about the same size, which flows along the confines of lower Saxony and enters the Northern ocean. It was named by some German refugees, who settled on Uwharrie about 1690, and means the River of Mills. In all the older records where the word is used it is spelled Warra, from which we deduce the conclusion the modern prefix "u" and "hu," so indiscriminately used, are perversions of new, and the name originally was New Warra."

I find this unlikely. Many geographic names in the region are similar to Uwharrie. Uwharrie seems to fit into the list of Native American names such as Pedee, Keeouwee, Congaree, Santee, Aramanche without standing out as any different.

See this reference to Native Names

Rev. William McGregor

Stony Hill Methodist Church - 11-06-09

Rev. William McGregor, a Baptist, was the original owner of the Dr. Francis Kron homesite in what is now Morrow Mountain State Park. He was the preacher for the "Mouth of the Uwharrie Baptist Church". His death is recorded as 1804. He is buried near what has become known as the Kron homesite. Records indicate that the McGregor family moved to Tenneessee in 1807.

Stony Hill United Methodist Church traces it's origins to 1807. Stony Hill UMC began on the hill next to the McGregor/Kron homesite. There are reports of church services held there before 1807.

I have no evidence to connect McGregor with the origin of Stony Hill Methodist Church. Could the "Mouth of the Uwharrie Baptist Church" have been located on the hill next to his house? When Rev. McGregor died or moved, did the congregation turn to Methodist Circuit riders that had begun to travel up and down the Yadkin River?

In this .pdf file The Warren County Story by Eugene M. Wisemen there is an entry for William McGregor on page 5.

The Ancestry.com site has a discussion about William McGregor.

Dicksville School

Where was it? - 12-01-09

Before 1930 there were many one room school houses in Stanly County. One was the Dicksville school serving the area that is now Morrow Mountain State Park. I'm gathering information in an attempt to nail down the location.

Some local oral history claims the school was on the right side of the Morrow Mountain road and just before the current park gate. I think this is where the Dick family lived and at some point in time the school may have been there.

But that location outside today's park gate does not match information from two maps of the period. One map is the C. M. Miller Map of 1910. This section of that 1910 map shows the area of interest.

The other map is a 1920 Rural Delivery Map. This section of the map shows the area of interest. The school symbol is on the Legend.

Both maps indicate the school sat inside what is now the park boundary. They show the school sitting along the old ferry road that passed by the Kron home site. According to these maps the school was east of the turn toward Badin and west of the Kron family home.

On December 7th, 2007 a video was made of Richard Walter Mills touring the park with Ranger Ron Anundson. Mr. Mills attended the Dicksville School for a few years. Mr. Mills described the school site as off the old ferry road that ran past the Kron home. He remembered it was east of the turn to Badin and west of the Kron site. This location fits with the 1910 Miller Map and the 1920 Rural Delivery map. He described a road that may have been the road to the pond that was built by the CCC to serve the park swimming pool. Mr. Mills says that the school sat on a bank and a spring was nearby. It seems possible that the school was near the dam that creates the pond. The spring he decribes may be the spring that feeds the pond today.