Tarheel Country

The off-season for boaters can be rather long, especially here in New England so we hopped on a plane and flew to North Carolina to visit Don and Cindy (the Limerick crew) on land. Our times together have only been on our boats on the water. Would our friendship survive a period of dirt dwelling?

We have seen North Carolina’s coast along the ICW during our trips to the Bahamas by boat, but have never been to the western part of the state. What’s with this nickname “Tarheel“?

Against Cindy’s advice, Don made a request of me last year. He would like me to weave him a handwoven blanket. I decided that for him I would try. The required technique on my loom is difficult and I have had inconsistent success in the past using it, but I love a challenge so I agreed. We talked about design and colors and then I took it from there. Oh my!!! Six weeks of weaving through the holidays (it would have taken less time at any other time of the year.) Although there were moments when I came close to quitting, I persevered, and I am so glad I did.

Land vs water? Don and Cindy planned a water adventure for our first day in North Carolina. We went on a pontoon boat trip! After seeing so many pontoon boats at the Hartford Boat Show last month, I was quite excited to try one.

We traveled on the Catawba River which originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina. This section of the river is known as Lake Wylie. Lake Wylie is not a river although it feels like a river. Lake Wylie is the oldest of 11 man-made reservoirs/lakes created by Duke Energy by damming the Catawba River. The reservoirs serve many purposes, including providing drinking water, cooling water, and electricity and also offer recreational opportunities and wildlife habitats. 

The orange dot is where we began our little trip departing from the Riverside Paddle and Row marina. Our farthest southern point is the red dot in Lake Wylie, located on the border between South Carolina and North Carolina. We were actually boating right along the border between the two states, moving back and forth across.

Fun trivia fact: A three-foot high stone marker was erected in 1815 to mark the border between North and South Carolina. The marker was sunk when Lake Wylie was created in 1904 and then expanded in 1924. No one can find that monument now so the exact location of the border there is unknown.

For the past several years, a group called the North Carolina-South Carolina Boundary Commission has been using modern technology to redraw the 401-mile border between the Carolinas. They say the stone’s location could alter a 65-mile straight stretch of the state line that runs west from Lake Wylie through six counties by at least several feet.

One day was designated as “project day” or “chore day” depending on your perspective.

We spent an afternoon in downtown Belmont. The town of Belmont is flanked by two rivers, the Catawba River and its right tributary, the South Fork Catawba River. Adjacent to Belmont, the rivers make up two arms of Lake Wylie and form a peninsula on which the city is situated.

As we drove around Belmont, I noticed the residential architecture throughout the area. Belmont’s population rose from 145 in 1900 to over 4,000 by the 1930s. The access to the railroad and waterways as well as proximity to Gastonia and Charlotte, made Belmont an ideal location for the textile industry. By the 1930’s, over twenty textile mills called Belmont home.