Peckish Travels

Bob and I took advantage of a beautiful day to visit the small resort community of Lake Lure, NC, about 42 miles northwest of Boiling Springs. It is known for its lake and its flowering bridge, and it was the location of some of the scenes in the movies, ‘Dirty Dancing’ and ‘The Last of the Mohicans.’

The lake itself was created by damming the Rocky Broad River. The dam was completed in 1925 and the lake was fully created in 1927. At ordinary levels, Lake Lure covers approximately 720 acres and has a shoreline of approximately 27 miles. The dam is also used to provide electricity for Duke Power Company.

The lake, however, is not currently at ordinary levels, as the lake was lowered in January for the completion of a number of infrastructure projects and has only recently started to be refilled (per a sign we saw at the Visitor’s Center not from information on their website).

We began our visit at the Visitor’s Center which is conveniently located between the town center and the Flowering Bridge and is also where you would catch the boat for a boat tour when those are running.

From the Welcome Center, we walked to the Flowering Bridge. Completed in 2013, the bridge was created on the site of an old bridge that once connected Lake Lure to Chimney Rock. It is now a pedestrian bridge only, that has been redesigned for gardens as well as garden art and is certified as a Monarch Waystation and is part of the Rosalyn Carter Butterfly Trail. It’s a lovely area to walk through or sit and chill. We really liked the dog/pet section and the painted ‘books’ throughout the gardens.

Finally, while we were in Lake Lure we checked out a couple of inns that were written up.

Bob and I headed to Pineville, North Carolina, today to visit the birth place (kind of) of James K. Polk, our nation’s 11th President. Pineville is about 60 miles from Boiling Springs and just southwest of Charlotte. We had reserved tickets for the 30 minute tour of the two cabins located on the property.

The historic site is located on the actual property once owned by Sam Polk, James’ father, and where the first 5 (including James) of the eventual 10 Polk children were born. Since the family moved to Tennessee when James was 11 and no one knew he would be president, the actual buildings on the property were not maintained. The cabins that are there were recreated with logs taken from buildings of that time period and recreated in the style of the Polk buildings based on descriptions that exist.

The house would have been set up on stones as it is here to help keep out bugs and allow for space for the chickens to roost. Children were sent underneath the house daily to collect the eggs. The logs were held in place by chinking, the red clay from the nearby river. The chinking would wear away, however, and another chore for the children would be to go to the river to collect more clay and then rechink the house.

In addition to the cabins, the site contains a museum (free of charge) with exhibits and an informative 15 minute film. We learned a lot about a president of whom we had known very little, even though Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin, all became states during his one term administration.

Polk was born on 11/2/1795 and moved with his family to Tennessee in 1806. He graduated at the head of his class from the University of North Carolina in 1818 and married Sarah Childress in 1824. He was elected to the US House of Representatives from Tennessee in 1825 and was Speaker of the House from 1835-1839, when he resigned to become Governor of Tennessee. He served one term as Governor, 1839-1844. He was a surprise nominee for President as the Democrats didn’t want Van Buren who was opposed to the annexation of Texas. He served as President from 1845-1849 and died a few short months after leaving office. He remains the only person to have served as both Speaker of the House and President.

Andrew Jackson was a mentor to Polk, and they both were strong supporters of the Manifest Destiny doctrine. Thus, Polk’s support of the annexation of Texas and his war with Mexico to claim more territory for the US. He was a slave owner, and one of his slaves moved to the White House with the Polks as their personal valet.

One of the places to visit that was mentioned to us by our homeowner and appears in all the travel brochures is Crowder Mountain State Park. It’s about a 35 minute drive from the house, near King’s Mountain National Park, which we have visited, and King’s Mountain State Park, which we have not.

All of that to say that Bob and I went to Crowder Mountain State Park today and had a great hike on the Pinnacle Trail, 4.4 mile round trip, with an 800 foot elevation gain. While we saw a few other people on the trail (no dogs, though dogs are permitted on leash), it was definitely not crowded.

Bob and I drove a short eight minutes to the little town of Lattimore, North Carolina, to visit their historical museum. It is listed in the visitor’s brochure that we have been working our way through, but it is only open from 12:30 to 2:30 on Sundays and just opened for the year a couple weeks ago.

I just looked up the population of Lattimore, and it was 488 at the time of the 2010 census. The town has a total area of 1 square mile, so there’s no getting lost. Accordingly, the historical museum was very small — one room with some odds and ends from various aspects of their history.

When we first walked in, we thought it would be a very quick stop , but the helpful volunteer gave us some additional information about one of their exhibits and played a 20 minute film for us that will likely ensure that we remember this visit for awhile.

We learned the story of a local woman, Martha Mason, who died in 2009 at the age of 72, after 61 years living in an iron lung due to having contracted polio. She had a brother who was two years older, who died of polio four days before she went into the hospital for the same disease. The film tells her story, but she has also wrote her autobiography. While Martha never recovered , she graduated from Gardner Webb (when it was a 2 year college) and Wake Forest, both at the top of her class. She also ended up learning to use a computer by speaking and wrote her autobiography. She lived on her own after her parents both died with the help of three caregivers.

What a lovely Friday! It started early for me this morning, as I was up at 4:45 am to change, stretch, and drive to the Thermal Belt Rail Trail for a 22 mile training run. That went well, although I had to watch out more for cars at the crossings since it was a weekday. I got back, and Bob headed to the gym to lift. I played Wordle, a daily habit for Bob and I and his sister and her family, and got the word on the second guess out of six, which is definitely not a regular occurrence.

And that was before the day even got going! Bob and I headed out late morning to visit the Tryon International Equestrian Center, which has now moved into its spring/summer hours for the general public. This place is gorgeous and quite the resource for horse enthusiasts. It is marketed as “Tryon International Equestrian Center and Resort — the ultimate destination for all who love horses, outdoor living and an active lifestyle.” It holds horse riding and jumping competitions but also has shops, restaurants, and lodging that are open to the general public.

Bob had googled and found a self-guided walking tour of the facility that helped us know what we were looking at. We lucked out in going today, as there is apparently a big horse riding competition this weekend, which we got to see some riders practicing their jumping for but without all the crowds.

It should be noted that while we were starting the days earlier in the week below freezing, this morning (even at 5 am) started in the mid-50s and hit and surpassed 80 this afternoon.

After our visit to Tryon, we drove about 10 minutes to the Mountain Brook Winery, which also was gorgeous and lightly attended although they appear to have the facilities to support lots of people. Bob and I split a wine tasting (four of their wines offered) and then enjoyed a glass of our favorite.

Cooper took me for a walk around the neighborhood when we returned. For dessert tonight, we will get to enjoy a piece of olive oil cake, which is a tradition in Italy for Easter. It was sent to us as an early Easter surprise by our homeowner. Sometimes life is just too lovely (as long as I don’t watch the news)!

Wednesday (yesterday) was a rainy day, so Bob and I decided to take Cooper for a good, longer walk today. Bob had found a trail around a lake near Gaffney, South Carolina, when we were looking at heading to Boiling Springs, South Carolina, to use our gift cards. So today, we headed to Lake Whelchel to walk part of the 6+ mile Victory National Historic Trail which goes around the lake.

The drive to the lake was super easy, just 10 miles straight down Main Street, which becomes Boiling Springs Road, and then just a mile east. We parked by the boat ramp and picnic facilities and walked out to the dam and back. It’s a beautiful spring day here, so we were hiking in the mid 60s Fahrenheit.

Lake Whelchel is the water reservoir which supplies Gaffney, South Carolina, and the surrounding areas. It is named for Zeb Whelchel who served as Sheriff and as a Board Member and Chairman of the Board of Public Works. The lake was completed in 1964.

It’s been awhile, but I took a short trip back to Wisconsin for my aunt and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary. I also got to celebrate my godmother’s 68th birthday (another aunt) and spend some time with my mom. Bob got me direct flights from/to Charlotte, NC and Madison, so that made it very easy.

While we’ve been here, we’ve made it a point to pick up the weekly Shelby (a nearby town) Shopper, which has some local stories and also a local events calendar that we look over to see if anything is of interest. A few weeks ago, we noticed that there was a blood drive being held, so we reserved spots. This is something we like to do when we have the opportunity, as you never know when blood may be needed.

Today was donation day. Our appointment was at 2:30, and we were done about 3:15. It was held in a bus at a middle school so we had a little wait due to the backup of parents picking up their children. But it allowed us to go right to the Gardner Webb University afternoon softball game that we wanted to see.

It was a great day for a ballgame. While it started out below freezing today, it had warmed up to the high 50s by the time we got to the game. GW was playing a double header, but we only stayed for the first game. They ended up losing, but it was a good game.

In December of 2021, we did a house sit in Boiling Springs, South Carolina, as opposed to out current sit in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. We had talked about maybe going back for a visit since they are a little over 30 minutes drive apart. We recently got more incentive to go back as we received a gift card from Bob’s sister and brother-in-law for a smoothie place there, thinking our current housesit was in SC rather than NC. What are the odds of two Boiling Springs anyway?

We remembered enjoying a visit to a great park while we were at the Boiling Springs, SC housesit, and we thought Cooper would enjoy a walk there. So today, we headed to Cleveland Park in Spartanburg, SC (right by Boiling Springs) for a walkabout with Cooper and then a free smoothie for lunch.

As a side note, Google Maps had us head out of town past the Broad River Greenway, and we were surprised to find how close to the state line we actually are.

After the park we went to CocoBowlz in Boiling Springs, SC, to use our gift card for a smoothie .

After having revisited the Broad River Greenway for a non-canine hike on Tuesday and then a quick trip to Shelby yesterday for a new library book pick up (my 5th) and a walk near City Park with Cooper, Bob and I decided to do something different today and check out one of the two wineries listed in the travel brochure we’ve been working our way through.

We had about a 30 minute drive to Lawndale, NC to visit the Baker Buffalo Creek Vineyard & Winery. We spent an easy hour with the wife of the couple that owns the winery while she poured us tiny tastes of each of the (non-sweet by our request) wines that they make. We learned that they began growing grapes in the early 2000s, inspired by a trip to Napa and the need by the husband of the couple to do something in retirement. We met him as well. They were both lovely.

It was a super way to spend part of our afternoon, and she encouraged us to come back on the weekends when they have a food truck and live music. As a side note, the tastings were free, but we purchased two bottles of red wine — their Cabernet Sauvignon and their Cab Franc.

It was such a beautiful day in Boiling Springs that it screamed for an outdoor excursion. The three of us headed back to the Broad River Greenway, just about 5 miles from the house for a more focused visit than the first time. It was a lovely way to spend some time outdoors in this 70 degree Fahrenheit day.