Peckish Travels

After a rainy Thursday and Friday, we have had a beautiful weekend. We went to the Shelby Farmers Market yesterday, which was small but nice. It had more local meat options than produce and also some baked goods. Later in the day, Bob and I took Cooper to a local elementary school for a walkabout around the school and into a beautiful neighborhood. Bob took advantage of the dry conditions to mow the yard, which had really taken off with all of the rain.

Today, I ran a 20 mile run here in preparation for my marathon in May and our homeowner ran a half marathon in Paris where she is visiting on a break from her English tutoring in Italy.

We then headed to the Bellwood Heritage Museum for a visit. (Still working our way through the travel brochure we picked up.) This museum is only open from 2:00 to 4:00 on the first Sunday of the month, March through October. The museum is a collection of local donations from the community to provide some local history. It contains mostly old farm equipment and household goods/appliances.

The farm section was full of lots of old equipment these two city-raised individuals had no idea about. The older gentleman at the museum had to explain most of the items to us.

Bob and I have been to Kings Mountain twice to date, once for a walk on the lovely Gateway Trail with Cooper and once to visit Kings Mountain National Park and learn about the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War. Today, we headed back to check out some more Kings Mountain sites that are listed in the travel brochure we picked up at the start of our housesit.

Kings Mountain is a small city of about 10,000 located about 30 minutes from Boiling Springs. It is southeast of Shelby, and we have to drive through Shelby to get there, as they both lie along Highway 74, Andrew Jackson Highway.

We parked near Patriots Park, which lies just off of the main street (and rail line) through town. The park is lovely and was named in 2000 by the high school class in honor of those who fought in the Revolutionary War.

From the park, we walked a couple of blocks along Railroad Avenue (the main street through town) before heading up Mountain Street, which goes into the downtown area.

The open sign in the above photo is for a newly opened coffee/gift shop that was fun to look through. We ended up going back before we left to pick up some baked goods. We were headed to the Kings Mountain Historical Museum just up the street to peruse their exhibits.

The gentleman working in the museum was very friendly and helpful and even let us walk into the old post office safe. The museum’s current exhibit is on War and Memory and showcases pieces donated by the local community that help to tell the story of the various wars. It also had some great information on the history of Memorial Day (originally celebrated on May 30 as Decoration Day).

Happy last day of February and Kind of Birthday to any Leap Year Day babies out there. After a foggy, misty Monday, it was a gorgeous sunny mid-70 degree day here in our neck of North Carolina. We headed out for a short hike with Cooper around some nature trails on the campus of the lovely Isothermal Community College in Forest City. We had noticed the trails on the helpful map along the Thermal Belt Rail Trail, which has signs for the college but doesn’t run alongside it.

Isothermal Community College also has campuses in Spindale (up the road from Forest City) and Columbus, North Carolina. It is named after the isothermal belt, an area in the foothills of Western North Carolina with significantly milder temperatures than its immediate neighboring area. The nearby Blue Ridge Mountains protect the region by breaking up weather fronts. Just another reason, in my opinion to love the Blue Ridge Mountains.

On Friday, Bob and I decided to do breakfast out for a change of pace. We headed to the local Snack Shop across from the university. The name is a bit unusual. It’s a casual diner that offers home style cooking, which here obviously also includes livermush. We both just went with an omelet and we were happy with our meals.

Later Friday, we headed to the Gardner Webb baseball field to watch the Gardner Webb Bulldogs take on the Northwestern Wildcats. We were surprised that GW would be playing a team from the Big 10 but decided Midwestern teams like Northwestern probably take advantage of playing more southern teams early in the season.

The game was only $5 apiece. It started at 4:00 pm under cloudy skies but still close to 60 degrees. Gardner Webb finished on top for their second win of the season.

This past Thursday a high temp record was set in our neck of the woods, reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit and not yet March. Before it got quite to that temp, Bob, Cooper, and I headed to the northern start of the Thermal Belt Rail Trail, the incredible 13.5 mile trail that has been such a gift for my long runs in preparation for my marathon in Australia at the end of May. I have completed a 16 mile run and an 18 mile run on this lovely trail. Next weekend, I’ll do a 20 miler.

Since I do an out and back when I run, I haven’t reached the northern end/start point on my runs, so it was great to see what it looks like in daylight. We were also pleased to see a number of cyclists and walkers out as well.

Today, Bob and I headed to the amazing and free(!) Kings Mountain National Military Park to learn more about this battle that apparently helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War. The battle was part of the Southern campaign and occurred on Kings Mountain (more of a hill really) in October 7, 1780.

One thing that I needed to be reminded of, as this war is often presented as colonists/Americans vs the British, but really this battle in particular and many others I’m sure we’re fought between colonists who wanted to be a free country (Patriots) and colonists who were loyal to the king (Loyalists). So a fight among neighbors sadly. In fact, the battle has been described as the largest all-American fight.

The overview of the battle is presented through a 25-minute film in the Visitor’s Center and then on placards and memorials along the 1.5 mile battlefield trail in the park. In a nutshell, the Patriots defeated the Loyalists by driving them back up the mountain and then encircling them there. As a British Commander had opted to kill all of the captured Patriots in a couple of prior battles, even as they waved a white flag, it didn’t go well for the remaining Loyalist troops on the top of the hill at the end of the battle.

After watching the film, we walked the Battlefield Trail Loop. The trail was filled with memorials to many of the men who were wounded or killed in the battle, including a surprising tribute to the leader of the opposition.

Major Patrick Ferguson was the only Briton to fight at Kings Mountain. He was born in Scotland in 1744 and began his military career at 14. He redesigned the flintlock rifle to increase firing speed. His rifle received the Crown’s patent in 1776. He was an excellent marksman and was very successful in recruiting Loyalists to fight with him, neither of which saved him during the battle.

There are quite a few trails near Boiling Springs, North Carolina, where we are currently house sitting, so today we ventured out and drove to the town of Kings Mountain to explore a new area with our four-legged sidekick.

We drove through Shelby to Kings Mountain, North Carolina, to check out some of the Gateway Trails. It was about a 30 minute drive to the trailhead/parking lot. The trailhead area had great parking, very nice facilities, and seemed new. It was, in fact, started as a National Park Service led effort in 2001 to connect the city of Kings Mountain with area parks. The land for these trails was provided by Martin Marietta Mining Company among others. We got to see a bit of the mining company in action.

The Gateway Trail map showed four different trails. The longer trail, Foote Trail, was nine miles round trip, which we thought we’d come back to do in the future, likely without Cooper. We opted to do the three shorter trails.

We did the Rail Trail Loop that had two out and back offshoots, one called the Plateau Loop and the other the Cardio Hill. It was a total of about three miles. The trails were very wide and well-marked, and the Rail Trail was asphalt.

Bob and I made the short drive into Shelby to check out the recent exhibit at the Cleveland County Arts Council and to ride the carousel in the City Park.

The Cleveland County Arts Council is on the square in Shelby across from the Earl Scruggs Center. It provides exhibit and performance space for the community and also offers art classes. Their current exhibit, Treasures of the Earth, is a pottery show that opened on February 9th. It is free to the public.

Samples of the pottery exhibits are below.

After the lovely perusal of the pottery, Bob and I headed to City Park behind the Shelby Library to ride the carousel at $0.50 each. The park carousel is a rare 1919 Herschell Spillman Carousel that has been restored. We haven’t learned the history of how Shelby came to acquire it or restore it.

Today, Bob and I visited an obscure international museum. For anyone, who appreciates having the lights on, staying warm (or cool), or answering a land line, you may also appreciate this small, free museum in Shelby, North Carolina. It is the International Lineman Museum.

Bob and I both have a bit of work history in the utilities. I spent about 3 years doing administrative planning work for the municipal utility in Austin, Texas, and Bob worked for about 20 years for 3 different utilities, also doing white collar work. We were both safely removed from doing the important work (as Austin has once again learned the hard way) of keeping the lights and heat on. It was pretty eye-opening to learn more about the lineman role and how it has evolved.

The museum provided a fun overview of various parts of the lineman’s role, electricity in general, and (who knew?) the cultural celebration of linemen. I guess I’m sticking with the male terminology in accordance with the museum, although I’m sure there must be a few women doing this important work by now.

We were surprised to find the following cultural celebrations of lineman.

A surprisingly fun find of a free museum.

On Tuesday, Bob and I went back to the Thermal Rail Trail with Cooper to walk a different section of it. The prior Friday, I had driven to the trail to take advantage of the lengthy trail to do a 16 mile run. Tuesday, we walked a little over a 1.5 mile section (and then back) of the trail that parallels Main Street in Forest City. It was a great day for a walk, and we saw others, mostly bikers, also using the trail.

Today, we picked another item off of the Things to Do brochure that we picked up at the Visitor’s Center in Shelby and headed towards Hanna Park in Shelby to check out their nature trail with Cooper. It was a lovely 60+ degrees but mostly overcast. The park was super impressive — large with 6 soccer fields, a playground, and pristine.