THE GREEN SWAMP AND THE WATERMELON QUEEN
Christy’s
first triathlon of 2012 was last weekend in Wilmington. I hadn’t been to the beach in awhile, so I
decided to take a weekend off from searching for obscure waterfalls to join
her. I booked us a room at the Holiday
Inn at Wrightsville Beach and we made reservations with our dog sitter for the
weekend.
The
first challenge with going to Wilmington on a Friday afternoon is beating
traffic out of Charlotte. Christy came straight home after school. We loaded the car, dropped the dogs off, and
got through Pineville before traffic backed up.
We were in a hurry since Christy had to pick up her race packet in
Wilmington before 7:30. If we were late we’d
have to get up an hour earlier on Saturday morning.
Since
we were pressed for time, I took the “Polkton Bypass”
around Monroe. The “bypass” is just a
2-lane country road, but it has the advantage of avoiding Monroe, which is a
town that appears to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever (unless you like
shopping and traffic jams). A further
benefit of the back way is that it skips the Senator Jesse Helms Freeway
through Wingate, Marshville, and Peachland. This is beneficial for a couple of
reasons. First, the Senator Jesse Helms
Freeway isn’t a freeway, as it features lots of traffic lights, numerous
stretches with 35mph speed limits, and typically at least one or two speed
traps. It also passes the Jesse Helms
Center (not a library), where book burnings are scheduled on a regular basis.
Despite
those flaws, the road wasn’t too bad until about a year ago. At that time, the North Carolina State
Legislature took a break from appropriating funds towards roads that go around
in circles to make a special designation.
From that point forward, drivers on the Senator Jesse Helms Freeway were
required to turn around and drive backwards in honor of the late Senator. Although fitting, this completely failed to
improve traffic flow.
The
rest of the drive was smooth, and we made it to Wilmington before 7pm. Christy picked up her packet, and we went
downtown for dinner. It had been a few
years since our last visit to Wilmington, and I was surprised at how lively
downtown has become. We lucked into a
parking spot a block from the main drag, and had a pretty good dinner at Fat Tony’s. Then we
picked up some groceries and headed for Wrightsville Beach.
When
we checked into the hotel we discovered that our visit coincided with the North
Carolina Watermelon Association’s 31st annual convention. I was surprised that the North Carolina
Watermelon Association has an annual convention. Actually, to be accurate, I was surprised
that North Carolina has a Watermelon Association. I’ve lived here for 30 years, and somehow
that little factoid had eluded me.
A
bit of research on the interwebs revealed that the
North Carolina Watermelon Association is actually just a chapter of the
National Watermelon Association. Their
mission is growing, grading, handling, and the transportation, sale, and
distribution of watermelons. For years
they’ve offered a bounty on Gallagher – alive or dead. We could only hope that the Holiday Inn was
prepared for this convention, because obviously things were going to get wild
and crazy.
We
joined a large group on the elevator that included a young woman in a sparkly
dress. Apparently she was a contestant
in a beauty pageant that was part of the convention. The disturbing (or most disturbing) part of
this to me was that she had a number attached to her dress. There wasn’t a name tag, or a sash proclaiming
that she was from Gaston County, or anything else. Just the number. Was this a beauty pageant or some sort of 4-H
competition? I suppose you could argue
that there isn’t really any fundamental difference between any beauty pageant
and a 4-H competition, but that’s a discussion for another time.
We
got off the elevator and immediately began speculating about this pageant. What was the title they were competing
for? Miss Melons? I Googled that (not
recommended at work) and discovered that “Miss Melons” was already being used
by the annual “beauty” pageant in Sturgis.
Eventually I found the website for the North Carolina Watermelon Association
(yes, they have one). There I found that
the pageant winner would be crowned North Carolina Watermelon Queen. I suppose that’s better than Miss
Melons. Barely.
Apparently
the North Carolina Watermelon Queen’s duties include an extensive promotional
tour that includes assorted festivals and other events. The North Carolina Watermelon Queen also gets
to compete in the National Watermelon Pageant.
I wonder if Donald Trump is involved with it? Or Gallagher??
We
went to bed early that night and got up early on Saturday. I dropped Christy off at the race site and
headed out for my own adventure. My plan
for the day was a visit to the Green Swamp.
A few days earlier I’d contacted Skip, who is a local expert on the
area. Skip was already planning a visit
to the swamp, and after I changed my plans a few times, our schedules
coincided. I followed Skip’s directions
to the trailhead north of Supply, NC, and arrived at 8am. Skip had arrived a few minutes earlier. We got to know each other briefly, having
only “met” previously on the Carolina Adventures Yahoo group site.
The
Green Swamp is not a swamp. In reality
it is a series of longleaf pine savannahs broken periodically by pocosins. Over
17,000 acres in the area are now owned by the Nature Conservancy, and the land
is open to the public:
Skip
gave me a wonderful tour of the Green Swamp.
While I could’ve found my way around the area without any difficulty, I
never would’ve seen the swamp’s most interesting features. Skip led me to numerous insectivorous plants,
including Venus Flytraps, Pitcher Plants and Sundew. It was early in the season for all of
them. The Venus Flytraps had just
emerged from the ground and were quite small.
The Sundews were even smaller, and most of the Pitcher Plants we found
were left over from the previous year.
However, some searching did turn up four varieties of Pitcher Plants
that had just emerged from the ground. The
orchids the area is famous for hadn’t begun to bloom. The peak time for the insectivorous plants
and flowers is late spring.
We
wandered through the savannahs, enjoying the brilliant sunshine and a pleasant
breeze. Along the way we passed several
old tar kilns, which I wouldn’t have noticed if Skip hadn’t mentioned
them. They aren’t particularly obvious,
as they consist of a raised area in the earth surrounded by a man-made moat
that was used to drain the tar.
We
walked a mile or two to the end of the official trail. From there we bushwhacked to the edge of
another savannah deeper in the swamp.
This one felt more remote, and featured larger, more impressive trees.
On
the hike out we were startled by a large group on their way in. The group was a class from Forsyth Tech in
Winston-Salem on a field trip. They’d
come a long way for their field trip, but were only planning on a brief
visit. Later that day they intended to
catch the ferry out to Fort Fisher.
We
returned to the trailhead, and Skip and I parted ways. My first visit to the Green Swamp was
fascinating, and I’ll definitely return.
Christy is talking about doing another race near Wilmington in early
June, so maybe I’ll make another visit then.
I
drove back to Wilmington and picked Christy up.
She’d had a decent race despite a couple of training injuries that had
occurred a few weeks earlier. We spent
that afternoon relaxing back at the hotel and enjoyed a nice seafood dinner
that night. The next day it warmed up
just enough to spend some time sunbathing by the pool. An uneventful drive home on Sunday ended an
enjoyable weekend.
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