usa: north carolina: pilot mountain and fort dobbs

While I stayed in Charlotte, John and I decided to visit a couple places out of town, so they're getting their own post here.

The first place we visited was Pilot Mountain State Park. The state park is built around Pilot Mountain, which is what remains of a really really old mountain chain. It's quite a sight, one you see from far away; it sticks out over a thousand meters above the surrounding countryside.

It took us a couple hours to drive there, as traffic is always lousy on a weekend, and we started from the south side of Charlotte. We drove up to the parkplatz at the top of the mountain, though you can park at the bottom and hike all the way up, following a trail.

We only had to walk about twenty meters to get to a great viewpoint, yay! We weren't the only ones there of course, but the way it has been set up, you can look out over the area without having to look at everyone else who is visiting.

From there we walked to another viewpoint, on top of the so-called Little Pinnacle. It gives you a great view of Big Pinnacle, which is what people see from miles around as they're driving by.

Off to the side of this viewpoint is a trail that goes around Big Pinnacle, but not up to the tippy top. As far as I can tell, the only way to get to the top is by climbing, and this spot is closed to climbers. The trail that has been built gives you heaps of opportunities to see the layers of the rock, to see how it has shifted over hundreds and thousands of years. 

I loved the area, and would've been happy to wander for hours, or even all day.

At that point John said we were done, so we drove back to Charlotte, having dinner out somewhere.

The other place we visited out of Charlotte was a place I found on a travel app. Fort Dobbs is a historic sight near what is now Statesville, North Carolina. It was built in the mid 18^th century on orders from Governor Arthur Dobbs, and was to be used as protection as well as a trading post for the surrounding area.

During the French and Indian War it was used as frontier defense for the British civilians in the area. (Remember we weren't an organized country just yet, there were plenty of British soldiers all over the colonies.)

The area it protected was actually quite large, as it was the only fort on the frontier between Virginia and South Carolina.

The fort didn't have a long life, as it was abandoned in 1766. After being abandoned all the materials disappeared, as people came and took the wood and stones.

Archeological work in the 20^th century, and research in 2005 and 2006 led to the exact location of the fort, as well as what it probably looked like. Decisions were made to rebuild the fort to the way it used to be, and build it in the way it would've been built back then.

The fort is quite small, we actually drove past the area the first time we thought we were in the right place. There is a small parkplatz, and the whole thing is visible from the road.

After parking we walked onto the field, and were soon approached by someone wearing the clothes that would've been worn during the time the fort was 'alive.' He asked why we were there, where we were from, and other general conversation. He gave us the explanaton of what we could see, as well as the future plans for the fort. The powers that be hoped the reconstruction would be finished by April, which is the anniversary of a battle in which the fort was important.

We enjoyed learning a bit, then took a walk on the nature trail in the woods behind the fort. I'm pretty sure not many people go back there, as we had to fight through several spider webs across the trail. Still, it was nice to see the land as it would have looked in the 18^th century.

I'd definitely go back to Fort Dobbs, just to see how it will look when it is completed.