This morning without any firm
plans I drove to Erbie to do some hiking, and on a whim decide to check out the horse camp. According to my map the 3-way intersection
with the church to the south and Erbie Trailhead on the north is where NC 2500
(south) meets NC 2800 (east) and NC 2700 (west). Just beyond the trailhead parking, NC 2799
forks off to the left and into Erbie Horse Camp.
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in the big hayloft
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Pulling in I notice the camp is completely deserted, I park in the big
circular field next to the billboard at the vault toilets, with many campsites all
around the perimeter at the edge of the woods.
Investigating a couple of these sites I see each is equipped with picnic
table, fire-ring and hitching posts. |
Erbie Horse Camp
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Walking back out of camp up Horse Camp Road (NC 2799) I pass Erbie
Trailhead then head over to the old church.
Built around the turn of the 20th century the Methodist
Church still stands and appears ready for services, complete with pulpit and
pews. After visiting the church, I cross
the road and head a short way up NC 2905 (see:
82 Exploring Erbie). |
Downtown Erbie where NC2700 meets NC2800
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Just as the road begins to gradually climb the hill, I leave the road
and hike southeast through mostly open
woods. I say ‘mostly open' meaning only
occasional small patches of blackberry and greenbrier along with lots of rock
everywhere. It’s pretty easy going for a
bushwhack, after a quarter mile I cross a trampled down fence line then maybe
200 yards further locate Young
Cemetery. |
in the old Villines Chapel (Erbie Church)
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Young Cemetery is where the ‘bushwhack’ ends, a mowed trail goes
downhill south from here. The cemetery
appears to only have three graves J.T. Young, his wife Jemima, and the third
which I couldn’t make out the inscription possibly a son or daughter. I leave the cemetery on the nice trail which
soon comes to a flat-roofed tin sided building which to me looks like a milking
barn due to the stalls with feeding troughs. |
Young Cemetery
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Not far below the milking barn
this short Young Cemetery Trail ends at the road (NC 2500) right in front of a two-story white house, a smokehouse and stone well.
This the Jones House (closed to the public) dates back to 1922 when landowner Rulus Jones hired a Harrison carpenter to design and build the house. Just below the house to the west is a cable
gate to keep vehicles off the old lane heading west. |
in the milk barn
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Past the gate this old lane is now part of the Old River Trail and Erbie
Loop, beyond on the left is the largest barn still standing in the Buffalo
National River. Part of the 30-acre Jones farmstead, this big old barn pre-dates the house by about nine
years. I look around inside; on ground
level are livestock stalls down both sides and equipment storage outside of
that and a huge hayloft upstairs, outside in the back is a well-house. |
home on the Jones farm
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Back in front of the barn I cross the old lane and head up the hill on ‘Horse
Camp Trail’ which is nice and wide, evidently another old road. Almost to the top of the hill the trail turns
west and follows beneath the power lines through a couple large hayfields with
some nice views in all directions. It’s
over a quarter mile through the fields to were the trail turns north leaving
the utility easement before crossing
a small dry creek. |
in back of the biggest barn in BNR
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Now headed north the trail is in an old field that’s getting pretty
overgrown, about a quarter mile I come to the edge of the field at the tree
line and a cable gate. This gate marks
the end of NC 2799 and maybe a hundred feet further is a small pull-out parking
spot for two vehicles. Fifty feet more I
notice a faint trail intersection going east. |
under the wires
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Curious I leave the road taking the trail, on my map this appears to be
a short-cut back to the campground. Sure
enough, just over a hundred yards later after going between two dry ponds I come
into the campground through a campsite with some big, interesting rocks in the back,
this is also the first site entering the campground to the right of the road. |
at beginning of old overgrown field
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This wasn’t a very long hike and very easy, just under 2.5 miles and only 300 feet of
elevation change, but it was very enjoyable with lots of interesting historic
sites including the church, cemetery, barns and house. The icing on the cake; the weather today was
perfect and obviously I had a great time. Erbie: There are quite a few
ways to get here, see: (82 Exploring Erbie) for an in-depth look at most of the available routes. Today I came via a different route I have
never tried before, and I really liked it.
Coming south out of Harrison on Hwy. 7 first turn west on Hwy. 206, go
west on Hwy. 206 about 2 miles and turn left (south) on paved Erbie Cutoff Road
which ends at NC 2800 (also paved for just over 0.5 miles further).
Stay on NC 2800 all the way to Erbie, it can
get a little confusing, but NC 2800 seems to get the bulk of the traffic so is the most obvious choice at most
intersections and a GPS doesn’t hurt either. From where the pavement ends it’s
about 5.1 miles to Erbie. *UPDATE*
NC 2800 now has a concrete slab across Cove Creek AND the low water bridge over the Buffalo River on NC 2500 is now open!
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