Where is Cold Ass Creek?
A recent guest Don Rice at the Creekside Cozy Cabin in the Wilson Creek River Gorge wrote a story about his search for a infamous and mysterious Cold Ass Creek in our area. To completely cover the area Don rode his bike roughly 50 miles in the area surrounding where the purported creek might have been. Don is an avid outdoor enthusiast, running, biking and history buff. Here is his story:
In Search
of Cold Ass Creek, Mortimer and Moore…..
I spent
Saturday, 16 November biking and exploring in the Wilson Creek area. Wilson
Creek flows off the south side of Grandfather Mountain becoming a sizeable
creek as it flows along Brown Mountain Road before emptying into Johns River
which flows into the Catawba River. It
is popular with outdoor enthusiast such as trout fisherman, runner, hikers, and
kayakers and it is a place that I have fallen in love with.
I had
debated all week going up to Wilson Creek for a bike ride but in the end
decided to head up on Friday to camp and get up the next morning and ride. The
area is “spider webbed” with gravel roads that stretch up to the Blue Ridge
Parkway and Hwy 221 just below Grandfather Mountain and it was those roads I
wanted to ride.
Was late
leaving home on Friday as my daughter was in town and wanted to spend all the
time I could with her so, I left as she did about 3:30 PM. As I headed up, made my daily call to my mom
and told her what I was up to. “How do you get into all these crazy things? And
you are going by yourself?” she said. “Yes, I don’t know mom, it just happens”
I said with a hearty laugh. By the time
I arrived in Mortimer it was dark and rain had set in. As I arrived at Mortimer
Campground I found the entrance was blocked by gates and the campground was
closed for the season. Betsey’s Old Country Store was only a couple of hundred
yards away and there were lights on and a big neon OPEN sign
inviting me to come inside. Betsey’s Old Country Store is the only remaining
building of what was a mill town that at one time had 800 residents. The
original front part of the building was a store and Post Office at one time.
Here is a link to some pictures from what the town was like before it flooded
in 1940 and was abandoned soon after.
As I entered Betsey’s, Bruce Gray, the owner
greeted me and when I explained my predicament, he told me where to pitch my
tent and to come back and visit once I got my tent up. Pitched my tent in the
cold fog and rain, and headed back to the store to see Bruce.
As I came in
the store, Bruce greeted me and soon invited me to come back behind the counter
into an addition to the store that is his home. He had a roaring fire in a cast
iron stove and as I was chilled it felt really good. I set down in a chair and
we began to talk. Bruce is very knowledgeable of the area and so when he saw my
interest in the history of the area he began to tell stories. He explained that
Edgemont road (Hwy 90) was a wagon road from the 1800’s. He talked of the
nearby town of Globe and the Elizabethan dialect that is still spoken there and
schooled me in how to pronounce certain words:
· Vowels
are pronounced for a slightly longer period of time than those in standard of
English – "red" is pronounced "rey-uhd
· Words
with the vowel "O" in the middle, tend to be "drawn” – He told
me that when residents of Globe pronounce where they are from they say
“Gl.oh’-b”
I was
particularly interested in the stories of Globe as I am reading a book called
“A Valley Called Globe” by Bud Altmayer which tells the story of a pioneer
family, Jesse and Alley Moore who
left their home near Lynchburg, Virginia in the 1770’s and ended up settling in
a valley they called Globe. It is a delightful and vivid story of what life was
like for the isolated mountain pioneers that they were. The Moore’s settled on 300
acres that bordered Johns River and Cold Ass Creek. I was interested in trying
to find the spot they settled and farmed when I took my bike ride so I asked
Bruce about it. He could not recall hearing of a creek by that name before but
was quickly on the phone to a friend who he thought would know…..the friend
said he was not sure, thought maybe had, but would have to ask around. They
talked on about the things men talk about, the weather, the Table Rock fire,
the wood that his friend hoped to cut the next day and of a beautiful, shapely,
dark-haired girl he had seen earlier in the day. It was a while before Bruce
was able to get off the phone........ I never was able to find Cold Ass Creek
but since I got home I have found Cold Water Creek which flows into the Johns
River. Perhaps, the name was changed during the Victorian Era with the period’s
attention to high morals, modesty and proper decorum.
I left and
headed back to my tent to sip some Jim Beam and read some more of “A Valley
Called Globe.” Oh, but I had internet service so I had to chat on FB with my
best buds first. I had just said my good nights and started to read when I
heard a hearty “HELLO” from just outside my tent so I answered back “Bruce?”
“No, this is not Bruce, I am in the cabin beside you, saw you set the tent up
in the cold rain and wanted to offer for you to come over and get warm in my
cabin.” I think his name was Steve. The cabin was nice and warm. Steve is a
fishing boat captain and comes up to Mortimer frequently when his fishing
business is slow at the coast. We traded fish stories for an hour or so…great
guy…told me if I got cold in the night he would leave the door unlocked so I
could just come on in and sleep on the sofa.
All this put
me to bed later than my normal 9 pm bedtime so I slept in Saturday morning,
made and drank my coffee, and read without ever leaving the confines of my warm
down sleeping bag. About 8:30 am I got up to get started on my bike ride. My
plan was to ride almost 50 miles, heading up Edgemont Road to Hwy 221 near the
Grandfather Mountain entrance, then take 221 to Blowing Rock and then take
Globe Road out of Blowing Rock back down towards Mortimer.
As I started
my bike ride, the distant, haunting sound of baying hounds was nearly constant.
I later learned they were mostly Treeing Walker Coonhounds and they were
hunting bear. At about 2 miles, two large (maybe not of prehistoric proportions
but big) wild turkeys flew up about 10 – 15
feet away and reached a height of maybe 10 feet as they flew over my
head. That and the strong cowboy coffee I had made on my camp stove got my
heart to racing and I picked up the pace as I continued to make the 3000 foot
climb up to 221.
It wasn’t
long after that I saw three Walker hounds trotting down the road towards me.
They paid me almost no attention as they passed by, intent on their mission of
finding a bear. Each had a radio collar with two antennae sticking straight up.
It was probably a half mile down the road that I sighted the dog’s owners in a
Ford pickup with dog cages in the back headed down the road after them.
Actually, saw maybe 10 – 15 similarly equipped pickup trucks during my ride and
talked with one of the bear hunters towards the end of my ride. He was on the
side of the road talking to his buddies on what I assume was a CB radio. Seems
they had not seen nor been able to get a radio signal form their dogs for the
last hour. They did not seem too worried, seems it must be par of the course.
They did say that earlier in the day their dogs treed a bear but that somehow
he escaped before they could get there.
I continued
the uphill climb. The night before, Bruce had told me of a log cabin that I
should see. He said it dated to the early 1800’s. As I approached the area I
thought he was talking about, I saw a mobile home. Bruce had told me the log
cabin was behind the mobile home and that I should be very cautious as there
was an ornery, unpredictable mountain man living there. Given his warning I had
no intention to explore but hoped to get a glance at the log cabin. Just as I
rode by the trailer I was startled by a very loud BAM as a gunshot rang out and
scared me to death. I did not know that my bike could move that fast!!!! I am
sure it was coincidence but that shot was less than 40 feet away, and I had no
intention of trying to find out where it came from, so without a word I sped
away as fast as my pedaling would carry me.
It was about
15 miles up Edgemont Road before I got to 221. Edgemont intersects 221 at about
mile 24 of the Grandfather Mountain Marathon and I could see the painted
numbers on the road. The fog was pretty thick and as my pictures would later
reveal seemed thicker to me as my glasses stayed misted over. It was not so bad
when I was on the gravel roads as there was no traffic, but as I got on 221 and
particularly as I got to Dennis and Lou’s Misty Mountain neighborhood there was
quite a bit of traffic. I was afraid folks would not see me so I listened
carefully for traffic coming up behind and pulled off the road and stopped for
each car that passed. I was pretty wet and cold with the mist, fog, and mid 40 F
temperature so Kojay’s Coffee was a welcome sight. Ordered a large coffee and a
huge mocha chocolate brownie and indulged myself as I warmed up before I
started my descent down Globe Road. I really stayed longer than intended but
just did not want to hit the road again.
As I left
Kojay’s the fog had lifted and occasionally sunlight filtered through the trees
with its warmth and the ride I had dreaded was a delight. The turn onto Globe
Road is only a couple of blocks south of Kojays and the steep descent down the
rocky road starts almost immediately. It is a beautiful ride and before long I
found myself in the wide valley of the Johns River. I saw a couple in a pickup
at the end of their drive that seemed to not be in such a hurry so I stopped to
say hey. A lady I would guess to be in her mid-50’s was driving and her husband
about the same age and apparently of Mexican descent was beside her. She would
stop our conversation periodically and translate to her husband what we had
said. We talked some about the history of the area and I of course asked her if
she had heard of Cold Ass Creek. Unfortunately, she had not heard of it but did
share some of the history of the area and said that her family had been there a
long, long time. I asked her what her last name was and she said “Estes.” For
Peak to Creek Marathons year, a group of us stayed at Creekside Cozy Cabin on
Estes Mill Creek. I had opened my bedroom window and could hear the sounds of
the waterfall just outside all night long. It was one of the best nights of
sleep I can remember having. Anyway, I immediately recognized her last
name. I told her about my night sleeping
to the sounds of the stream named after her family. I told her that I had been
reading a book called “A Valley Called Globe” and that there was a man in the
book called Reuben Estes. Unfortunately, she did not recognize the name but I told
her a little about Jesse and Alley Moore and their remarkable story of leaving
Virginia and settling in the area. It was in fact, Reuben Estes, her ancestor, the
pioneer / farmer who loaned money and in many, many ways helped the Moore’s
establish a farm in the village they would later name Globe.
The valley
of Glove is quite beautiful with a relatively wide expanse of what is still
farm land along the Johns River with a beautiful backdrop of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. There are corn and other food crops grown there today as it was in
the 1700’s but, much more of it now is planted with various ornamental shrubs
and trees.
As I rode
the last miles I stopped at a bear hunter’s pickup to chat. He lives off of
Playmore Beach Road which is 15 miles south of Mortimer and said he spends more
time wandering around Wilson Creek than he does at home. He went on and on
about how much he loved being out there. I just kept nodding my head in
agreement!!! Left the bear hunter and headed back to Betsey’s Country where
Bruce and a bunch of his buddies were gathered around a campfire telling
stories. Sure wanted to stay. I got me one of Bruce’s hot dogs with chili, slaw
and mustard…oh so good… and then headed home.
Felt pretty
sad leaving, have to get back up there soon!!!
Don
Rice
Bruce Gray - Peace and Love
Bruce Gray Proprietor of Betsey's Country Store, Mayor of Mortimer......manages his Country Store camp ground, trout pond and is the local expert for hiking trails, fishing, tube rentals, hot dog eatery and town gathering place to sit by a fire or on the internet cafe porch and hear the stories of the day.
Camping Spot at Betsey’s Old Country Store
Bath house, picnic tables, fire pits camping at its best
For camping go to: Betsey's Ole Time Country Store on Facebook
Betsey's Old Country Store, Mortimer NC
Covered front porch with Internet access
Wilson Creek
View from bridge of the Wilson Creek
Coffee's Country Store in Edgemont
Antiques and candy counter
Old Time Post office in Edgemont Country Store and Voting Place
Edgemont Road
Past the Town of Edgemont, and ascending up to Hwy 221
At top of Edgemont Road Hwy 221 into Blowing Rock NC
Road sign at the Intersection of Anthony Creek and Edgemont Rd (Hwy 90)
Gragg, NC in Cary's Flat
Warning Sign bears beware up here in these parts
Dried up Creek bed rock formation?
Decent from Blowing Rock down Globe Road
Near Base of Globe is Tree Farm
Globe Christmas Tree and Landscaping Farms
Deer cornfield down at the bottom of Globe Road near Cold Ass Creek
Globe Baptist Church in Globe Valley
Ingram's Tree farm and property along Hwy 90
Infamous Staircase Mountain curvy road (Hwy 90) part of Edgemont Road
Brown Mountain Lodge Cabin rentals (BML) on Hwy 90 near Mortimer
To book your next Brown Mountain Cabin Rentals getaway click the link:
Waterwheel lookout sign at the BML
Restored 12' Waterheel on the Estes Mill Creek at Brown Mountain Lodge
Creekside Cozy Cabin (CCC) Rental also on Estes Mill Creek just down road from the BML
