Ramble around Rocky Bottom

A few weeks ago, I went out to Rocky Bottom to visit the Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve. I had wanted to find a path down to the creek so I could explore and see if I could some waterfalls. I didn't find a path, even after I had been studying old aerial maps to find logging roads, and I wanted to try one more time.

Once again I parked in the Foothills Trail parking access area. I expected the parking access to empty like last time, but to my surprise it wasn't.

I hiked down the road to where a satellite view showed what may have been some old logging roads, but I found nothing but forest. So I went back to my car and parked near the gate to the trailhead for the Eastatoe Creek Heritage Preserve. These photos are from my most recent visit:

I found a spot where I thought an old logging road may have once branched off from the trail. If there was a logging road, it didn't go far. I did find an old rusting mattress box spring and some old cans of Johnson's Glo Coat floor wax.

I decided to bushwack over to an old logging road located to my east near Laurel Valley Road. You can easily see this road on a 1968 aerial from the Pickens County GIS website:

From there I hoped to find a path down to Eastatoe Creek. I made my way down the overgrown old road without results, until I explored a path I hadn't seen the last time. I found this path (showing faintly below) curving down toward the creek on the 1968 aerial:

I had finally found a path that got me down to Eastatoe Creek. I waded into nearly waist high cold water to get some photos of this small waterfall:

I was tempted to continue across the water to the other side where I could more easily head downstream where I could see another waterfall. But the water was just too cold to stand any longer so I waded back out of the water and walked back to my car to visit my next target.

My next target was the site of old mill by Rocky Bottom Creek I had heard about from another adventurer. I also spotted the old mill on the 1968 aerial:

I parked over by a turnoff on U.S. 178. I walked off the side of the road, then down Spencers Alley. I stumbled across the ruins of a small house while investigating yet another old logging road:

I followed the path down to the creek and found the ruins of the old mill:

I also found the ruins of a dam that had partially failed long ago:

I could see a house up on top of a hill on the other side of the creek. I figured the property line was the creek around here so I didn't cross. A month or two ago I would have headed back to my car and gone home, but with the longer daylight I visited one more target that's been on my list a long time.

On top of a hill I found the Alexander-Dodson-Powell Cemetery. Most of the markers, by far, were uncarved flagstones like this one:

I found at a few members of the Dodson family, including this one:

I also found some graves of the many children of Arsula (1892-1967) and George Washington Dodson (1892-1974):

I found a few members of the Alexander family:

I also found one handwritten grave I couldn't read very well, but I discerned "Josy Powell" and 1868 for her birth and 1886 for her death:

I also found the grave of John S. Holcombe, the only Holcombe in this cemetery:

I spent a few minutes mapping out the borders of the cemetery, then I headed back to my car to head home. I spotted this long disused outhouse along the way:

Back at home, I spent some time seeing what I could find out about George Washington Dodson and Arsula Dodson. The 1920 census showed they were sharecroppers with three living children, but by the 1930 census they owned their own land with seven living children (two living from the 1920 census). By the 1940 census, George and Arsula had moved up to Eastatoe, Transylvania County, North Carolina and were sharecropping again and had six children at home (I'm really hoping some had married and moved out in those 10 years). Find A Grave shows their graves are in southern Transylvania County, North Carolina across the state line at Galloway Memorial Park, also known as Middlefork Church Cemetery.

I made a map of my trip at my uMap site, and I've uploaded my photos to the album Ramble Around Rocky Bottom - March 2019 at Google Photos.