Halifax County Highpoint Trip Report

eighteen areas (390+ ft)

Date: October 17, 2005
Author: Fred Lobdell

General

Andy Martin's book lists 17 areas in and around Littleton and one area near Roper Springs as candidates for the HP of Halifax County. There are indeed 17 areas in and around Littleton but not the same areas as a first inspection of the map might seem to indicate. There is a large contour (area 14 below) just east of the "n" in "Littleton" that is labeled as 380 feet. This is an error; it is really a 390-foot contour, and thus makes one additional area for the county. However, there is another contour (see non-area 12 below) that appears to be a 390-foot contour but is really a 380-foot depression contour without the hachures. The 18 areas are numbered roughly in the order that we did them; there didn't seem to be a better way of doing this report.

We started from my house in Macon, NC around 9 a.m. and drove east on US 158 to Littleton. After entering the city limits, look for a large building on the right; this is Towne Center. If you get to the traffic light, you've gone too far. Park here for areas 1 and 2.

Area 1: This area includes part of the Towne Center and its parking lot. Walk past the garage on the right (west) side. This will bring you out onto Halifax Street. Turn left (east) and walk to the last house on the left before the next intersection; this is #104 Halifax Street. A possible high area lies in the front and side yards of this house. A friendly older gentleman had no problem with our walking around his property. From here, continue east to Mosby Avenue South (also NC 4) and turn right (south). Another possibility for the highest spot in this area is in the yards of two houses (numbers 207 and 211, the latter with no number visible) on the east side of the street.

Area 2: Continue walking south on Mosby Avenue, recrossing the street to the west side. This area is up a gravel driveway, between houses number 216 and 220, in a small field towards the rear of the houses.

Area 3: Return to your car and go 0.1 mile east, to THE traffic light in Littleton. Turn left (north) onto Mosby Avenue North (also NC 903 here) and go 0.2 mile to a hard left onto Mulberry Street (not signed at this intersection). Almost immediately, turn right (west) onto Oak Street and after 0.1 mile, turn right (north) onto Cherry Street. Go about 0.5 mile to a height of land on the road, just past the first house on the right. The high ground appears to be in a small patch of woods east of the street and just north of the house mentioned above. The owner appeared skeptical when told what we were doing.

Area 4: Continue north on Cherry Street about 0.15 mile to the end of the pavement. Here two dirt tracks diverge to the left and right. We walked up the one on the right, following it as it curved to the right until we felt we were at a very subtle height of land. We then bushwhacked through thick pine woods, trying to stay on the high ground of this narrow east-west trending ridge.

Area 5: Return south on Cherry Street to Oak Street, turn left, and then left again onto Mulberry Street, back to Mosby Avenue. Go north on Mosby about 0.25 mile and take a hard right turn onto Spring Street. Go about 0.15 mile to a white house on the right, # 210. The high ground appeared to be in the side and back yard on the south side of the house or perhaps in the adjacent woods. The lady of the house had no problem with our wandering around her yard and was interested to find out that she lived on one of the highest spots in the county. Area 6: Continue south on Spring Street another 0.2 mile to the first left, which is Shaw Street. Turn left (east) on Shaw and take it to its end at a "T" intersection with Roanoke Avenue. Turn left (north) on Roanoke and go to a height of land, where a brick house (# 220) on the left (west) side sits on the highest ground. The lady of the house, who moved here from Ohio about a year and a half ago, had deliberately tried to find a house on high ground, and was quite please to find that she had selected one of the highest spots in the county.

Area 7: Continue north on Roanoke Avenue to the next right turn (High Street). Turn right (east) onto High. The highest ground appears to be in the yard around the house on the left (north). This house appears to be undergoing renovation and may not be occupied at present.

Area 8: Continue east on High Street to its end at Hackett Street. Here there is a large plantation-style house, currently undergoing extensive renovation, in front of you and set well back from the street. This is a large area and possible high ground candidates seem to be around the house and in two horse pastures north and south of the house. The owner's son said that he was told by surveyors that the highest area was near the house and it may well be so.

Areas 9, 10, and 11: From the intersection of High and Hackett Streets, a gated dirt road goes north. We walked this road to a height of land, where we found the remains of the house shown on the topo in area 9 on the east side of the dirt track. This required a bit of scrambling in the thick underbrush. For area 10, we continued north on the dirt road as it descended. Near the bottom, there was a grassy track going off to the right (east). We found it convenient to walk east along this track until the GPS unit showed us that we were due south of the high area, at which point we bushwhacked into the woods. For area 11, we returned to the dirt road and continued north to where the road topped out in the middle of area 11.

Non-area 12: Take Hackett Street south to its end at North Main Street. Here the topo shows what appears to be a 390-foot contour that encompasses this intersection and a good deal of the ground between Hackett Street and Roanoke Avenue to the west. THIS IS WRONG! Hackett Street descends steadily from the high area to this intersection. This contour is really a 380-foot depression contour, with the hachures omitted. We walked into the area inside the contour and we were descending.

Area 12: Turn right (west) on North Main Street and go to the next intersection, which is Roanoke Avenue. The highest ground in this large area appears to be in the yard of the house on the northeast corner, which is 107 Roanoke Avenue.

Area 13: Continue west on North Main to the stop sign, which is Church Street. Turn left (south) and go to the stop sign at US 158. Turn left (east) on 158 and go about 0.5 mile to what looks like a closed business on the right. Park here and walk across the highway into a large grassy field on the north side. The high ground seems to be along a tree line just east of a couple of houses.

Area 14: Continue east to the next right, which is Cheeter Street. Turn right and take this dirt road to its end at a "T" intersection with (unsigned) Bacon Road. Turn right on Bacon (which is also county 1404) and go about 0.5 mile to its intersection with Halifax Street. Turn right (west) on Halifax and go about 0.1 mile to a height of land. Here you will be just south of the southeast prong of the large irregularly-shaped 390-foot contour, mislabeled as a 380-foot contour. (See discussion above.) This area is partly wooded in closely-grown pines and partly a brushy field, with many briars. We wandered throughout this area without seeing any ground that appeared to be much higher than the rest of it, except perhaps near the northern border. Here there was some high ground, possibly manmade, behind a fence that guarded what appeared to be an auto junkyard but there was also ground that appeared to be about equally high a couple of hundred feet west of this spot. We would like to revisit this area in February or March, after some of the nasty vegetation has died off.

Area 15: Return to Bacon Road and turn right (south). Go about 0.3 mile, past the first height of land to where a field road has a chain across it on the right (west) side. Park and walk out into the farm field to stand on this piece of high ground.

Area 16: Continue south of Bacon Road to its end at a "T" intersection with Justice Branch Road. The latter is also county 1001. Turn left (east) on 1001 and go about 0.2 mile to a height of land. This area is bisected by the road and the highest ground appears to be along the edge of the woods on the north side of the road, near a fire hydrant and a telephone box.

Area 17: Continue east on 1001 another 0.2 mile to a gated dirt driveway on the left (north) side. Walk up this driveway past an abandoned house (shown on the topo) to the high ground north of the house.

Area 18, one area on the Roper Springs quad containing spot elevation 391: Continue east on 1001 about 0.7 mile to the second left turn, which is Roper Springs Road. Turn left and go about 0.2 mile to Roper Lane, a cul-de-sac on the left (north) side. Drive back into the cul-de-sac to where you see a dirt road going off to your right front. Take this past a mobile home to where the dirt road forks, with the right fork going off to a home set well back from the paved road. Take the left fork to a height of land. We parked here; this road probably doesn't see very much use, except perhaps during hunting season, and we were gone only a few minutes. We bushwhacked to the top of the hill on the left (west) side of the dirt track. In spite of this climb of more than 30 vertical feet, we felt that supplemental oxygen was unnecessary.