Automobile touring on a lazy afternoon is a time-commemorated subculture, and Robeson County offers many profitable neighborhood avenue journeys.
For instance, Chicken Road is a long, exciting outing that starts offevolved at N.C. 211 and ends at Happy Hill, outside Fairmont. Happy Hill changed into a domestic to bootleggers and juke joints, all long gone (maybe).
A journey to Fair Bluff is likewise worthwhile, and the street there runs beyond the Marietta Daylily Garden. A walk on Riverwalk gets anybody out of the auto. Don’t assume lunch because Hurricane Matthew has made a ghost metropolis of the enterprise district.
A trip to Princess Ann and the Lumber River State Park has to be on absolutely everyone’s list. The geographical region is thrilling, and a hike through the park offers a threat to stretch the legs. The park is located on one of Robeson County’s most beautiful sites.
Getting misplaced is another compelling way to take pressure off in Robeson County. On an exploration of South Robeson, tourists would possibly discover the secret tunnel below Interstate 95 or the backdoor front to South of the Border, which is still really worth a visit to look at the sunset from Pedro’s Hat.
Many trips are well worth the time when you have time to kill, but I have one clear favorite.
Like a number of the first-class things in life, I observed this one simultaneously as I was looking for something else. I found its alternative on a quest to find the antique wooden bridge over the Lumber River in Long Branch.
Getting there from Lumberton is half the joy of taking the course from Chippewa Street, which becomes Hestertown Road. Along the path, some history is on display, some now not so glad.
The old Pepsi plant is still an empty shell. Still, Georgia Pacific, a Koch Brothers organization, has taken over the vintage Alpha Cellulose space, even with a far more petite body of workers.
Moving alongside Hestertown Road, there are woods, and sand pits grew to become ponds. The former Cogentrix plant continues to generate energy and is a going subject. See if you can determine what they may be doing.
From N.C. Seventy-two, go 4 miles and take a left onto Matthew’s Bluff Road, to the Long Branch Grill — their burgers are reportedly incredible. Travel a half mile till actually falling off a cliff on the Drop-off.
At the Drop-off, the paved avenue gives way to dust. It’s simply a knowledgeable bet, but I believe the neighborhood youngsters once raced over the Drop-off as rapidly as possible. Oh, to be younger and silly once more.
The avenue is easy except for the water that ran across it from the latest flooding. It’s just a few feet above the Lumber River and runs along it, with swamp on the opposite side, until the bridge is attained.
But, the road has been impassible because of Hurricane Florence and the rains that accompanied the winter. Reports of road situations in mid-February indicate improvement.
Approaching the bridge for the primary time is a delight. It has to be a movie set. The bridge is included in multi-colored graffiti. This can be the remaining vicinity in Robeson County that is a public canvas for old-faculty graffiti.
“If we scrub it off, it comes proper back,” said Phillip Pittman of the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Pittman has fond memories of the bridge because he grew up nearby.
It is a very modern-day bridge with low concrete sides. It was built in 1991 to update the ancient one-lane wooden bridge, Pittman stated. It certainly changed into included by floodwater from each recent hurricane, but no concerns.
“It will live to tell the tale of the floods,” Pittman stated. “The street runs parallel to the river, and the bridge is (somewhat) perpendicular to it, so the cutting-edge flows out and around it.”
A bridge like this most likely has a name, or if it doesn’t, it must. The place is thought of with the aid of locals as the Drop-off and has a colorful past as a celebration spot.
“It’s heavily fished nowadays,” Pittman stated. “People lean their poles towards the bridge and enjoy.”
There once changed into a country keep in which bait and address can be bought, he said. The store is long, long past, and the previous community hub is quiet.
After admiring the graffiti and the river view, which is beautiful in all four seasons, the journey continues through the spooky vintage woods. There is a swamp on each side.
Travelers at the moment are at one of the top remote places in Robeson County that do not require a boat. If it’s not now, it certainly feels like I love it. During numerous trips, I have not begun to peer at any other human or animal.
One wonders what caused this bridge to serve. Is it a bridge to nowhere? Once a bridge, usually a bridge?
Pittman said it serves farmers’ needs to access their fields on either side.
Moving far from the bridge, the dusty street continues for another mile or so, winding through the swamp and giving way to several homesteads. At the end of the street is Beulah Church Road, which is a pleasant trip back to Lumberton.
The avenue heads again to the Old Whiteville Road and then to Lumberton. The return of city landscape is a reminder of why it’s miles critical to wander off into the countryside now and then.
There are more trips worth the ride. A North Carolina Atlas & Gazetteers is an excellent guide to back roads. However, it won’t assist you to discover the artesian properly somewhere near Orrum, or Lennon’s Mill Pond, or Rhoda Strong’s burial website, or other legendary locations you’ve never seen before — right here in Robeson County, U.S.A.
