Surviving the Overmountain Victory Trail

Three weeks ago I was deathly ill after suffering from a bite of some sort, most likely from a brown recluse, so when I decided to tackle the Overmountain Victory Trail I had no idea that neither remnants of that illness nor the copperhead on the trail would be the least of my worries.

The Overmountain Victory Trail is a 330 mile trail that starts in Abingdon, VA and traverses through Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina before winding back into North Carolina where it ends at Kings Mountain. It marks the route taken by American patriots in 1780 who traveled from Abingdon on horseback in the dead of winter to fight, and win, the Battle of Kings Mountain. One portion of it runs near Tryon, NC where a vineyard is named over it.

For the most part, IT IS NOT a hiking a trail, but rather a path made up of roads and unmarked trails through private land, however there is a small section that can be hiked.  

I've written previously about hiking the Appalachian Trail through Roan Highlands which is one of my favorite places, containing large balds, stunning views and boreal forests due to the high elevation.

To reach the Overmountain Victory Trail, park at Carver's Gap near the top of Roan Mountain. Travel northbound on the AT about five miles at which point you will find that the Overmountain Victory Trail crosses the AT (at Yellow Mountain Gap). From there, turning left onto the OVT will take you through a long descent of single track for about a mile and a half, before it then opens up to a double track that runs through a number of horse and cow pastures.

At times the trail is poorly marked and very much overgrown. Many of the signs have been knocked down. Just keep in mind that you need to stay close to the sound of the river and you'll be okay. Once you reach mile 3.5 or so (which would be 8.5 miles from Carver's Gap) you'll walk past a few homes, the first of which is clearly deserted (despite the fact that someone was boiling something in an old fifty-five gallon drum in the front yard). You'll then come to a paved road. This is the Hampton Creek Cove Recreation Area and it contains a small parking area. It also contains some locals who will eyeball you suspiciously from inside their trailers. 

At that point you have a couple of options. Turn around and hike back, or continue walking the OVT, which is now completely unmarked and follows a series of paved, and poorly marked, roads.  You could also start your hike from here if you don't mind walking up hill for three and a half miles. 

Camping is allowed on the trail but the forested area of the trail is very much overgrown and it would be difficult to pitch a tent. The pastured areas are also largely overgrown with black berry bushes and make for a less than ideal campsite but would work in a pinch.

What my two companions and I ended up doing was continuing to walk down the road a couple of miles to Hwy. 143 where we hitched a ride to the Roan Mountain State Park campground and spent the night there. While there we learned from the forest ranger that the locals are not fond of hikers and that the area is a den of methamphetamine production. That might explain the enormous number of viscous dogs along the path.



However should you decide to follow in our footsteps, here are the directions: From the Hampton Creek Cove Recreation area, turn right onto Hampton Creek Road. (It's not marked but it's the only road you'll see at that point.) Walk about a mile and you'll come to a crossroads. The road to the right is called Teaberry Road but isn't marked. On our map it said that it was  called Teaberry on both sides but to the left it's actually marked (sort of) with a sign that says "Dark Hollow Road." Both Dark Hollow Road and Teaberry Road have rather interesting ghost stories attached to them. There is a large unmarked grave off of Teaberry where supposedly a witch was buried and now haunts the site.  So don't go that way. Instead turn left on Dark Hollow where you will pass a cemetery that is also supposedly haunted by a woman who was murdered by the local wives who thought she was sleeping with all their husbands.  We didn't catch a glimpse of her though.

Follow that road until you get to another crossroads. If you go straight, you'll be on Sugar Hollow Road. If you turn right you'll be on Sugar Hollow Road. Yes you read that correctly. Go right, on Sugar Hollow, not straight on Sugar Hollow. Sugar Hollow to the right will take you to Hwy 143 and you'll see an RV park on your left. Unfortunately, as we discovered, they won't let backpackers stay there. So from there, turn left onto 143 and walk about a mile and a half to the state park campground located on the right side of the road.

For one more option to the trailhead, see the comment from Brenda W. below.

Despite the reputation of the area, we actually had nothing but pleasant interactions with people. A kid on an ATV stopped to give us directions. A guy on a tractor gave us even better directions. A guy on a riding lawn mower stopped mowing to try and help but actually gave us bad directions. A lady sitting on her porch offered us water. A guy on a homemade motorcycle with no brakes stopped as well. He had to use his feet to stop. He also gave us bad directions but not intentionally. Then a nice guy gave us a ride the last mile and a half and even gave us some ears of corn from his garden. Once we made it to the state park, a ranger gave me a lift back to my car and refused to let me pay him for his time and another camper gave us hamburgers for dinner. It was a hell of an adventure. Wish I had time to write about all the other things we saw, like the thousand or so centipedes that invaded our campsite the first night.

Distance from downtown Greenville: 126 miles

More Ghost Hunting...still no ghosts

I've mentioned ghost hunting outings on this blog in the past and judging by my stat records that seems to be a popular topic (especially around October). Recently I went by a few more places listed in John Boyanski's Ghosts of the Upstate to see if I could spot something from beyond.  (I have no belief in ghosts, so I really do it because I like the quirky history of these places not because I expect to see anything other worldly.)

Burke-Stark Mansion

On July 4th my friend Tim and I went down to Abbeville to check out several haunted locations, all of which were closed. Some due to the holiday, some due to the fact that Abbeville has literally become a ghost town. Practically every business on the square is closed down, despite obvious efforts by the city to revitalize the place. Sidewalks are freshly poured and new walkways have been added in the past couple years, but no one is around.  The first place we arrived was the Burk Stark Mansion, which is a really cool place, and where the ghost of Jefferson Davis is said to reside.  While on the grounds, we did find things a bit amiss. In front of the home we encountered something I never remember seeing before, an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. An omen? Perhaps. He seemed to be pointing us to a dead body that almost went unnoticed. There in broad daylight, on the front walk of the mansion lay, God bless his soul, a dead squirrel. No obvious sign of death could be found. Hmmm....

Moving on we stopped by the Abbeville Opera House and the Belmont Inn. Both were locked and the Belmont Inn had a sign stating it was closed permanently (like almost every other business in town). Despite that fact, there was a TV on in the bar and I saw a figure dart from the room as I glanced in the window.


The following weekend I headed out the other direction.  First I went by the Walnut Lane Inn in Lyman where  a former owner, a maid and the owner's two daughters are supposedly haunting the place. It's a beautiful house. The owner was busy getting ready for a birthday party so we only spoke briefly and I didn't bother him with questions about his phantasmal residents.

Speaking of ghost towns,  downtown Spartanburg has a rich history of haints. There are several dorms at Wofford, Converse and the School for the Deaf and Blind that are supposedly haunted and some private residences in town are also said to be haunted, but not having access to the inside of these places they weren't particularly interesting.


So I headed out to a haunted bridge where it's rumored two fisherman were killed by a beast that lives under the bridge and that the fisherman can sometimes be heard. After pulling over, I found getting below the bridge was a bit tough due to the overgrown vegetation and as I walked across the bridge (it's very small) a fellow came out of nowhere and asked if I was out of gas. I explained that I was just walking around so he drove on but then slowed and turned and came back my direction, at which point I got the distinct feeling I wasn't welcome there.

From there I drove out to Walnut Grove to visit Nesbitt Bridge where it's rumored that a female hitchhiker will ask for a ride but then suddenly vanish. The river below was far more impressive than the creek where the legendary beast resided at the last location. Again though, while walking across the bridge, a guy in a pick-up truck stopped and said, "How ya doin'?" I mentioned that I was just out taking photos (I don't want people to think I'm a nut so I don't mention the ghost hunting). "Just taking pictures huh?" he didn't quite buy it.  We exchanged a few more lines and he finally seemed satisfied that I was harmless and drove off. I noticed he had a DNR sticker on his truck so maybe he just thought I was fishing without a license (although despite all the money I spend on fishing licenses I've never had anyone ask me to produce one).

View from Nesbitt Bridge

If you look closely at the photo to left you can see a stray hound on the island in the middle of the frame. Ghost hound?











And speaking of haunted buildings. I recently came across this next building in Tigerville. Surely it has some ghost stories attached to it.

If you're weird like I am and have some interest in visiting some of these spots be sure to visit local blogger Tom's Random Connections Blog and and download the KMZ file he created which makes finding many of these spots really easy.

Deserted Schoolhouse?

Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve

This bridge, located in northern Greenville county, was built by Joel Poinsett in 1820. In addition to being one of the earliest settlers of Greenville, Poinsett also discovered the Poinsettia flower.

Supposedly the bridge is haunted by an old slave who was hung from it, a laborer who died building the bridge and by an indian tribe. Yet again, I witnessed no ghosts, but my wife's camera went dead as soon as she tried to photograph it. Hmmmm.....(Mine worked fine.)

Distance from downtown Greenville: 39 miles.


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Saturday Afternoon Ghost Hunting

After posting my trip to the haunted "children's" graveyard, I've continued to receive hits from others interested in the ghosts of the Carolinas. This has piqued my interest in the topic.

My pal Tom over at Random Connections, read my post then did his own investigation of the graveyard, posting a much more detailed analysis. (Tom and I have never actually met but we share a lot of the same interests.) Yesterday Tom posted a review about a new book by local author John Boyanoski titled More Ghosts of the Upstate. This is a sequal to his first book Ghosts of the Upstate. I picked up the sequel last night, not having read the original. Despite being a total skeptic (and a bit of a cynic) about such things, today I decided to go check out some of these so-called haunted sites for myself, partially using the book as a guide and in large part using the Google Earth KMZ file created by Tom.

It was an enlightening day. The creepiest location by far was the Alston/Honour House, primarily because the ghost of Aaron Burr's daughter who inhabits the residence appears to have really odd taste in landscaping and she apparently collects ice cream trucks as well. The top image is the site of the lynching of Willie Earle. He supposedly haunts the area, but I didn't see him.

The second image is from the Colony Theatre in Easley. I didn't see any ghosts there either but I did pick up Boyanoski's first book at a swanky little bookstore nearby. I didn't realize Easley had anything that was swanky, but across the street from the book store I also discovered a really nice little pizza joint.

In Abbeville I discovered the best evidence yet for the existence of ghosts. I didn't actually see any but Abbeville itself is a virtual ghost town. I've never understood what keeps it going. Practically everything was closed, which is typically the case when I'm there, and many buildings are vacant, yet somehow the town lives on. I had hoped to have a beer in the tavern located in the basement of the Belmont Inn (seen on the left) but it was closed...on a Saturday night. The Belmont is supposedly overrun with ghosts. Maybe they don't like to work on Saturday evenings.

From there I ventured over to the Abbewood Bed and Breakfast which supposedly has a ghost who was released after a hidden room in the inn was discovered. But it appeared to be a private residence so I wasn't able to enter it either. I also snapped a shot of the Abbeville Opera house which supposedly houses a mysterious patron who materializes in the upper balcony.

On second thought, maybe the dozen or so people I saw walking around the square in Abbeville were all spirits from beyond.  Wow, they looked so real, well except for one guy.

By far the most interesting place I explored was the Fox & Hound Pub located in the Inn on the Square in Greenwood. I was pleased to find that this pub had a great atmosphere with paneled walls, leather chairs, good food and a full bar. According to Boyanoski's latest book, the inn is haunted by Bill, a real prankster. Unlike most ghosts, Bill doesn't know how to walk through walls so sometimes he gets locked in the pub causing him to bang on the doors. Rumor has it that Bill likes to tap newcomers on the shoulder and watch them jump, so I was a bit disappointed that by the time I finished my dinner Bill had not bothered to introduce himself to me. Turning to leave though I discovered the most chilling sight of my day. Before me, larger than life, was solid evidence that things were oddly amiss in this dark little pub. A strange glow was coming from one of the pub walls. I started to dismiss it as the work of an overactive imagination, but as I looked closer I could not deny what I saw coming from the glowing object. Flordia 30 - Tennessee 6.  If strange things were not afoot in that little bar then someone please explain to me how a washed up team like UT managed to score against the Gators.

I must admit, I'm now a little less skeptical.

Distance from downtown Greenville:

1-60 miles.

Haunted Children's Graveyard

Regularly I like to check my go-stats page to see what people are Googling to find this blog. "Coal Fired Pizza" and "Swamp Rabbit Trail" are two popular phrases that lead people here. But last October, a number of people Googled the phrase, "Haunted Children's Graveyard, Greenville, SC" or something similar. This usually led them to this post about Graveyard Fields in North Carolina. Recently I noticed a few more hits from this search phrase so I decided to Google it myself and see what this was all about.

It turns out that there is a graveyard near Furman University with tomb stones dating back to the 1700's and supposedly it's haunted and supposedly it contains mostly children. So I decided to stop by and check it out. What I found was disturbing. First I should say that it appears that the tombs were for people of all ages, not just children although most of them were impossible to read so maybe I'm wrong. Also I should say that I saw no ghosts. Maybe they were hiding or maybe they just don't show up for skeptics. What I did witness was massive vandalism of the graveyard. In addition there was a large amount of trash which consisted mostly of beer cans and items of clothing, making me wonder what kind of people were partying there.

I also found a grave that someone had clearly robbed, for God knows what reason.









If this kind of thing interests you then you may find the following of interest as well:
Haunted Asheville Ghost Tour
Charleston Ghost Tours

Also check out local blogger Tom's Ghost Towns of South Carolina. Also Tom has created a cool KMZ file that opens up in Google Earth showing the various so-called haunted sites around town: South Carolina Hauntings

Distance from downtown Greenville: 5.3 miles.


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