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 The
editor's EARTH DAY tour
of Smithfield's Town Commons A big part of the tour dealt with the town's colonial history, as Smithfield was founded in 1777 at the site of Smith's Ferry across the Neuse. But I couldn't avoid talking about the ecology of the place, myself fascinated with the river's flooding, its pollution, and of course its natural beauty, even if it is the muddiest of streams. Two fairly recent developments have enhanced my attraction to the land set aside by the town's 243-year-old charter for "commons" (what we call "a park"): • One was the paving of what started out years ago as the Neuse Nature Trail. • The other was the town's wetlands-restoration project following hurricanes Fran and Floyd back in the late '90s. I thought it might be appropriate on Earth Day this past Wednesday to take a walk with my camera to give readers of the Sun a tour. Let's start at the
trailhead beside the Girl Scout Hut off South Second
Street (pictured above), paying attention to
the signs about "social distancing."
First thing we should notice on the left is the wetlands project that includes a large retention pond beside Spring Branch, wetlands-adaptable trees like the cypress, and a smaller retention basin that reinforces the natural filtering that wetlands provide....    After the
greenway trail turns northward alongside the
river, we find several overlooks (kinda like those
along the Blue Ridge Parkway) offering scenic
views of the river. Notice the sandy banks, the
product of silt washed downstream mostly from
intense real-estate developments to the northwest
of us....
 We should also take note of two places on either side of the Market Street bridge where large rocks anchored with concrete have been put in place to keep the eroding riverbank from undermining the walkway....  Below the Legion
Hut and beneath the Market Street bridge, we
usually find water trickling across the trail.
That's coming from natural subterranean drainage
of Smithfield's business district, which is much
higher in elevation than the river....
 Then there are
the waterfalls --- two of them --- where street
drains dump runoff onto embedded rock as the water
falls toward the river. That rock, by the way, is
part of a sturdy foundation beneath the original
part of Smithfield that may also explain why the
river curves away from the town as it heads toward
the coast....
 And don't miss
the old oak tree --- once named "Oakey" for a
"talking tree" box that used to operate along the
Neuse Nature Trail. During Smithfield's
Bicentennial celebration in 1977, a botanist said
it's very likely that tree has held its place on
the bank long before the town was born....
 We'll conclude our tour at the boat ramp, likely near the spot where Smith's Ferry carried horses and wagons across the Neuse during the Colonial Era. Despite the muddy waters, hopeful fisherman continue to try their luck on the dock as well as a beach-like spot beneath the bridge downstream....  And, in case you're wondering, the town's entire greenway trail from the Girl Scout Hut three miles out to Community Park is open during the coronavirus shutdown. But you'll need to be aware of social distancing as many more folks than usual are taking advantage of the walking and biking trail these days. |
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