Traveled east today to tent camp on the NC coastal plain. There are unusual ecological formations to explore and a cultural connection to this month.
I've completed a preliminary analysis and determined that the primary wildlife species here is the mosquito.
The tent is up before dark (so early now). Rain is coming and a Spring Peeper is looking for a girlfriend.
Crickets and the rest of the Night Orchestra are tuning up for tonight's concert.
Peace
Waiting for the rain to stop before heading to the trail. Maybe the light showers overnight caused the family nearby to leave only hours after they arrived and set up camp. A huge tent.
Breakfast is my homemade almond and cranberry granola.
Small birds are getting noisy and flitting about the thick brush.
During a break in the rain, I found some berries.
🧵 #JonesLakeSP #TravelNC #Travel #Berries #Nature #NaturePhotography
Once the rain was out of the way, it was beautifully sunny, although the initial humidity was stupifying.
So I started on the trail to walk around an oval lake. But not just any type of lake. Mysteriously, this one has no visible inflow of any kind. No creek, river, or stream.
Even more weird, there is another just like it on the trail. They are at the top of the map. Look how they are even oriented the same direction! But there's more...
There are lakes and ponds like this all around here, more than anywhere else along the U.S. east coast.
They are called Carolina Bays. The result of complex interactions between unique underground strata in the coastal sandhills and prevailing winds, they hold rainwater and generate multiple natural communities. The trail I took went through all of them.
🧵 #JonesLakeSP #travel #TravelPhotography
#LandscapePhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography
Around these Bays, there are several distinct natural communities, all seen on one trail. The first one is known as "xeric sandhill scrub", which is just a fancy name for "desert".
☀️ After the rain, the temperature vaulted to 84F/28C with high humidity. Was this November?
🌲 The only trees that can survive in this sand and heat are Longleaf Pine and Turkey Oak. More history and science in alt.
I did not see any Reindeer.
🧵 #JonesLakeSP #TravelThursday #Travel #LichenSubscribe #Nature
Leaving the roasting sandhills, I hiked into a welcome shady area, the "wet pine flatwoods". There are actually puddles!
🌲 More shrubs here, like Carolina Sheep Laurel. It features in a book I'm writing. Will have to return next Spring to see their flowers.
🍄 In the moist ground, though, are some interesting sights.
🧵 #JonesLakeSP #Mosstodon #FungiFriday #Mushtodon #FootpathFriday #Travel #Nature #NaturePhotography #FridayVibes
(open for horizontal pick)
Check out rest of the #JonesLakeSP 🧵 ☝️ and more here on Pixtagram:
https://pixtagram.social/p/joewynne/763368913050847046
#Travel #Nature #Landscape #TravelPhotography #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography
Jones Lake at Sunrise; Jones Lake State Park; Elizabethtown, NC; See more from this trip on Mastodon via #JonesLakeSP ; #Travel #Nature #Landscape #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography #TravelPhotography
Looking across this large oval lake at sunrise, the horizon is farther away in the center, leaving the shores on the left and right looking taller.
(open to see horizontal pic mirror image)
Jones Lake
Jones Lake State Park
Elizabethtown, NC
🧵 #JonesLakeSP #Travel #Nature #Landscape #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography #TravelPhotography #TravelNC
Continuing my hike around the Carolina Bay, I entered an empty picnic area to see a spectacular Live Oak tree spreading wide over tables, with a great view of the lake. Definitely ate under that.
Jones Lake State Park
Elizabethtown, NC
🧵 #JonesLakeSP #Travel #Nature #Landscape #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography #TravelPhotography #TravelNC #Tree #Trees
Bald Cypress and Boat Dock
Jones Lake State Park
Elizabethtown, NC
#Nature #NaturePhotography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography#Travel #TravelNC #JonesLakeSP
Part of this trip was to go to nearby Pembroke, NC. On the sign going into the town is the phrase "Home of the Lumbee". Lumbee? There was another sign that said "Town, Tribe, University". 🤔
👥 The Lumbee are state-recognized #NativeAmericans with a unique recent history. According to archeologists, they have existed around the Lumbee (now Lumber) River, one of their cultural centers, for over 14,000 years. But this particular story begins in 1887, amid post-civil war racism.
🏫 In that year, the "Croatan Normal School" opened, funded by North Carolina, at the request of the Lumbee and other tribes. The purpose of this school was to educate #indigenous teachers so that they could in turn teach their people, who had a high illiteracy rate at the time.
💥 It was so successful it grew in size and scope. Not surprising, given that there are so many indigenous people in this area as shown in the map (areas 4, 5 and 6).
This part of my trip was to see Pembroke, Lumbee facilities, and what the school looked like now.
#PembrokeNC 🧵 1
So the Lumbee were a key part of the growth of the "school for Indians" established in Pembroke. By the time Brown vs. Board of Education was settled, it was ready to absorb other races to newly named Pembroke State College.
🏫 In 1972, it became part of the Univ of NC system, known as UNC-Pembroke, and today maintains almost equal numbers of Native Americans, Whites and Blacks.
Note the "Founded" date on the welcome sign. The Lumbee are so proud of that history, it's in the Pembroke logo: "Town - Tribe - University".
When I arrived, there was a whole new North campus and everything was so busy, I had no place to park! But I got a pic of Lumbee Hall from my car.
:thread: 2 #PembrokeNC
There are other sites where the activities of the Lumbee are visible beyond the university. Recall that there is no reservation here. The Lumbee have been geographically co-located with everyone else in this area.
I got a pic of the impressive Lumbee Housing Complex and a pic of some of the houses there.
And check out their annual Accomplishments report. What an example of accountability and community service!
There was a particular graduate of UNC-Pembroke who went on to write a history of the Lumbee and is doing much more, Malinda Maynor Lowery.
Here is a quotation from her:
👥 "Simply put, Lumbees, with our own and interdependent cultural and historical tribal experience, our joy and deep-seated sense of responsibility in practicing the tenets of Christianity, and our ability to decisively adapt to changing political, social, and historical currents while maintaining our tribal cohesion belies the immutability of essentialized, race-based constructs of identity, and the staticity of communal experience."
🎬 Recently, she turned into a filmmaker to create LumbeeLand, which "offers a hard, intimate look at how the Lumbee community has suffered from the theft of property and culture, from racism and dispossession which has left entire families vulnerable to substance abuse and dependence...boasts an award-winning team of Indigenous producers and local crew made up of 80% women and non-binary filmmakers."
gorgeous, Joe.
I lived in Pamlico County for a few years. High School. 😉
I'm enjoying your photos. Is the book a secret?
What is the nature of your book?
Good luck and it sounds like it is something you enjoy 🤗
Joe Wynne 🌻🚗⛰️
The Eddie Show 📷🎧❤️
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