Page 7 - MOST RECENT
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.. In the Beginning"
EARLY HISTORY OF KERNERSVILLE
In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched an expedition example, Stafford's spring is the headwaters of Muddy
from England to the New World to explore the country Creek. Muddy Creek enters the Yadkin River. The
and select a suitable site for a permanent settlement. Yadkin and Rocky Rivers make the Great Pedee. The
On their return, Captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Bar- Pedee empties into the ocean at Georgetown, South
lowe brought a glowing report about the Roanoke Is- Carolina. The spring below the old depot is the head-
land region. Amadas and Barlowe only saw a little of waters of Haw River. The Dunlap springs are the head-
the coastal plain of our state, but had they seen Pied- waters of Deep River. Haw River and Deep River make
mont North Carolina they would have described it also up the Cape Fear which empties at Wilmington. The
as "the goodliest land under the cope of heaven". spring beyond Mt. Cur cemetery goes into Belews Creek
Longfellow described the New World wilderness which flows into the Dan River, then into the Roanoke
with these familiar words: "This is the forest primeval. River and thence to Albemarle Sound and the Atlantic
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks ... " The first Ocean.
hui:iters to penetrate the unbroken forest of what is now What of the Indians whom early hunters found
Forsyth County found occasional small cleared patches here? They left no written record, but to this day arrow-
where Indians grew a little com. For the most part heads can be uncovered in certain fields inside the city
there was only the primeval forest - a perfect stand of limits of Kernersville and in years gone by broken pot-
timber awaiting the permanent settler who came to tery could also be found. There were probably no large
claim it. There were heavier stands of timber in other Indian settlements in this area, but only small, transi-
parts of the New World, but nowhere was the quality tory groups. After the defeat of warring Tuscarora tribes
better. All of the hard woods common to the eastern in the eastern part of the state, the surviving Tuscaroras
part of the country were found here and pine forests fled northwestward to reach their kinsmen of the Iro-
covered most of the ridges and extended well into the quois Confederacy in the Great Lakes region. Their
lowlands. Poplar, later used widely for furniture, was trail probably led through this area and later became
found everywhere and black walnut was u ed, as it is the main highway for the tide of the white man's im-
today, for the finer pieces of furniture. migation.
vVithin the Piedmont area were numerous tribes of
The topography of Kernersville had, of course, much
Siouan stock. Among these tribes the Catawbas were
to do with its history. The fact that this area was a
the most numerous. They were a sedentary agricultural
natural watershed was recognized from the beginning.
people, skillful in pottery making and weaving baskets.
Here is the source of Haw River, Deep River, Abbotts
"The flood of immigration that poured into the Pied-
Creek, Salem Creek, Belews Creek and Muddy Creek.
mont area after 1700 was little opposed by the friendly
It is interesting to trace the course of these streams. For
Catawba."
Dobson's Crossroads. The Inn
in the background.
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