The kids were out of school for a day last week and the weather was great so it was a day for walking the trails at Battle Park for us! We really picked a great day for it too. Every inch worm in the forest were hanging down from the trees. We had to pick them out of our hair before we left. A little inch worm never hurt anyone, right? If so, please don't tell me. :) The water on the Tar River was very high because we had just had a couple days of heavy rain. Too bad we didn't bring the fishing poles this time.
I saw a few people fishing and asked what they had caught but they said they were unlucky in fishing that day anyway so I am sure we would have been too! Here are some of the pictures we took at our historic Battle Park in Rocky Mount, NC.The third picture above was a carving that has been there for many years of an old grandfather time looking figure with a hook through his nose and long hair.
As you can see nature is taking father time in and renewing herself. The other two pictures were taken from docks and bridges as we walked the paved walking paths throughout the park.
We found this neat art structure temporarily on display in the woods. A very neat way to re-purpose dead wood from the forest.
I was able to show my daughters my great great great grandfather's tombstone since Battle Park has a very old cemetery as a part of it. Carl Ferdinand Osterburg immigrated to the US from Denmark and brought my great grandmother, Catherine Osterburg Skinner, with him when she was 2 years old. Their names are also on the wall of immigrants at Ellis Island in New York City. I am only 2 generations away from immigrants. Carl could never have known there would be a blog about him one day, or what a blog post was for that matter. Times do change.
Our favorite crossing bridge. Is there a troll underneath? Depends on how good the kids are being that day.
We found the first post office trail and this plaque was posted on the site. It mentions the Micajah Petway chapter of D.A.R.. This is my long ago relative on my father's side of the family. From the records in the local library he had quite a productive life, serving in the military numerous times and as a body guard to George Washington at Valley Forge. You can look his name up online if interested in who he is. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and meet my relatives from the past but I suppose one day we'll all see each other if we have chosen to stand on the same side of Grace.
The picture to the left is from a place we like to sit usually when we visit. We could barely get to it this time since the water was so high and I felt a bit nervous being so close to this water, rushing this way. We sat by the waterfall for a bit and then moved on. We've visited when the waters were high and rushing and at times when the drought had gone on so long we could walk across the dry bed of the river and pick up stones. One of our favorite visits was when the entire area off the sandy bank (another favorite sitting spot) was only 3 inches deep and completely see through. The stones were smooth and clean on the bottom so the girls played in it all day.
Lazy discovery days like this one are refreshing. We already look forward to the next visit.