08/06/2023
From yesterday's Avery Journal-Times
https://tinyurl.com/Overmountain
Editor’s Note: The following is the first of a two-part feature on the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.
NEWLAND — The Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail or OVNHT, is something most North Carolinians, much less a lot of people from Avery or surrounding counties, have heard of. Unless you are a history buff, many are unaware of the significance of the trail to Avery and how it is connected to the American Revolution and the United Sates.
Those questions are extremely difficult to answer in just one article, and so to answer these statements fully they will be answered in two parts, with this installment looking at the trail itself, and next week’s installment going more in depth about the history of the trail and how it’s connected to Avery County, the American Revolution and the nation.
The OVNHT is trail that traces the route of patriots who were eventually known as the Overmountain Men. This group of ragtag volunteers went from Abington, Va., and came through Sycamore Shoals in current-day Carter County, Tenn., and eventually joined with others and ended up marching to what is now Kings Mountain National Military Park. With that national trail there is a state trail that overlaps it called the Overmountain North Carolina State Trail (OVNCST) which runs through 11 counties in North Carolina.
Many who work with the state trail think that the historical aspect is one of the many reasons why the state government decided to make a designated state trail for preservation purposes.
“This is an untold story, and that is why I think they give the designation for a state trail. In 1980 Senator Broyhill spearheaded a National Historic trail and that historic trail includes Virginia,Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina,” stated Starli McDowell, executive director of OVNCST Friends. “The North Carolina legislature just recently wanted to support the trail building on the ground, leading up to the American 250, which is our Independence anniversary. So the North Carolina legislature created The OVNCST, which overlaps the National trail.”
The primary group that is looking to spearhead the movement to get as many unfinished trails back to their original splendor is the North Carolina State Trail Friends. The Overmountain North Carolina State Trail Friends is an organization that is dedicated to bring awareness to the historical significance of the trail and to work with the local governments around the surrounding counties to maintain and restore the Overmountain Trail. The group also wants the public to be able to use the trail as a recreational tool as well as an educational one. Many parts of the trail trace through Avery County and the surrounding counties, picking up many of the patriots that would later fight in the Battle of Kings Mountain.
“The trail in Avery County is on Yellow Mountain Road and it intersects the Appalachian Trail as it comes up from Shelving Rock Encampment across the top of the mountain. It comes down Roaring Creek and follows 19E all the way to Spruce Pine and the Toe River,” McDowell said.
The OVNCST has more than 230 potential trail miles that can be turned into trails and added to the state trail, complementing the already current 80 miles of trail that is able to be hiked. The OVNCST Friends are looking for opportunities to turn some of the unfinished and unused trail into something that could be beneficial for everyone in the Avery community by constructing those unusable trails into usable territory.
“We are looking for opportunities where we can put the trail on the ground for the public access, so that people can get out and enjoy nature along the trail (by putting) historic markers and telling the story so people can get out and enjoy the trail and learn at the same time,” McDowell said.
Within the next year OVNCST Friends plan on having a community wide meeting to gauge the interest of people in communities impacted by the trail, as well as talk with leaders in each town the trail traverses to see about the possibly of a trailing project there.
“So we are looking at each county, at the county’s own priorities: What does the county want? What does the county have where maybe there is an opportunity for a trail that the state can support and get behind to get a trail off the ground,” McDowell said.
The OVNCST Friends want to help build the community and work with the residents and town governments to improve what is already in the community. The group is always looking for volunteers, whether it be manual labor, simply to invest monetarily on a project that they are working on, or if there is some land that someone thinks might be a good fit for the trail.
“We are going to go into each county and have a meeting (to gauge) the counties’ priorities and perspective, because we want to work with and through the county,” McDowell added. “The residents, governments, we want to find out “What do you want to see us do?’ We are going to ask Avery County ‘What do you want us to do?’ ‘How can we work work together?’”
The potential new trails could offer the surrounding counties a wide range of benefits among outdoor activities, such as hiking and and camping along the trails. New trails may also provide great opportunities for local schools to bring their students and have a hands-on experience with Revolutionary War history and the part the Overmountain Men played in this area in shaping the heritage and origins of this region.
