We just got back from our final outing on Fish Dam Road.  We started by parking on the side of Redwood Road at Rocky Branch and following the southern shoreline of the branch until we came to the ford.  We followed the ford to the Neuse River.  Along the side of the road at the ford is a bolder field strewn with huge rocks the size of washing machines.  Some day I want to get Duncan Heron out there and see what he thinks of this from a geologist's point of view.  It was exciting to see the wide expanse of water at the Neuse River since this represented our final crossing on Fish Dam Road.  We returned to our vehicles and drove across Falls of the Neuse Lake at Cheek Road and parked on the shoulder on the Wake County side.  From here we hiked into the woods on the east side of Cheek and found the main Neuse ford on this side of the river plus a smaller gouge that may have been an alternate route out of the river bottom in wet weather.  We investigated the stone foundation of a small building that was a short distance away.  I remember finding several straight and narrow iron pieces there this winter and thinking that these might be metal rims for wagon wheels back in the old days.  We kicked around in the leaves for a while and could not find the iron pieces.  This long gone building may have been a blacksmith's shop on the edge of Fish Dam Road that serviced the wagon wheels of travelers long ago.

We followed the road bed away from the Neuse and lost it at a beaver pond.  Finding it on the other side, we tracked the road to the base of a dam of a large pond.  Scouting around the side of the pond, we found an alternate route of Fish Dam that led us back to the main roadbed on the other side of the pond and continued on to merge in with Old Weaver Trail Road.  We called this the end of our study and retraced our steps to the Neuse River ford.

In the vehicles again, we went to the home of Scott Harkey.  Scott will turn 90 in November.  He served us fried chicken, biscuits, drinks on the front porch of his house.  The front part of the house was built in 1918 and included four large white columns shipped on railroad cars all the way from California.  Scott told us they were redwood.  The back part of the house was built in the 1880's.  Scott treated all of us to ice cream for desert.  What royal treatment from a man with a heart of gold.

Scott then sat down in a rocking chair on the porch and told the students stories about sawmill days, tobacco farming, life before electricity, life during the Depression, life at home during World War II, and the hand he played in landscaping the grounds of West Campus of Duke University in 1935 and 36.  We learned of how he met his wife Lily Mae, of his first car, and the advantages and disadvantages of horses and mules as work animals.

As a final ceremony, we passed around sheet music of the "Fish Dam Road Song," and everyone signed their name to these sheets.  As a result, each student got a commemorative souvenir of Miniterm, and Scott Harkey got a thank-you note signed by all the kids and the adult sponsors.  We then used this sheet music to serenade Scott Harkey with the song performed by our twenty-three student Fish Dam choir.  At the song's conclusion, all the student filed by and shook Mr. Harkey's hand.

We loaded up the vehicles and headed for NCSSM.  I am confident from the conversations and merriment that I witnessed on the return trip that the students very much enjoyed this experience.  I want to thank all of these students for their enthusiasm and determination over the last week and a half for seeing this project through.  The title of the course was "In Search of Fish Dam Road."  I am proud to say that we found it and have much documentation to show for it!

Thanks to all of you for listening in on our journey and sharing your advice and words of encouragement.

Sincerely,
Joe