Segment 14: Land of History

Singletary Lake State Park to Holly Shelter Game Land

By Kate Dixon, Jim Grode and Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

Explore an area rich in history—from the Revolutionary War to the New Deal and beyond—on this 66-mile route through Bladen and Pender Counties.

Segment 14 also includes an alternate route featuring a short section of the beautiful blackwater Northeast Cape Fear River. If you have access to a kayak, canoe, or SUP, you can paddle the river, but we are not aware of any local outfitters with boats for rent.

This segment is a great place to explore by bicycle as well as on foot as all but the river section and a one-mile loop trail in Moores Creek National Battlefield is on roads and multi-use trails.

• Singletary Lake State Park, which began its life as a park in 1936 when the National Park Service bought land for a federally financed work program and recreational demonstration project
• The Elwell Ferry, one of three remaining river ferries in North Carolina
• The Kelly Historical Museum, which shares the history of a community built when the Cape Fear River was the main transportation corridor in this area
• The Canetuck Rosenwald School, a two-room school built in 1921-22 with funds raised by the African American community in Canetuck and matching funds from the Rosenwald Fund, which funded schools for African Americans throughout the southeast United States, including more than 800 in North Carolina. Canetuck’s Rosenwald School, which operated from 1922 to 1958, is one of only a few that remain standing, and is now used as a community center.
• Moores Creek National Battlefield, the site of the first patriot victory in the American Revolution
• Burgaw, the Pender County seat, whose many historic buildings include the oldest train depot in North Carolina
• On the alternate route, the gently flowing water and abundant wildlife along a 4.6-mile stretch of the Northeast Cape Fear River