Topics Related to Historical Markers
Humorist and journalist. Retired to N.C., 1891. Lived at "Buck Shoals," 3 1/2 mi. W. His grave is one mile north.
Governor and political leader. President of the University of North Carolina, 1835-1868. Was born three miles E.
Secretary of the treasury of the Confederacy, from Charleston. Native of Germany. Summer home and grave nearby.
Graves of Thomas Wolfe & "O. Henry," authors; Zebulon B. Vance, governor; Thomas L. Clingman and Robert R. Reynolds, U.S. senators. One-half mile W.
Civil War governor. He led state, 1862-65, and 1877-79; U.S. Senator, 1879-94. Colonel, 26th N.C. Regiment, 1861-62. Birthplace 6 miles N.E.
One of the last surviving covered bridges in North Carolina, built in 1894, stands 500 yards north on Lyles Creek.
Location: NC 73 west of Lake Norman
County: Lincoln
Original Date Cast: 1964
This large rectangular marker, with map inset, was researched and erected concurrent with the construction in the early 1960s of the Cowan’s Ford dam and the creation of Lake Norman. The extended text reads as follows:
On Oct. 5, 1780, about 1400 militia, including many riflemen, camped 1 mi. S. at Alexander’s Ford and there turned toward Kings Mountain.
Devastated western N.C. and western Piedmont; destroyed homes, crops, mills, bridges. Ten lives lost, July 16, in washout of trestle 1 mile south.
Granite monolith. Site acquired by Lucius Morse in 1902. Developed into tourist attraction. State park, 2007. One mi. S.