The easy 4-mile pathway is also part of the Overmountain Trail and the North Carolina Birding Trail.
Leonard & Laurie Adkins
The Catawba River Greenway is basically a flat walk, or ride.
Although smaller in scale than nearby Asheville, Morganton, North Carolina shares many attributes with its neighbor to the west. Morganton has good museums and galleries (History Museum of Burke County and Burkes Arts Council to name two), some great restaurants (King Street Café and Root and Vine for example) and several local breweries (including Fonta Flora and Brown Bottle Works). And, since the most important thing Laurie and I look for when visiting an area is good walking opportunities, I’m happy to report Morganton has a first-rate greenway.
Leonard & Laurie Adkins
Replicated Native American structures are part of the walk.
The Catawba River Greenway is a paved, basically flat (maximum grade is 4% and that’s only for a few yards) pathway that parallels its namesake stream and provides easy access to parks, restaurants, fishing opportunities, playgrounds, canoe and kayak launches and a number of restrooms. It’s also an official segment of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, a part of the North Carolina Birding Trail and was the site of an 1865 Civil War skirmish. An added bonus is most of the trail is surrounded by towering trees, providing nice shade and helping block out much of the noise from nearby streets.
About a mile into the walk are replicated Native American structures with bark and thatched roofs and solid walls that represent a village from the 16th century. According to interpretive plaques, the nearby Fort San Juan was the site of the first European (Spanish) settlement in the New World, predating Jamestown’s establishment by four decades—a bit of information absent from most American history books.
Laurie and I couldn’t resist taking a short detour to Catawba Meadows Park’s Beanstalk Ziplines to fly through the air on the five connected lines 35 feet above the ground. Such exhilaration necessitated a rest break on one of the greenway’s observation platforms overlooking a dozen turtles basking on logs floating in the river.
Leonard & Laurie Adkins
The greenway stays within sight of the river.
Our walk ended inside Judges Riverside (judgesriverside.com), whose picture windows and patio overlooking the river are just a few steps away from the southern end of the trail. Locals have been coming here to enjoy the barbeque long before the greenway system was even conceived.
Leonard & Laurie Adkins
The region’s best cheesecake is served at the Inn at Glen Alpine.
A Sumptuous B&B
Teresa and Craig Sellman spent six months renovating a 1913 country manor and turning it into one of the more pleasurable B&Bs I have stayed in. From the wraparound porch overlooking six acres to the four guestrooms (each with private bath) to the multicourse breakfast of locally sourced items, the Inn at Glen Alpine (innatglenalpine.com) is the place to stay—and it’s only a 10-minute drive from the greenway.
When You Go
The Walk: An easy four-mile (eight miles roundtrip) walk on the Catawba River Greenway with natural, historical and dining diversions.
Getting there: Take I-40 Exit 100 west of Morganton and follow Jamestown Road for 2 miles. Make a right onto Carbon City Road, continue another .5 mile and turn left onto Greenlee Road for .2 mile to leave one car in the parking area. Return to and turn left onto Carbon City Road, go .5 mile, turn left onto Sanford Drive, continue 2.7 miles, turn left onto Lenoir Drive, go another .7 mile, turn onto Shadowline Drive for just a few feet and turn left back onto Lenoir Drive for .3 mile. Make a right onto the road for the Rocky Ford Access parking area.
More information: The morgantonnc.gov website has a link to the greenway system.
Leonard M. Adkins, our walking columnist for nearly 20 years, is an award-winning author whose new book “All About the Appalachian Trail” (for ages 9-14) will be released this spring. Learn more: habitualhiker.com.
The story above appears in our March/April 2020 issue. For more subscribe today or log in to the digital edition with your active digital subscription. Thank you for your support!