An Appreciation of DuPont Forest

September 10, 2020

4:10 PM

The majesties and mysteries go well beyond the park’s six signature waterfalls and inspire enough love to generate a book

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Triple Falls, at 120 feet, is one of the lures of Dupont State Forest.

The first hike I took in North Carolina’s DuPont Forest started close to High Falls. Like other visitors, I gawked and stared at the falls as I clicked one shot after another. Water cascaded down the rock and then plunged in a pool; it was a spectacular sight. Then I turned around and spotted a tall chimney on a hill. The chimney had a fireplace on two sides. A date had been engraved in the concrete – April 28, 1941. No other clue, no plaque, no sign—I was not in a museum. But I knew there was a story here beyond the waterfalls.

I’m a hiker. In the 20 years I’ve lived in Asheville, North Carolina I’ve walked in Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, all the trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and more.

But DuPont State Recreational Forest is different. Its 12,000 acres, small in comparison to those other lands, encompass six waterfalls, five lakes, two named cemeteries and many historic artifacts. Located between Asheville and Greenville, South Carolina, DuPont Forest conceals a long human history from Appalachian settlers, an X-ray film plant, an upscale summer camp and potential high-end homes to North Carolina state forest.

DuPont Forest is not untouched wilderness; no public land in the eastern United States is. When I first asked fellow hikers about the forest, I got bits of information based on folklore and hearsay. The facts differed based on how long my companions had been in the area. I searched for a book on DuPont Forest. While there must be hundreds of books on Great Smoky Mountains National Park and as many on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I could find none on this forest. How was that possible?

I got facts and recollections from many sources and tried to fit in the jigsaw puzzle that is DuPont Forest history. I spent two years talking to people from all aspects of DuPont Forest, past and present: DuPont Corporation retirees, children of DuPont employees, North Carolina legislators, North Carolina State Forest rangers, conservation leaders, Brevard natives, Friends of DuPont activists and forest users.

So little is written about working day-to-day in large companies that I was fascinated by this aspect of the story. What can we learn about industry’s role in saving land and making it public? Both my late husband and I worked for large, hierarchical organizations for our entire careers. This made me curious about the role of the company in the creation of the forest.

Over the years, I had hiked many trails in DuPont Forest, some over and over again. But when I decided to write about the forest, I created a spreadsheet of all the trails. I hiked methodically through this list, trying to understand the connections between trails. Even the trail names offer a big clue that there is a long human history: Cart, Guion, Joanna, Micajah, Moore … Who were all these people?

Most visitors gravitate to four easy-to-reach waterfalls: High Falls, Triple Falls, Hooker Falls and Bridal Veil. However, solitude can be found in other parts of the forest. In the northeast section, off an unpaved road, I walked Plantation Trail which leads to, well, really nowhere. DuPont Corporation built the trails here and planted white pine when they owned the land. I uncovered a long memo written in 1962 by A.B. Morrison, a new DuPont plant manager fresh from New Jersey who found himself responsible for thousands of acres of forest land. He sounded genuinely mystified by what the company should do with all this property. He hired a professional forest manager who planted mostly white pines because white pines grow quickly.

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The Covered Bridge across the Little River near High Falls is a leftover from a halted development.

I talked with DuPont engineers, chemists, and hourly workers. They were a pleasure to interview: punctual at our meetings, exact with their words and making sure that I understood them. No one said, “Oh it’s too technical.” When they could not remember or could not be precise, they said so. Children of DuPont workers, who are senior citizens by now, remember the freedom they had on the DuPont land. As one told me, “DuPont was the background of my whole life. It was your job, your recreation, your life.”

In the southeast corner, there’s an airstrip and an aircraft hangar, vestiges of the Summit Camps. Former campers, still nostalgic for the fun and friendship made in the camps, have formed a Facebook page. A few bikers will ride the one-mile airstrip, but it’s not as crowded as the waterfall area. I live alone now, so I don’t have much need for solitude on the trail. I’d rather wave to the bikers zooming down the trail, admire the horses and chat to the hikers I meet. Somehow all those constituents get along and give way on these multi-use trails.

The X-ray plant has long closed, though DuPont Corporation is still doing environmental cleanup in a small section of the forest known as the donut hole. The land belongs to newcomers, long-time locals and visitors from across the state and the world. Though the state forest has existed for almost 25 years, it’s still a teenager—growing, spreading out, sometimes loud and crowded and other times quiet, and thoughtful. Its history is out in the open and its future is still being created.

My relationship with DuPont Forest is like a long-time marriage. I may think I now know all about the forest, but it will change, and I will change. And I will keep coming back.

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