is that peat fires burned a hole big 

 enough for a lake. Some even say Paul 

 Bunyan made a footprint that formed a 

 sinkhole." 



Artifacts reveal the presence of 

 Native Americans as early as 8,000 B.C. 

 The most fascinating discovery was a 

 collection of dugout canoes — 30 at last 

 count — found in the lake after an 

 extensive forest fire in 1985. The lake 

 level dropped when water was pumped for 

 the fire. 



"A park official discovered the 

 canoes while checking on the tundra 

 swans," says Spear. "The water was so 

 shallow that a swan's web feet brushed 

 the sand off of a canoe." 



The Algonquian Indians made the 

 dugout canoes by burning the interior 

 of cypress logs and scraping away 

 the charred wood until only a shell 

 remained. Archaeologists believe the 



seasonal campers sank their canoes in the 

 lake's shallow water to store them until 

 the next hunting or fishing season. 



Some of the canoes are displayed at 

 the boat ramp on the lake's northeastern 

 side. One that extends 37 feet is thought 

 to be the longest known canoe in the 

 Southeast. Another one, built more than 

 4,400 years ago, is the second-oldest 

 canoe in the country. Because the canoes 

 are so ancient, some are mere remnants. 

 Others remain mostly intact. 



"The restricted water movement and 

 the acidity of the water at Lake Phelps 

 contributed to their preservation," says 

 Shearin. "Most of the canoes are still in 

 the lake." 



The canoes aren't the only historical 

 attraction at the park. To get a glimpse 

 into plantation life, you can tour 

 Somerset Place, which occupies eight 

 acres. With its formal gardens, expansive 



porches and expensive furnishings, the 

 antebellum mansion reflects the lavish 

 lifestyle of wealthy planter Josiah 

 Collins III. The surrounding outbuild- 

 ings served the slaves, who cultivated 

 corn and rice. 



A mile east of Somerset, Civil War 

 buffs can view the graves of three mem- 

 bers of the Pettigrew family — Confed- 

 erate General James Johnson Pettigrew, 

 the park's namesake; his father, 

 Ebenezer Pettigrew, a prominent planter 

 and congressman; and his grandfather, 

 Charles Pettigrew, the first bishop-elect 

 of the Episcopal Church in North Caro- 

 lina. James Pettigrew led North 

 Carolina's 26th Regiment in the famous 

 high-water-mark charge at Gettysburg. 



"Pettigrew was a brilliant general," 

 says Shearin, who has dressed as 

 General Pettigrew during park pro- 

 grams. "The first day in battle he was 



seriously wounded and 

 survived." 



The Pettrigrews 

 lived on a family farm, 

 Bonarva, which was 

 nationally recognized 

 as a model of scientific 

 farming and manage- 

 ment in the 1830s. All 

 that remains of the 

 plantation is some 

 rubble near the 

 carriage road and 

 several trees planted by 

 the family. 



During the 1930s, 

 the Federal Farm 

 Security Administra- 

 tion purchased the 

 Collins mansion and 

 surrounding lands, 

 which were incorpo- 

 rated into the Scupper- 

 nong Farms Resettle- 

 ment Project. The state 



White Atamasco lilies blanket a trail on the northern shore of Lake Phelps. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 17 



