Walk The Old Plank Mystery Cache
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***OLD PLANK ROAD, a piece of our history.***
Street tells story dating back beyond wagon trails and the Civil War
By Joe DePriest
Colorful road names are all over the place.
One of my favorites: Old Plank Road in Lincoln County.
I almost expect to hear boards creaking when I drive the route east of Lincolnton. It's a name that encompasses a fascinating phase of local history.
Lincoln County Historical Coordinator Darrell Harkey said Old Plank Road is a relic of a mid-19th-century road system that was supposed to run from Wilmington to Asheville.
Roads were a mess in North Carolina at the time. Even in the best of weather they were often unreliable and farmers had trouble getting their products to market.
The concept of building wagon roads surfaced with thick lumber gained popularity in the 1840s and 1850s.
In North Carolina, dozens of private companies got in the plank road business and charged tolls. The city of Fayetteville turned up part of an 1849 toll road during construction of a downtown street transit mall in the 1980s.
Harkey said the road in Lincoln County began in 1850 at Rozzelle's Ferry on the Catawba River. In addition to ferry service, there was also a bridge there. (It was set on fire in late 1865 when Union and Confederate troops skirmished at the site.)
Following the route of present-day N.C. 73, the plank road headed to Lincolnton. The new road was supposed to continue to Newton, but that segment was never built.
The road company contracted with people along the route to supply lumber for the project.
The road was 12 to 22 feet wide and toll booths were scattered at intervals along the way.
Harkey has collected materials that document the road's operation, including the names of tollkeepers. The toll charges ranged from 5 cents for pedestrians to 25 cents for a two-horse wagon. Travelers caught on the road without paying the toll were fined $5.
Today, Old Plank Road and N.C. 73 are the same until reaching the Tucker's campground section in eastern Lincoln County.
From that point, Old Plank Road veers toward Lowesville. On this leg, the road came to Lincoln County's last remaining covered bridge, which survived into the 20th century.
Driving Old Plank Road you'll pass by the sites of an old gold mine and the Robert Hall Morrison plantation where T.J. "Stonewall" Jackson was married before the Civil War.
The old road, a forerunner of modern-day toll highways, went bust around the time of the Civil War.
Posted May 13, 2007 in The Charlotte Observer
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***THE COORDINATES ABOVE ARE NOT THE ACTUAL COORDINATES FOR THE CACHE.***
There are 6 other caches placed along Old Plank Rd. that each contain a part of the final coords.
You are looking for an ammo can hidden in typical ammo can fashion. Inside for the FTF you will find a wheresgeorge.com dollar bill we found at our last FTF. We hope everyone enjoys finding these as much as we enjoyed hiding them. Happy Hunting!!
The terrain and difficulty ratings have been increased seasonally due to ground cover, tree cover and poison ivy.
****CONGRATULATIONS Janeway&7of9 ON YOUR FTF!!!!****
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