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“The Mighty Eno — A River Runs Through”
By Renée A. Price
If the Eno River could speak, what stories would it tell? What secrets does it hold? Tree borings from large hardwoods and conifers can tell us about weather patterns and climate changes, and soil deposits along the banks record the impacts of floods land disturbances through the centuries. Yet still untold and unknown are many conversations, whispers, events and mischievous activities that occurred as people walked amidst the riparian foliage or waded in the running waters.
For centuries, The Eno has flowed through the piedmont and sustained the lives and livelihoods of Indigenous People, European settlers, African American communities and, today, multicultural immigrants from all directions of the wind. In fact, the river is named after the Eno people, or so they were called by the Europeans, who once dwelt and thrived along its banks.
The Eno River, the initial tributary of the Neuse River, has its source at the Confluence of the East and West Forks, about five (5) miles north of Efland. A beautiful 270-acre preserve owned and managed by the Eno River Association, the Confluence Natural Area is open to the public for low-impact recreation. I have enjoyed a couple of hikes along the trail, through wooded areas and grassy fields with a host of flora and fauna.
Coursing through northern Orange County, the Eno River then meanders into the Town of Hillsborough, winding its way through Gold Park, past Weaver Street Market, through River Park behind the Orange County justice complex, past the replica of an Occaneechi Village, and alongside the Historic Occoneechee Speedway. It next travels eastward though rural Orange again, into the Eno River State Park, near the new Visitors Center which provides a wealth of information about the river, and then it continues on to Durham.
A decade or so ago, the Town of Hillsborough built Riverwalk, an accessible urban greenway, part of the NC Mountains to Sea Trail. Riverwalk follows the path of the river, crossing it twice before connecting with the trails in Orange County River Park. On the side of the walkways are wayfinding signs with fascinating photos, images and descriptions about the people of the town and their ways of life in times gone by. Brief facts about the geology of the region are also provided.
Walking along trail, I find myself time-traveling in my mind and trying to envision women, men and children from different eras going about their daily lives along the banks of the river. The Occaneechi depended on the Eno ecosystem for fishing, hunting and trading. In colonial times, the Eno waters provided a place for washing clothes. An African American community once thrived by the riverside, and on the other side of the river, were the Pherribo women, the midwives for the town. In addition, two cotton or textile mills and the associated mill villages sprung up because of the river.
I can imagine, perhaps when the river was younger and the waters higher, children and adolescents swimming and skipping rocks, or adults canoeing and boating for work and pleasure. And I think about lovers courting (dating) and exchanging marriage vows, congregants descending into the waters to be baptized, and individuals standing on the river’s edge meditating or dreaming about freedom.
Indeed, the Eno River has been listening and witnessing to all that was spoken and performed…and The Eno still is listening and carrying our secrets downstream. I leave you with these words from the semi-autographical novella, A River Runs through It (1976), in which Norman Maclean wrote: Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
(featured image via Visit Hillsborough)
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