food
Fayetteville’s Fourth Friday
Here’s a video of our adventure. I am not only an extremely amateur videographer, but I am also an indulgent mom – so you’ll see lots of Erinn and hear lots of me. My hope is it will give you a sample of Fourth Friday.
For information on other things to see and do throughout Cumberland County, go to WWW.VisitFayettevilleNC.com . We highlight hundreds of happenings each year.
Spring Lake, Fayetteville’s neighbor to the north
At Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau we represent all the 10 communities that encompass Cumberland County. Lots and lots is written about Fayetteville - so I’d like to dedicate my next few blogs to writing a little bit about the other nine municipalities.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to tour Spring Lake with the volunteer staff at the Fayetteville Area CVB. We toured several beautiful churches, went to the site of the Sandhills Farmers Market, saw the Anderson Creek development and golf course - and even saw Spring Lake itself. (Which I shamefully admit, I didn’t know existed!)
One of the churches we visited, Bethel AME Zion Church, was first started in 1873 as a mission called Little Ark. Jack Murchison built a Bush Shelter to preach to the neighboring plantations. A few years later, a Presbyterian minister preached at Little Ark and established it as a Presbyterian church. Subsequently, a Methodist minister from Fayetteville arrived and converted them to Methodism, which later became a part of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church movement.
We visited several other churches including Spring Lake Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, and Williams Chapel Free Will Baptist Church, which was founded in 1903. All the sanctuaries were beautiful; and I was impressed by the passion of the folks who gave us the tour of their churches.
Near the Bethel AME Zion Church is the site of the Sandhills Farmers Market. As Sandhills Family Heritage Association President Ammie Jenkins says “There’s more to the Sandhills Farmers Market than just vegetables.” Special events and workshops are held throughout the summer. The market is open every Saturday from June to September.
If golf is your thing, Anderson Creek Golf Course is said to be one of the best in the state. The course, the first in NC designed by Davis Love II was named the top new course in North Carolina in 2001.
The Clay Target Center is one of the largest skeet and trap shooting facilities in the country. Managed by Fort Bragg MWR, and located in Spring Lake, the Clay Target Center is open to both the military and civilian population. The Clay Target Center hosts a number of regional and national events each year.
On my tour, I also learned that Spring Lake and Fort Bragg have one of the largest populations of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker in the country. This is the only bird that creates its own nest inside the middle of a living tree - and the longleaf pines are a perfect home for these endangered birds.
Spring Lake also has six hotels; lots of places to shop, tons of restaurants and a number of special events throughout the year.
Since I’m sure I haven’t covered everything about Spring Lake, I gathered some links where you can learn more:
Plank Roads & other historical tidbits
Sandhills Family Heritage Association