Repairs to the dam and spillway have allowed Carvers Creek State Park to refill its mill pond and welcome fishermen and others back to the centerpiece of the park’s Long Valley Farm area.
Flooding at the park, which is in Spring Lake north of Fayetteville, burst the dam and drained McDiarmid Pond in September 2016. The Fayetteville Observer reported last week that work to reconstruct the dam that began in June 2019 was completed in September and the park reopened.
The dam area is unsafe and remains fenced off and closed to the public, The Observer says. The fenced-off area includes the former grist mill and a pavilion (pictured below and from across the pond in photos from 2013). The flood destroyed support beams that must be replaced before the structures can reopen for the public, a park spokesman said.
See our page about Carvers Creek State Park from November 2013.
Carvers Creek State Park sits on land once owned by James Stillman Rockefeller, and Long Valley Farm was the winter home of John Davison Rockefeller from 1937 until his death at 2004. The land was willed to the Nature Conservancy and given to the N.C. State Parks system in 2010.
“The dam and lake are major components of the scenic, historic and recreational features of the park,” Katie Hall, spokesman for the Division of Parks and Recreation, told The Observer in 2019, when money for pond repairs was made available from a state bond. “The lake, combined with the restoration of the Rockefeller house, the mill, the pavilion, and the addition of roads, parking, and restrooms all funded by the bond will create a beautiful and enjoyable visitor experience.”
Originally, bond money was to go toward improvements in the Long Valley Farm portion of the park, which includes the Rockefeller mansion and other historic buildings. That was put on hold when the lake drained in 2016.
Above, looking across the millpond at Carvers Creek State Park toward the Rockefeller House in November 2013. Below, a Fayettevile Observer photo of the pond’s new spillway.
Carvers Creek State Park opened in September 2013 with a master plan that envisioned restoring the historic Rockefeller estate for educational purposes and establishing satellite areas eastward toward the Cape Fear River for camping and canoeing.
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