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Zebulon - roadside attractions, historic gristmills, merry go rounds, and site of school integration

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We went to Zebulon to see the giant fiberglass cat, once used to promote a Mercury car dealership in town. It is one of only two fiberglass cougars to have been built in 1972, with the other going to Washington DC. The company that built the cougars is the same that was building fiberglass structures for the Walt Disney theme parks at the time. But we were quite taken by this little municipal park.   After visiting, we learned that this park is the site of the Zebulon Little River Dam and Moore’s Mill. What you see in these pictures are the remains of a dam that was damaged in 2016 as a result of floodwater from Hurricane Matthew. The dam was built in about 1870 and marks the site of Moore’s mill – a commercial resource for the towns of Zebulon, Wakefield, and Lizard Lick. William C. Moore purchased 55 acres in 1868. The purchase included an existing grist mill and sawmill, previously owned by A.J. Foster. The mill stood 28x34’ and had one pair of mill stones. It was able t
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Robin Nest - Spring 2020

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In our first spring in North Carolina, we were lucky enough to have a family of robins choose a small tree just off our kitchen window as their nest site.   In mid-April, we started noticing a robin visiting a particular crook in this particular tree throughout the day. She seemed to be curious about vantage points and visibility. We thought the nest was pretty easy to spot – but it turns out that, just 2 weeks later, the tree had leafed out enough that the nest was fairly well hidden. Scouting the location - April 11   Robin nests are built by the female, who press dead grass and twig into a cup-like shape. Bringing in supplies - April 14 Robins will shape the nest using the wrist of a wing. It looks like a robin sitting down, and rubbing her belly side to side for 30 seconds. One the twigs are in place, the robin will reinforce its structure using mud and worm castings. The nest is then lined with soft, dry grass.   They will also use other found materials – ours chose
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