Thirty-Foot Canal

Like most all of American History, the North Carolina story is bittersweet.  So much natural beauty to celebrate and so many tales to tell. Some parts of our history are wonderful and make us smile, while other parts are depressing and make us wonder what went wrong. Thankfully, if we seek the truth and are honest with ourselves, we have an opportunity to practice humility and atone for some of the mistakes our ancestors made.

While walking along the shore of Phelps lake recently, I learned about an immigrant and settler named Josiah Collins, who moved from England, built a plantation, bought slaves, and forced them to build the surrounding canals to create the agricultural wealth that eventually led to the civil war.  I also walked passed a family cemetery memorializing a confederate general named James Johnston Pettigrew, who led confederate soldiers onto the battlefield at Gettysburg in order to kill northern soldiers fighting to end slavery and preserve the union.

Although I was born and raised in Chicago and Atlanta, I’ve grown to love and take pride in my adopted home state of North Carolina.  I’ve lived in Greensboro for over 27 years - essentially half of my life.

I wish, however, that more native southerners were able to admit and make peace with their past - as most Germans were able to do after World War II.  After all, there are no parks named after nazi generals in Germany.  Instead they have preserved places like the concentration camp at Dachau in order to memorialize the victims of the war and remember how they lost their way and participated in something tragic.

I can’t help but wonder why there is a state park named after James Pettigrew?  It’s disappointing. Is his life worthy of such an honor? Should we encourage our children to look up to him?

I don’t believe we should ever erase history, but I do think we should be honest about who did what, why it was bad, and why we don’t name parks after some people.  I’m grateful that the names of many places in the south are slowly changing.  I’m glad confederate monuments built decades after the war ended and only in response to the civil rights movement, are finally coming down. It takes courage to admit when we are wrong.  Much more courage than stubbornly defending and celebrating leaders who fought for a horrible cause.

Above is a photograph I took of the Thirty-Foot Canal located near the Somerset plantation and Pettigrew State Park.  I wish I knew the names of the slaves who built the canal. I wish I knew the people who dug through the swamp and helped create the agricultural land that has fed and nourished North Carolina all these years. In my mind, their memories are worthy of our attention and respect more than the men who exploited them.