Finding a “Swamp Fest Platter” at a Fish Camp

Fish camps once were common in the South in coastal areas where commercial fishing crews worked until the early parts of the last century. Huts (or cabins) for the workers at some camps were built to last only one season of fishing, and others were more permanent and often could last more than a dozen years. In addition to housing for workers employed in the fishing industry, some camps had accommodations for their families who would spend summer months there on vacation. Other camps in the Carolinas were simple campsites where textile mill workers and their families fished and fried their catches when they had free time.

Relics of old fishing equipment are on display outside Clark's Fish Camp.

Some fish camps evolved into family-style seafood restaurants where local clientele would be served reasonably priced meals. Although the fish camps were usually located on waterways, lakes, or rivers, most bought their fish from wholesalers and farms. Although many of these restaurants have closed as they faced competition from chain restaurants, a few such as Clark’s Fish Camp on the banks of Julington Creek in Jacksonville, Florida, are still thriving.

The rustic exterior wall of Clark's Fish Camp adds to the fish camp atmosphere.

Originally a bait and tackle shop, Clark’s maintains a fish camp atmosphere with very simple and rustic features. Lilly, a five-foot alligator, makes her home in a large aquarium known as Lilly’s Pad that also houses turtles and fish. Also on display is the largest private taxidermy collection in America – lions, bears, tigers, monkeys, giraffes, deer, bobcats, and other amazing animals -- although the food is what makes this restaurant a destination for tourists and brings back local clientele. The menu includes everything imaginable.

The simple entrance to Clark's refers to its history.

My wife and I indulged on a “swamp fest platter” loaded with gator tail, soft-shell crab, frog legs, conch, calamari, catfish, and hushpuppies. Other platters can also include clam strips, oysters, shrimp, scallops, and crab cakes. Signature dishes feature trout, tuna, and salmon.

The swamp fest platter cam loaded with frog legs, gator tail, soft-shell crab, conch, calamari, catfish, and hushpuppies.

Eating by the banks of a creek with slowly flowing water added to the ambiance of the rustic building that houses Clark’s. The extensive menu is very popular, and it makes many customers wish that such fish camps were still more common.

Key lime pie is the best way to finish a meal at Clark's Fish Camp.

Two baby alligators swim near the entrance to Clark's.

Stuffed animals overlook the long rustic bar.

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Note: Click on the links for history of fish camps in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Uwharrie National Forest

Want to pan for gold? Panning seems like such an archaic, futile exercise. But at one time the Uwharrie Mountains were a destination for gold hunters.

Do adventure seekers there today still search for gold while they are enjoying other outdoor activities? “Yes, they do, but I don’t know how successful they are,” says Terry Savery, recreation program manager at Uwharrie National Forest, land initially purchased in 1931 by the Federal Government to protect and preserve mixed woodlands of oak and pine.

Searching for gold in N.C. led to
America's first gold rush.

Gold was first found in North Carolina in 1799 only about 30 miles west of the forest. Word that gold was in “them thar hills” spread like wildfire and led to America’s first gold rush, mostly forgotten in the books of history and overshadowed by the great California gold rush of 1849. However, the chance to strike it rich in the Uwharrie Mountains brought countless prospectors and miners who searched the hills and panned the streams for the sparkling metal.

The priceless search for adventure in the Uwharrie still brings in steady streams of outdoor enthusiasts. More popular than gold panning today are camping, picnicking, hiking, hunting, mountain biking, horseback riding, kayaking, boating and fishing.

The forest gets its name from the Uwharrie Mountains, considered to be the oldest mountains in North America. Formed about 500 million years ago with peaks as high as 20,000 feet, what had been a coastal mountain range now sits more than 150 miles from the coast and lies obviously in the Piedmont region because a gravitational shift pushed today’s coastal plain above sea level. The high points of the mountains now are only a fraction of their once magnificent heights, reduced by gradual erosion to just over 1,100 feet.

Bald eagles are often spotted
in the Badin Lake area.

With its mix of hardwood and pine woodlands, the forest is home for at least 60 reptile and amphibian species and for most of the 60 mammal species that live in North Carolina. From 55 bird points in the forest, approximately 85 bird species have been observed recently. Bald eagles are regular visitors, although no active nests are known. Savery confirms that bald eagles have been spotted in the forest’s Badin Lake area.

A special area is the Birkhead Mountain Wilderness, which was established in 1984 on the northern end of the Uwharrie Mountains. Because motor vehicles, motorboats and motorized equipment are prohibited in federal wilderness areas, the Birkhead offers astonishing opportunities for solitude with nature. Even travel by bicycle and on horse is prohibited. All trails in the wilderness are designated hiking trails.

Named for the Birkhead family who moved in around 1850 and eventually owned almost 3,000 acres, the wilderness still shows clues of early Indians and settlers who occupied the area many years earlier. The Birkhead Mountain Trail traverses the wilderness from north to south for more than four miles. Along the route are remnants of old homesteads and farms, old roads, gold mining operations and evidence of timber harvesting.

The Uwharrie National Forest protects and
preserves mixed woodlands of pine and oak.

The Uwharrie is the habitat of 66 freshwater fish species. In addition to game birds, game animals that call the forest home include white-tailed deer, wild turkey, quail, bobcat, opossum, rabbit and gray squirrel. The forest is heavily hunted and has the highest use per acre of any N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission game land.

The Uwharrie is a top tourist destination for good reason. With its enticing road and trail system, abundant lake and river frontage, and moderate slopes and elevations, it’s the perfect place for outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy nature.

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Note: This post appeared originally as a longer article in the August 2015 issue of OutreachNC, a monthly magazine distributed in 10 counties of central North Carolina. Click here to see the article as it appeared in print.

Mountain Trout Is N.C. Good

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.]

Imagine fishing in a fast-flowing, rocky mountain stream and reeling in trout for dinner. Such experiences have always been part of the food culture in the Blue Ridge region, whether for the Cherokee with prehistoric ties to its hills and streams or the families who settled there after the Trail of Tears campaign evicted most Cherokee from their tribal territory.

Jonathan Creek in Maggie Valley, NC, is part of
the Mountain Heritage Trout Waters Program.

Visitors today can easily envision the days of how trout streams provided food for families as well as the thrill of mountain fishing. To encourage trout fishing as a heritage tourism activity, the N.C. General Assembly established the Mountain Heritage Trout Waters Program in 2007. Several locations in Haywood County and neighboring counties offer access to streams designated by the program. Only a special $5 fishing license (good for three days) is required. Some locations, such as the Town of Maggie Valley, even provide rods and reels at no charge. (Stocked ponds, although they don’t provide the stream experience, also offer chances, particularly to children, to reel in trout.)


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Lumbee Fish Market: As Fresh as Being on the Coast

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.] 

Drive to the beach along U.S. Highway 74 and tune in a local radio station. If you do, you might hear an ad for Lumbee Fish Market in Pembroke that is so intriguing that you want to visit. It’s a market with fish that you might not expect in a location about two hours inland from coastal waters.

Native Americans have lived in this region for centuries because streams and artesian wells provided an adequate water supply and fish were abundant in the wetland landscape of swamps, creeks, and pocosins. But do the local Native Americans, known as Lumbee, want only freshwater fish? 

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