NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1969 SESSION

CHAPTER 1163

HOUSE BILL 1092

AN ACT APPROPRIATING FUNDS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF LANDS TO ESTABLISH RAVEN ROCK STATE PARK.

WHEREAS, there is situated on the Cape Fear River approximately six miles northwest of Lillington in Harnett County, an unusual geological and vegetative complex, which is known as Raven Rock; and

WHEREAS, Raven Rock, consisting of imposing quartzite and slate rises approximately 150 feet above the Cape Fear River at the fall line between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont areas of the State; and

WHEREAS, Raven Rock is one of the few, if not only, places in the eastern part of the State which still retains, unspoiled, an area containing artifacts which date back to the period when the State was unknown to the white man and when the only human inhabitants of the area were Indians who fished the teeming Cape Fear River and hunted the abundant game in the nearby forests; and

WHEREAS, the area surrounding Raven Rock has established examples of trailing arbutus, galax, mountain laurel and other plants which are commonly associated with the mountains of the western part of the State and are virtually unknown to most of the inhabitants of eastern North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, there are in excess of three-quarters of a million people who live within fifty miles of Raven Rock who would benefit from the establishment there of a State park; and

WHEREAS, there are eight senior colleges and universities also within a fifty mile radius of Raven Rock and the establishment of a State park there would be of great value to their students and their educational programs; and

WHEREAS, the North Carolina State Parks and Study Commission, created by the 1967 Session of the General Assembly, stated in their report to the 1969 Session of the General Assembly that the first addition to the State park system should be a park that would primarily serve the sandhills area of the State; and Raven Rock is adjacent to the sandhills; and

WHEREAS, Raven Rock and the surrounding area have been visited and investigated by the Division of State Parks of the Department of Conservation and Development, the research team working with the State Parks and State Forest Study Commission and a representative of the National Park Service, and all these groups endorse and recommend the acquisition by the State of Raven Rock and enough surrounding land for the establishment of a State park; and

WHEREAS, the citizens of Harnett County and surrounding counties strongly endorse the establishment of a State park at Raven Rock;

NOW, THEREFORE,

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated to the Department of Conservation and Development, in addition to all other appropriations, out of the General Fund, the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars ($120,000.00) for the purpose of purchasing such lands as are necessary to acquire Raven Rock and enough surrounding land to establish a State park at Raven Rock in Harnett County for the benefit of this and future generations of citizens of the State.

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1969.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 30th day of June, 1969.