Self-Guided Digital Walking Tour
Champions have come and gone, but they are never forgotten. This digital self-guided walking tour trilogy showcases the legacy of remarkable champions and the evolving connection among people, plants, and places within Bent Creek over the past 500 years. It tells the story of the very community that The North Carolina Arboretum is honored to be part of today. From Spanish conquistadors and the Eastern Band of Cherokee to the Vanderbilt and the Casselberry families, you will discover the rich history of human relationships with the natural world and the challenges these champions overcame that helped shape the Arboretum into the place it is today. Explore the trails, uncover the history, and discover the Champions of Bent Creek!
Created by Regina Roganti, a Public History Graduate Student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in the Summer of 2026.
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Harvest
This is the first self-guided tour in chronological order within the Champions of Bent Creek trilogy. The tour explores the creation of Bent Creek as a unique geological landscape and examines how its earliest inhabitants developed connections with its wildlife, from the formation of the Appalachian Mountains 400 million years ago through the late-1800s.
Difficulty: Medium
See the Harvest Map here!Beauty
This is the second self-guided tour in chronological order within the Champions of Bent Creek trilogy. This tour illustrates the connections formed between the forests of Bent Creek and the elite class during the early-1900s. It also explores how these relationships influenced future restoration efforts led by the United States government in the mid-1900s.
Difficulty: Hard
Recreation
This is the third self-guided tour in chronological order within the Champions of Bent Creek trilogy. The tour highlights past outdoor recreation and education efforts in the Bent Creek area, as well as the institutional history of the North Carolina Arboretum from the mid-1900s to the present day. It also reveals who the true champions of Bent Creek are.
Difficulty: Easy
Resources used during the production of this Digital Walking Tour can be referenced through this document using citations throughout the text within the maps.