Cedarock Park is a 414 acres (1.7 km²) nature preserve, historic farm, and passive-use park located near Bellemont

Bellemont, North Carolina

Bellemont is an unincorporated community in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States.Bellemont is located on North Carolina Highway 49, east of Alamance, and 4.3 miles south-southeast of downtown Burlington. The community is located at the junction with Bellemont Alamance/Mt. Hermon Road....

 in Alamance County, North Carolina

Alamance County, North Carolina

Alamance County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It coincides with the Burlington, North Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area...

.

Geographic setting

Cedarock Park sits on the banks of Rock Creek, a tributary of Great Alamance Creek

Great Alamance Creek

Great Alamance Creek is an 11-mile long creek that is a tributary of the Haw River. The creek's headwaters are in Guilford County, but it flows primarily through Alamance County, North Carolina. It is a major source of water for the cities of Burlington and Greensboro through the Lake Mackintosh...

 on the northwestern side of the Cane Creek Mountains

Cane Creek Mountains

Cane Creek Mountains is a small mountain range that lies south of Burlington, North Carolina. The range covers an area including Alamance County, Guilford County, Randolph County, and Chatham County in North Carolina.-Formation:...

. Located in the Piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

 region of North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, the land is hilly and occasionally steep.

Human history

Prior to its use as a park, the land was used as a farm by the Garrett family beginning in 1830. The site of the Garrett farm is part of the Cedarock Park Historic District

Cedarock Park Historic District

The Cedarock Historical Farm, located at Cedarock Park in Alamance County, North Carolina, provides an example of life on a farm in North Carolina during the 19th Century. Populated with farm animals, antique and replica farm equipment, and a farmhouse, the Historical Farm provides a fun,...

 and is known as Cedarock Historic Farm, an educational site where visitors can learn about farm life in 19th-century North Carolina and can encounter goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s and donkey

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

s.

Activities

The park has 6 miles (9.7 km) of trails for hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, mountain biking

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...

, and horse riding, including some trails that are handicapped accessible. It has numerous picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

 shelters, campsites

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

, a fishing pond

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, playground

Playground

A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...

s, three gazebo

Gazebo

A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...

s, and two disc golf

Disc golf

Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...

 courses.

The most popular trail at the park is the handicapped-accessible trail that leads to an old rock dam used for water diversion for a now-demolished gristmill

Gristmill

The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...

. The dam site is erroneously called a waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

in several places in park literature.