MAY 21, 2009 ISSUE
Mule Train Ahead on Highway 321
A wagon train composed of seven covered wagons arrived in Boone this week, led by wagon driver Thomas Roberts, pictured on top. After travelling on Highway 321, the wagon train stopped at the Wal-Mart parking lot so onlookers could get a closer inspection.
It was a scene from the past—teams of mules pulling covered wagons along a curving road—except it was 2009 and Bamboo Road. This intrepid wagon train composed of seven wagons continued on Highway 321 towards Boone and then took a “pit stop” at the Wal-Mart parking lot. It’s a story of daring, bravery, honoring the past and a story of some folks who just like to live in the “good ole’ days.”
“I’d say we do it for the fun of it, just to keep it a goin’,” Thomas Roberts, a wagon driver, admitted. The group of wagons, mules and drivers soon attracted a crowd in the parking lot, with folks taking photographs, asking questions and marveling at this unusual sight.
Roberts, clad in Pointer overalls, is the official wagon master of this group of seven wagons and their drivers, who live in Lenoir, Granite Falls and Hickory. Roberts lives in Lenoir and has been driving this trip about seven years, from Lenoir to Grandfather Mountain. Rather than attempt dangerous Highway 321, the wagon train takes Route 268 and back roads up the mountain. The journey up and down the mountain takes eight days, and they camp along the way in friends’ fields, either sleeping in bunks in their wagons or in tents and pallets outside the wagons. The group plans this trip two times a year, usually in May and October. At an average of 22 miles per day, the rate of travel is dependent on roads, weather conditions and the topography. Their end camp is in the meadows at Grandfather Mountain, where the Morton family has always generously allowed them to set up camp.
The wagons all have canvas covers, and construction types range from historic replicas built by craftsmen, to wagons pieced together from new and old wagon parts, to totally original creations resembling a John Deere tractor. Most wagons weigh between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds loaded with supplies for the driver and food for the mules, necessitating between two and three strong mules to haul them up into the steep mountains. “It’s interesting for people to see this, just like the old times,” said Roberts, as the crowd in the parking lot increased.
In all, 18 mules are pulling these seven wagons. Several of the mules are a larger breed, derived from Belgian mixes. The drivers clearly are attached to their mules and give them names and characterize them as loveable, affectionate animals. The mules eat about six pounds of grain—oats, sweet feed—and 20 pounds of hay, much of which is carried in the wagons. Even though it rained several days of the group’s eight-day journey up and down the mountain, Roberts thanks the High Country for its hospitality and reports they enjoyed the trip and are planning to make it again next October.
Members of the group include Chris and Anita Bostian, Tim Killiam, Shannon Burns, Ray Keller, Josh Keller, Robbie Jenkins and Thomas Roberts. All of them still work and use their vacation time to take this journey because they enjoy it.
For more information, you may contact the wagon master Thomas Roberts at 4555 Fox Road, Lenoir, NC 28645 or at 828-268-6900 or thomaslroberts@bellsouth.net.
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