The mill's current name comes from the civil war era when the site served briefly as a medical laboratory. More history, as well as information about the current use, can be found on The Laboratory Mill Website.
The South Fork Rail Trail is a combination of natural surface and crushed gravel trail, providing nice terraced views of the South Fork of the Catawba River. Enjoy biking or hiking along the 1.8 miles of trail located on the the 324-acre Rhyne Preserve and protected by the Catawba Lands Conservancy.
Visitors to the trail can experience one of Lincoln County’s finest natural areas, including mature floodplain forests along the South Fork Catawba River, a bald cypress swamp, rock outcrops, and lovely wildflowers. The preserve also provides important habitat for migratory songbirds and other wildlife species.
You can see the historic Laboratory Mill across the South Fork River which is now an event venue. This site was known as Lincoln Cotton Factory 1819-1863: www.historync.org/LincolntonCottonMill.htm.
South Fork Rail Trail is a part of the Butterfly Highway. "The Butterfly Highway is a statewide conservation restoration initiative that aims to restore native pollinator habitats to areas impacted by urbanization, land use change and agriculture across North Carolina. From backyard Pollinator Pitstops to large-scale roadside habitat restoration, the project is creating a network of native flowering plants to support butterflies, bees, birds and other pollen and nectar dependent wildlife." NC Wildlife Federation-Butterfly Highway Website
Visit Catawba Lands Conservancy website for more information or contact:
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Thank you so much for contacting us. We know this issue has been ongoing and we're working with the landowner to address it. Safety of our trail users is incredibly important to us, and we are glad that you are safe. We hope to resolve this quickly so it doesn't happen again.
-Carolina Thread Trail team