Overview:
• Rhodes Pond is an attraction for boating, fishing and enjoying wildlife
• Hurricane Matthew breached its dam and drained it in 2016. The dam has since been replaced
• But now the bathrooms don’t work, there is limited parking, and the nature trail has long been closed to visitors
Cumberland County is preparing to spend $500,000 to make improvements and restore a nature trail at the Rhodes Pond lake and state game lands northeast of Fayetteville.
Rhodes Pond is an impoundment on the Black River on U.S. 301, past the towns of Godwin and Falcon in the northeast corner of Cumberland County. It was originally a mill pond established in the 18th century.
Eventually it became a destination for recreational boating and fishing, and the state bought it in 2004. But its use was limited in recent years because the dam burst during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, leaving the 120-acre lake mostly drained, the United States Army Corps of Engineers said in 2020.
A new dam was built, and the lake was refilled in late 2023, a fishing and canoeing enthusiast reported on his blog.
The pond is part of about 470 acres of game lands for hunting, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Although the Rhodes Pond dam has been rebuilt, there is more work to be done, Amanda Lee, Cumberland County’s general manager for natural resources, told the county’s Board of Commissioners on Aug. 14.
A memo from an engineering firm that evaluated the property in May says the restrooms don’t work, the boat ramp area has only one parking space (visitors instead park in a grassy area nearby) and there are no assigned parking spaces compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Further, a nature trail has been closed to the public and fenced off during construction of the dam.
Lee presented plans to the commissioners on renovating the bathrooms, providing parking and re-opening the nature trail with pedestrian safety measures installed. These are estimated to cost $463,000 to $490,000, the engineering firm’s memo says.
Most of the property belongs to the state Wildlife Resources Commission, and as this is game lands, the hunting of deer, racoons and ducks is permitted.
The county may want to lease the property from the state Wildlife Resources Commission, Lee said, if it wants to change its use.
County Commissioner Marshall Faircloth had concerns about the property’s use for both hunting and recreation.
“There’s nothing out there to stop a rifle,” he said. “Safety’s got to be the No. 1 priority. And I question whether hunting land and a recreation facility should be that close together.”
The $500,000 to repair and upgrade the facilities at Rhodes Pond was allocated to Cumberland County by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2023.
The next steps, according to a county news release, will be to explore a long-term lease with the Wildlife Resources Commission for potential park expansion and discuss the acquisition of an adjacent property from the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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