Annual Members’ Meeting – March 26, 2024 @ 7:00 pm

Our annual meeting for 2024 will be held on Tuesday evening, March 26, at 7:00 pm in the clubhouse at Hamilton Lakes Swim and Tennis Club, 800 Montpelier Drive, Greensboro.

Electing the Board of Directors is vital part of our annual meeting. Our bylaws permit us to have up to eleven Board members. Several of the current Directors are stepping down in 2024. If you’re interested in helping to steer the direction of our association and make a lasting mark on our amazing neighborhood, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to join the Board.

Aside from attending quarterly meetings and providing input via email on issues that may arise, there are no special requirements for being a Director. We welcome enthusiastic, caring people with fresh ideas!

We will also review our proposed budget for 2024. There’s also a proposal to install commemorative signage at some of the main street intersections in our neighborhood. The City of Greensboro requires a community vote to proceed.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting! Seating may be limited; please bring a folding chair if you have one.

Community Picnic and Fishing Clinic – Sunday, Sept 17, 2024

It’s time for our annual fall fishing clinic and community picnic on the third Sunday of September.

Our busy afternoon kicks off at 2:00 with what has always been a favorite of the young-at-heart in Hamilton Lakes, our fishing clinic on the dam at Lake Euphemia. In a community tradition stretching back for ten years, our resident experts will provide coaching and help novices learn the fine art of lake fishing.

Kids of all ages are welcome! Please bring your rod and reel, or use one of our loaners. Our coaches will be on hand from 2:00 to 4:00.

Gerald Hall, the “Egg Man,” has provided GREAT BAIT for our clinics for ten years. With his magic, we have caught hundreds of fish. Jamey Culbertson and Bob Broussard have been our dedicated coaches for our clinics.

If you would like to volunteer, let us know. It is great to help a child be successful, and the smiles are a great reward for spending a morning outdoors in your community. Many children, and some teenagers, have caught their first fish at our clinics.

We invite you to bring kids to our clinic who are interested in learning to fish or honing their skills. Association membership is not required, although we can certainly use your help to maintain our lakes, dams and trails via our annual dues.

Buy a child a new rod, and she will be psyched. Catching your first fish is an experience you’ll never forget! Your Association really enjoys encouraging kids to take up fishing as a relaxing outdoor hobby. Our coaches volunteer their time, provide loaner rods, and donate rods and tackle for budding fisherfolk.

Our community picnic kicks into gear at 5:00 that afternoon on the banks of Little Lake Euphemia, along Starmount Drive between Kemp Road East and Kemp Road West.

Live music will be provided by the Alley Rabbits, who are local favorites for their bluegrass-flavored interpretation of classic tunes! You can learn more about them on their webpage at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063698178403.

Taqueria Azteca’s taco truck, always a big hit, will be on hand. Sweet Carolina from Reidsville will have ice cream and other treats for sale. Bring a blanket and chairs, and relax and enjoy what has always been a wonderful afternoon event.

Here’s hoping for beautiful weather and a happy turnout!

Spring Fishing Clinic at Lake Hamilton – Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 9 a.m.

Children of all ages are invited to join us at the dock on Lake Hamilton on Saturday, May 13 at 9 a.m. for our semi-annual fishing clinic.

Our experienced coaches will share their pointers with youngsters who wish to learn anything from the basics to the finer arts of fishing. We will have loaner equipment, or you can feel free to bring your own rod and bait.

While you don’t have to be a member of Hamilton Lakes and Parks, Inc. to participate, we encourage you to join by visiting our website at https://hamiltonstarmount.org/pay-dues

Come and enjoy one of our most joyous community traditions!

“Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?”

That’s the cry of the Barred Owl, often heard reverberating through our neighborhood after sunset and before sunrise.

Barred owls are highly territorial, and they choose a mate in the middle of winter. This year, the evening of January 6 appeared to be the winter social “hoot-enanny,” as dozens of owls loudly staked their claims to mates and roosts.

The owls lay a clutch of eggs, which are incubated for a period of about four weeks. This nesting pair has delighted keen-eyed passersby along the Henderson Road side of the path in the City park near Williamsburg Road. We will be watching for babies toward the end of February.

3rd Annual Holiday Sailboat Parade – Dec. 20, 2022

The Greensboro Model Yacht Club is pleased to present the 3rd Annual Lighted Sailboat Parade on Lake Hamilton. The show begins at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, December 20, 2022. (In the event of rain that evening, they will postpone until the next evening with good weather.)

The viewing area is the shoulder of Keeling Road East and the dam embankment along Lake Hamilton. For your safety and the protection of others, please stay off of the street itself, and do not go into the park past the dam.

For information on the event, club, or boats, contact Ron Small  sailrc72@gmail.com .

Please join us for this beautiful regatta to celebrate the holidays!

Fall Picnic and Fishing Clinic – Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022

Hamilton Lakes and Parks will host its annual community picnic and fishing clinic on Sunday, September 18, 2022 at the Lake Euphemia Park, at the intersection of E. Kemp Road and Starmount Drive.

Our afternoon kicks off at 2:00, with a fishing clinic for kids of all ages. We’ll have experienced coaches to provide you and your kids with tips, tricks, and plenty of encouragement. Loaner rods and bait are also available. This community tradition stretches back for ten years.

At 5:00, our fall picnic gets into full swing. The Alley Rabbits, a local favorite band, will entertain us with bluegrass-inspired interpretations of classic tunes.

Food trucks are back this year! We are featuring the taco truck from Taqueria Azteca and frozen treats from the Ice Queen.

Come and celebrate a “return to normalcy” with your friends and neighbors in this relaxing setting, on what promises to be a beautiful afternoon!

Fall Picnic and Fishing Clinic – September 19, 2021

Hamilton Lakes and Parks’ Fall Fishing Clinic will be held from 2-4 pm on Sunday, September 19, 2021. Once again our resident experts will happily share their tips and tricks with the youngsters. Loaner fishing tackle will be provided for those who need it.

At 5:00pm, join your friends and neighbors for our annual picnic. We will follow state and local guid- ance for outdoor gatherings. At present, masks and social distancing are recommended but not required. Please check our website or Facebook page the week before the picnic for any changes.

The Zinc Kings, billed as a progressive folk and string band, have graced the stages of the NC Folk Fest and the Carolina Theatre. We are thrilled to have them playing again this year. Check them out at: zinckings.com, and on Face- book. We will provide an ice cream truck, but not food trucks this year, so we are encouraging eve- ryone to bring their own picnic, relax, and enjoy the music!

Rescuing a Goose in Distress!

By Dick Gordon

Former Hamilton Lakes & Parks, Inc. board member, Janet Inmon, watched two families of geese feed in a neighbors’ yard for days in early August. She noticed that one parent goose had a problem with its left leg/webbed foot. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that a fish hook was imbedded in its leg, leaving it largely disabled.
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Janet contacted Piedmont Wildlife Rehab, Inc. and explained to Fran Martti, their waterfowl expert, that an injured goose was in a yard at the corner of Henderson and Leonard at Meade Drive. Fran and her son, Ian, eventually determined that the goose needed veterinary attention and Ian captured the goose with a gentle bear hug. They took it to the Animal Ark Veterinary Hospital on Brassfield Road. There was no charge for the removal of the hook, but there was a small charge for the antibiotics the goose required. Piedmont Wildlife Rehab paid for the antibiotics. The goose is now fully ambulatory and back with its “gaggle”.

I would like to commend Animal Ark, Janet, Fran and Ian for helping a creature in need. Further, it would be very thoughtful if the folks who fish around Lake Hamilton would clean up their spent and tangled lines rather than just cutting the line. Over the years I have untangled geese, ducks and ducklings, and a Great Blue Heron. They were all afraid, but they seemed to know that I was trying to help them.

You can do your part by please cleaning up all your fishing gear when you’re finished for the day.

Alfred Moore Scales, Founder of Hamilton Lakes

By Will Truslow, MD

Alfred Moore Scales (1870-1940) was instrumental in creating two well known neighborhoods in what is now Greensboro, being (Old) Irving Park and Hamilton Lakes. He built the large Neoclassical Revival house that overlooks Hamilton Lake and was discussed in an early Bulletin.  The name, Alfred Moore Scales, has been found in the Scales family since the early 1800’s.  The Scales were large land owners along the Dan River and extensive other areas in Rockingham County.  They were of English origin.

Alfred Moore Scales (1800 – ?) and Dr. Robert H. Scales (1805-1882) were brothers and the sons of Nathaniel (1756-1824) and Nancy Allen Scales.  Dr. Robert and Jane Watt Bethel (1809-1876) Scales had a son, Alfred Moore Scales (1827-1892) who became the NC Governor, 1885-1889.  Junius Irving Scales (1832-1880) was the brother of the Gov. Scales and named his son AM Scales (1870-1940) for his brother. So, it was that the nephew was named for the uncle for 3 generations perpetuating the name, Alfred Moore Scales.

AM Scales’s (1870-1940) parents were Junius I. Scales and Euphemia Hamilton Henderson Scales (1840-1901).  She was the daughter of Archibald Erskine Henderson a judge originally from Granville Co. NC who lived in a Rockingham Co. home call Mt. Pleasant which is between Madison and Wentworth.  The Governor AM Scales married Katherine Henderson, the sister of Euphemia H. Scales and they had no children.  You can see from the names mentioned several of the names of streets and lakes in Hamilton Lakes with the Scales name conspicuously absent. Also, in Old Irving Park there is a Wentworth Street.

Junius I. and Euphemia Scales moved to Greensboro in 1871 returning from Mississippi. Another of their sons, Admiral Archibald Henderson Scales (1868-1952) built a home at 3907 Henderson Rd in 1926. It is calledTar Haven and prominently overlooks Hamilton Lake across from his brother’s home.

Sources:  Rockingham County Heritage – NC 1983;  The Journal of Rockingham County History and Genealogy Vol. VI, Number 2 December, 1981;  WikiTree.

Swan Habitat on Lake Hamilton

By Dick Gordon, Hamilton Lakes resident

Wills Maggart stands on the newly-anchored swan nesting platform in Lake Hamilton

My name is Dick Gordon, and my wife, Martha is a board member on the Hamilton Lakes & Parks Association.

The Board at Hamilton Lakes & Parks had been discussing how to keep the swans and any cygnets they have safe from predators that have killed our swans in the past. One thing they learned about was to have a floating “habitat” for them, but only one company in Chicago makes them. And they would not deliver them!

Martha and I noticed that our back door neighbor was a gifted carpenter and mechanically-inclined man. When the subject of the nesting platform came up, we eventually thought to ask if Mr. Zachary Maggart, and his son, Wills, may help. It turns out that Wills was looking for an Eagle Scout project, and BINGO! They jumped at the chance to build the platform. Wills carefully designed the platform and planned its construction, and wrote a very convincing proposal to the Board.

Wills and Scout Troop 26 built and launched the platform on the weekend of September 26. It all looks great! It’s anchored in the cove at the north end of Lake Hamilton. The habitat has soil and vegetation from the surrounding area, so the swans should feel comfortable once they get used to their new home.

Adding the float for the ramp for the swans to enter the habitat

I would like to thank Mr. Maggart and Wills for their effort and for further adding to our community. I hope that this new arrangement can keep the swans safe from predators and that they have healthy offspring.

Cheers to All!