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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!

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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.

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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.