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!

How We Can Help and Respect Each Other in Stressful Times

The Board recognized early this spring that this was going to be extremely stressful for everyone, and we have been doing our utmost to let the lakes and parks be a place of refuge and enjoyment. 

At the same time, the increased pedestrian and vehicular traffic, especially at Lake Hamilton, has led to overcrowding on the shoulders of the city street, hazardous conditions for pedestrians along E Keeling Rd., and unsightly littering in the park and lake. 

That’s why it is important for us to continue to remind everyone that Lake Hamilton and Lake Euphemia are private property, and restricted to the use of dues-paying members only, and for us to enforce the restrictions for use of our private property. We cannot control parking along E. Keeling Rd – that’s a city street – but we can limit traffic if non-members are discouraged from fishing at Lake Hamilton.

Your membership dues help us defray the costs for maintaining the lakes and trails. Annual expenses run in the tens of thousands of dollars. We are grateful for your support. We get no financial support from the city or state; in fact, we pay taxes on the land.

We retain the services of a security monitor to help us check that only association members are using the lakes and surrounding trails. She carries a current roster of all paid members, listed by household address. If a woman wearing a Hamilton Lakes and Parks security badge approaches you and asks you for your address, she is doing her job to help protect you and your lake and park.

This is no different than being asked to produce your membership card when you enter a private gym, the YMCA, or a country club. We don’t have gates or fences or checkpoints, so her approaching you in the park is the only way we can check to see your membership status.

We have asked her again this week to ensure that if she approaches you, she does it in a polite and respectful manner. Likewise, we request that you politely and respectfully give her your address so that she may verify your membership. There’s no need for it to be anything other than a friendly, 30-second interaction.

We have several hundred members. It is impossible for her to remember everyone by sight to recall if they are paid members or not. That’s why she may ask you for your address if she does not know you personally.

For those members who don’t want to be disturbed, we have given her some membership cards to hand out to members who are fishing or boating, if they request one. She will just need to verify your address, and then she’ll give you the ID tag, which you can hang on your gear or clothing. Thereafter, if you see her coming toward you, all you have to do is wave your membership tag so that she can see it.

Also please be aware that the Board meets regularly with the Greensboro Police Department regarding safety and security. Every time we meet with them, they remind us to call the police IMMEDIATELY to report trespassing. We have chosen not to escalate situations to them unless (1) people refuse to identify themselves, (2) they are not members and refuse to leave after being asked to do so, or (3) we see behavior that is clearly destructive or potential harmful. The Board supports our security monitor’s judgment and discretion in making that call.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding as we walk the fine line between creating an open environment as possible for our members while also keeping Hamilton Lakes and Parks safe and secure. 

Device Found at Lake Hamilton, May 17, 2020

Hi folks, Jonathan Ward here, President of Hamilton Lakes and Parks Inc. I spoke with Officer O’Brien of the Greensboro Police Department today. The device that was found on the banks of Lake Hamilton on May 17 was a military-style grenade of the type that people can buy at gun shows. Officer O’Brien said that the device was “heavily weathered,” meaning that it had been on the ground for quite some time. He suspects that it was left there accidentally long ago and was not placed with malicious intent.

I was surprised to learn that the police get a LOT of calls about grenades being found. 

Official advice: If you are ever out and about and see anything that looks suspicious, DO NOT TOUCH IT; DO NOT PICK IT UP. Call the Greensboro Police Department, and they will investigate it and dispose of it properly. 

We are all grateful that no one was injured.

Please be aware that we have been increasing our security around Hamilton Lakes for the past several months, in order to keep everyone safe and to keep the parks and lakes clean and in good shape. If you are challenged by our security patrol, please know that her number one priority is your safety and the safety of our members and residents. You can help us by being vigilant for suspicious activity and by helping to keep the grounds clean! Nothing will spoil your day faster than stepping on a piece of broken glass or a rusty fishhook.