TourH2O

10/22/2025

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08/28/2025

This is what our riders were watching today!

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08/13/2025

Workers load pulpwood onto a barge, Lockwood’s Folly River in Brunswick County, May 1943.

Lockwood’s Folly is one of the oldest place names in North Carolina, dating back to at least 1673. There are numerous origin stories for the name, but most refer to a man named Lockwood and his various blunders.

The earliest tells of a Mr. Lockwood constructing a boat that was large enough navigate the river, but too large to make it through the inlet so it was left to rot.

An explanation from 1734 involves a failed settlement in the area and another from 1778 describes how a Mr. Lockwood mistook the river for the much larger Cape Fear River and lost his vessel.

The final origin story has nothing to do with a mistake at all. William Powell, author of the NC Gazetteer, proposes that in the 17th century the word Folly referred to the French word “folie,” or delight. So, it could have simply been Mr. Lockwood’s favorite place to be!
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ConDev3235a
From the Conservation and Development Photo File, State Archives of NC.

08/10/2025

🤍

08/10/2025

Another happy kayaking group. And yes, they got to hang with dolphins, too!

08/10/2025

Dolphins again. We love our jobs!