Pilot Mountain State Park History

Visitor Center at pilot mountain state park

Park Overview

Pilot Mountain – known as the “gem of the Piedmont” – was once surrounded by back country and Old American Indian trading paths with wagon roads leading into the Yadkin Valley.

Today, Pilot Mountain State Park, located just 20 miles northwest of Winston-Salem, offers access to the banks of the Yadkin River, over 20 miles of hiking trails, and multiple vantage points of the park’s main attraction – Pilot Mountain.

Pilot Mountain is considered a “monadnock,” an Indian word for “lone mountain,” or “mountain away from mountains.” Views of this iconic isolated mountain can be seen along the Mountain section trails, including the Pilot Knob Trail, Little Pinnacle Trail, Sassafras/Track Trail, and other smaller lookout areas.

Fall Foliage on the Grindstone Trail — Fall foliage on the Grindstone / Mountain-to-Sea State Trail

At the Mountain section, you can explore over 20 miles of hiking trails, rock climbing routes, the visitor center and family campground, as well as 12.6 miles of the white-blazed Mountains-to-Sea State Trail, which traverses the River section of the park.

The River section includes two miles of the Yadkin River Paddle Trail, paddle-in campsites, hiking and equestrian trails, fishing access, and the opportunity to discover the Horne Creek Living Historical Farm.

The 6.6-mile Corridor Trail connects Mountain and River sections and is for hiking and equestrian use.

Pilot Mountain State Park Visitor Center — Visitor center exhibit on all the inhabitants at different elevations of Pilot Mountain

PARK HISTORY

Over the course of 500 million years, the ancient Sauratown Mountains formed from erosion. A remnant of the Sauratown Mountain range, Pilot Mountain is a 1,400-foot tall, quartzite monadnock surrounded by rolling plains.

Pilot Mountain was first known as “Mount Ararat” or the “Stonehead” by Old World immigrants. Pilot Mountain and Yadkin River have served as navigational landmarks guiding the way of life for animals and humans for centuries. In the 1760s, grindstones were quarried on Pilot Mountain that were used to process grain and form metal tools.

pilot mountain state park — A stone tollhouse built in 1949 by J.W. Beasley was used as the park office until 1981 and still stands today

Around the 1830s, large, wooden ferries operated along the Yadkin River to take passengers over “Bean Shoals” – a series of islands and shallow falls. The Pilot Mountain Hotel stood at the base of the mountain with ladders and stairs on the sides of the knob for visitors to climb to the summit. The shoal ferries functioned using a cable system near where the park’s canoe launch exists today, until the development of highway bridges in the 1930s.

View of Pilot Mountain from US HWY 52 — View of Pilot Mountain looking northwest from US Highway 52 / Pilot Mountain Parkway

In the late 1960s, a local land owner offered to sell Pilot Mountain with the stipulation that it be made into a state park to protect the monadnock from expanding development in the Piedmont region. With public fundraiser efforts to create more parks to drive tourism, Pilot Mountain became North Carolina’s 14th state park in 1968 and was registered as a National Natural Landmark in 1975.

View from little pinnacle at pilot mountain — View from Little Pinnacle, seeing past Big Pinnacle all the way to Hanging Rock State Park

Pilot Mountain, a 1066-acre mountain, has two pinnacles – Big Pinnacle, a 200-foot rounded knob top covered in vegetation; and Little Pinnacle, where you can view Big Pinnacle, the Piedmont and Sauratown Mountains, and Hanging Rock State Park.