Storyline

Saving the Eno

Name: Saving the Eno
Start: 1966
End: 1994

The 1966 association that stopped the reservoir plans and won the state park.

In briefThe Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, formed in 1966 to stop Durham's reservoir plans, won Eno River State Park and has kept adding land to it.

Read the 16 events All storylines

20 works about Saving the Eno are indexed here. 2 held at OCPL →

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 16 dated events in the chronology →

October 14, 1966 The Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley forms Residents who had begun organizing in 1965 against plans to dam the Eno for a water-supply reservoir formed the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley on October 14, 1966. Led by Margaret and Holger Nygard, it began the campaign that preserved the river corridor in Durham and Orange counties. People: Margaret Nygard, Holger Nygard Place: Eno RiverEno River Association: ERA Through the Eras, Beginnings of the Eno River Association
1970s and 1980s The Hill family sells parts of Riverbend Farm for Eno River State Park In the 1970s and 1980s the Hills sold portions of their acreage along the Eno to the new state park, leaving about 27 acres with the house. Place: Cabe-Pratt-Harris House (Riverbend Farm), off Pleasant Green Road near the Eno River · Also named: Douglas Hill, Frances HillNC State Historic Preservation Office: Cabe-Pratt-Harris House, National Register nomination (OR0656), p. 12
May 17, 1972 The State Board of Conservation and Development endorses a state park on the Eno Won over by the Eno River Association, the board approved the idea of a state park along the river in Orange and Durham counties. Soon afterward The Nature Conservancy bought the 300-acre Red Hills Farm and passed it to the state as the first park land. Place: Eno River, Orange and Durham counties · Also mentions: Orange and Durham countiesN.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, Eno River State Park Master Plan (1979), scan p. 10
1973–1975 Eno River State Park is created After years of citizen opposition to damming the Eno for a reservoir, Governor James Holshouser accepted the first tracts for Eno River State Park in June 1973, including 90 acres donated by Dr. and Mrs. Frederick Bernheim. The first 1,000 acres opened to the public in 1975 along the river in Orange and Durham counties. People: Margaret Nygard Place: Eno River · Also named: James Holshouser · Also mentions: Orange and Durham countiesEno River Association: ERA Through the Eras, Creation of the Eno River State Park and West Point on the Eno City Park · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 6, 1973, p. 3
November 11, 1973 ECOS's second bike-a-thon raises money for the Eno River park campaign Some 230 cyclists rode the 22-mile route between Chapel Hill and Durham in the environmental group ECOS's second annual bike-a-thon and raised about $3,000, part of it for the Eno River Project Group's effort to buy land for the proposed Eno River State Park and part for the N.C. Heart Association. ECOS kept 60 percent, since it received no student fee money. Place: Morehead Planetarium parking lot, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, November 12, 1973, p. 1
August 1975 State planners show three Eno River park plans at a Hillsborough public meeting The Division of Parks and Recreation presented three versions of a river park running about eighteen miles from Guess Road west to near Hillsborough. Landowners along the western river in Orange County objected, above all to the state's use of eminent domain against unwilling sellers. Place: HillsboroughN.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, Eno River State Park Master Plan (1979), scan p. 10
September 1975 Orange County forms an Eno River task force, and state park planning stops The county formally created a task force to weigh the aims of private owners against protection of the river. At the request of county officials the state put its park planning on hold. Place: Orange CountyN.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, Eno River State Park Master Plan (1979), scan p. 10 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, October 22, 1975, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, November 7, 1975, p. 1
by November 1975 Eno River landowners form the Eno River Group to oppose the state park Landowners in the Eno River valley, led by S. G. Barbour of Hillsborough, formed the Eno River Group to oppose the state's park plans and its power to take land by eminent domain. The Daily Tar Heel reported the group alongside the Eno River Association and the county task force studying the river. Place: Eno River valley, Orange County · Also named: S. G. BarbourThe Daily Tar Heel, November 7, 1975, p. 1
1976 Orange County adopts a policy for protecting the Eno River After its task force reported in May 1976, still split over eminent domain, the county adopted a statement calling for permanent protection of the river through both state park ownership and restricted private ownership, backed by conservation zoning and easements. It asked the state to use condemnation only to protect the river, not to enlarge the park. Place: Orange CountyN.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, Eno River State Park Master Plan (1979), scan p. 10
August 1976 Seven landowners near Hillsborough sue to stop the Eno River State Park plan Just as master planning resumed, seven landowners near Hillsborough sued the state, arguing that adopting a park master plan would be an unlawful taking of their property. A restraining order and injunction halted the planning for more than two years. Place: near HillsboroughN.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, Eno River State Park Master Plan (1979), scan p. 10
November 1978 The state Supreme Court refuses the Eno park landowners' appeal By denying discretionary review of a Court of Appeals ruling for the state, the North Carolina Supreme Court ended the injunction against Eno River State Park planning. Work on the master plan resumed the next month. Place: North Carolina Supreme Court, RaleighN.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, Eno River State Park Master Plan (1979), scan p. 10
July 4, 1980 The first Festival for the Eno is held The Eno River Association held the first Festival for the Eno on July 4, 1980, at West Point on the Eno, a Durham city park on the river. The yearly festival of traditional music, crafts and trades raises money for land protection in the Eno River basin. Place: West Point on the Eno, Durham · Also mentions: Eno RiverEno River Association: ERA Through the Eras, Creation of the Eno River State Park and West Point on the Eno City Park

Show all 16 dated events

1993 or 1994 The Eno River Association buys timber rights on Occoneechee Mountain To stop logging on about 96 acres along the summit, where the mountain's rarest plant communities grow, the association bought the timber rights the owners had sold to a timber company, holding them for 18 months while it negotiated to buy the land. Place: summit of Occoneechee Mountain, HillsboroughR. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 27
by 1994 Piedmont Minerals grants easements for an Occoneechee Mountain parking lot and trail The mining company, which owned about 40 acres on the mountain's north side, gave easements for a one-acre parking lot on the floodplain by SR 1148 and a narrow trail linking it to the Town of Hillsborough's 28-acre Occoneechee Park. Place: north side of Occoneechee Mountain, HillsboroughR. Marina Riley, A Strategy to Protect the Environmental and Cultural Values of Occoneechee Mountain in Orange County, North Carolina (1994), scan p. 25
1997–1999 Occoneechee Mountain becomes a State Natural Area At the urging of the Eno River Association and The Nature Conservancy, the state began buying land on Occoneechee Mountain just south of Hillsborough, with the Conservancy purchasing 96 acres for the state. The 124-acre Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area was dedicated on July 20, 1999, with a blessing from an Occaneechi tribal member. Place: Hillsborough · Also mentions: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural AreaSearch the index · Eno River Association: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area
January 2025 Occoneechee Speedway joins Eno River State Park North Carolina finalized the addition of more than 200 acres near Hillsborough, including the Historic Occoneechee Speedway trail and the James M. Johnston Nature Preserve, to Eno River State Park. The Eno River Association had arranged the sale from the Jenrette Foundation, formerly the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. Place: Eno RiverNC State Parks: Historic Occoneechee Speedway Added to Eno River State Park (January 28, 2025)

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

Eno River State Park Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries · Eno River · 5 events here
Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries · Hillsborough · 3 events here
Cabe-Pratt-Harris House (Riverbend Farm) Houses, farms, parks and cemeteries · Eno River · 1 event here
Occoneechee Speedway Businesses, mills and venues · Hillsborough · 1 event here

All places and the county map →

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Saving the Eno River

Thomson, Julie J. · 2023

A short history for young readers of how the Eno River was kept free of a dam. The Eno rises in Orange County and runs through Hillsborough into Durham County. When Durham proposed a dam in the 1960s, Margaret Nygard (1925-1995) and her neighbors formed the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley; Julie J. Thomson tells how they won Eno River State Park instead. Eno River Association, Durham, 2023; 25 illustrated pages.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Durham record: Nygard, Margaret.

✓ Held at OCPL · J 975.656 THOMSON NC Cardinal UNC Durham Chapel Hill PL

Eno River State Park Master Plan

North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation · 1979

The North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation's master plan for Eno River State Park, dated June 1979, for the park that follows the river through Orange and Durham counties. Plans and maps, some in color, lay out the proposed development. Published by the Division in Raleigh, 64 pages in an oblong format.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 917.56 ENO NC Cardinal UNC Durham

News from the Eno River Association.

2003 · Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley

News from the Eno River Association, recorded from 2003, is one of several newsletter titles the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley used at Durham. Volumes with illustrations, 28 centimeters. Topics include association business, the history of the Eno River Valley and description of the river itself, which flows out of Orange County past Hillsborough.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

Eno.

2001 · The Eno River Association

Issue of Eno, the journal of the Eno River Association, published in 2001 and devoted to the Little River, the Eno tributary that runs along the Orange and Durham county line. Pieces cover the country above the Little River Reservoir, lore of the colonial Trading Path near the river, the eighteenth-century entrepreneur William Johnston, and the river's plants from Lewis's heartleaf to yellow-flowered trillium. 72 pages with illustrations.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley -- Periodicals.

NC Cardinal

Eno River Association [newsletter].

1999 · The Association

The Eno River Association's newsletter, recorded from 1999 and published at Durham, carries association news and natural history of the Eno River Valley. Volumes with illustrations in a small 22 centimeter format. Topics include the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley and natural history of the valley, which straddles the Orange and Durham county line.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

Margaret Nygard, 1925-1995.

1996 · Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley

Twelve page memorial booklet issued in 1996 by the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley for Margaret Nygard, 1925 to 1995. The booklet concerns Nygard and the history of the volunteer association that preserves the Eno River valley in Orange and Durham counties. Illustrated, 26 cm.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Nygard, Margaret, 1925-1995.

UNC

Show 6 more

[Miscellaneous brochures, statements, etc.]

Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley · 1988

A box of ephemera from the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, dated 1988: flyers, brochures, newsletters and other loose material on protecting the Eno River corridor, the state park and the annual Festival for the Eno. The contents document the association's public campaigns in Orange and Durham counties.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

Eno : [newsletter of the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley].

1973 · Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley

Eno was the newsletter the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley began publishing at Durham in 1973. Volumes with illustrations and maps; some issues carry an added title of their own. Topics include the association itself, the history of the Eno River Valley and description and travel along the river, which runs from Orange County into Durham.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

The Eno River of North Carolina

Nygard, Margaret, 1925-1995 · 1973 · Nature Conservancy

Margaret Nygard's 1973 article on the Eno, published by the Nature Conservancy and detached from the Fall 1973 number of its news magazine. Six pages with illustrations. The article concerns natural areas and recreation along the Eno in Orange and Durham counties, including the work of the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

Proposed Eno River State Park

1973

Blue line print map dated 14 March 1973 showing the proposed Eno River State Park along the river in Durham and Orange counties, oriented with north to the upper left. From the Images of North Carolina collection.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

Durham DigitalNC DPLA

Eno River Association : [website].

Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley · Eno River Association

Archived captures of the Eno River Association website, the online presence of the group founded as the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley. The website concerns conservation of natural resources and outdoor recreation in the Eno River watershed, the drainage that rises in Orange County and runs east through Durham.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

Eno River currents

Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley

Eno River currents, an illustrated newsletter published in Durham by the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley. It concerns the organization and the history and landscape of the river valley in Orange and Durham counties. Volumes, 28 centimeters.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley.

UNC

Search all 20 indexed works →

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this storyline. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled. Books marked Wider context cover the broader subject rather than this storyline itself.

Foundational · NC 917.56 ENO Eno River State Park Master Plan 1979
The North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation's master plan for Eno River State Park, dated June 1979, for the park that follows the river through Orange and Durham counties. Plans and maps, some in color, lay out the proposed development. Published by the Division in Raleigh, 64 pages in an oblong format.
Foundational · NC 975.656 RIBBONS Ribbons of Color Along the Eno River: The History of African Americans and People of Color Living on the Eno 2021
Collected first-hand and second-hand stories from the Eno River valley as told from the standpoint of African Americans and Native people who have lived along the river in Orange and Durham counties, from prehistory to the present day. Issued by the Eno River Association in Durham as volume 10, number 2 of the Eno Journal, 2021, 106 pages with illustrations.
Foundational · NC 289.6 ENG Early Quakers in the Eno River Valley: Ca. 1750-1847 Engstrom, Mary Claire · 1989
Mary Claire Engstrom's history of the Quaker settlers of the Eno River valley from about 1750 to 1847, in the country that is now Orange and Durham counties. Published by the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley in Durham in 1989, 73 pages with illustrations, maps and portraits.

Show 6 more

Foundational · NC 621.2 ENO Eno: Papers From the Seminar on Waterwheels and Windmills Held in Durham, North Carolina, July 1978, in the Bicentennial Year of West Point on the Eno River 1979
A 1979 item titled simply Eno, the name of the river that rises in northern Orange County and runs east past Hillsborough. Part of the library's Wall Local History Collection.
Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 719 HILLSBOR Hillsborough River Walk Feasibility Study Report 2000
A feasibility study report from 2000 on a river walk for Hillsborough, a proposed trail along the Eno River through town. Subjects include trail design in Hillsborough. Of interest to anyone following the planning history of the town's Riverwalk and its greenways.
Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 285.175 LITTLE Little River Presbyterian Church History 1986
A history of Little River Presbyterian Church in Orange County, compiled in 1986. Topics include the church's history, Orange County church history and Orange County genealogy, along with the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. A source for family historians with Presbyterian ancestors in the county.
Wider context · NC 975.603 PEA Conservation and Historic Preservation Easements: To Preserve North Carolina's Heritage Peacock, S. Lance · 1979
A booklet of about 1979 from the Historic Preservation Society of North Carolina on using conservation and historic preservation easements to protect land and buildings, with a guide to the tax savings for donors, from income tax deductions to estate and property taxes, and worked examples. Lance Peacock and Charles Roe wrote it, Keith N. Morgan and Jo Ann Williford revised it, and Jenny Nygard drew the illustrations; 36 pages.
Wider context · NC 975.658 CASSEBAU Down Along the Haw: The History of A North Carolina River Cassebaum, Anne Melyn · 2011
Anne Melyn Cassebaum follows the Haw River from its seeps in Forsyth and Guilford counties past the cotton mills of Alamance and the whitewater and Jordan Lake of Chatham, then down the Cape Fear to the sea. Her history draws on interviews with mill owners and hands, archaeologists, farmers, environmentalists and water-treatment managers, and closes with a list of citizen groups working for the river. McFarland, 2011; 229 pages with maps and portraits.
Wider context · NC 929 WAD A Colonial Officer and His Times, 1754-1773: A Biographical Sketch of Gen. Hugh Waddell, of North Carolina. With Notices of the French and Indian War in the Southern Colonies; the Resistance to the Stamp Act in North Carolina ... the Regulators' War; and An Historical Sketch of the Former Town of Brunswick, on the Cape Fear River Waddell, Alfred M. · 1885
Alfred Moore Waddell's sketch of General Hugh Waddell (about 1734 to 1773), who commanded North Carolina's provincial troops against the Cherokee, set among accounts of the French and Indian War in the South, the Stamp Act resistance in North Carolina, the Regulators' War and the former Cape Fear River town of Brunswick. It prints Stamp Act documents not published before. Copyrighted in 1885 and published in Raleigh in 1890; 242 pages with a portrait.

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.

Background 5

NCpedia: Eno River State Park Concise historical background
Eno River Association: Our History Account of how Durham's reservoir plans in the late 1960s led a walking group to form and defend the Eno.
Eno River Association: ERA Through the Eras, Creation of the Eno River State Park History of how advocacy and partnerships created Eno River State Park and the city park at West Point.
Our State: Lady of the River Profile of Margaret Nygard, a founding member of the Eno preservation group who fought Durham's reservoir plan in the 1960s.
Festival for the Eno: History Account of the festival held each year since 1980 to raise money for land protection in the Eno River basin.

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Eno River State Park The park’s own history, trails, and mill sites

Records of the time

NC Digital Collections: 61 items for “Eno River”North Carolina Digital Collections State records, photographs, and publications, viewable online
DigitalNC newspapers: 47 Orange County pages for “Eno River Association” Searchable pages from historic Orange County newspapers
NC Digital Collections: State ParksNorth Carolina Digital Collections Records and photographs of the state parks, Eno River among them

Collections and databases

NC LIVE: prepared search for Saving the Eno Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.

Local help

Orange County Natural & Cultural Resources County land and water conservation programs along the Eno
Eno River Association The association that saved the river: history, conservation, and the Festival for the Eno
Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
Local History Help Hours and request formOCPL Local History Liaison Meet with the Local History Liaison at the Main Library, usually Mondays from noon to 3 p.m., or send a question using the online request form

Related entries

Part of Eno & Environment Community & Civic Organizations

People Margaret Nygard (2 entries)Holger Nygard (1 entry)Richard H. Jenrette

Cite or share

Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “Saving the Eno.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/topics/saving-the-eno/. Accessed October 22, 2026.

How to cite what you find

Indexed works are gathered from library and archive catalogs across North Carolina, last refreshed October 12, 2026. Chronology entries were last updated October 20, 2026.

Orange County Indexed is maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library. Related works are grouped using catalog subject headings; outside sources are selected by hand. Suggest a correction or a source →

Picture: The Eno at Eno River State Park. CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph by Gaurav; via Wikimedia Commons

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Saving the Eno

In the chronology

Places in this history

Indexed works

Saving the Eno River

Eno River State Park Master Plan

News from the Eno River Association.

Eno.

Eno River Association [newsletter].

Margaret Nygard, 1925-1995.

[Miscellaneous brochures, statements, etc.]

Eno : [newsletter of the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley].

The Eno River of North Carolina

Proposed Eno River State Park

Eno River Association : [website].

Eno River currents

Start at OCPL

Research sources

Background 5

Historic sites, markers, and maps

Records of the time

Collections and databases

Local help

Related themes

Keep Reading Local