A Short History of Bynum Beach

A Short History of Bynum Beach

a Carolina Paddler Article

by Bob Brueckner and Alton Chewning

-Bob Brueckner has seen many changes to the Haw River.  He’s been an advocate for the river for decades, working with the CCC and other conservation organizations like the Haw River Assembly and the Friends of the Lower Haw.  His perspective provides unique insight to the shifting availabilities of places to put a boat on the water.

The first map drawn by the famed river artist and writer, William Nealy, was of the Haw River, what’s known as the Upper Haw. Chicken Bridge to Bynum Dam. With input from local paddle expert, Howard Du Bose, Nealy noted the rapids and structures, the put-ins and obstructions.

In his 1978 map of what Nealy calls Section III, the Bynum Dam area, Nealy notes one put-in, on river right, just below the original Hwy 15-501 Bridge (now known as the Pedestrian Bridge).  Nealy doesn’t give this access a name.  Soon it would be known as “Bynum Beach”.  Brueckner recalls the bank there had a smooth, beach-like stretch of sand. After 2014, erosion from storms and run-off wiped out the beach but the name remained.

The name was never popular with some local people. They felt it invited a raucous, party crowd.  This was no reflection on the paddlers who used it to enter the river, but the stigma affected them too.  The access is still there but the new name is the South Bynum River Access.  Some people argue for the Bynum Beach Road Access, since a side road of that name parallels the area but the sign at the site says South Bynum.

Bynum Beach was the most popular access in the early 1970’s.  The put-in had a significant advantage because even at low water a deep portion of the river is just off the bank.

One could put in below the Bynum Dam, but only at certain times. The dam was generating power then, at least some of the time. To put in below the dam required a situation where the hydro plant was not running, and a natural flow was strong enough to paddle. Also, the carry to the dam and the portage around it could be difficult. Ask Steve Bruno. He tore his Achilles tendon carrying his boat on the dam trail.

If the hydro plant was generating power, river water was diverted to the powerhouse, leaving the river too shallow to run below the dam.  At the site of the present Bynum Mill Access (now temporarily closed), the tailrace of water coming from the powerhouse returned to the river, giving sufficient water to paddle. Today, when putting in at Bynum Mill, one can notice the channel to the right. This was the tailrace.

The Bynum Mill access has a history too.  Bynum Mill, a typical, small southern textile factory, situated on a river, closed in 1983. Paddlers began using the area below the mill to put on the river.  In 2001, the vacant building burned, and the area was closed off to the public.

Now deprived of a low water access point, the CCC, under Cleo Smith’s initiative, began exploring ways of making the Bynum Beach access more paddler friendly. Very limited parking hampered the access. A deal was reached with the Triangle Land Conservancy to acquire the property as “Green/Open Space” making it legal for public use. Complications with the maintenance of the area led the TLC to sell the Bynum Beach property to Chatham County in 2002 for $1.  Chatham would make the property a park area, but parking was still limited.

In the following years, more and more lands were added to this growing green space, now designated as the Lower Haw River State Natural Area. Transfers of property by Duke University, Botanical Gardens and Charles Stevens led to much to the land downriver of the dam being held as public property.

More changes have taken place to the properties, but this article is about the accesses for the Haw River in Bynum.  Someone once asked Bob Brueckner, “Why do you paddlers need three accesses?”

Well, three does seem something of a luxury but river conditions and changing availabilities often make only one or two usable. This was reflected recently when the Bynum Mill Access was closed for significant improvements.  Refer to the Carolina Paddler article, “How to Access the Middle Haw” to learn more about the situation. In short, without the Bynum Mill put-in, options were limited to the Bynum Dam, with its obstacles, and South Bynum, with no parking.

The river community stepped up again. The Haw River Assembly, in conjunction with Chatham Co., has made their parking lot, just across the pedestrian bridge, available for paddlers. The HRA parking is in front of the Bynum UMC Community Center. The lot features a dozen parking spaces. The lovers of the Haw continue to work through the challenges of using the river wisely.

The town of Bynum and the larger communities of Chatham County, the Triangle and the Piedmont realize the Haw is a jewel, often a muddy brown gem, but a valuable jewel, nonetheless.  It is a resource we all can use and love if we take care of it and share responsibly with others.

Carolina Paddler Lagniappe