Living Waters - On the Trent River

     Ben Casey's book Living Waters is about the Trent River, the wellspring that flows through Jones County on its journey to the waters of the Neuse River.

     The book is a photo essay of the unique beauty that is found along the river banks and is designed to heighten the awareness of the natural beauty that needs to be preserved along the Trent and Neuse Rivers.

     Casey canoed up and down every traversable mile, about 70 of the 100 miles of the Trent River's 100 miles, taking pictures of extraordinary beauty never seen before except by those who have explored the River by canoe or kayak. Casey found it was alive with all kinds of wildlife.

     Its undisturbed areas are a haven for deer, wild turkeys, beavers, ducks, quail, geese, herons, egrets, and other birds. To this day, the living waters of the Trent provide good fishing grounds for the sports fisherman as it did for the Tuscarora Indians whose settlements lined its banks decades ago. Bass are still plentiful. The River provides cruising with yachts up to 42 feet dropping anchor and having lunch near the US Hwy. 17 bridge next to the new Town Hall in Pollocksville.

Walter Henderson writes, "I sing from the springs at the union of Duplin and Lenoir Counties on the property of Odom Futrell and have been doing so for fifteen thousand years. I tumble in erratic meanderings for more than 100 miles, ending in Craven County.

My headwater is a meager five feet wide, yet my mouth is a mile wide where I end in the confluence in the Neuse River at Union Point in New Bern.

I am the Trent River, named after the Trent River in England. In the early days of European settlement along my shores, it is said that I meandered by every major plantation in the county."

    Photographing the rivers transformed Casey into an inside-out ecologist meaning he became emotionally attached to the rivers and their well-being.

     "When you're in a canoe or kayak, you most always become one with the water, and that closeness breeds contempt for anything that harms these waters."

     "My idea was to do photo essays to share with people what was in their own backyard," Casey said.
     The book titled Living Waters is available at Carolina Creations on Pollock Street, Trent Woods Hardware and Middle Street Landing, New Bern, and at the Pollocksville Town Hall.

For more information on the Trent River, click on the link below:
http://www.bencaseypub.com/livingwaters.shtml

E-mail for Ben Casey ben@towndock.net Phone: 249-2553

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Last Modified on Monday, June 30, 2008 12:56 PM