Ask a Ranger: Reedy Creek State Park; A Personal History of Segregation

A map of present-day William B. Umstead State Park, marked up by Ranger Jess for reference on what Mr. James Johnson discusses in the episode.
Click the photo to download a PDF version of the map for easier viewing.

Former Reedy Creek State Park Superintendent James Johnson holds a fawn found in the park, taken on July 23, 1969.
Photo courtesy of North Carolina State Parks archives.

A Boy Scout troop engaged in an environmental education activity at Whispering Pines at then Reedy Creek State Park, circa 1943.
Photo courtesy of North Carolina State Parks archives.

Maintenance staff vehicles parked at the shop at Reedy Creek State Park, circa 1956.
Photo courtesy of North Carolina State Parks archives.

About the Ask a Ranger Podcast

Ranger Crystal and Ranger Jess host the North Carolina State Parks Ask a Ranger Podcast series. Ranger Billy Drakeford of William B. Umstead State Park was the guest host for this episode.

Their guest this episode is James Johnson, a historian, who grew up in what is now William B. Umstead State Park. His father, Supt. James Johnson, was the park superintendent at Reedy Creek State Park from 1959 to 1985. During Supt. Johnson's early career, the park now known as Umstead was segregated into two sections, Reedy Creek for Black people, and the other, Crabtree Creek State Park, for white people.

Email them at askaranger@ncparks.gov.

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