Flower Hill Nature Preserve

Specialties

Flower Hill is a 10-​acre preserve owned and managed by the non-​profit Triangle Land Conservancy. Flower Hill is open to the public for free every day from dawn to dusk. For many generations, Johnston County residents have known about this place they called a «freak of nature,» where rhododendron and galax and other mountainous plants grow far from their nearest relatives. Take a walk at Flower Hill and discover what locals have treasured for many years.

History

Established in 1993.

The scientific community became aware of this unique area in 1937, when famed North Carolina naturalist B.W. Wells, a botany and ecology professor at N.C. State University, visited the site with a group at the invitation of Bill Ragsdale, the county forest warden. Wells was surprised to find a large stand of Catawba rhododendron, as well as plants typically found at higher elevations, such as galax, trailing arbutus, chestnut oak and witch hazel.

In the late 1930s, Ragsdale leased Flower Hill, built trails and promoted the site, attracting more than 12,000 visitors over the course of three weekends in May 1937. Interest in the site declined until 1988, when concerned civic group and other members of the Johnston County community launched a fundraising and public awareness campaign to save the natural area. In 1989, Triangle Land Conservancy purchased 10 of the 75 acres that make up this natural heritage site. TLC opened the preserve to the public in May 1993.