Pack your gear to visit Purgatory Mountain

Some people travel to North Carolina’s Randolph County to hike miles of varied trails on Purgatory Mountain, which is haunted by a daunting Civil War “head hunter.”

 

Many more people go to Purgatory Mountain, though, in search of elephants like “Louie,” who lives in a dream land at the North Carolina Zoo.

 

During the Civil War, the Confederate army employed Peter Garner to round up draft dodgers and deserters. He was ruthless and was nicknamed “The Hunter.” He got “paid by the head” for the men he snagged and put into a gray uniform. 

Garner was killed by a group of young Quakers who had escaped from his custody, “The Hunter,” however, lives on in spirit to seek his revenge among those who dare tread on Purgatory Mountain. 

Dr. Betsy Roznik, an associate curator at the zoo, invites visitors to take time to “see both sides” of Purgatory Mountain.

 

“In addition to maintaining the world’s largest natural habitat zoo on a heavily wooded 2,600-acre site, we preserve more than 2,000 acres of undeveloped land near the zoo and are actively working to manage and restore these lands,” Dr. Roznik said. 

“These protected areas provide excellent habitat for many plants and animals and provide important corridors that allow animals to move safely through the landscape.” 

Dr. Roznik said: “Amphibians such as spotted salamanders, cricket frogs, spring peepers and gray treefrogs thrive on Purgatory Mountain. Trail cameras have spotted larger animals including racoons, Virginia opossums, white-tailed deer, bobcats and gray foxes.” 

“Many snakes, such as copperheads, black racers, eastern hognose snakes and rare timber rattlesnakes, can be found basking in sunny spots,” she added. 

“After experiencing the scenic beauty of the area, Purgatory Mountain will seem more like heaven,” Dr. Roznik said.

 

Louie is a 20-year-old male African elephant, who was born in 2003 at the Toledo (Ohio) Zoo. He was relocated to the North Carolina Zoo in 2021. Zookeepers are hopeful that Louie will forge a romantic relationship with one of the female elephants and produce offspring.

 

(There are private hideaways within the zoo’s 40-acre Wantani Grasslands Reserve section where the elephants roam.) 

“Louie’s one handsome guy,” remarked Nancy Kauffman, the zoo’s animal management supervisor. He also is known to have “a great personality.” Time will tell.

 

The zoo is operated by the State of North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Centrally located just a few miles south of Asheboro, the zoo set a new attendance record in 2022, receiving more than 1 million visitors.   

Members of the North Carolina Aquariums might want to expand their horizons and visit the zoo this year. It’s about a 220-mile drive from Morehead City to Asheboro, so you might want to pack a bag and make it an excursion. 

By a reciprocal arrangement, Aquarium members qualify for free admission to the zoo. Just show the cashier your membership card and photo ID. Zoo hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Within the North America and Africa sections, there are 1,700 animals representing more than 250 species. 

A 10-acre Asia exhibit is now under construction. The expansion project is expected to be completed in 2026. Zoo officials say the new exhibit “will highlight species such as tigers, Komodo dragons, Visayan warty pigs, white-cheeked gibbons, Asian small-clawed otters, red-crowned cranes, wrinkled hornbills, king cobras and Chinese giant salamanders in natural habitat settings.”

 

Jennifer Ireland, the zoo’s curator of mammals, said she is most excited about the warty pigs, “critically endangered animals from the southeastern areas of Asia.”