WHAT MAKES
Anson
COUNTY SPECIAL?
Step back in time at the Sneedsborough Lodge
By Charles Wood
T
o get to Buchanan Shoals hunting
preserve, you have to take US 52
South and go through the only
stoplight in Morven and then go down
about four miles on one of the narrowest
roads in the whole state, Sneedsboro Road.
The gate for Buchanan Shoals will be on the
left, followed by a long, winding dirt road.
Once you get to the end of the dirt road, you
can follow the smell of burning wood to the
Sneedsborough Lodge, which sits on a high
hill overlooking the Pee Dee River Valley
and is the home of one of the most majestic
vistas in the United States.
The Sneedsborough Lodge began its life
more 150 years ago as a train depot located
along the old Norfolk-Southern Railroad.
It would be rolled down the railroad on
round timbers while being pulled by a steam
engine and transported north to Morven
in the late 1920s. It was finally moved to
it’s current location on Aug. 26, 2003. The
renovation of the depot took just 72 days
and all the original pine heart boards still
remain.
Buchanan Shoals opened in October 2001
and touts itself as “an exclusive sportsman
preserve” which serves mainly high-end
clientele.
“We’ve tried to put ourselves where we
compete with some of the better quail
plantations across the Southeast,” said owner
Jason Kiker. “A lot of the guys that come
here, they’re high-end business hunters.
They can afford to go anywhere they want
and they choose to come hunt with us.”
These business men fly in from all over the
East Coast, from Pennsylvania to Georgia
and beyond.
The Shoals, as Kiker calls it, is just one of
many hunting preserves scattered about
Anson County. Devil’s Rib Hunting Preserve
is another and is located in Peachland. It was
opened in 1990 and is the oldest hunting
preserve in the county.
Devil’s Rib can be found down a gravel road
and past a small, private cemetery off of
Peachland-Polkton Road. Ricky Carpenter
recently recounted the story of how they
acquired the name.
“You ever hear of Devil’s Backbone in Anson
County? It was a road that goes from White
Store Township to Pasley, it’s real, real curvy.
Years and years ago, Anson County was dry,
so people would go to Pasley to get their
alcohol and bring it back to Anson County
with them,” said Carpenter.
“There were lots of wrecks on that road
(and) it got nicknamed ‘Devil’s Backbone.’
February-March 2020 • 81