Over the years, millions of visitors have stood here, gazing through shadowy plumes of Spanish moss, down the 90 foot sand cliffs to the dark expanse of river below. While geologists are drawn to the site for its invaluable display of million year old fossil layers, researchers and writers come for just the opposite reason - to explore mysteries in history which the ancient walls do not reveal so easily.

An almost eerie peace hangs in the sultry shady woods along the 600 foot long cliffs, lending itself perfectly to some novel of romance or adventure. However, if this river could talk, its stories would rival any tale the finest fiction writer could create.

From prehistoric upheaval, to native American migration, to Civil War intrigue, to riverboat extravaganzas, to ravages by hurricanes, the area surrounding Cliffs of the Neuse has survived assaults by man and nature.

To explore the fascinating background of the region, the state park museum tucked back in the trees atop the cliffs offers an excellent beginning.

The museum offers a taste of the mysteries hidden in time here, from the sea that once lapped at the cliffs' uppermost peaks, to the rowdy sounds of a thriving river resort. Cliffs of the Neuse State Park was established in 1945 from an initial 291 acres deeded from Lionel Weil, of Goldsboro, and 30 acres from the Davis family of Mt. Olive. It opened to the public for the first time in the spring of 1946.

Land comprising the first park area belonged to three main families back in 1750: the Whitfields, Iveys, and Davis. For several years prior to its opening, Weil had been quietly purchasing tracts to create the park site. Other tracts followed, resulting in the 500 acre plus facility.

The same features that caused Weil to pursue his dream of preserving the area for future North Carolinians had also attracted early inhabitants. All along the river, native Americans lived in harmony with the land for countless years prior to the arrival of European settlers.

Originally, the great river went by many names. Each section of the Neuse was known by the tribal territory through which it flowed, according to Chronicler of Voyages Thomas Harriot, in 1584. Not realizing this, early explorer Captain Barlowe dubbed the 300 mile long waterway the Neuse, taken from the Neuisk tribe near the river's mouth.

Former "We the People" editor Charles Holloman is quoted in a State Park report explaining, "Different segments of the Neuse River bore different Indian names derived from the tribes claiming the territory through which it flowed. Thus, the Neusiocks called their part of the river Neuse. From the site of Chattauka town Now New Bern) to the mouth of great Contentnea Creek, the Chattu tribe dwelt and called it Chattukena (kena=river, hence River of the Chattu). The powerful Cahte called their stream Cahtakens (river of the Cahte) from whence by anglicizing comes the modern name Contentnea Creek, a major tributary of the Neuse…."

Although the great Tuscarora nation held a stronghold in the region including Goldsboro, the last occupation of the cliffs area is thought have been the Saponi tribe. The Saponis called the cliffs Saponi Hills, which provided shelter to the tribe by way of cave homes in its base. Yet, by the time European settlers moved into the Wayne County region, their settlements had already vanished, the caves all but obliterated.

What caused their disappearance? By that time, many alliances had formed both between tribes against the settlers and among certain tribes with the Europeans against other tribes. In fact, as early as 1584, coastal explorers noted that the Secotan natives, who greeted them warmly, wished to enlist their aid in fighting their enemy tribe in nearby Pomiouk.

In addition, the so-called treaties that promised native tribes richer lands elsewhere to clear the way for European settlement served as incentive for the native peoples to leave the cliff region. Perhaps weary of the endless warring between tribes as well as against colonists, the Saponi chose the path they hoped meant survival.

Douglas Rights notes in his volume "The American Indian in North Carolina," that in 1701, the Saponi and Tutelo, seeking strength in number, had moved together to Bertie County, a farther reach of Tuscarora territory. By 1712, North Carolina offered them terms to help fight the fierce

Tuscarora, in return for a promised Albemarle relocation. Whether that promise was kept is not documented. It is generally believed the Saponi had left the cliffs area in their northward migration prior to the Indian Wars of 1711.

A glimpse of the Saponi is given by Rights' excerpt from Colonel William Byrd's diary, describing encounters on his famous surveying mission in northern North Carolina in 1728:

"All the Grandees of the Sappony nation did us the Honour to repair hither to meet us, and our worthy Friend and fellow Traveller, Bearskin, appear'd among the gravest of them in his Robes of Ceremony. Four Young Ladies of the first Quality came with them, who had more the air of cleanliness than any copper-color'd Beauties I had ever seen…

"The Men had something great and Venerable in their countenances, beyond the common Mien of Savages; and indeed they ever had the Reputation of being the Honestest, as well as the bravest Indians we have ever been acquainted with.

"This People is now made up of the Remnant of Several other Nations, of which the most considerable is the Sapponys, the Occaneches, and Steukenhocks, who not finding themselves Separately Numerous, enough for their Defence, have agreed to unite into one Body, and all of them go under the name of Sapponys.

"Each of these was formerly a distinct Nation, or rather a Several clan or Canton of the same Nation, Speaking the Same Language, and using the same Customs. But their perpetual Wars against all other Indians, in time, reduc'd them so lo as to make it necessary to join their Forces together…

"The most uncommon Circumstance in this Indian visit Was, that they all came on Horse-back, which was surely intended for a Piece of State, because the Distance was but 3 Miles, and `tis likely they had to walk a foot twice as far to catch their Horses. The Men rode more awkwardly than any Dutch Sailor, and the Ladies bestrode their Palfreys a la mode de France, but were so bashful about it, that there was no persuading them to Mount until they were quite out of our Sight."

Eventually, the Saponi and Tutelo were reported by Rights to have gone north, to league with the Iroquois, once their enemy. He traces their northward movement to the Cayuga, who took them in. In turn, the Revolutionary War destroyed this settlement, and the sad remnants of these great nations retreated to Canada.

In a poignant footnote to history, Mr. Rights cites the statement of the last known surviving Tutelo, called Nikonha, thought to be over one hundred years old when he died in 1871. Nikonha said that when these once great North Carolina peoples reached Canada, the Saponi and Tutelo separated at Niagara to go their own ways. This was the last Nikonha knew of the tribe.

Nature itself may have played a role in the Saponi departure. Many floods have ravaged the area in modern times. Floods in 1887, 1901, 1908, 1919, 1924, 1928 and 1929, cited by a state Neuse River Basin report, demonstrate the grim consistency with which Mother Nature visits the region. In fact, history documents a "storm" in 1712 of such force that it caused the disappearance of some rivers in North Carolina and creation of new ones.

Certainly storms such as Hurricane Hazel, which wracked the Cliffs of the Neuse in 1954, and Hurricane Donna in 1960 played havoc on those living as natives did, "at one" with nature. The more recent Hurricane Fran caused the closing of the mineral springs located near Seven Springs, when they were inundated with bacteria-laden flood waters.

What if this had happened before in some earlier flood? Long before the springs resort officially opened in 1878, the waters were known as "Indian Springs," for their use as "medicine springs" by local tribes. For over 300 years, native Americans treasured and fought battles over possession of what in native tongue meant "All-Healing Springs." Could storm damage or contamination of their precious waters have encouraged diseases that reportedly helped disseminate the tribes?

Answers to these mysteries lie hidden in the past, traces of the Saponi caves long eroded by hurricane and flood. A lush hiking trail leads from the cliff heights down to the sandy river bank, where tribes once flourished. There, a small stream cascades in riverlets to join the great Neuse. Flanking the stream stand rows of cypress knees of all shapes and sizes.

From a distance, one could mistake the ancient stand as tiny human figures, silently guarding their river home. Like the massive cliffs above, they tell no secrets, but merely stand frozen as mute testament to those who came before, then vanished into the mists of time.

Sources for this article include "The American Indian in North Carolina," by Douglas L. Rights and "The Establishment of the Cliffs of the Neuse, 1945," by the North Carolina State Park Service. Special thanks to the Wayne County Library for use of its local history vertical file and to the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park staff.