The Trading Ford area of the Yadkin River contains an incredible concentration of historic sites spanning over 10,000 years:  Native-American; early roads, fords and ferries; early bridges; a Revolutionary War battlefield and campsites; a Civil War battlefield; and possibly a 16th century Spanish fort.  This highly-significant historic area now faces threats from development and the failure of federal preservation laws.

Duke Energy's plans to build a new power plant threaten the historic Trading Ford itself and the heart of the Revolutionary War battlefield.  An inadequate archaeology survey done in 2000 failed to recognize the proximity to the Trading Ford and the presence of the Revolutionary War site.  Duke Energy conducted additional study, but side-stepped evaluating the impact on the Revolutionary War and Trading Ford sites.   As the period for public comment closed, Duke Energy changed its previous representation that the project was subject to federal preservation laws, claiming that it falls solely within the jurisdicton of NC's state preservation laws, which offer far less protection of historic sites. Duke Energy is more interested in getting clearance to proceed with the project than in preserving irreplacable historic properties. Duke Energy has ignored alternatives to build the plant nearby, in a location which would do no damage to historic sites.

One of multiple significant sunken roads approaching the Trading Ford on Duke Energy's property. These roads were carved into the land, one wagon at a time, by thousands of our ancestors who crossed the river at this major ford.

Development of High Rock Raceway would build parking lots and a racetrack on 200 acres of the heart of the Yadkin River Bridge Civil War battlefield.  This project also would block access to the 1818 Ithiel Town Bridge, the Ferry crossed by Jefferson Davis at the close of the Civil War, as well as a stream along which Revolutionary War armies camped in the fall of 1780.  The racetrack property was annexed by the Town of Spencer, which granted it a Conditional Use Permit.  The racetrack developer still needs to raise financial backing, pay off old debts, conduct environmental cleanup of previous contamination of the land, and obtain other permits. The principal partner has been forced out and investors are raising questions.

While the rest of NCDOT's I-85 improvement project plans to widen the interstate in its present location, at the sensitive Yadkin River, NCDOT plans to realign the highway, destroying part of the Trading Path; the Yadkin (John Long's/Cowan's/Hedrick's) Ferry; an additional corridor through the Yadkin River Bridge Civil War Battlefield; the 1951 Highway 29 bridge, determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places; and possibly the 1922 open-spandrel concrete arch Wil-Cox bridge, also determined eligible for the National Register (should Davidson County fail in its commitment to preserve the bridge).