Copperline

Chapel Hill, NC. It just so happens that my high school buddy attended the University of Chapel Hill for his Masters in Chemistry. One year we were both living within walking distance to each other in California and the next year, I’m in Illinois and he is in North Carolina.

There are 2 neighborhoods just south of the university in Chapel Hill called Kings Hill and Morgan Creek. That area is very wooded and beautiful. It reminds me of Woodinville or Redmond because it’s like living in the forest.

About a half mile to the south is Morgan Creek, the southern border of these neighborhoods. The natural surroundings and Morgan Creek made for a wonderful place for a boy to grow up in the 60s. A lot of kids in those neighborhoods had parents who were professors at the university. It was a perfect setting. One of my favorite songs has a line in it that says, “Day breaks and the boy wakes and the dog barks and the birds sings and the sap rises and the angels sigh.” That was Kings Hill and Morgan Creek.

In the early 90s, part of this area was developed into a planned community and shopping area. It’s called Southern Village. It is a nice area but with its high density housing and business area, it is nothing like it used to be. At least in this area, there is no more hiking through the woods or wading in the creek. The main road through this new area is Copperline Dr.

You see, though this area is the Kings Hill and Morgan Creek neighborhoods, it has been known to the locals as the Copperline for decades. No one seems to know why it is called the Copperline, it just is. My high school buddy spent 4 years there so he might have some information on that but from what I’ve read, no one really knows why.

A few years back, a bridge over Morgan Creek was rebuilt on US Hwy 15. The area decided to rename the bridge. It became the James Taylor Bridge because you see, one little boy who grew up near Morgan Creek was the singer/songwriter James Taylor.

As a matter of fact, he is the author of the verse I quoted above. Reminiscing about growing up, James sang about falling in love, “First kiss ever I took, like a page from a romance book, the sky opened and the earth shook…”

He sang about trying to go back (dear Lord, don’t I know that feeling), “I tried to go back, as if I could, all spec houses and plywood. Tore up and tore up good.”

And he sang about his dog Hercules. What a sweet sentimental song it was. The song is called “Copperline”

Driving Through the Copperline Area