The Williamston Trail Merger: Day Hike Guide for Williamston

For one of the most genuinely rewarding day hikes in eastern North Carolina, few places combine adventure, scenery, and local history quite like the connecting trail network in Williamston, NC — the county seat of Martin County. Three thoughtfully designed paths — the River Landing Boardwalk along the Roanoke River, the Skewarkee Rail Trail built on a former Atlantic Coast Line Railway corridor, and a short walking trail through Moratoc Park — link together to create one of the most distinctive day hikes anywhere in the broader Inner Banks region. In this guide, we’ll share the route we followed, the history we discovered along the way, and the highlights that genuinely made this hike memorable. We hope this guide inspires you to explore these wonderful trails on your next visit to Martin County — happy adventuring!

1. Start – Moratoc Park
2. River Landing Boardwalk
3. Skewarkee Rail Trail
4. Downtown Williamston
5. Conclusion

1. Start – Moratoc Park

We began our hike at Moratoc Park — an 18-acre county-owned park that sits on the site of Williamston’s original wharf, where boats once arrived and departed in the earliest days of the town’s river-trade economy. The park’s name pays tribute to the Moratock, the early name for what is now known as the Roanoke River, giving the park a meaningful linguistic connection to the river that shaped Williamston’s history.

Today, Moratoc Park offers a wonderful mix of recreational amenities, including a playground, the rustic Moratoc Building (a popular event venue that seats up to 250 guests), a fishing pier, a kayak launch, an NC Wildlife boat launch, and several historic buildings to explore along the park’s walking trail — including a one-room schoolhouse, a former lumber mill commissary, and a tobacco barn. Together, these structures offer a tangible connection to Williamston’s deeper rural and small-town past.

We parked our car in the Moratoc Park lot and made our way down toward the Roanoke River. From the area next to the Moratoc Building, we connected directly to the River Landing Boardwalk — the next stop on the hike.

2. River Landing Boardwalk

The River Landing Boardwalk runs for 550 feet along the Roanoke River and ended up being the genuine highlight of our hike. The boardwalk is fully ADA-accessible, elevated above the wetlands, and offers some of the most beautiful and peaceful river views anywhere in Martin County. It’s the kind of stop that genuinely rewards taking your time — pausing to watch the river move beneath you, scanning the Roanoke River Wetlands across the way, and listening for the calls of the more than 200 species of birds that call this stretch of river home.

The boardwalk is also a gateway to the famous Roanoke River State Trail — a 100+ mile paddling trail stretching from Roanoke Rapids to the Albemarle Sound that’s earned the nickname “The Amazon of North Carolina” for its slow waters, dense bald cypress canopies, and remarkable biodiversity. If you’re inclined to paddle, there’s a screened-and-covered camping platform right off the boardwalk where overnight paddlers can stay — with the bonus of nearby restrooms and showers. The area is also popular for fishing — we saw several people casting lines from the boardwalk and the nearby fishing pier while we were there.

After spending some time soaking in the river views, we crossed the parking lot to the entrance of the Skewarkee Rail Trail — the next leg of the hike.

3. Skewarkee Rail Trail

The entrance to the Skewarkee Rail Trail is directly across the street from the River Landing Boardwalk parking lot. The trail runs for 0.93 miles along a fully paved corridor that was once part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway — converted into a beloved community greenway through a Recreational Trails Program grant and meaningful local support. The flat, rail-grade surface and shaded greenery make for one of the most peaceful walking experiences in eastern North Carolina, and the trail takes you straight from the Roanoke River back into the heart of historic downtown Williamston.

Early along the trail, you’ll find a plaque marking the site of Camp Williamston — a remarkable World War II prisoner-of-war camp where over 300 prisoners lived and worked from 1943 until the end of the war. The camp originally housed Italian POWs but was converted to hold German prisoners (many from Rommel’s Afrika Korps) in the spring of 1944. The prisoners worked on local farms and lumber mills, and many of them developed surprisingly warm relationships with Martin County residents. The most poignant detail of the story: during their stay, the German prisoners built a life-size nativity scene, which they left to the town as a gift after the war. The nativity scene became a beloved local Christmas tradition until it was sadly destroyed in a 1958 fire that consumed the old Williamston City Hall. The plaque along the trail brings this remarkable chapter of local history to life for every visitor who passes by.

Williamston is also worth noting as North Carolina’s first Audubon Certified Sustainable Community — a meaningful distinction reflecting the town’s commitment to bird-friendly habitat, sustainable land use, and outdoor recreation. The Skewarkee Rail Trail is one of the most visible expressions of that broader commitment.

4. Downtown Williamston

The Skewarkee Rail Trail emerges right at the edge of historic downtown Williamston — and walking through this part of the town feels like stepping into several layers of NC history at once. The town’s name traces back to the Tuscarora-era settlement called “Squhawky” (later anglicized as “Skewarky”), then to the early colonial nickname “Tar Landing” (since this very area became the principal shipping point for tar, pitch, and turpentine), and finally to its formal 1779 incorporation as Williamston in honor of Colonel William Williams II, a Revolutionary War hero.

One of the most genuinely fascinating bits of Williamston’s earliest history: the original 1774 courthouse was built on stilts directly above the Roanoke River. People arrived by boat and climbed ladders to enter — and when the court was declared in session, the ladders were removed, and no one was permitted to leave. According to historical accounts, the chief amusements during court week were “oyster roasts and fist fights.” It captures the wonderfully colorful early character of the town better than just about any other detail we discovered.

Downtown Williamston’s historic district preserves buildings from the late-19th and early-20th-century tobacco and trade era, including the iconic Asa Biggs House with its distinctive railed balconies under each second-story window. Walking through the area, you can genuinely feel the layered character of more than two centuries of NC small-town life.

5. Conclusion

After exploring downtown Williamston, we made our way back along the Skewarkee Rail Trail toward Moratoc Park. As we got closer to the river, we discovered a short connector path that led directly back to the park — letting us pass the historic one-room schoolhouse, lumber mill commissary, and tobacco barn buildings one more time before returning to our car.

The whole hike took us a few hours, covered roughly 2.5 miles round trip, and combined gentle exercise with one of the most rewarding mixes of history, riverside scenery, and small-town character anywhere in eastern North Carolina. From the Moratoc Park wharf history, to the peaceful 550 feet of the River Landing Boardwalk above the Roanoke River, to the Camp Williamston WWII story along the Skewarkee Rail Trail, to the courthouse-on-stilts heritage of downtown — each leg of the hike added something genuinely meaningful to the experience. Overall, we thought this day hike was a great success, and we’d recommend it to anyone exploring Martin County or the broader Inner Banks region.

If you’re planning your own visit, give yourself plenty of time to read the interpretive markers, pause for photos along the boardwalk, and take in the layered history of historic downtown Williamston. It’s the kind of day hike that rewards slowing down — and one of the most rewarding outdoor experiences we’ve shared on The Sociable Adventurer.