Here is a list of books to get started. These deal with the natural environment. For books about the history and culture of your part of the Northeast Creek basin, visit your county library’s North Carolina Collection.
Piedmont
Michael A. Godfrey, Field Guide to the Piedmont: the Natural Habitats of America’s Most Lived-In Region, from New York City to Montgomery, Alabama, University of North Carolina Press, 1997
David Cook, Robin Smith (editors), Susan Beebe, Emma Skurnich (illustrator), The Piedmont Almanac – The Central Region: A Guide to the Natural World, 2001
Southeastern States Field Guides
Peter Alden, Gil Nelson, Harry Zirlin, Johnathan D. Kahl, Eric A. Oches, Wendy B. Zomiefer, National Audubon Society Field Guide: Regional Guide to the Southeastern States: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Knopf, 1999
Geology and Soils
Kevin G. Stewart and Mary-Russell Roberson, Exploring the Geology of the Carolinas: A Field Guide to Favorite Places from Chimney Rock to Charleston, University of North Carolina Press,2007
James D. Nardi, Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners, University of Chicago Press, 2007
Hydrology
E. C. Pielou, Fresh Water, University of Chicago Press, 1998
Mammals
Larry N. Brown, A Guide to the Mammals of the Southeastern United States, University of Tennesee Press, 1997
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World, Harper, 2009
Birds
David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Guide to Birds – Second Edition, Knopf, 2014
David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, Knopf, 2003
Reptiles
Whit Gibbons, Judy Greene, and Tony Mills, Lizards and Crocodilians of the Southeast, University of Georgia Press, 2009
Whit Gibbons and Mike Dorcas, Snakes of the Southeast, University of Georgia Press, 2015
Kurt Buhlmann, Tracy Tuberville, and Whit Gibbons, Turtles of the Southeast, University of Georgia Press, 2008
Amphibians
Mike Dorcas and Whit Gibbons, Frogs and Toads of the Southeast, University of Georgia Press, 2008
Joe Mitchell and Whit Gibbons, Salamanders of the Southeast, University of Georgia Press, 2010
Insects
Christopher Leahy, Peterson First Guides: Insects of North America, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998
Plants
Timothy P. Spira, Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont: A Naturalist’s Guide to the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia, University of North Carolina Press, 2011
Bruce A. Sorrie, A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 2011
Albert E. Radford, Barry Ahles, C.Ritchie Bell, Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas, The University of North Carolina Press, 1965
James H. Miller and Karl V. Miller, Forest Plants of the Southeast and their Wildlife Uses, University of Georgia Press, 2005
David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Guide to Trees, Knopf, 2009
Invasive Plants
Teri Dunn Chace, How to Eradicate Invasive Plants, Timber Press, 2012
C. Colston Burrell, Janet Marinelli, and Bonnie Harper-Love, Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Inc., 2006
Native Plants
Harry R. Phillips, Growing and Propagating Wild Flowers: An Easy-to-Use Guide for All Gardeners, The University of North Carolina Press, 1985
Richard E. Bir, Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants, University of North Carolina Press, 1992
Plant Identification
Thomas J. Elpel, Botany in a Day: the Patterns Method of Plant Identification; Thomas J. Elpel’s Field Guide to Plant Families, HOPS Press, 2010