snippets ~ chatham history BLOG

Devils Tramping Ground outing! What a treasure!

This old postcard showing a group posing at the Devils Tramping Ground in Chatham was contributed by Wally and Sandy Jarrell. The participants are wearing what appear to be Sunday-best outfits and holding springs of what must be the grass that grows around the naked circle of the Devils Tramping Ground. A buggy can be seen on the far right of the photo.

If you can help date the photo from the clothing of the men and women and the buggy, please share your thoughts! The Devils Tramping Ground has been a recognized place of interest in Chatham since at least as early as 1882, when it was mentioned in a Texas newspaper.

Many thanks to Wally and Sandy Jarrell for sharing this photo with us! It's a great piece of Chatham County history!

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #DevilsTrampingGround #DTG #1880s

When we think of the "Great Gatsby" flashy life of the 1920s and early 30s, we don't usually think of Pittsboro, NC. But Bill Hamlet uses family photos to tell the story of a small group of young people in Pittsboro--associates of his mother, Virginia (Ginny) Bean--who lived a pretty glamorous version.

In Bill's original article, he noted that he could not explain the presence of the person in blackface in this photo, but commenters on that early version helped discover that Booth Tarkington's "Seventeen" was the Pittsboro High School play in 1929, and that accounts for the costumes in the photo. (Blackface was not uncommon well into the 1970s and there are definitely other Chatham County examples. It is not being glorified or excused here, but it is being acknowledged). We appreciate the comments that helped fill out the context of the story, and Bill has revised his article to include the new information about the play.

You can read Bill's article, which includes more photos, on our website:

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/Great%20Gatsby%20Life%20in%20Pittsboro%20Bill%20Hamlet.pdf

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #PittsboroNC #1920s #1930s #GreatGatsby

Harold's Grocery / Roy Field's Store

Photo from the early 1980s. The store was located on the southeast corner of West Street and 87 in Pittsboro. (There's a carwash in that location now.)

Commenters on earlier posts remember Dwight Womble running the store, and buying minnows, crickets and worms to go fishing with. They described it as a small general store with snacks, drinks, milk, bread and some canned groceries, and noted that it was a place for folks to catch up on the latest Pittsboro gossip. Others recalled that people of color did not feel welcome there. The store was later owned by Harold Williams--hence the "Harold's Grocery" on the sign in the photo.

From The Architectural Heritage of Chatham County, NC:

"The Roy Fields Store is one of many small stores built for automobile traffic in the 1920s and 1930s along the state's emerging highways. Sited with its gable to the road, the store is built of brick, with its metal roof hidden by a stepped parapet storefront."

This kind of facade became popular for commercial architecture during the early 20th century. Note that the absence of windows on the sides of the building make it possible to have long rows of shelving along the inside walls.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamNC #ChathamHistory #PIttsboroNC #store #1920s #1930s

Chatham County author, Doris Betts, grew up the daughter of mill workers in Statesville, NC. In high school, she was a reporter for her local paper, and in 1950, she entered the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She left college in her junior year to marry Lowry M. Betts, who would later serve as a judge in Chatham and raise Arabian horses on the couple's farm in Pittsboro.

Doris won early awards for her fiction and, in 1966, became a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a favorite teacher and beloved mentor. Students camped out to ensure a space in her classes. She received awards for distinguished teaching, served as director of numerous undergraduate programs, and was the first woman ever elected chairman of the faculty at the University of North Carolina. When she retired from teaching, The Doris Betts Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing endowed chair was named in her honor.

Despite her many awards and other accomplishments, Doris was an unassuming and down-to-earth Pittsboro resident. She was often encountered wearing her barn clothes to the grocery store, feed store, or veterinarian's office. She was an active participant in the Pittsboro Presbyterian Church and Friends of the Pittsboro/Chatham Community Library.

Doris passed away April 21, 2012 in her Pittsboro home. After her passing, The North Carolina Writers’ Network honored her through the annual Doris Betts Fiction Prize.

Many of Doris's novels and short story collections are available in Chatham County libraries.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #PittsboroNC #DorisBetts #author #novelist #teacher

On March 25, 2010, the Chatham County Courthouse burned. Photos of the tragic event are part of the Chatham County Historical Association's permanent digital collection. 

Three years after the fire, the rebuilt courthouse — retaining the second floor courtroom and boasting a larger ground floor museum of local history — opened on April 20, 2013. The new walls are fortified with steel, replacing the wooden fire joists of the original building which, though flammable, worked as intended to save the exterior brick shell of the building.

In 2023, the Chatham County Historical Association sponsored a program "Reclaimed from the Flames," about the rebuilding of the courthouse after the 2010 fire. Architects Grimsley and Taylor Hobbs talked about the project and answered questions. The recorded program can be viewed on CCHA's YouTube channel.

Here's the link: https://youtu.be/9MrL4kBX4sY

Filmmaker Mike O’Connell’s documentary about the fire, the re-building of the courthouse, and the significance of courthouses in America, a co-production between UNC-TV and Haw River Films called “The Courthouse,” is available to watch for free anytime at

https://www.pbs.org/video/the-courthouse-documentary-mv5bz5/

You can also see additional still photos of the fire on our website:

https://chathamhistory.org/Courthouse-Fire-Photo-Gallery

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamCountyCourthouse #HistoricCourthouse #CourthouseFire #2010fire #CourthouseDocumentary

Another interesting Chatham woman... Annie Lutterloh Bynum (1883 - 1983)

Annie began painting in her 70s, when her son gave her painting supplies to pass the time while she recovered from a broken leg. She painted for most of her remaining years, often the same Pittsboro street scene, but also others.

This painting by Annie Lutterloh Bynum shows Pittsboro as she remembered it from her childhood in the 1890s. Read more about Annie Lutterloh Bynum and the buildings shown in her paintings on our website:

https://chathamhistory.org/.../AnnieLutterlohBynum.pdf

Thanks to Bill Sharpe for sharing this digital image of one of Annie's paintings.

#ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #AnnieLutterlohBynum #WomensHistory #painting #art #PittsboroNC #HerStory

Brief biographical sketches of eighteen Black Chathamites who have made contributions to their community are presented in a document on the Chatham County Historical Association website. The information for the sketches comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, the Horton Yearbook, Internet sources, Chatham County Historical Association records, funeral programs, and books. All of the individuals described were either born in Chatham, received their education in the county, or lived later in life in Chatham.

Included are Simon Green Atkins; Louis Edgar Bland; Mildred Edna Cotton Council; Margie Horton Ellison; Lewis Freeman; George Moses Horton; Gatha Horton Lassiter; Benjamin Joseph Lee; Dr. Mansel Philip McCleave; Walter Alston McLaughlin, Sr.; Margaret Bryant Pollard; Richard R. Ramsey, Sr.; J.R. Richardson; Jeanette French Richardson; Roxie A. Small; Jessie Walker Rodgers; Lillie Freeman Rodgers; and Isaiah Eugene Taylor, Sr.

You can read about these prominent members of Chatham's Black Community here:

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/BlackChathamitesFeb18.pdf

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory #BlackChathamites 

Siler City Baseball Team. Believed to be Siler City Giants, late 1960s.

Front row: Byron Horton

Middle row: Bobo Pearson, Tyree Newby Horton, Larry Price, Thomas Horton, Joe Goins

Back row: Tyree Horton, Clyde Fox, Claven Strickland, Charles Beck, Earnest Marsh, Frankie Farrar, William Bud Price, Johnnie Johnson, William Price

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamNC #baseball #SilerCityNC #PaulBraxtonBallField #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory 

The Tod R. Edwards family of Siler City, an African-American family, operated a very successful jewelry store from 1905 until 1961. Here's their story:

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/TodEdwardsCrossingRacialLinesJan2019.pdf

The building pictured was at 112 South Chatham Avenue in Siler City.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #TodEdwards #SilerCityNC #SilerCitybusiness #TodEdwardsJewelryStore #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory

This image shows the Siler City Livery Stables, which was located on the northwest corner at the intersection of North Chatham Avenue and West 2nd Street. It was in operation by 1891 and was operated by James M. Marley from 1903 to 1913. This photo was made around 1908.

Livery stables kept horses, buggies, and carriages for hire, and also boarded and sold horses, feed, and buggies. Travelling salesmen were important customers. They came to Siler City by train, checked in to hotel, and hired a horse and buggy to visit the country stores of the surrounding area.

Siler City had several other liveries in the 1880s and 1890s.

Information from Wade Hadley's The Town of Siler City: 1887-1987.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #SilerCityNC #livery #stable #1880s #1900s