snippets ~ chatham history BLOG

Don't miss Margaret Wicker's first-hand recollections about the Coal Glen Mine explosion that occurred in Chatham on 27 May 1925. The interview is just one of the resources about the mine disaster available on our website thanks to Paul Wilson, who has collected information about the event for years. A small part of the interview is included here:

"We were chopping cotton out in this field. I was just little, and my mother had some colored women and white women helping her chop cotton. There was a whole bunch of them out there. I was playing in the dirt with a little black girl.

All at once, we heard this big noise, like booooom, and black smoke just boiled and rolled up in the sky. All the women started screaming and hollering. Their husbands worked in the mine.

Everybody that lived up and down in those houses knew what the explosions were, and people were just hollering and screaming and going every which way. It just got plum dark, black like night, with all that black dust and smoke. In just a few minutes, there was another explosion.

My daddy didn't work in the mine, but he worked with them. He cut timbers and cross ties and things like that for them. He got in somebody's car and came out here to our house to get some sweet milk, because two men had went to open the air shaft's doors. When the second explosion came, it blew them back up the slope and 'bout killed them. I don't know why, but they wanted milk for them.

That's where I was, somewhere along here in the middle of this field. I was just a young 'un and scared to death. I know there wasn't any more chopping cotton that day."

The Coal Glen-Farmville Mine Disaster was the worst industrial accident in North Carolina history--killing 53 men, making 38 women widows, leaving 79 children fatherless, making Farmville a ghost town, and virtually putting an end to coal mining in North Carolina. Paul Wilson's collection of resources relating to this Chatham County disaster is provided on our website:

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/CoalGlenMiningDisaster/CoalGlenMiningDisasterMainPage.pdf

#ChathamNCHistory #ChtathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #FarmvilleNC #CoalGlenMine #MiningDisaster #IndustrialAccident #Mining #DeepRiverCoal #CoalMining #OralHistory #1920s 

Simon Green Atkins was born in Haywood, Chatham County to two formerly enslaved people. He went on to co-found the North Carolina Negro Teachers’ Association. Later, he created Slater Normal and Industrial School which in time would become Winston-Salem State University. Simon Green Atkins’ life was dedicated to Black education and educators. His legacy remains to this day through Winston-Salem State University, one of North Carolina’s 12 Historically Black Colleges.

Learn more in this podcast produced by Ella Sullivan for a Girl Scout Gold Award. Her podcast on Atkins is one of eleven produced for her project, which is aimed at creating community identity through teaching local history.

To listen (or read) here's the link:

https://chathamspast.wixsite.com/alookinto/simon-green-atkins

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory #HaywoodNC #SimonGreenAtkins #WinstonSalemStateUniversity #ellasullivan 

This photo show a slice of Pittsboro's champion holly tree that is on display in the local history area of Chatham Community Library. The attached "ruler" marks growth rings, indicating that the tree was planted (or began to grow on its own) about 1853. When it was cut in 2008, it was believed to be in bad health at about 155 years old. Its diameter at the time was about 34 inches. It was believed to be the oldest holly tree in the US.

For a short time, the tree's remarkable age and size made it a Pittsboro icon. It was located across West Street from the old Justice Motor Company building (then the General Store Cafe and later the Pittsboro Roadhouse). There was a community effort to save the tree, which had declined since the parking lot that surrounded it was paved about 15 years earlier, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

The Grand Trees of Chatham group saved the slice of the tree that is on display at the Chatham Community Library. We are pleased to have this reminder of a part of Pittsboro's natural history. What we DON'T have is a photo of the tree while it lived. If you have one in your photo collection, please share it with us so it can be made a permanent part of the Chatham County digital photo collection. Thanks!

There's a large holly tree in the front yard of Mike Shepherd in Pittsboro that currently holds the record for being the largest holly tree in Chatham by the Grand Trees of Chatham group. Mike reports that it is still alive and is even larger than the old "parking lot" holly. The Grand Trees records indicate that Mike's tree is 45' tall, has a trunk circumference of 111" and an average spread of 45'. According to Mike, his property was owned by the Bland family in about 1850, and the Bland sisters carved their names in the tree. So, we don't know it's exact age, but it has been around for a really long time! Mike's tree is located across the street from the Pittsboro Baptist Church in downtown Pittsboro.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #PittsboroHolly #trees #GrandTreesofChatham #ChathamCommunityLibrary 

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