snippets ~ chatham history BLOG

We have to report a sad ending to the Chatham County smokehouse in the Chapel Ridge area that we have admired. In September 2022 the huge tree that marked the site split, with a large section falling on the smokehouse. We've added a photo to bring the story up to date. We're glad to have saved a photographic history.

The structure appears to have been built as a cabin and later converted to another use. The floor is dug out so that you'd need to step down to the level of the ground on entering. Several farmers who have seen the photos believe that it was used as a smokehouse. Some tobacco sticks inside suggest that it may have been used to cure tobacco at some point--perhaps for home use.

Old, functional structures such as this one are quickly disappearing from rural North Carolina. Please help us document Chatham's old agricultural buildings by telling us about them and submitting photos. Contact us at preservation@chathamhistory.org.

#NCHistory #ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #smokehouse #agriculturalbuildings #ChapelRidge #preservation

North Carolina Railroad map from 1900 --zoomed to Chatham County. The key shows rail lines by color.

Note that the map incorrectly labels Siler City as 'Silver City.'

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #railroads #1900s #maps

Mildred “Mama Dip” Edna Cotton Council was born in the Baldwin Township of Chatham County. In her youth, she worked with her parents as sharecroppers; however, she knew from a very young age cooking was her calling. She worked in countless kitchens around Chapel Hill, eventually opening her own restaurant. Her restaurant would go on to receive love from influential people like Michael Jordan and President George W. Bush. Council also published two cookbooks and a line of food products.

Council passed away on May 20, 2018; however, her southern cooking legacy will not soon be forgotten. Along with the survival of her still very popular restaurant, many of her children and grandchildren work in the food business. Her work in the food industry not only impacted the food scene of Chapel Hill but also helped promote southern cooking on a national scale.

You can learn more about Mama Dip in this podcast produced by Ella Sullivan for a Girl Scout Gold Award. Listen and read here:

https://chathamspast.wixsite.com/alookinto/mildred-mama-dip-edna-cotton-council

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #MildredCouncil #MamaDip #cooking #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory

Pictured here is Ebenezer log church, probably constructed in the early 19th century as the earliest of several structures housing the Ebenezer Methodist Church in the Bell's vicinity. It was located in what later became the impoundment area for Jordan Lake. It was a one-room building about twenty-one by eighteen feet constructed of squared logs joined by diamond notches. The interior had wide pine flooring and a batten door. The log-and-stick chimney seen on the church is an unusual feature. It was built with squared logs joined at the corners in a full-dovetail joint. The photo is from 1971.

The church was placed on the National Register in 1974, but subsequently fell into ruin and was removed from the register in 1980. It has since been destroyed. More information about the structure can be found on page 314-315 of the book The Architectural Heritage of Chatham County, North Carolina written by Rachel Osborn and Ruth Selden-Sturgill. The book is available in all three Chatham County libraries, and is for sale in the Chatham Historical Museum and on the CCHA website: https://chathamhistory.org/Shop

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #Bells #EbenezerMethodistChurch #architecture #logchurch #church

Why are all of these Siler City folks gathered in town on a hot July Saturday? Because on 30 July 1949, the Jones Department Store got air conditioning! We appreciate it now, but it was definitely something to celebrate back then!

Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

Thanks to Larry Pickard for sharing this bit of Chatham County history! Larry has scanned negatives from the collection of Ed Goldston, Siler City photographer, Goldston Studio.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #SilerCityNC #JonesDepartmentStore #airconditioning #GoldstonStudio

Farmer's Bank, Pittsboro.

Documentary photo from the Architectural Heritage of Chatham County, NC.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #PittsboroNC #FarmersBank #HistoricPhotos #bank #HillsboroStPittsboroNC

Ever heard of Fort Siler City?

Mike Fendrick shared several photos with us after his dad passed away. His father was a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Corp of Engineers, temporarily stationed in Siler City in the early 1960s (definitely in 1963). This photo has a sign that says "Fort Siler City" and his father's unit (537th Engineers), but we can't find any references to an official "Fort Siler City," so it was probably a name given by the unit to their camp.

We're not sure what what the Army Corp was doing in Siler City in the early 1960s. Jordan Lake was being planned/debated at the time, but Siler City seems like a long way from where the lake ended up. Commenters on a previous post have suggested that they were updating maps of the area. Several people suggested that the camp was located in the area of the old water plant off Piney Grove road.

Mike's dad shared an amusing story about his interactions with some locals while he was in Siler City. The unit's survey towers were being torn down at night -- delaying completion of their task. It was determined that the damage was the work of local moonshiners who believed the towers were being used to find and report the location of illegal stills in the area. A meeting was arranged with a representative of the moonshiners, and Mike's father took him on a helicopter flight -- easily pointing out the location of multiple stills from the air. An agreement was made that if the survey towers remained untouched, the unit would complete its work. If, however, the towers continued to be destroyed, Mike's dad would take the Sheriff on a similar helicopter tour of the County. Problem solved.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #SilerCityNC #ArmyCorpsofEngineers #FortSilerCity #moonshine #Stills #1960s

When little Kenneth Jenkins died in Chatham County at age 3 in 1919, it was not particularly strange that his parents had a photograph made of him in his coffin. That photograph could well have been the only one taken of Kenneth in his short life and would be treasured as a comforting reminder. After-death photography was quite popular in Victorian times--when photos of the living were not common. The practice began to wane as photography became more accessible and photographs of living people were more widely available.

Because Kenneth's photo was made a part of his grave marker, we can all get a glimpse of this aspect of history today. He is buried at Martha's Chapel Christian Church in Chatham County. You can see our inventory of the markers at Martha's Chapel here: http://cemeterycensus.com/nc/chat/cem166.htm

According to his death certificate, Kenneth died of scarlet fever.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #gravemarkers #cemetery #afterdeathphotography #MarthasChapelChristianChurch #1910s

Some Siler City history here. From Duane Hall's Historic Siler City collection.

Our car experts tell us that the newest cars in the photo are from the early1970s, so we think the photo was taken then. Lots of folks remember this place. 

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #SilerCityNC #AnP #1970s

Old Providence Methodist Church -- Preachin' Days are Over Here. More history about this now-gone part of Chatham history.

In this photo from the Chatham County Historical Association collection, one man is holding carpenter's tools, so perhaps the church had just been finished. Also notice the woman in the window.

It is believed that this photo shows the Old Providence Church that was located on what is now the Gum Springs Church Road. Though the church is gone, the cemetery remains, and the earliest burial recorded--that of Henrietta Womble--occurred in 1883. Family names in the cemetery include Bland, Clark, Cole, Copeland, Gunter, Harward, Johnson, Marks, Stedman, and Womble.

You can find information about the Providence Church cemetery in CCHA's cemetery records on CemeteryCensus.com: http://cemeterycensus.com/nc/chat/cem352.htm

There are numerous references to Providence Church activities in Chatham newspapers from 1890. According to a 1973 article in the Chatham Record, the old church was torn down in July 1973 because of vandalism. 

If you have additional photos or info about the church or the area, please share.

#ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #ProvidenceChurch #CCHAcollection #church #cemetery #HawRiverBoys