snippets ~ chatham history BLOG

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.

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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

Among the treasures in the Historic Chatham County Courthouse are two safes built in to one of the original courthouse fireplaces. The safes have an interesting story. They came from the Bonlee Bank and Trust Company, which opened in 1917 with Isaac H. Dunlap as president and C.M. Andrews as cashier. Mr. Andrews became president in 1924.

The bank folded during the Great Depression and the county obtained the two safes and installed them in the courthouse where they were used to store cash payments until they could be deposited. The safes were used until the time of the fire in 2010. They were manufactured by the Mosler Safe Company in Hamilton, Ohio.

At one time Mosler was said to have safes in 80% of US banks. Some of their most famous contracts have been with the United States Government. In the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, Mosler safes were bought by the Federal Reserve to store massive gold reserves. When Fort Knox was constructed, it included vaults and emergency doors from Mosler Safe. The company supplied blast-proof doors that weighted over 20 tons, were made of torch and drill resistant materials and both doors were over 21 inches thick; the vault casing was also over 25 inches thick. Mosler also made the doors for nuclear missile silos, the vault that formerly held the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and shielding doors for the Atomic Energy Commission’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

So, the Bonlee Bank and Chatham Courthouse appear to have had the very best available when it came to safes!

Thanks to CCHA volunteer Charles Thomas for the Courthouse safe info.

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Siler City's Feedwell Cafe was opened in 1918 by Ernest and Will Richardson. The cafe changed hands soon after and was owned by R. M. (Mack) Green, M. R. (Roy) Teague until the late 1920s. After that, the cafe changed hands numerous times. Does anyone know when it closed?

Advertisements over the years proclaimed the Feedwell Cafe to be "The Next Best Place to Home," and "Siler City's Foremost Dining Room." Rabbit dinners were a favorite at the cafe in the 1920s.

Info from Wade Hadley's The Town of Siler City: 1887 - 1987. Photo cropped from a 1939 photo contributed by Duane Hall.

Click on the image to enlarge.

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This is the J.B. Mills House, which is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of 64 and 751. The house is currently obscured by trees, but many remember it from the days when it was easily visible from the roadway.

The earliest portion of the house is thought to have been built in the 1800s. Local tradition attaches the name of Dr. Cotton to that structure and his office is said to have been located in the woods west of the house. Ramsey's 1870 map shows "Cotton's Store" at this location.

The larger, 1910 house, shown here in a mid-1980s photograph, was owned by the Mills family, who are said to have been a prominent family in nearby Wake County. The house is described in The Architectural Heritage of Chatham County, a 1991 publication. CCHA volunteer, Kimberly Steiner, did not receive permission from the current owner to photograph the structure in 2021 as part of her update of the architectural history of the township.

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