Two Of Clarence Thompson's Wooden Frames Hold Treasure From 'Mockingbird Hill'
Indian Relics May Provide
Life-Long Dream Of Travel
By HOWARD JONES
Bands of pre historic Indians
which roamed the wilderness of
northern Warren County may
allow Clarence Thompson of
Wise to realize a life-long
dream.
Thompson, who counts farming,
writing a church history
and lecturing on Indian lore in
Virginia and the Carolina;,
among his past accomplishments,
has long wanted to visit
South America. Aside from
seeing a friend who lives in
Chile, he yearns to see the
exotic name-places such as Rio
and Montevideo and Buenos
Aires. And now, thanks to
ancient Indian tribes which
criss-crossed his land, he may
be going.
For more than 60 years
Thompson has been picking up
every arrowhead, tomahawk,
chipping and pottery chard
unearthed during spring plow
ANCIENT INDIAN TRADING PATH-An arrow marks the
spot where an Indian trail crossed the property now owned by
Clarence Thompson of Wise. The trail ran from the Indian
nations of the mountains across North Carolina before crossing
the Roanoke River into Virginia. An earlier fork of the trail,
used after 1670, is shown on this map. The older path which cut
through Occoneechee Indian territory, was discontinued in
favor of the easternmost route which crossed the river
approximately seven miles from Thompson's farm.
FASHIONED FROM 8TONE8—1%k moral of a hdbk contain* more than 200 arrowhead*
oa the farm of Clarence Thompson of Wise. Thompson, who has been an Indian relic
60 years, is planning to seD his collection, and may finance a trip to South
America with the proceeds.
Currin's Warehouses, Inc.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THE
FARMERS FROM THIS COUNTY
FOR DISIGNATING CURRIN'S FOR
THE 1977 TOBACCO SEASON. WE
ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING
AND WORKING FOR YOU IN
EVERY WAY POSSIBLE.
THANK YOU.
| BETTY E. CURRIN
W. J. Rem Betty L Currin
THOMPSON
ing on the 160 acre farm which
he owns and affectionately calls
"Mockingbird Hill."
Just how many Indian relics
he has amassed is a matter of
speculation. In one mural of a
gigantic buffalo, he laboriously
placed 2200 arrowheads to
create the finished product.
Another of equal size shows
two warriors doing battle with
tomahawks.
Throughout the century old
home he occupies with
octogenerian William St. Sing
and a half dozen or so cats are
numerous frames containing
his collection. Some are labeled
for the benefit of the
uninformed visitor who has no
idea what a fish net weight or a
bannerstone or a stone shuttle
is.
A large display case holds
mortars and pestles, pottery
and ceremonial knives.
Throughout the house are
framed prints depicting everyday
Indian life in this area.
Now the artifacts are being
eyed by Thompson as a ticket
to Brazil and points south, a
prospective buyer from western
North Carolina has
stumbled across Thompson's
collection and has offered
$18,000 for the entire lot.
At times, Thompson admits,
he is reluctant to see his
collection go. The Folsom and
Savannah arrowheads which
have looked down on every
meal served in the Thompson
dining room for a half century
have become like members of
the household.
Thompson once offered to
give them all away, to the
North Carolina Department of
Archives and History. They
didn't express any interest in
having the Thompson Collection
from Warren County," he
recalls. "Then I heard that they
had barrels and barrels of
similar artifacts in the basement
of the old Hall of History.
Thompson abandoned the
plan to ship the arrowheads to
Raleigh. He made a provision in
his will that the collection
would go to Warren County
provided Warren County had a
museum. But a local museum
has not developed, and
Thompson is negotiating their
s&Ig.
Not only does Thompson
know about the pre-historic
tools and their uses, he has
compiled a vast amount of
information about the early
Indians and their activities in
this area.
His home sits near the Indian
trading path which meanders
through rolling countryside
from Norlina to the Roanoke
River, seven miles from his
farm.
In addition to the well
travelled trading path, Indians
used nearby Hawtree Creak for
travel, and scores of campsites
have been discovered along its
banks by Thompson in his
search of artifacts.
At some of the campsites
Thompson unearthed several
arrowheads made from chippings
of a large meteorite
which fell on "Mockingbird
Hill" centuries ago.
They may all be leaving the
Thompson farm now. It makes
Clarence Thompson a little sad
to think of their leaving, but
then, in their place, he has a
vision of conquistodores and
flamingo dancers and the gentle
rock of a tourist ship gliding
toward parts unknown and a
smile crosses his face.
Telephone 257-3341
For A Record Want Ad
Sty? JTOarroi Sword II
Section Two Thursday, April 21, 1977 page ^
Pentagon Pride Of Paschall,
Warren Construction Company
By WILLIAM BIEN
There was a time when the
Richmond skyline was much
less imposing than it is now.
Perhaps you remember. . . .
That was before the time of
Lee Paschall.
As someone said, "Now
there's a man who has left his
mark." The marks stand out
l>oldly—hotels, hospitals, office
b,iildings, factories, the
Mosque. Paschall built many of
them with his Wise Contracting
Company.
But that's not all. He's
probably been host to more
travelers than anyone in
Virginia. More than 518,000
persons stayed in his five hotels
last year.
So who is this Paschall.. .and
what is his career built on?
Well, this scholarly looking
individual—who never finished
high school—was born on his
father's farm, in Warren
County, N. C. The Paschalls are
a hardy breed; Lee Paschall
turned 75 last December 15 and
he has a sister and two
brothers, all older, still living.
Farming didn't appeal to him!
Oh, he took his turn at milking
the cows and working the
crops, all right. But he didn't
like it.
"Nothing ever happened on
the farm," he said.
So he left, at 16. Said he was
going to be a businessman, by
gosh. Found himself a job in a
general store selling male and
female shoes, suits, dress
material, a little of everything.
"I got $100 a year and my
board," he said.
But Paschall got something
more. He learned about
business, how to swing a deal.
Arid he learned something
about women: It took nine
yards of calico to (make a
woman's dress. In those days,
36 yards of material would
clothe a woman decently (which
meant completely).
Paschall picked up these bits
of information for two years,
then got himself a better job ($1
a dayj with the engineering
corps of what is now the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad. !
The road was laying line from!
Richmond to Norlina. "I was
the guy who cut bushes and
drove stakes," said Paschall.
That was the start of a
succession of jobs. He went to
the woods in 1897, cutting
lumber for J. R. Paschall, his
older brother (who still lives in
Warren County).
After a summer of that,
Paschall decided he was no
match for the mosquitoes.
"Mosquitoes always have been
vicious around me," he said.
He figured by then a man
would need some education to
rise in this world so he enrolled
in Graham's School, at
Warrenton, N. C. Up to then his
only learning had been in a
one-room school. "I learned
human nature and how to
fight," he said.
There's no telling. Paschall
might have gone on, as he
intended, to Davidson College
and the study of medicine.
But he was slipping into debt
and somebody came along with
an offer of $2 a day to work on
the Roanoke River Bridge.
That ended his ideas of a
medical career.
He worked for a railroad
construction company and the
Wstern Maryland Railroad,,
rising on the job to become a
division engineer.
"I had a wonderful opportunity,"
he said. 'The crew chief
was willing to have his
assistant do the work and the
assistant was willing to teach
me so I'd do it."
Resident Engineer
Paschall worked through
West Virginia and Maryland
awhile, then moved to the
Virginian Railroad as resident
engineer with headquarters in
Roanoke.
In 1905, he turned back to
North Carolina, and went into
business again with J. R..
operating a granite quarry at
Wise, N. C.
That'a how the Wise
Contracting Company waa born
exactly 50 years ago. Paschall
had an idea that the quarry
Lee Paschall: A Life Recalled
A Warren County construction company and its
dynamic leader, Lee Paschall, had a hand in building
some of the nation's most ambitious projects. Among
them was the Pentegon, which the Wise Construction
Company tackled with the skill of a big-city construction
outfit. The Richmond, Va., skyline reflects Paschall's
handiwork and talent. In its May 17, 1954 edition, the
Richmond News Leader paid tribute to Lee Paschall,
who, at 75, was still building. William Bien's article
written 23 years ago, is published here in its entirety.
products would help him get
started in the construction
business.
By then he'd bought his
brother's half-interest. He was
on his way
Paschall moved to Richmond
and began to build. At the same
time, he got into the hotel
business when he and a friend
bought the Hotel Richmond.
That little deal led him to his
present position as president of
Richmond Hotels, Inc., with the
Hotels John Marshall, Richmond,
William Byrd, King
Carter and Chamberlain (at Old
Point Comfort) in the chain.
You won't get Paschall to tell
which business he likes best.
But it's not hard to figure; he's
a man who likes to deal big.
He's had that in the contracting
business.
Look at the record. Wise
Contracting Company has put
up, in Richmond alone, two
hotels, the clinic building for
the Medical College of Virginia,
the Reynolds Metals Building,
ABC Building, Methodist Building,
three buildings for
American Tobacco Company,
three for Phillip Morris & Co.,
two at Johnston-Willis Hospital,
the St. Elizabeth's Hospital,
Prestwould Apartments, the
Sears, Roebuck retail store. . .
The list goes on and on.
Some time when you're
driving to Washington, start
north along Seminary Avenue.
In the 3500 block you'll see two
granite homes, the first jobs
Paschall completed here (with
stone from the quarry in
Carolina).
Built Pentagon
Then, near the end of the
trip, take a good look at the
Pentagon, off the Shirley
Highway. That $85,000,000
building, the world's largest,
was built by Paschall's Wise
Contracting Company and two
other contractors (one of them
Doyle & Russell, of Richmond).
"There was very little profit
from the Pentagon." Paschall
said, "and the government
taxed that.
But we were a lot better off
than the boys being shot at...."
The company has done
fair-to-middlin' well in its
over all operations, however.
Paschall said the company does
about $10,000,000 business a
year. It ranks at the top among
contracting concerns in Virginia.
The hotels have done a smart
piece of business, also. Paschall
said there are about 1,200
employees in the five units. One
gauge of the hotels' success is
the company laundry; it turns
out close to 600,000 pieces
every mdnth.
All the success hasn't
reached Paschall's head.
He lives quietly at 2617
Monument Ave., with his wife,
the former Edith Turner, of
Cumberland, Md.
Paschall met her when he
was working on the roadroad.
"That's the trouble the railroad
got me into," he'll sometimes
say, to tease her.
They were married on June
28,1906. "That's one thing a
man doesn't dare forget," he
said.
They have one daughterMrs.
J. Gordon Bell, whose
husband is a doctor in
Washington—and a grandson,
John, who is tremendously
impressed with his entre to the
hotels here.
Paschall has a fine time when
the lad comes to visit. Last
time, a few weeks ago, there
was a pleasant surprise. His
grandson, now 12, wanted to
show his muscle by mowing the
lawn.
"I'll know how to amuse him
from now on," Paschall said.
An early start each day is
easy for Paschall. He goes to
bed about 9:30 or 10 p. m. and
gets up in the morning in time
to arrive downtown by 8 at the
latest.
"When you've had enough
sleep, you just get up and go on
about your business," said
Paschall.
Eats At Hotel
He eats some of his
meals—usually lunch and
breakfast—at one or another of
the hotels... .and finds the food
excellent, without getting any
special diet not on the menu.
His desk is piled with papers
most of the time. Paschall is
happy that way, with plenty of
work staring him in the face.
On top of his ordinary
business chores, he is a director
of the Robert E. Lee Hotel
Corporation in Lexington;
vice-president, treasurer and
director of the Antietam Hotel
Corporation in Hagerstown,
\ld.; treasurer of the Baltimore
Medical Arts Building Corporation;
a trustee of Roanoke
College; director of the Atlantic
Rural Exposition (now Virginia
State Fair).
Then there are the directorships
on the Richmond
Builders' Exchange and the
Virginia branch, Associated
Contractors of America....and
his membership on the State
Board of Conservation and
Development.
As a result, Paschall has little
opportunity for his hobby,
fishing, although he owns a
pond close by in Hanover County
An independent sort of
person, Paschall buys his own
clothes. He was wearing a
conservation blue suit, blue
checked tie, stiff-starched
white shirt, blue-ribbed socks
and black shoes on the day of
the interview. He did not wear
any jewelry.
Paschall has a reputation for
being a shrewd businessman,
but he has more of the look of
an academic man, with his
gold-rimmed glasses, spare
frame and thin white hair. As
he talks, he has a habit of
puckering his brow, thinking.
A safe bet is that at 75, Lee
Paschall still is thinking of how
to build his business.