Newspapers / The Franklin Press and … / June 16, 1955, edition 1 / Page 46
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First Came To Town Via Ox Wagon By MRS. FRED WOOD The way of traveling has come a long way in the last fifty years. When I first remember going with my daddy to Franklin, we went in an ox wagon, and there weren't any paved roads then, not even the streets in town. The sidewalks In the main part of town were made of bricks and some of them were just planks. Anyone can see there has been much improvement not only in Franklin but all over Macon Coun ty. The cars and trucks have taken the place of the covered wagon, which at one time was seen on the roads so much. My daddy wasn't the only man to drive an ox wagon to town. He j made many trips, however, be ginning every summer when the cherries began to get ripe. He would gttt help to gather a wagon load and then he would leave home in the evening and he would drive until dark. Then he would camp out over night. He did this so that he could get to town early in the morning. He sold fruits in Franklin all summer, to hotels and other homes. Some hotels that I remember, which aren't there any more, were the Bryson Hotel, Jarrett Hotel, the Munday Hotel. The Munday Hotel was moved away to make room for Burrell Motor Company I can remember how all the tourists that came to Franklin or anywhere in Macon County would have to come on the train, and they would stay here from the first of June until the first at September. I can remember when there was only one furniture (tore in Franklin, an very few other stores. There were really more stores out in the country than in town, because the people didn't have a way to get to town every few days like they do now. I have seen the roads so bad that when a doctor, was needed, he had to ride horseback from Franklin to his patient, who might be anywhere in Macon County. Traveling like that is in the past. Thanks for the better schools, roads, and churches, ont only in Franklin, but all over Macon County. With help of electricity, work is made much easier now. My grandmother told me about the first washboard she had to use. It was homemade, like every thing else. She said that people made nearly everything, from shoes, stockings, and socks. She said that she would card and spin thread to weave cloth to make their own clothes. When she was going to weave cloth for the men's suits, she would dye some wool black and card it with some white wool to make gray cloth. She made her dye from bark on roots. She told me what kind, but I don't remember. Grandmother has told me much about how hard it was for her to live while Granddad was away in the Civil War. Of, five of Grandmother's brothers who were in the War, only three got back home. One of them was killed, and the olther got sick and died. Grandmother was Mary Young and she married James L. Straine. They were both reared at Holly Springs, and I know it is not very far out from Franklin, the the county seet of Macon Coun ty. I had often wondered why they ever moved a way up In the mountains on Walnut Creek. I had never asked either one of them, but a few years before my daddy died, I asked him If he could tell me why, and he said that at that time people thought they could live better In the moun tains. They could turn their cat tle, sheep, hogs, and horses all out on the mountains and just leave them out until late in the fall and then of course bring them In for the winter. Daddy has told me how, when any of the men had cattle or sheep to sell, several men would get together and walk and drive the cattle all the way to Wal halla. S. C., to sell them. My daddy was M. P. Crisp, once known to many people as "Uncle Hiram" Crisp, who foUnd the first corundum at Corundum Hill, a place between Highlands and Franklin. Franklin Had Many Businesses Back In 1904 The number and variety of busi nesses in and near Franklin half a century ago is suggested by the advertisements in the back o( a booklet, "The County of Macon and The Town of Franklin. North Carolina", prepared by the late Walter E. Deal and printed by The Franklin Press. The booklet, dated 1904, appears to have been intended to serve somewhat the same purpose as a present-day chamber of commerce folder. Copies were loaned the Press by J. M. Gray and Mrs. W. B. McGulre. Advertisers were: J. Frank Ray, T. J. Johnston, Jones and Johnston, Robertson and Benbow, R. D. Sisk, Horn and Mann, and Sam L. Kelly, attorneys; W. B. Lenoir, insur ance; Sam Womack, watch re pairs; G. A. Campbell, iron and wood shops; Charley Cabe, black This livery stable was* in Sylva, but its owner, Graham W. Grindstaff, recalls that the bulk of his business was carrying passengers to and from Franklin. While the Tallulah Falls Railway had come to Franklin at the time the picture was made, about 1910, Franklin people having business in Asheville and surrounding territory usually went by hack, surrey or buggy to Dillsboro to catch the train. It was to be some 15 years before the highway was constructed across Cowee Mountain. (Mr. Grindstaff, who loaned the picture, is man (center) wearing white hat.) smith; Tom Sisk, cobbler; Myers Bros., wagon and buggy repairs and horseshoeing; O. W. James, cleaning and pressing. Sloan Brothers, general mer chandise; Frank T. Smith, drug gist; Wright arid Robinson, gen eral merchandise; The Franklin Press (which advertised its sub criptions at $1.20 per year); Hotel Jarrett <"H. H. Jarrett, prop'r."); the Tallulah Falls Rail way (It was the biggest adver tiser, taking two full pages in the booklet). E. K. Campbell, druggist; N. S. Thomas, "dealer in mineral and timber lands and manufacturer of lumber"; C. W. and A. B. Slagle. dealers In apple trees and Deavon cattle; W. B. McGulre, lands and minerals; Stallcup Furniture Company, "furniture and undertakers' goods"; H. O. Trotter, general merchandise and "manufacturer of insulator pins and brackets." J. T. Kennedy, furniture and cabinet maker; J. T. Moore and Company, merchandise; Harris Roller Mill; E. D. Franks, livery and feed stables; the Cunningham House (hotel), Mrs. D. C. Cunn ingham; E. K. Cunningham's feed and sale stable, operated In connection with the Cunningham House; T. T. Angel, "manufacturer of custom made harness, horse collars, and saddles"; Lee Craw ford, clerk of superior court and fire insurance agent. The Bank of Franklin (Geo. A. Jones, president; Fred S. John ston, vice-president; J. G. Slier, cashier); the Silver Birch Lodges (R. L Porter. Roan's Mill, N. C.) ; W. H. Biggins, dentist; R. C. Green, general wood shops; Frank Williams, real estate. R. L. Bry son, general merchandise; E. H. Franks, general merchandise. J. H. Pitts, wagon and buggy repairs and horse-shoeing; Iotla Stock Farm (N. L. Barnard) ; Tom W. Angel, local livery; Miss Lillie Moore, milliner; Miss Lassie Kelly, "stenographer, typewriter, and copyist; Mrs. Laura Robertson, milliner; A. A. Hojve, "the barber"; and the Franklin High School, (M. D. Billings principal). Among out-of-town advertisers was the Topton Hotel. (C. T. Roan, proprietor), which adver tised room and board at $1 a PROGRESS Why has America's industrial progress outstripped the rest of the world? Other countries areas rich in natural resources. Some are richer. But in no country have men and women been so free to think, to create, to develop, to produce. That's why Americans have more of the good things of life, more income to buy them, more leisure to enjoy them. That's why the world's highest standard of living is "Made in the U.S. A.'2_ Accept no substitutes. Zickgraf Hardwood Company ? Nantahala Lumber Company Franklin Machine Shop
The Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.)
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June 16, 1955, edition 1
46
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