Page Eight
THE PILOT, Southern Pines and Aberdeen, North Carolina
Friday, July 27, 1934.
As Facts Are Told the Mystery of
Moore’s Deserted Village Dissolves
A little over a year ago John Le-
land, a brother-in-law of Edwin Mc-
Keithen, business manager of the
Moore County Hospital, wrote a fea
ture article for The Pilot on the
"Deserted Village of Moore County,”
Parkwood, up north of Carthage.
Since then much interest has devel
oped in the old abandoned mill town,
numerous North Carolina papers have
“played it up,’ and the Associated
Press carried it in its feature serv
ice.
Interest in Parkwood led to inves
tigations on the part of various in
dividuals, and much information has
been brought to light since The Pi
lot’s original article. Here are some
of the points brought out:
The village was never incorporat
ed but remained the private property
of the North Carolina Millstone Com
pany, composed of Louis Grimm, Ed
Taylor and George Taylor, brothers.
The Taylors were manufacturers of
stationary boilers and engines, their
business being located at Chambers-
burg. Pa. They sold a large boiler
and engine to the Tyson and Jones
Buggy Company, of Carthage, in the
late 70’s and sent Louis Grimm, then
a machinist, down to install the
equipment.
Kit'h Quarry
Grimm was a young man, a big
blond fellow with a great deal of
intelligence and personality, quite
handsome and very practical. He was
an agnostic of a very pronounced
type, one of the first every known in
Moore county and therefore a sort
of curiosity to the natives. Moreover,
Grimm possessed an extremely in
quisitive mind. Being a native of In
dianapolis, Ind., the South held a
certain fascination for him and at
each opportunity he made exploration
trips into the country.
One of these trip.s carried Grimm
to an old millstone quarry about eight
miles northeast of Carthage. For
years millstones had been manufac
tured there in a crude way, still the
place was not considered important.
But Grimm’s Yankee eye saw money
in those rocks. He went to see his
employers, the Taylors.
Ed and George Taylor were shrewd
business men and quite wealthy. They
listened to Grimm’s account of big.
ger money possibilities and were suf
ficiently interested to form, with the
machinist, the North Carolina Mill
stone Company.
Did Big Business
For seven! years the industry did
a bonanza business, making and
shipping corn mills to all parts of
the country. Its management estab
lished a postoffice and named it
Parkwood. It built a hotel, the fin
est in the country, and established a
We Print
[packet HEADS 11
LETTERHEADS
INVITATIONS
STATEME^JTS
BILL HEADS
ENVELOPES,
RECEIPTS
DODGERS
FOLDERS
BLANKS
CARDS
TAGS
I big department store. A church and
I school were built. Many men were
j employed, and for each family was
i erected a dwelling house. Grimm was
respon.sible for a telephone line from
I Parkwood to Cameron which, inas-
I much as 18 miles separated the
I towns, was said to be the longest in
! the world.
During its most prosperous years,
■ the North Carolina Millstone Com
pany was the biggest single indus
trial plant in Moore county and af-
I’orded a market for an abundance of
I farm and garden crops grown in the
j locality. While the owners were
Northern men they employed, almost
exclusively, whitfe native help.
{ In the late 80’s the millstone bus
iness began to decline, perhaps be
cause there w’as no repeat sale, one
set of stones lasting forever.
There is a suspicion that company
deliberately planned and effected
bankruptcy. Be that as it may, the
fact remains it purchased the larg
est stock of goods, wares and mer
chandise ever seen in Moore coun
ty.
Bankruptry Knds Career
Figuring on developing an exten
sive territory through its store and
property, the Taylors and Grimm or
dered saw mills, steam engines and
boilers, threshing machines, sewing
machines, wire fencing, and all kinds
of hardware, crockery, tin ware and
cooking utensils. They even ordered
a solid carload of toilet soap and un
heard of quantities of dry goods and
notions. Their credit was A-1; they
got what they called for and made,
an assignmenj. The assignee later ar
ranged a public auction sale which
continued from day to day for weeks.
Thus ended Parkwood.
The little town had no charter, no
incorporation. During its existence,
the execution of law was mainly vest
ed in Justice of the Peace Bill King,
a very interesting and eccentric
character. But law violations were re
markably few and His Worship had
very little judicial business.
Other interesting characters, among
them Mann Hicks, Armstrong Man-
ess. Bill Lakey, Tom Donnell and
Quinn Stutts, were citizens of Park-
wood. Quinn Stutts now lives at
Lakeview. The others mentioned, in
cluding Bill King ,are dead.
Louis Grimm married a daughter of
old Colonel Bill Richardson in Moore
and has several children living there
now. He died about 1893.
Ed Taylor drifted back to hia old
home in Chambersburg and lived a
number of years after Parkwood.
George Taylor became interested in
a business in Baltimore and resided
there a few years ago.
The final word in regard to this
interesting bit of local history is
furnished by Charles Macauley, who
visited the .site a number of years
ago;
"Visiting Parkwood—the Deserted
Village’ with the late R. L Burns of
Carthage, years ago when so many of
the buildia^ys were still starding that
it well deserved Hs appellation, the
writer wds inforT.ed that Jjs‘»e Sea-
well, grandfather t,f H. F. Seav/eli.
had operated a small quarry to obtain
mill stooes northeast of the quany
opened later by the North Ccirolina
Millstone Company w'hich was incor
porated by the State in 18S5. Iheir
machinery and boilers wer j unlnaded
at Cameron, and the late "Pad” Kel
ly said it took three days and nearly
all the mules in the county to get the
big boiler to its resting place on the
fork of McCullom’3 Branch, a part
of Richland Creek.
Their first inventory, November,
1883, shows: "Three steam pump.'!,
1 power pump, and 1 hand pump.
$200. (These were evidently used to
keep water out of the quarry); 1
steam drilling machine. $300; station
ary engine, tubular boiler and pony
saw mill, $900; tubular boiler and
45 foot stack, $900; 2 derricks $500.
"Sold by the United States Court
the company was reorganized and
a new charter granted to the Moore
County Millstone Company in 1889.
"Their price list for quarry dressed
millstones was: 14-inch, $25.00 ; 20-
inch, $60.00; 30-inch, $90.00; 36inch,
$110.00; 42-inch, $145.00 ; 48-inch,
$185.00, and for a portable feed mill
with a 30inch stone and a grinding
capacity of 20 bushels of corn per
hour, $270.00.
MINE STOCKHOLDERS
H.WE ANNU.4L MEETINO
•\ T. ROBERTSON. JR., IN
WHITE MOUNTAINS
Yesterday morning’s mail brought
a copy of the W'hite Mountain Outlook
from Bethlehem, N. H. It was al
most like reading a local paper as
quite a number of w'inter Sandhillers
are summering in that resort.
A. T. Robertson, Jr, former edi
tor of the Pinehurst Outlook, is asso
ciated with S R. Jellison in publishing
the magazine He is also publisher of
the Blowing Rocket, a weekly paper
at the North Carolina mountain re
sort. Both are neat numbers.
CARROLL BASSETT .AND
JANE FOV\LER MARRY
I The stockholders of The North Car- I
j olina Coal Mining Corporation, in an '
! nual meeting a few days ago, receiv- !
I ed satisjfactory reports o*f the activi
ties of the company during the year '
ending June 30.
The following directors were elecf- i
ed; R. H. Heartman, R. H. Adams, I
E. E. Suttle, J. F, Deaton and'
N. P. Liles. The officers chosen are
R. H. Heartman, president; E. E.
Suttle, vice president, and J. F.
Deaton, secretary and treasurer.
The company, organized a year or
more ago, is mining coal from a mine
at Haw Branch, in Moore County,
and several thousand tons have been
mined and sold. At the present time,
the company has orders on hand for
5,000 tons.
During the past several months, an
extensive development program has
been started, and it i? the expectation
of the officers and directors that the
output will reach 100 tons per day in
the near future. The coal is of a good
grade and much of the product is'
sold in Sanford.
The mine is located about 15 miles
from Sanford and is near the Raleigh-;
Charlotte line of the Norfolk South-'
ern Railway Company.
eaW
.MISS MAGGIE BLUE DIES
Sl'DDENLY AT HO.\IE
Announcement is made of the mar
riage yesterday in Peopack, N. J., of
Miss Jane Fowler, daughter of Ar
thur Fowler and the late Mrs. Fow
ler of Peapack, N. J., and Carroll
Bassett of Camden, S. C., and Sum
mit, N. J. The ceremony was perform
ed in St. Luke’s church, w'ith the
Rev Dr. John Harper officiating.
Only members of the immediate fam
ilies were present.
Mr. Bassett is well known in South
ern Pines and Pinehurst, having won
fame as an amateur rider in steeple
chases.
PLAN V.ACATIOX BIBLE SCHOOL
HERE DURING .MONTH OF AUG.
Plans ar^ uiid-er way for a daily va
cation church school to be hdd at
the Church of Wede Fellowship be
ginning Auci’.st 6 and continuing
through AiifiUst ;7. The .school will
be in charge of Miss Priscilla ’ ’ ase,
repre.sentat'Vi of the Ccngregaf.'onal
Church Extension Boar'i.? i.i the Car
ol.! as.
'"he mor:‘i!.; se.ssion will be plan
ned to accommodate children four
years of age and older who were in
seventh grade or below last yoar. If
there are those in the next three
grades, who desire to come. Miss Chase
will meet them in the afternoon.
Miss Maggie Blue, aged 57, died
suddenly at her home three miles
from Vass in the Cranes Creek com
munity late Tuesday afternoon. She
wa.s about her home dutie.s when she
suddenly complained of her head and
pa.ssed away within a few minutes.
Dr. Rosser was summoned, but lite
was already extinct.
Funeral services were held at 4
o'lcock Wednesday afternoon in old
Johnson's Grove churchyard by her
pastor, the Rev. W. C. Ball, and in
terment was in the cemetery there.
Miss Blue was the daughter of the
late Mr. and Mrs. Duncan James
Blue and spent her entire life at the
Blue homestead where she was born.
! She was a woman of fine traits of
character and was held in high es
teem. She had been a member of the
Vass Methodist church for many
years.
Surviving are one sister. Miss Mat
tie Blue, and three brothers, Dan,
Arch alid John Blue, all of the home
community.
TO BEGIN WORK ON
W.ATER M.AIN EXTENSION
Peach Labels
ANY QUANTITY IN ONE OR
MORE COLORS
Let Us Figure on Your Requirements
WE HAVE THE PLAICES
NOTE: If you formerly ordered your PeaCh Labels from
The Sandhill Citizen the plates are now in possession of
The Pilot which acquired the Job Printing business of
The Citizen last July. /
(Label Your Peaches This Year. It will Help in the
Campaign to Make North Carolina Peaches Famous.)
Address
THe F*ilot
SOUTHERN PINES, N. C.
Contractors will begin work early
next week on the extension of the
six-inch water main on Highland
Road, Connecticut Avenue and Mor-
ganton Road. This work should be
completed in five or six weeks, and
will give more employment to local
help. New fire hydrants will be plac
ed along these new water mains at
strategic places, which will give not
only better fire protection to several
home owners, but will actually reduce
the fire insurance rates on these
same houses.
HERE FOR FEW DAYS
Mr and Mrs. Nat S. Hurd arrived
Tuesday and are spending a few days
at their home in Pinehurst.
WAHTED
HOME BAKING on order. All kinds
of food. Mrs. Mary Wilcox, 37 West
Vermont Avenue, Southern Pines.
USE POSTAL TELEGRAPH for bet.
ter Service. We are now open un
til 10 o’clock nights for the con
venience of .Peach Men and others.
For Service Call Postal Telegraph
Phone 6381. A3
SEE THE WORLD’S FAIR Chicago.
Special bus rate round trip $22.00;
also special hotel reservations,
convenient stop-overs. Get tickets
and information at Postal Tele
graph Co., Southern Pines. J8-29.
FOR SALE—High grade two year
old Guernsey Bull, W. M. Milam,
Southern Pines.
NOW IS THE TIME to list your
property that you wish to rent or
sell with H. A. Lewis, Trader.
FOR SALE—Pony, gentle and good
worker. Ideal for small farm, A. L.
Keiih, Cameron, N C.
FOR SALE—Four Leonard refriger
ators in good condition. Fifty
pounds ice capacity. Extra door at
back for icing f(om the outside.
Price $10.00 each. Apply at Rest-
haven, apartment No. 1.
A thoroughly modern and enter
taining detective story, the chronicle
of a charmingly modern and enter,
taining detective story, the chronicle
of a charming, beautiful girl, who
single-handedly outwits both the po
lice and her rivals, "The Notorious
Sophie Lang” comes to the Southern
Pines Theatre Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday, July 30, 31, August 1,
with a Tuesday matinee. Gertrude
Michael, Paul Cavanaugh, Leon Errol,
Arthur Byron and Alison Skipworth
portray the feature roles, "The No
torious Sophie Lang,” is adapted from
the original short stories by Frederick
Irving Anderson, published in the
Saturday Evening Post. Miss Michael
plays the title role a.s the famous in
ternational jewel theif who flinches
both gem.s and masculine hearts by
employing cleverness and exotic
charm. The story opens with a dia
mond robbery in New York. When the
Inspector learns the theif escaped in
a Rolls-Royce car, he knows that it
is Sophie Lang, one of the smoothest
crooks in the world.
Her exploits Intrigue Europe’s most
notorious criminal, Paul Cavanagh,
who intends to beat her at her own
game. W'hen Sophie learns of his
plan, she sets out to get him, make
him fall in love with her and turn
the tables on him. With Ali.son Skip-
worth as her foil she startles the en
tire world by her daring robberies,
going her rival one better each time.
.\rthur Byron, as the inspector, sets
his faithful a-ssistant, Leon Errol, to
trail the European crook, thinking he
can land them both, but the manner
in which the two crooks, now madly
in love with each other, outwit the
police and eventually escape on an
ocean liner brings the film to an en
tertaining and unusual climax.
“Old Fashioned Way,” which corr.es
Thiir.sday, Friday and Saturday, Au
gust 2, 3, 4 with a Saturd-iv matinee,
featuring W. C, Fields is a hiHrious
comedy throughout. It never lets the
preview audience fully recover from
the first laugh explosion until the
fadeout.
Not only is this picture to be rated
as a W. C. Fields laugh special, but
it introduces a brand new screen per
sonality in the form and voice of Joe
Morrison, who will give patrons some,
thing to look forward to in a big
way. Morrison is the lad who started
the vogue for the “Last Round-Up,”
but all is forgiven for his perform
ance here.
Packed \yith laughs, plus a bit of
romance, this concoction o^ old time
theatre hokum will keep any aud
ience in stitctifcs almost continuous
ly from .stirt to finish.
Carolina Theatre
Southern Pines, N. C.
PRESENTS
cuTMK acHa na
if«i tiioi Him 1110
iiitai tiirnoti
Mon., Tue., Wed.,
July 30, 31, Aug. 1st
Matinee Tuesday
At 3:00
THE DID-
FASBIOSED
W.C.FIELDS BABYLcROY
JOI MORRISOM JUDITH ALLEN
Thu.-Fri.-Sat.,
Aug. 2, 3, 4
Matinee Saturday
At 3:00
MALCOLM GREER STUTZ GETS |
LICENSE TO PRACTICE !
Malcolm Greer Stutz, son of May- j
or and Mrs D. G. Stutz, was awarded I
a license to practice medicine after
successfully passing the State exam-
Mation of the State Board of Medical
Examiners held at Raleigh this week.
He was graduated this spring from \
the Medical College of Virginia in |
Richmond, Va., and is serving his in- |
terneship at the New York Polyclinic
Hospital in New York City.
Just to Remind You!
Our Big July Clearance Sale
Is still on. We are havinj? quite large crowds and good
business this week. Good bargains are being offered in
every department of the store. Come and get yours
while stock is complete.
MELVIN BROTHERS
Aberdeen N. C
There are some
things we refuse to do
to sell a car
ThM* m aoa* tUaga w* nfuM to do to mU a
ear. W« Uk* tcdM, but falr-dMdlav oad th* com-
IUmic* of our cmteaMiB cm dMlrobU leaw
For onm tUn«. w* tofnM to polaoa attr om*s
aslad agalaat aaoihor mok* of cor. W* know
iHud our car to oad wkat it will do, aad wo or*
rMdr to toll Ton about ihot But to tovlT ^focto
in OBodMr cor i« not our buitn—■,
W* bar* doM oar utmoat to oncoorago
latolUvoat buTlnv of motor cart br sbow-
lav purehoiora how to protoet tholr own
iaiMMli. JUl Quit a good producor aaha to a
CMtoiaor who knows quoditr whoa ha Moa it.
An lat*ni«oat puichosor will apMdUr con-
clod* that oaly « bod product roquiraa bod
W9 nfisM to dlnnln^i In your •cn thol
Oa Ford ia Om baaL moat ocobobIcoL lowaat
pricad ear. That to elaiaad for aavarol eon.
Obrtoualr it cannot ba trua of aU. Thara coaMa
a point whara dolma and adJadlTaa and odl
adrartiatog hTstorla diaappaori ia ito own fo«.
Paraonallr. I prafar facto.
Wa aar lha Ford V-l to tha batt car wa haw
arar mada.
Wa aar ih^ our l-crUndar car to aa aconnml
col to opaiato aa any towar nwinbar of crilmtara.
Wa aar that wa hara dwaya baan known aa
tha makan of good car* and that lha manr good,
wall-baloncad qualUiaa of our praiant car pteea
it at lha haad of our Una to date.
Anr oaa wiahing to do buainaaa with ua aa
Ihaaa prindplaa will find our word and tha^
qualitr of our product to ba A-L What wa war ^
about acoaomTf oparation and dorabHItT will
atand good onTwhara. •
A lattwt irom Mi. Hanry Ford'
pobUshad by th* AMoelatad
,Ford Daalan of iilila tanitoiy
]
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