Newspapers / Morrisville and Preston Progress … / March 27, 1996, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The Morrisville & Preston ress Published Monthly Morrisville, N.C. 17,199^ Farmers a vanishing breed in Morrisviiie Only a handful depend on crops for livelihood By Ron Page The mules are gone. So is tbe family milk cow, the two or three hogs that provided food for the family, along with the stick bam, and the tenant worker. Life for the dirt farmer in North Carolina has changed, but in the flatlands of Carpenter and Morrisville, those who still woik the soil remain loyal to what has always been the crop of choice-tobacco. "When you talk farming in this area of North Carolina, you talk to bacco," said Omer Ferrell outside one of his barns alongside Morrisville-Carpenter Road. "No other crop has ever been able to pay for itself hereabouts." Around the comer on Carpenter Upchurch Road, retired agricultural official William B. Upchurch recalls the days when tobacco fields stretched as far as one could see on his grandfather’s farm, when the crop blanketed land where Raleigh-Durham International Air port now stands, and Durham was known as the tobacco town because of its tobacco warehouses and pop ular auctioneers calling bids in a ^^^)id, sing-song voice. In the ISOOs and early 1900s, to bacco ruled family life 12 months of the year. Children literally grew up with the crop. Garry Edwards, a fifth-generation Carpenter farmer who with his brother, Rickey, today farms about 100 owned-and-rented acres planted solely with tobacco, is one example. "My mother would bring me to the fields before I could walk and sit me in tbe shade at the edge of the rows where she worked,” he said. "When I was six or so 1 picked up tobacco leaves that had dropped in tbe bam, then graduated to priming (picking) the leaves in the field. As I got older I hung them on loopers in the stick bam, and finally rode the tractor. It wasn’t easy work, but it was some thing I grew to love." Talk about farming in the same area today and only four family names continue to crop up, the three previously mentioned and the Lee Powell family on Good Hope Church Road. A couple of acres of pick-your-own strawberry plants can be seen peeping through the ribbons of black plastic that keeps down the weeds, but Powell will tell you it’s tobacco that covers the majority of the lOO-plus aaes he owns and rents. Of the four major growers, only Jpchurch left working in the fields for other environs. A graduate of North Carolina State University, he became a district representative for the N.C. Farm Bureau in 1963, covering an area of 17 counties. Last November he retired from the bureau as director of field opera tions. "The war was over and the boom in fanning had ended when I left. I felt that I could do more or do something to help by working for the Farm Bureau," be said. Up church rented his land so it still ranained in production. It is rented and farmed today by the Steve Gooch family. Both Upchurch and his wife Dorothy, who grew up on nearby Green Level Church Road, recall the days when mules provided the power to plow and cultivate the fields, pulling tbe wooden wagons that carried the piles of green, funnel-shaped leaves to the bams for curing. Upchurch’s grandfather came to the area in 1864. "He gave the land for the railroad line," he said. That line mns alongside Carpenter Up church Road and the tree-shaded home his father built in 1936 and in which he and his wife live today. As Upchurch spoke, a train passed by slowly. "It only goes about 15 miles an hour,” Upchurch smiled. "Tbe tracks are old and they (the trainmen) use care." See FARMERS, page 2 KEEPING THE TRADITION ALiVE-Rickey and Garry Edwards, fifth generation tobacco farmers in Carpenter, took over their father’s > quieter quarters Settlement deals blow to tobacco The revelation this month that the Liggett Group has settled a huge law suit out of court in regard to manipulating nicotine levels is seen as just another bump in the road for those who make their livelihood by growing tobacco. That’s tbe way Bob Jenkins of tbe North Carolina Farm Bureau charac terizes the settlement, in which tbe company has agreed to pay 5 peicOTt of its pre-tax profits for toe next 25 years or $50 million a year, whichever is less. The funds will sufqx)rt programs to help people stop smdking. "It’s (the decision) neither good or bad," Jenkins said. "It’s only an ini tial step, yet that type of publicity cannot be good for tte tobacra indus try. It’s just another bun^ growCTS." North Carolina tobacco accounts for about 8 percent of that grown in tbe world, half of which goes into cigarettes for toe overseas market The Liggett Group, which has a plant in Durham, accounts for 2 percent of that amount. But for grower Garry Edwards of the Carpenter community, tbe future of tobacco may really be determined by tbe cost to the grower. "Many are being forced to sell their land, toe value has gotten so high. I really can’t see my kids doing it" be said. "I wanted them to experience it but the amount of land available will be much smalls because of tbe ]»essure to fill bousing needs." Edwards says many of toe older farmers are Utter about the adverse publicity Che product has been get ting. "It’s been part of our culture since toe time of toe Indians," he said. Grower Omer Forell agrees. An other majOT tobacco grower based in Carpenter, Ferrell says he didn’t want See SETTLEMENT, page 2 Collection of antique farm tools a link to Carpenter couple’s rural upbringing JUST LIKE HOME-Dorolhy Upchurch keeps an old pot over the fireplace and other antique farm tools scattered about in a log cabin she and hus band William own by the side of Carpenter Up church Road. The couple bought the cabin about 20 years ago from a family in Carpenter. By Ron Page Tbe old log cabin has cement lathered between tbe logs and looks as though it has just been con structed. But it dates back to toe mid-1800s. Nestled by toe side of Carpenter Upchurch Road just souto of Green Hope Chunto Road, tbe cabin is in perfect condition mainly because it was protected for years by a largo* building which surrounded it. Owners William and Dorothy Upchurch had toe cabin moved to its (X'esent site at toe edge of an idyllic pond in 1976, purchasing it fr^ the Bobby Pittaid family in Carpenter. When it was first con structed, the cabin was home to a family of seven and had one door to get in and out "As toe family grew," Mrs. Upchurch explains, "other rooms were added, ai^ each time another docs' was cut in a side to gain access to toe new area. Eventually toe cabin was inside an other building and that’s wbo'e it was when we got it." It was (Ml July 9, 1986, when Sen. Robert Dole, acetanpanied by Wil liam Cobey who was then 4th dis trict congressman and who was latftT to become Morrisville town manager, visitod toe cabin and toe Upchurch place as toe first stop on a toree-f^ visit to North Carolina during a study of tobacco. Mrs. Up church smiles about it today, saying: "I never saw such a white shirt in those tobacco fieli^!” Today toe cabin is home for dozens of rraninders of toe days when it was built, including early tools farmers used to care for toe farm livestock and toe tobacco that blanketed toe nearby fields. "This is called a handsetter," Up church says, picking up a metal funnel-like apparatus, with a sec ond smaller funnel attached to its side. "I used this so many times when I was growing up. This carried both water and plwts and was used to set them in the ground." Nearby, another wood ob ject, in toe shape of a large L, was used to measure a space of 24 in ches to separate plants in toe row. Hanging on a wall are two wire basket-like objects which Upchurch calls muzzles. "The mules wore them over their faces as they went through toe tobacco or com fields to stop them from nibbling," he said. "Nibbling wasn’t too much of a problem with tobacco, because it didn’t taste good, but they (»uld min a stalk or a lot of com simply by taking a bite into it." Old animal baiters are also to be found. Another relic of early tobacco days is a wood stick arrangement that was used to hang or loop toe long, wide tobacco leaves when they were put into toe bam for curing. "That also was a job that took a lot of time. Tobacco was al ways a labor-intensive crop,” Up church explained. A round, flat woven basket used to carry the leaves to toe bam leans against a wall. Corn shellers, metal meat See COLLECTION, page 2 Cornerstone apartment complex pedestrian friendly By Ron Page The sign by the side of High House Road identifies the project as Cornerstone Apanmenis, but this is more than the conventional hous ing complex the name suggests. It is a new approach in this area to meeting toe needs of texlay’s life styles. L(x:ated just west of Davis Drive and within walking distance of the Cornerstone Shopping Center, toe first units of toe 302 upscale one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are expected to be ready for oct cupancy late this spring. In fact. Project Supervisor Mike Progdon says toe entire project is expected to be completed by December or just after the first of toe year, in cluding toe walkways which pro vide the innovation. "The apartments are part of toe overall master plan for the area," says John Felton, assx:iate ar chitect for Cline Davis Architects of Raleigh, toe firm which designed tbe buildings and bad a major role in the design of Cornerstone Shop ping Center. Both the apartment complex, which includes nine buildings, and toe shopping center combine to make what is referred to as a mixed-use facility. Set on 25 acres with integrated parking, toe new apartment complex includes a club house for residents with an exercise room, sauna and swimming pool. A special croquet court and picnic f^ilities at a pond are also part of the amenities. But what makes it different is that is has been designed specifically to afford its residents easy walking access to other amenities-namely, toe shop ping center and related ouqiarcels. "From a planning point of view," Felton said, "toe overall concept was to meet toe challenges of today’s lifestyles. Residents will be able to walk to toe center, rather than drive. Fcm- instance, if someone has a dog, they will be able to walk the dog to toe vet in the shopping center, or walk to the food store, or toe bank. They will have benefits of a health facility without the need to use toe car. There will be no need to drive or go on High House Road for things other residents usually have to do." Interior connecting roads and walkways to the shopping center will be part of toe construction along with toe apartment tHiilding project itself, Progdon explained. "There was a perixl of time when driving to facilities was popular," Felton pointed out, "and it is true we are still in an automobile en vironment. However, we are hoping to limit toe number of car trips each day, and provide a means of getting away from toe use of cars for a while." BULK RATE POSTAGE PAID MORRISVIIIE, N,C PERMIT *23 Delivered expressly to the residents of Morrisville and Preston
Morrisville and Preston Progress (Morrisville, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 27, 1996, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75