^Ylew* - journal
Section B ^ Mmzm
Thursday, May 26, 1983
Still standing
After 100 years , the Dundarrach Trading Company
is still standing and still doing the same friendly
business. Manager Tom Jones stands ready to help a
farmer or visiting out-of-towner who stops by the
store to pick up groceries, supplies or maybe to just
| pick up the latest gossip .
dundarrach trading CO
.w* i.-i,.
Dundarraeh, 100 Years And Proud Of It
By Sherry Matthews
^ Although Dundarrach's popula
" tion is dwindling and its aged
buildings are weathering, Hoke
County's only incorporated town
outside of Raeford remains proud
of its heritage.
Dundarrach is small, not more
than a crossroad, with a few
houses and stores scattered across
the mile that encompasses the little
village.
| But regardless of the size, the lit
tle town and its residents, 125 or
so, hold many memories of the
way Dundarrach used to be.
According to Grace Malone,
who was born in Dundarrach and
has recently moved back, the little
town has been in existence longer
than Hoke County and was incor
porated in 1911, the same year as
^ Hoke.
"There is a lot of memories and
history wrapped up in this town,"
Malone said.
I
A lot of "what used to be" still
exist in Dundarrach.
The Dundarrach Trading Com
pany has been here for at least 100
years, Malone said, adding that the
service is just as good now as it was
then.
"It was a farm credit store,"
manager Tom Jones said.
According to Jones, farmers
would come in during the summer
months and purchase supplies and
then pay for them in the "fall of
the year."
The store had a credit system
that kept farmers happy and
business good, Jones said.
The Trading Company was
more than jus' a place to buy
goods.
Men would come in during the
winter months to warm themselves
by the pot-bellied stove that stood
in the center of the store.
While at the store, the men
might drink a cup of coffee with
their neighbor and share a little of
the town's gossip or even brag
about the crops they were intend
ing to harvest during the summer.
The dusty roads, which are now
paved, were traveled by the stage
coaches during the civil war years
and before.
According to Malone, the main
road running through Dundarrach
was the "stage coach road that ran
from Camden, S.C., to Raleigh."
"That stretch of land is known
as the old Camden road for that
very reason," Malone said.
Dundarrach was also one of the
first towns to have a post office,
according to Malone.
"Roderick McGrimmon was the
first postmaster in Dundarrach
and his job included making sure
the coaches had fresh horses when
they came through on their way to
Raleigh," Malone said.
McGrimmon was well known in
the community and lived only a
few hundred feet from the Trading
Company, Malone said.
It was the McGrimmon house,
where Malone's home now stands,
that Sherman burned during his
march on the South.
Malone also claims that Sher
man and some of his troops
camped at the Mildouson school,
which has now been closed.
Malone and Kathleen Jones,
another Dundarrach resident,
remember other things that "don't
really deal with the war."
The depot, which still stands,
was where people gathered to take
the jitney to Fayetteville, Jones
said.
"We could go to Fayetteville,
spend the day and come back to
Dundarrach for a dime," Jones
said, adding that adults had to pay
a quarter for the same ride.
The depot was also a loading
dock.
According to Malone, the train
would haul in supplies and whiskey
and leave them sitting on the depot
porch to be distributed to the store
and area farmers.
"Dundarrach was a thriving lit
tle country village," Malone said.
Kathleen and Tom Jones agree.
They, too, can remember how
the store and the town used to be.
"Before the church was built,
they held Sunday School classes in
the flour room of the store," Mrs.
Jones said.
According to Mr. Jones, the
flour room was usually piled to
over-flowing with sacks of flour.
"A lot of times you would have
to make a path through all the
sacks just to get in the room," Mr.
Jones said.
Malone, also remembers those
kind of Sundays in Dundarrach.
"After the church was built,
people would fill the pews for
preaching on Sunday mornings,
but in the afternoon we would
hitch up the mules and head for the
nearest square dance," Malone
said.
"We didn't have a lot of money
back then, but we sure had a lot of
fun," Malone added.
Dundarrach, which means "hill
of oak" in the Gallic language,
was named by Roderick McGrim
mon and still stands much as it did
in the 1800's.
The jitney is gone but the depot
remains. The roads are paved and
the population has decreased from
nearly 300 to a little over 125, but
the people remain just as friendly
and just as proud of their " little
village."
The trading company still stands
and still extends credit to neighbor
ing farmers.
The old stove has been removed
and the barrels of molasses don't
exist, but farmers still come in for
a cold drink and some fresh gossip
and farm news.
"There's nothing like this
place," Malone said.
"I loved it when I was a girl, and
I love it even more now," Malone
added.
Loading down the mules
Bmek bi 1921, the Dundarrach cotton gin did a booming business! The mules were almost always loaded down
with sacks of cotton that was brought to tha gbi for processing.
School days
These children wait less than anxiously for the little one room school to open its doors. The school was opened
until January I, 1922. Pictured here are left to right front row - Clara Gibson Jones, Jessie McKeniie Gentry and
Ruby McKeniie Parnell. Second row - Louise Gibson Wright, James McKeniie (deceased) and Eliiabeth Gibson
Tolar.