Journal
A BETTER COUNT Y THROUGH IMPROVED FARM PRACTICES
TRENTON, N. C.. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1949
ONE
NUMBER 17
Barbecue Rally Is Set
For Opening w Legion
Building In Trenton
*■
LOUIS DUNN
7th District Commander
Speaker at Legion Rally
The opening of their handsome
new home will be the occasion
for a celebration by members of
The Cleu Newton Smith Ameri
can Legion Post No. 154, Com
mander Bruce Johnson an
nounced this week. •
Several pigs will be barbecued
and every veteran of either
World War is being extended- a
cordial invitation to be on hand
lor this celebration next Mon
Legion building is located .-on
the Pair grounds beside Brock’s
Millpond. It is large enough for
iit Legion functions and during
the coming fair week it will be
used as an exhibit halt for much
of the farm produce that is
placed in competition in the an
nual Jones County Agriculture
Pair.
V Commander Johnson has re
peatedly urged that every veter
an make a special attempt to he
on hand for this “biggest occa
sion of the local Legion year”.
raws WISHING TO
HAVE EXHIBITS IN
FAIR MUST APPLY
# Firms wishing to have com
(mereial exhibits on display at
| the .annual Jones County Fair
should make application imme
diately to Assistant County
Agent G. T. Wiggins, who is in
Jg charge of exhibits at the fair
. this year. October 26-29 has
been set as the time for the an
nual fair.
Exhibit will be allocated on
the basis of available space, or
der application is received, and
the educational value of the ex
hibit. Any firm wishing to have
„ space should contact Wiggins
immediately.
Special Visitors
One of eight special corn ex*
perimental plots in the State of
North Carolina is located on the
farm of R. G. Foster in Vance
Township, and on Thursday it
.will have a group of special vis
On that day it win be vis
by a group comprised of
ate Extension Service and fe
at Station officials and
atives of seed dealers,
have sponsored the tests
Lnok County Exten
FARM BUREAU BEGINS
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
IN LENOIR COUNTY
The 1949 membership drive of
the Lenoir County Farm Bureau
began on Friday last week in a
meeting at the Agriculture
Building in Kinston of its lead
ers. The goal of the 1949 drive
is 2,600 members, the same as
last year, with 2,800 members as
its maximum goal, President
John A. Shackelford said. The
d^ive, beginning immediately,
will close on October. 1st, as last
year, when a membership of 2,
605 was reached.
President* Shackelford said the
Farm Bureau must remain strong
to continue to-get for the farmer
the benefits gained in the past
years. He told those present of
the many past achievements of
the Bureau for. the benefit of the
farmer. Again this year prizes
will.be awarded to those who ob
tain the most members in the
drive.. The prizes, as was the
case last year, range downward
from a free trip to the county
member writing the most mem
berships to the national conven
tion of the Htlreau at Chicago.
At the meeting President
Shackelford also stated that the
BUREAU
SET FOR
The annual membership drive
by the Jones County Farm Bu
reau will be the main topic of
conversation at meetings set for
this week at Comfort (Wednes
day) and Trentcn (Friday).
The ,. Comfort session will ''e
held in the school auditorium
and 't will convene at 7:30. The
Trent.' t gathering is to be in the
Agricmtn.e Building and it will
begin at the same time. -
Jones Bureau President W. G.
Mallard urges every person in
terested iii the continued success
of the organization to make a
special effort to attend these
meetings.
HEADING SOUTH
The heads of the police bodies
in '"Lenoir County and Kinston,
Wayne County and Goldsboro
are by this time maybe com
pletely out of the State of North
Carolina and on their way to
Texas. Traveling in a group
are Police Chief Marion Haskins
of Kinston, Sheriff Sam Church
ill of Lenoir County, Chief of
Police Harry Morris of Golds
boro and Sheriff Paul Garrison
of Wayne County. Their destin
ation is Dallas, where the meet
ing of the International Associa
tion of Police Chiefs is being
held. September 11 to 15.
For the first time in eight
years, the. peanut crop through
out the nation is expected to fall
below 2,000,000,000 .pounds. Pro
duction is now forecast at 1,777,
000,000 pounds, down four per
cent from the 10-year average
and down 24 per cent -from last
year’s record crop, a v
Oak View Plantation House Is One
Of Finest In Carolina And Is Seat
Of Jones County’s Richest Farm Unit
-i-•_ •
ROADS AND TAXES
wore <•. ;• pr biqip J hufinesi ber
lore the J,ones County Board of
Commif-fooners as 1 hey :gnored
the Labor Day holiday and held
their regular September session
in the courthouse. A total of
six petitions—some oral, some
written—were approve! by tne
board and sent on to the State
Highway and Public Works
Commission.
Next heaviest business on the
agenda Monday was a trio of
complaints made about new
property valuat'ons that were
put on several tracts of land in
the recent revaluation of all
Jones County property.
Presenting road improvement
petitions were Frederick Foscue,
Bill Jones, Joe Killings worth,
Willie Heath, E. B. Riggs and
John Hughes Pollock.
Complaining over too high tax
valuations were C. K. Jarman,
Bill Dixon and a representative
of the Bates Lumber Company.
Acting upon County Attorney
George Hughes’ advice the com
missioners agreed that there was
nothing they could do about
changing these valuations until
next Equalization Day. Hughes
pointed out that changes might
be permissible where gross in
justices were uncovered or where
clerical errors had been made.
J. K. Dixon appeared before
the board to ask the county to
pay its part of the cost to be in
curred by the addition of curb
and gutters to Market Street, in
front of the courthouse. This
was unanimously approved by
the board.
On recommendation of Ac
countant E. E. Franck payment
of (200 each to Tax Collector
Zell Pollock and Auditor Mrs.
Mary Brock was approved. This
payment was for extra work
done during the recent revalua
tion of property. Franck report
ed that both had done an excel
lent job, which sentiment was
echoed by Attorney Hughes.
-
This is easily one of Eastern
North Carolina’s most beautiful
homes. Unfortunately it’s age
of its
owner, admits that he
doesn’t know how old it is but
points out that the best informa
tion he has been able to obtain
since his father, J, H. Bell,
bought it in 1918 leads him to be
lieve that it was built just about
at the turn of the 18th Century.
The land and this beautiful
old home belonged to the Bryan
family for several generations,
and Bell says it is his belief that
a member of the Bryan family
built it originally.
One most peculiar thing about
this huge, handsome place, which
is borne out by considerable-evi
dence in its construction, is the
fact that the top part of the
house was built and lived in for
awhile before it was raised and
the lower section was added.
Like much of the little known
about the house, this is also un
founded in fact, but is reason
able from the appearance of the
weatherboarding and from the
appearance of one of the huge
chimneys which covers up a
place that had been a window in
the top part of the home.
In addition to having what
may be the county’s finest home,
Bell is more importantly known
for his pioneering in livestock
production, being the owner of
the first permanent pasture in
the county and among the first
to move away from one-track
tobacco economy of the section.
Oak View Plantation is the
name that the 2,600 acres sur
rounding this home is known
by. On it at present there are
more than 200 acres of perma
nent pasture and some 70 Here
fords and 10 Brahman beef cat
tle are grazed 12 months to the
year on this lush Jones County
green feed.
The plantation also has 126.5
acres of tobacco, 170 acres of
sweet potatoes and 170 acres of
corn. A considerable acreage is
also devoted to small grains and
the only sweet potato curing
bam in Jones County is located
on one comer of the place. It
has a rated capacity of 30,000
bushels but Bell says that 26,000
bushels is about. all he ever has
northern markets. He says
State College experts have called
his land some of the best in the
State for sweet potato produc
tion.
Last winter his beef cattle
grazed the full 12 months and
had to have no supplementary
feeding, but in ordinary winters
a little supplementary feeding
has to be done during February
and March, Bell says.
In addition to beef production,
Bell is also a well known fancier
of horse flesh and today breeds
Shetland ponies, which he calls,
“A kind of hobby of mine.”
Bell married Nannie Creagh,
daughter of the late Sheriff J. W.
Creagh, in 1920 and they have
one son, H. C. Bell, who lives in
a home on the plantation and
helps his father with the man
agement of the big farm.
Not many fine old mansions of
this type have survived the in
difference of the past hundred
years and hardly any today re
main in the same fine condition
of this manor house at Oak View.
An awesome sight to one accus
tomed to furnished apartments,
tiny rooms in modern homes and
hotel nooks is the huge dining
living room at Oak View, which
reaches 52 feet in length.
The home is unique in its state
of preservation and is perhaps
more unique in that it has been
the rich acres surrounding it
that have kept it up rather than
off wells in Texas or c broker
age business in NeW York, as is
the case with so many restored
mansions.
One Armed Bandits
A total of six one-armed ban
dits were picked up on Labor
Day in a raid made at Hillcrest
by members of the Sheriff’s de
partment. One quarter bandit,
one dime size and four nickel
consumers were included in the
loot obtained by the officers.