April 12, 2024 Coats Museum News
The date on the Daily Record was June 20, 1994 and its readers learned that much training time had gone into the certification of the personnel of the Coats Fire and Rescue. The higher certification of the personnel came after they had received 375 hours of training. Put your calculator to use or pencil to paper and calculate how many days or weeks that took the personnel away from other activities that they could have been enjoying with family and friends.
Did you know that the Coats Fire and Rescue was the first volunteer department in N.C. to attain the Level 3 rating in 1991? Thank you goes to Keith McLeod and the Coats team for that accomplishment. Coats has many firsts in its history. Coats had the first licensed pilot in N.C.; we have the first Cotton Museum in the area. We also had the first entire school reunion project bringing back graduates from 1925 to 1985 for a weekend of fireworks, music, food, entertainment, a parade filled with vintage cars and trucks carrying graduates and class officers, principals, beauty queens, cheerleaders and much more from those fifty years. We even have videos to prove the success of the weekend.
Thanks to Marie Salmon, her Coats High School Photography Class in 1984-85 and dozens of dedicated supporters of Marie’s projects, we have a published book Together We Leave containing the history of the white Grove Township schools and the pictures of the graduates beginning with 1925 to 1985. We have the addresses, occupations and family information of those responding graduates from 50 years. We have a 1200 page publication The Heritage of Coats N.C. that includes information about the town’s namesake, James Thomas Coats, by Joyce Parrish Turner, The History of Aviators by Margaret Pope, Town and Rural Businesses by Sondra Ennis Smith, Gayle Sorrell and Ann Johnson O’Neal, Churches by Lynda Butler, Civic Life shared by the members of the numerous organizations in Coats, Elected Officials with pictures of their houses thanks to Jimmy Vaughn and Ruth Cobb Upchurch, Ghost Towns by Ann J. O’Neal, Kid’s Corner by several Coats students, Local Color by Dr, Ronnie Faulkner, Medical History by Dr. Linda Robinson and Si Harrington’s Military History of Harnett County.
We have “Mark’s Space”-by Mark Valsame, a published genealogist, who shared his extensive genealogies of the Barnes, Johnson, Langdon and Stewart families to which he has family connections to all of those in Coats. We have pages upon pages of other families’ genealogies of Coats folks. There are pages of interesting stories shared by locals about growing up in the area and folklore shared from earlier times. Lastly, I compiled “There and Back in a Paper Canoe” which is over five hundred pages of history collected from the Harnett County News, the Dunn Dispatch and the Daily Record along with years of collecting from numerous sources such as interviews, deeds, wills and other historical documents. Becky Adams, Lynda Butler and I headed up those years of research.
I don’t know that the self-publication was a first but we did self publish that 1100 pages with local ladies typing every word that was printed in that book-Look at the page that tells you who they were and thank them if they are still with us.
Another first for the area is the Coats Museum volunteers have published two editions of the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue which contains almost four hundred pages of pictures, stories, letters of military folks from Coats or have marital connections to the area. The museum volunteers continue to collect info from those who were left out of the first or third edition so a fourth edition can be published at some future date.
Coats was the first town in the county to have a local history museum made from a rotting, old school building. A legislative grant of $10,000 in the early 1990’s with the help of State Senator Elaine Marshall, the building contractors Donnie and Craig Matthews, Nelson Currin (Supplies) Ken Johnson (Drywall) and Hal Stewart (Heating and Air), brick sales and food fundraisers and outright donations, the original museum volunteers were able to restore the old 1914 school into a Coats Museum. Several small grants of $1,000 to $2000 from the county commissioners in the mid and late 1990’s were awarded to improve this dilapidated 1914 school into an even better Coats Museum. A complete history of the museum is found in our Heritage of Coats, NC. Vol.2. Visit it to see if you had relatives who made a difference in the story of the Coats Museum.
In 2005, the town celebrated its 100th birthday. Through the sale of brick, benches, wall plaques, patron pages, donations, and the Heritage of Coats, NC history book, the board of directors was able to completely pay for the Cotton Museum construction and have enough left to later purchase the railroad property on which some of the Exhibit Hall is built. Thanks to the work of the late Attorney Joe Tart, we maneuvered through many bumps in the road to prove complete ownership of the railroad property. Thanks to Kent Hudson who honored his parents-Mack Reid and Juanita Hudson, by donating a fountain and the brick to build the Wall of Honor where the plaques could be displayed. The addition of new plaques continues to bring funds into the museum.
As past directors died or aged out, younger volunteers came on board and applied for grants from the Harnett County Community Fund of the NCCF, Operation Round Up and Wal-Mart and were able to get Research Library bookcases, computers, video equipment, cameras and other items needed for a growing museum. Hence, the Coats Museum was the first local history museum in the county to have an Exhibit Hall (2013) filled with a complete array of items that represent the area as far back as the Revolutionary War.
Hard work-much of it sweaty work-and building a network of amazing, dedicated financial supporters, this nonprofit museum has built an endowment that is growing with anticipation that it will support the annual costs to operate both the Heritage Museum and the Cotton Museum.
And- yes –the Coats Museum Board of Directors agreed to take the first fire truck that the town of Coats had. I understand the 1963 Dodge truck was purchased from the Eugene Stewart Dealership and was then equipped with fire gear for the fire protection of the Coats Grove area—now our goal will be to raise enough money to build a second exhibit hall to display some of the awesome items that are in storage. That was a dream that my late husband who so badly wanted to see happen-I have faith with our new board of directors that it will. The once younger volunteers are now the older volunteers; let’s hope that they live long enough to see a second exhibit on the Heritage Square in Coats.
Now that I have carried you back to the 1990’s and a few years thereafter, let’s learn who were the men and women who gave hours of their time to make life and property safer for all the folks in the Coats Grove area. The names of those earning the Firefighter Level 11 were Todd Pope, J.L. Pleasant, Bill Lamm, Kay Lawrence, Mike Williams, Scott Flowers, Tim McLeod, Charles Coats, Hubert Stewart, Frank Parker, Kevin Jernigan, Trace Denning, Larry Denton, Johnny Tart, Della Pleasant, Jay Johnson, Jay Smith, Wayne Lawrence, and Keith McLeod.
Earning BRT were Charles Coats, Trace Denning, Larry Denton, Kevin Jernigan, Johnny Tart and Keith McLeod. Charles Coats and Larry Denton earned instructor certifications. How many of you remember Johnny Tart? He was the dedicated firefighter who used his mechanical skills to keep the fire trucks running (Daily Record June 20, 1994).
Some of you may remember when Johnny Tart died a few years ago, to honor his love and respect for the fire department, one of the fire trucks was part of his funeral procession. I wonder if it is the one they gave to the museum!
The date on the Daily Record was June 20, 1994 and its readers learned that much training time had gone into the certification of the personnel of the Coats Fire and Rescue. The higher certification of the personnel came after they had received 375 hours of training. Put your calculator to use or pencil to paper and calculate how many days or weeks that took the personnel away from other activities that they could have been enjoying with family and friends.
Did you know that the Coats Fire and Rescue was the first volunteer department in N.C. to attain the Level 3 rating in 1991? Thank you goes to Keith McLeod and the Coats team for that accomplishment. Coats has many firsts in its history. Coats had the first licensed pilot in N.C.; we have the first Cotton Museum in the area. We also had the first entire school reunion project bringing back graduates from 1925 to 1985 for a weekend of fireworks, music, food, entertainment, a parade filled with vintage cars and trucks carrying graduates and class officers, principals, beauty queens, cheerleaders and much more from those fifty years. We even have videos to prove the success of the weekend.
Thanks to Marie Salmon, her Coats High School Photography Class in 1984-85 and dozens of dedicated supporters of Marie’s projects, we have a published book Together We Leave containing the history of the white Grove Township schools and the pictures of the graduates beginning with 1925 to 1985. We have the addresses, occupations and family information of those responding graduates from 50 years. We have a 1200 page publication The Heritage of Coats N.C. that includes information about the town’s namesake, James Thomas Coats, by Joyce Parrish Turner, The History of Aviators by Margaret Pope, Town and Rural Businesses by Sondra Ennis Smith, Gayle Sorrell and Ann Johnson O’Neal, Churches by Lynda Butler, Civic Life shared by the members of the numerous organizations in Coats, Elected Officials with pictures of their houses thanks to Jimmy Vaughn and Ruth Cobb Upchurch, Ghost Towns by Ann J. O’Neal, Kid’s Corner by several Coats students, Local Color by Dr, Ronnie Faulkner, Medical History by Dr. Linda Robinson and Si Harrington’s Military History of Harnett County.
We have “Mark’s Space”-by Mark Valsame, a published genealogist, who shared his extensive genealogies of the Barnes, Johnson, Langdon and Stewart families to which he has family connections to all of those in Coats. We have pages upon pages of other families’ genealogies of Coats folks. There are pages of interesting stories shared by locals about growing up in the area and folklore shared from earlier times. Lastly, I compiled “There and Back in a Paper Canoe” which is over five hundred pages of history collected from the Harnett County News, the Dunn Dispatch and the Daily Record along with years of collecting from numerous sources such as interviews, deeds, wills and other historical documents. Becky Adams, Lynda Butler and I headed up those years of research.
I don’t know that the self-publication was a first but we did self publish that 1100 pages with local ladies typing every word that was printed in that book-Look at the page that tells you who they were and thank them if they are still with us.
Another first for the area is the Coats Museum volunteers have published two editions of the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue which contains almost four hundred pages of pictures, stories, letters of military folks from Coats or have marital connections to the area. The museum volunteers continue to collect info from those who were left out of the first or third edition so a fourth edition can be published at some future date.
Coats was the first town in the county to have a local history museum made from a rotting, old school building. A legislative grant of $10,000 in the early 1990’s with the help of State Senator Elaine Marshall, the building contractors Donnie and Craig Matthews, Nelson Currin (Supplies) Ken Johnson (Drywall) and Hal Stewart (Heating and Air), brick sales and food fundraisers and outright donations, the original museum volunteers were able to restore the old 1914 school into a Coats Museum. Several small grants of $1,000 to $2000 from the county commissioners in the mid and late 1990’s were awarded to improve this dilapidated 1914 school into an even better Coats Museum. A complete history of the museum is found in our Heritage of Coats, NC. Vol.2. Visit it to see if you had relatives who made a difference in the story of the Coats Museum.
In 2005, the town celebrated its 100th birthday. Through the sale of brick, benches, wall plaques, patron pages, donations, and the Heritage of Coats, NC history book, the board of directors was able to completely pay for the Cotton Museum construction and have enough left to later purchase the railroad property on which some of the Exhibit Hall is built. Thanks to the work of the late Attorney Joe Tart, we maneuvered through many bumps in the road to prove complete ownership of the railroad property. Thanks to Kent Hudson who honored his parents-Mack Reid and Juanita Hudson, by donating a fountain and the brick to build the Wall of Honor where the plaques could be displayed. The addition of new plaques continues to bring funds into the museum.
As past directors died or aged out, younger volunteers came on board and applied for grants from the Harnett County Community Fund of the NCCF, Operation Round Up and Wal-Mart and were able to get Research Library bookcases, computers, video equipment, cameras and other items needed for a growing museum. Hence, the Coats Museum was the first local history museum in the county to have an Exhibit Hall (2013) filled with a complete array of items that represent the area as far back as the Revolutionary War.
Hard work-much of it sweaty work-and building a network of amazing, dedicated financial supporters, this nonprofit museum has built an endowment that is growing with anticipation that it will support the annual costs to operate both the Heritage Museum and the Cotton Museum.
And- yes –the Coats Museum Board of Directors agreed to take the first fire truck that the town of Coats had. I understand the 1963 Dodge truck was purchased from the Eugene Stewart Dealership and was then equipped with fire gear for the fire protection of the Coats Grove area—now our goal will be to raise enough money to build a second exhibit hall to display some of the awesome items that are in storage. That was a dream that my late husband who so badly wanted to see happen-I have faith with our new board of directors that it will. The once younger volunteers are now the older volunteers; let’s hope that they live long enough to see a second exhibit on the Heritage Square in Coats.
Now that I have carried you back to the 1990’s and a few years thereafter, let’s learn who were the men and women who gave hours of their time to make life and property safer for all the folks in the Coats Grove area. The names of those earning the Firefighter Level 11 were Todd Pope, J.L. Pleasant, Bill Lamm, Kay Lawrence, Mike Williams, Scott Flowers, Tim McLeod, Charles Coats, Hubert Stewart, Frank Parker, Kevin Jernigan, Trace Denning, Larry Denton, Johnny Tart, Della Pleasant, Jay Johnson, Jay Smith, Wayne Lawrence, and Keith McLeod.
Earning BRT were Charles Coats, Trace Denning, Larry Denton, Kevin Jernigan, Johnny Tart and Keith McLeod. Charles Coats and Larry Denton earned instructor certifications. How many of you remember Johnny Tart? He was the dedicated firefighter who used his mechanical skills to keep the fire trucks running (Daily Record June 20, 1994).
Some of you may remember when Johnny Tart died a few years ago, to honor his love and respect for the fire department, one of the fire trucks was part of his funeral procession. I wonder if it is the one they gave to the museum!