April 27, 2018 Coats Museum News
The year was 1970 and it had been twenty years since Richard Nixon had been elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of thirty-seven-the youngest Republican senator. Two years later he would become the running mate for Dwight Eisenhower. He served as his Vice-President for eight years. In 1960 he would run against Jack Kennedy for president and would lose by the smallest margin ever in a presidential election.
In 1968, Nixon had a comeback and was elected to the White House and faced many challenges right up to his departure from office. There were protests over the Vietnam War. The nation’s rivers and lakes and air needed to be cleaned up. Inflation was rising.
In the Coats area, surely Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey Tart were celebrating the graduation of their son, Joseph Lindsey Tart, from East Carolina University with a Business Administration Degree (Daily Record June 15, 1970).
Across Black River in the Coats area, Alonzo Johnson, 73, a retired farmer, had died on Tuesday, June 16, 1970 (Daily Record June 16, 1970). Mr. Johnson was a WW I veteran and the father of Bullet, Albert, Tommy, Josephine, Jacqueline, “Dean”, Lea Joy, Jimmy, and Patricia.
In the town, the Coats Junior Order pageant was scheduled. Hap Hanson of WPYB Radio Station was to be master of ceremonies and Lamar Stone was to be director of the production. One of the girls trying for the title was to be crowned by the current queen, Jennie Sorrell. The girls in the pageant were Teresa Langdon, LaRue Williams, Gloria Ogburn, Debbie Pollard, Denise Currin, Jan Ennis, Joy Weaver and Elaine Dixon. The winner would compete in Winston-Salem in the summer (Daily Record June 9, 1970).
Ted Malone, a 1961 Coats High graduate, gave up his job as the Dunn Dispatch editor to return to UNC Chapel Hill. Miss Jan Ennis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Ennis of Route One, Coats, was crowned “Miss Junior Order”. Her talent was a presentation of modeling clothes she had made. Jan received a $50 prize. The first runner up and recipient of $25 was Elaine Dixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Dixon. The second runner up and recipient of $15 was Teresa Langdon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Langdon (Daily Record June 15, 1970).
Ralph Denning and his bride-to-be, Lorena Timberlake, were honored at a luncheon in Raleigh. Can you believe that a head of lettuce sold for 10 cents at Ed’s Open Air Market and at Roses Cafeteria, a chicken plate with 2 vegetables, bread, and drink was 99 cents? Wonder if Paulette Bryant and Larry Taylor were aware of the grocery bargains as they were feted with a grocery shower at the Route One home of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Stewart (Daily Record June 18, 1970)?
Norma Janell Johnson was a patient at Betsy Johnson Memorial Hospital and Mrs. Estelle Byrd was a patient at Good Hope Hospital. Likely the farmers in the area were very concerned about the suffering of tobacco and others crops due to a drought (Daily Record June 25, 1970).
Those of us who were raised on large tobacco farms can recall the looks on our parents’ faces when an evening cloud failed to deliver any relief to the powdery soil. On our farms it meant it was time to water the crops with the irrigation systems. The large farm pond which was used for fishing for some tasty meals, for swimming to cool off after working in the fields of cotton, corn and tobacco and for washing out fertilizer bags that would be converted to cotton sheets. Now that pond would be used to save the tobacco crop. For those who did not have big ponds, some farmers built irrigation holes which had been dug in wet spots throughout the farms.
Let’s revisit a time when the motors of the irrigation systems could be heard throughout the countryside where tobacco was raised. An irrigation system normally consisted of a tractor used for the source of the power of the irrigation pump. Also needed was a flat bed trailer long enough to place aluminum pipes 3 and 4 inches in diameter and 20 to 30 feet in length. About three or four boards on each side of the trailer were necessary to secure the pipes in place and to keep them from rolling off the trailer. On our farms, Dad used the pattern of having four rows of tobacco divided by a space where a tractor could drive down between the next four rows of tobacco. He would connect a joint of the aluminum pipe to the irrigation pump and from there the joints of pipe were inserted into each other and had a clamp that held them securely once the water was pumped into the pipes. Some pipes had a hole on the top into which was screwed a sprinkler. These sprinklers were placed about ever three joints of 30 foot pipes. Later the “Big Guns” came onto the scene and required fewer sprinklers because they covered more perimeters than did the smaller ones.
The process was really quiet elementary. It simply required hooking the pipes together beginning at the tractor and water source. The pipe had to be retrieved from the trailer and carried to the main line that in turn required a T pipe or a pipe to go down the row parallel with the tobacco rows.
When the tobacco was small, the job was easy enough and one could carry one or more pipes in the arms; however, as the crop reached head high to the children, the pipes had to be lifted over the head and the carrier had to carefully make his way through the rows of tobacco making sure that no leaves were knocked off or damaged.
Once all the pipes were connected and sprinklers were securely screwed into the sockets, the tractor was cranked and the pump sucked the water from the irrigation water source and pumped it through the pipes with tremendous pressure forcing the water into the sprinklers which rotated making a “pssh pssh” noises as the head of the sprinkler constantly interrupted the projectile of water insuring that the water would hit all the plants in the circumference of that sprinkler. Once in a while a sprinkler would blow out of the pipe and send up a gusher comparable to a little “Old Faithful” in the middle of a field of green tobacco. The farmers or their helpers had to make their way through the field past all the other sprinklers to return the sprinkler into the hole. It was not always an easy task. On some occasions, the entire system had to be shut down.
One could hear irrigation pumps operating on farms throughout the rural communities. It was a reassuring sound as pumps were shut down and that part of the tobacco crop would be nourished for a little while until a thunderstorm would bring that needed rain.
The process continued until the entire field was watered for about three hours in each rotation. Of course, moving the pipe through the wet tobacco felt good in spite of an occasional burning of the eyes when tobacco juice splashed into them. The water cooled the hot dirt that often cooked the bare feet of most of the farm workers at that time. That’s right; we never wore shoes in the summer time unless we had on dress clothes for shopping, visiting, or going to church.
Charlie Bayles could surely have shared stories of change during his lifetime. Mr. Bayles had died and he had lived for 99 years. He was father of six sons and one daughter. He had lived all his life on a farm between Coats and Buies Creek (Daily Record June 25, 1970). Did he build the beautiful two-story house on the hill next to the Bill Avery Road? It is sad that the obituary did not list his children’s names. Does anyone know?
I do know that the paper announced that several locals were in the hospital. William Johnson was in BJMH and Kitty Godwin was in GHH (Daily Record June 25, 1970).
Several other editions of the Daily Record recorded that Mrs. Larkin Norris was admitted to BJMH); Mrs. Sheba Williams was also a hospital patient at GHH ((June 26, 1970). Mae Norris of Coats was a patient at GHH (July7, 1970).
We do know that Linda Robinson was not their physician because she was named as being on the President’s List at Campbell College (Daily Record July 7, 1970).
Life is never dull for a volunteer at the Coats Museum. People visit for varied reasons while some come after visiting the Chamber which is our neighbor on the Heritage Square. Last Thursday a former resident of New Hill and a past captain with the Apex Fire Department visited the museum with his two young sons. Mr. Coats and his wife left America to go to Honduras to do missionary work by heading up a Children’s Home of twenty children. He has now returned, living in Lillington, and came to the museum sharing that his dad once lived on the outskirts of Coats. We have so many people to come to museum with the name “Coats-Coates”. The one thing so many of them have in common is that many of them are preachers or descendants of preachers.
Some visitors drop in to bring local items belonging to family members and they seek a safe place for them to be appreciated. We get all kinds of things from college diplomas to crocheted black mourning hand bags. It is an awesome task for the volunteers to keep a record of all these items that are either donated or loaned. Either way, Coats is fortunate to have benevolent citizens and volunteers who work tirelessly to make the Coats Museum a place to share, visit and learn.
We invite you to visit coatsmuseum.com to read the Coats Museum News about the very early days of Coats history. A few copies of the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue are still available for sale.
The year was 1970 and it had been twenty years since Richard Nixon had been elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of thirty-seven-the youngest Republican senator. Two years later he would become the running mate for Dwight Eisenhower. He served as his Vice-President for eight years. In 1960 he would run against Jack Kennedy for president and would lose by the smallest margin ever in a presidential election.
In 1968, Nixon had a comeback and was elected to the White House and faced many challenges right up to his departure from office. There were protests over the Vietnam War. The nation’s rivers and lakes and air needed to be cleaned up. Inflation was rising.
In the Coats area, surely Mr. and Mrs. Lindsey Tart were celebrating the graduation of their son, Joseph Lindsey Tart, from East Carolina University with a Business Administration Degree (Daily Record June 15, 1970).
Across Black River in the Coats area, Alonzo Johnson, 73, a retired farmer, had died on Tuesday, June 16, 1970 (Daily Record June 16, 1970). Mr. Johnson was a WW I veteran and the father of Bullet, Albert, Tommy, Josephine, Jacqueline, “Dean”, Lea Joy, Jimmy, and Patricia.
In the town, the Coats Junior Order pageant was scheduled. Hap Hanson of WPYB Radio Station was to be master of ceremonies and Lamar Stone was to be director of the production. One of the girls trying for the title was to be crowned by the current queen, Jennie Sorrell. The girls in the pageant were Teresa Langdon, LaRue Williams, Gloria Ogburn, Debbie Pollard, Denise Currin, Jan Ennis, Joy Weaver and Elaine Dixon. The winner would compete in Winston-Salem in the summer (Daily Record June 9, 1970).
Ted Malone, a 1961 Coats High graduate, gave up his job as the Dunn Dispatch editor to return to UNC Chapel Hill. Miss Jan Ennis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Ennis of Route One, Coats, was crowned “Miss Junior Order”. Her talent was a presentation of modeling clothes she had made. Jan received a $50 prize. The first runner up and recipient of $25 was Elaine Dixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Dixon. The second runner up and recipient of $15 was Teresa Langdon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Langdon (Daily Record June 15, 1970).
Ralph Denning and his bride-to-be, Lorena Timberlake, were honored at a luncheon in Raleigh. Can you believe that a head of lettuce sold for 10 cents at Ed’s Open Air Market and at Roses Cafeteria, a chicken plate with 2 vegetables, bread, and drink was 99 cents? Wonder if Paulette Bryant and Larry Taylor were aware of the grocery bargains as they were feted with a grocery shower at the Route One home of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Stewart (Daily Record June 18, 1970)?
Norma Janell Johnson was a patient at Betsy Johnson Memorial Hospital and Mrs. Estelle Byrd was a patient at Good Hope Hospital. Likely the farmers in the area were very concerned about the suffering of tobacco and others crops due to a drought (Daily Record June 25, 1970).
Those of us who were raised on large tobacco farms can recall the looks on our parents’ faces when an evening cloud failed to deliver any relief to the powdery soil. On our farms it meant it was time to water the crops with the irrigation systems. The large farm pond which was used for fishing for some tasty meals, for swimming to cool off after working in the fields of cotton, corn and tobacco and for washing out fertilizer bags that would be converted to cotton sheets. Now that pond would be used to save the tobacco crop. For those who did not have big ponds, some farmers built irrigation holes which had been dug in wet spots throughout the farms.
Let’s revisit a time when the motors of the irrigation systems could be heard throughout the countryside where tobacco was raised. An irrigation system normally consisted of a tractor used for the source of the power of the irrigation pump. Also needed was a flat bed trailer long enough to place aluminum pipes 3 and 4 inches in diameter and 20 to 30 feet in length. About three or four boards on each side of the trailer were necessary to secure the pipes in place and to keep them from rolling off the trailer. On our farms, Dad used the pattern of having four rows of tobacco divided by a space where a tractor could drive down between the next four rows of tobacco. He would connect a joint of the aluminum pipe to the irrigation pump and from there the joints of pipe were inserted into each other and had a clamp that held them securely once the water was pumped into the pipes. Some pipes had a hole on the top into which was screwed a sprinkler. These sprinklers were placed about ever three joints of 30 foot pipes. Later the “Big Guns” came onto the scene and required fewer sprinklers because they covered more perimeters than did the smaller ones.
The process was really quiet elementary. It simply required hooking the pipes together beginning at the tractor and water source. The pipe had to be retrieved from the trailer and carried to the main line that in turn required a T pipe or a pipe to go down the row parallel with the tobacco rows.
When the tobacco was small, the job was easy enough and one could carry one or more pipes in the arms; however, as the crop reached head high to the children, the pipes had to be lifted over the head and the carrier had to carefully make his way through the rows of tobacco making sure that no leaves were knocked off or damaged.
Once all the pipes were connected and sprinklers were securely screwed into the sockets, the tractor was cranked and the pump sucked the water from the irrigation water source and pumped it through the pipes with tremendous pressure forcing the water into the sprinklers which rotated making a “pssh pssh” noises as the head of the sprinkler constantly interrupted the projectile of water insuring that the water would hit all the plants in the circumference of that sprinkler. Once in a while a sprinkler would blow out of the pipe and send up a gusher comparable to a little “Old Faithful” in the middle of a field of green tobacco. The farmers or their helpers had to make their way through the field past all the other sprinklers to return the sprinkler into the hole. It was not always an easy task. On some occasions, the entire system had to be shut down.
One could hear irrigation pumps operating on farms throughout the rural communities. It was a reassuring sound as pumps were shut down and that part of the tobacco crop would be nourished for a little while until a thunderstorm would bring that needed rain.
The process continued until the entire field was watered for about three hours in each rotation. Of course, moving the pipe through the wet tobacco felt good in spite of an occasional burning of the eyes when tobacco juice splashed into them. The water cooled the hot dirt that often cooked the bare feet of most of the farm workers at that time. That’s right; we never wore shoes in the summer time unless we had on dress clothes for shopping, visiting, or going to church.
Charlie Bayles could surely have shared stories of change during his lifetime. Mr. Bayles had died and he had lived for 99 years. He was father of six sons and one daughter. He had lived all his life on a farm between Coats and Buies Creek (Daily Record June 25, 1970). Did he build the beautiful two-story house on the hill next to the Bill Avery Road? It is sad that the obituary did not list his children’s names. Does anyone know?
I do know that the paper announced that several locals were in the hospital. William Johnson was in BJMH and Kitty Godwin was in GHH (Daily Record June 25, 1970).
Several other editions of the Daily Record recorded that Mrs. Larkin Norris was admitted to BJMH); Mrs. Sheba Williams was also a hospital patient at GHH ((June 26, 1970). Mae Norris of Coats was a patient at GHH (July7, 1970).
We do know that Linda Robinson was not their physician because she was named as being on the President’s List at Campbell College (Daily Record July 7, 1970).
Life is never dull for a volunteer at the Coats Museum. People visit for varied reasons while some come after visiting the Chamber which is our neighbor on the Heritage Square. Last Thursday a former resident of New Hill and a past captain with the Apex Fire Department visited the museum with his two young sons. Mr. Coats and his wife left America to go to Honduras to do missionary work by heading up a Children’s Home of twenty children. He has now returned, living in Lillington, and came to the museum sharing that his dad once lived on the outskirts of Coats. We have so many people to come to museum with the name “Coats-Coates”. The one thing so many of them have in common is that many of them are preachers or descendants of preachers.
Some visitors drop in to bring local items belonging to family members and they seek a safe place for them to be appreciated. We get all kinds of things from college diplomas to crocheted black mourning hand bags. It is an awesome task for the volunteers to keep a record of all these items that are either donated or loaned. Either way, Coats is fortunate to have benevolent citizens and volunteers who work tirelessly to make the Coats Museum a place to share, visit and learn.
We invite you to visit coatsmuseum.com to read the Coats Museum News about the very early days of Coats history. A few copies of the Defenders of the Red, White and Blue are still available for sale.